X Factor

[DoctorV]

Great game- Extremely entertaining

Happy Holidays to the Kunkels!

Happy Holidays to the scoopers!

Tough challenge on Wednesday

We are Marquette

[MattyWarrior]

we are .500

[rocky_warrior]

we are .500

5-4 is .500?

[tower912]

we are .500

With the team makeup and the schedule, why are you surprised?

[DoctorV]

we are .500

Possible, even likely going into 2021.

After this wretched year, and the difficult half decade stretch for MU hoops fans, hopefully the future is better.

There is no guarantee that tomorrow will be bright, there isn't even a guarantee that tomorrow will come- RIP big daddy- but the parts are there and it's now up to the coach and players to put them all together.

If he doesn't accomplish it he will move on, and eventually they will also move on and Marquette will try again.

I'm optimistic but maybe that's just my state of mind right now, doesn't mean that it'll be that way forever. Either way, most of us were very concerned about the conference when it went to 10 all basketball schools, and I'd imagine that concern is fully gone.
Love watching Big East basketball

[Markusquette]

Great game- Extremely entertaining

Happy Holidays to the Kunkels!

Happy Holidays to the scoopers!

Tough challenge on Wednesday

We are Marquette

Would have much rather lost by 8 instead of on that shot.

[We R Final Four]

Really?

[MU82]

Super attitude, DocV!

I still feel optimistic about this team and this season.

We Are Marquette.

[DoctorV]

Really?

Maybe you're right.

We R Final Four will have been 20 years in 3 short years   

How time flies

[DoctorV]

Super attitude, DocV!

I still feel optimistic about this team and this season.

We Are Marquette.

I've got one big concern tbh- wojo jumping right into yet another season coaching "the duke way"

7 man rotation. He learned it from coach K, and he seems to know no other way. It works when you are Duke, and you are coach K, but it doesn't work when you are MU and Wojo.

Some might argue that our best players are playing, and without it MU wouldn't have had such a good start, but they are 5-4.
Others would argue that you've gotta get these newcomers all the run they can get to gel since it's a shortened season and they haven't played together, that's a fair point.
Still others would claim that they are 19 year old kids that don't get tired...
Wojo said today "they were tired" and we've seen this movie before.

Seeing how brutally the last two MU teams collapsed at seasons end, and coming into this compact season with 3 game weeks and 8 game months, I really thought/hoped wojo would change his tune. After all, there would be like 6 newcomers on the roster...

He's given basically 0 minutes to Oso, Perez, Akanno. Elliott and Symir haven't even gotten a lot of minutes in most games.
I mean I'm no DivI head basketball coach but when you've had collapses the likes of the last two seasons, and you come into this shortened season playing 7 guys and basically completely ignoring 3 or your guys it seems like a recipe for disaster, and that's not even taking into account an injury.

It's a long season coach, you've got some nice early wins. Find a way to get your other guys involved in real game time, and save some of your better guys legs for the end of the season gauntlet. Besides, playing more guys should help with team camaraderie- you didn't see how excited they were when Oso was effective for 3 minutes?

Anyhow, that's my rant for the day and I really hope this season ends stronger than years past

[brewcity77]

Maybe you're right.

We R Final Four will have been 20 years in 3 short years   

How time flies

I got to Marquette in 2000, which was 23 years after the National Championship. Now it's almost as long since the Final Four. That NC always felt like ancient history to me, hard to believe the F4 is almost as ancient as that NC once was in my eyes.

[4everwarriors]

Really? This team is tired 9 games inta da season. C'mon man, that's a lame ass excuse. Woj, you just painted yourself into a corner. Because, any way you slice it, that's on the head coach, hey?

[MUINGB]

A tough loss to a good team...but a great effort from our boys.   This team will win some games  !

[#UnleashSean]

I for one think this team is light-years zhessf6of last years. If they killed the turnover problem this would be a big east championship team

[79Warrior]

Really? This team is tired 9 games inta da season. C'mon man, that's a lame ass excuse. Woj, you just painted yourself into a corner. Because, any way you slice it, that's on the head coach, hey?

Dodds spewing the same bullsh##. Team is tired. Seriously????

[Billy Hoyle]

I got to Marquette in 2000, which was 23 years after the National Championship. Now it's almost as long since the Final Four. That NC always felt like ancient history to me, hard to believe the F4 is almost as ancient as that NC once was in my eyes.

A few years ago I was at a yoga studio and overheard a conversation where someone asked her Oregon friend if she was going to the Final Four and her response was " no. I figure if they went this year they'll go a lot more."  I didn't know her but turned and said "yeah, it doesn't happen that way, trust me as a Marquette grad." 18 years...

[Silent Verbal]

A few years ago I was at a yoga studio

Did you see Wojo there, hey?

[mug644]

Regarding the team being tired: I'll add that this season adds mental stresses that are new to all players...anxiety about COVID (duh), uncertainties about the schedule, changing routines, blah blah blah.

It may be best to dial everyone back when possible.

That said, with fewer games, it is more important to win than to give players run. I've not yet seen rationale for Perez to play more, or for Akanno to get in the rotation. Why jeopardize the development and production of Garcia and Lewis to give Oso playing time?

[We R Final Four]

Maybe you're right.

We R Final Four will have been 20 years in 3 short years   

How time flies

So you would have preferred to lose by 8 points than the way we did?

[DoctorV]

So you would have preferred to lose by 8 points than the way we did?

I apologize, I misunderstood. I thought your "really" was to my glass half full view.

No chance, I'd much rather lose with the heartbreak. Koby's 4 point play was awesome and the grit at the end was refreshing to see, I had assumed it was over long before it actually was.

[DoctorV]

That said, with fewer games, it is more important to win than to give players run. I've not yet seen rationale for Perez to play more, or for Akanno to get in the rotation. Why jeopardize the development and production of Garcia and Lewis to give Oso playing time?

Trust me, neither have I. Problem is, I haven't even seen Perez, Oso, or Akanno much in situations that matter, so where would that rationale even come from?

As for the second part you are right in that you don't want to jeopardize Dawson and Justin's development and production, but you also shouldn't want to jeopardize Oso's, Dex's, or Jose's. Garcia and Lewis are clearly more important to the team but I would argue that they may be getting a bit too much run rather than not enough.

In all, coach obviously knows best. He's there for the practices and has the best understanding of who should and shouldn't play. He also rewards his better players with plenty of run, and that's a good thing.
I'm just concerned that the short bench is 1) very short sighted in a long grueling season.
2) not the best psychologically for the team as a whole, and more specifically for those that don't sniff the court. 
3) can leave you very exposed in an injury situation. When you are riding the same guys every 2/3 nights there is also a higher risk of injury.

There was always a good chance MU started out 1-3 in conference, possibly even 2-5 in the first 7. They've looked better than I expected but also much thinner/less deep than I've expected. I'm wondering if that's just a coaching quality or more of a coaching weakness. Time will tell, but if you don't start off strong in conference you definitely can't also fizzle down the stretch so hopefully coach knows what's up

[Silent Verbal]

Trust me, neither have I. Problem is, I haven't even seen Perez, Oso, or Akanno much in situations that matter, so where would that rationale even come from?

As for the second part you are right in that you don't want to jeopardize Dawson and Justin's development and production, but you also shouldn't want to jeopardize Oso's, Dex's, or Jose's. Garcia and Lewis are clearly more important to the team but I would argue that they may be getting a bit too much run rather than not enough.

In all, coach obviously knows best. He's there for the practices and has the best understanding of who should and shouldn't play. He also rewards his better players with plenty of run, and that's a good thing.
I'm just concerned that the short bench is 1) very short sighted in a long grueling season.
2) not the best psychologically for the team as a whole, and more specifically for those that don't sniff the court. 
3) can leave you very exposed in an injury situation. When you are riding the same guys every 2/3 nights there is also a higher risk of injury.

There was always a good chance MU started out 1-3 in conference, possibly even 2-5 in the first 7. They've looked better than I expected but also much thinner/less deep than I've expected. I'm wondering if that's just a coaching quality or more of a coaching weakness. Time will tell, but if you don't start off strong in conference you definitely can't also fizzle down the stretch so hopefully coach knows what's up

The time to play Oso, Dex, and Perez would've been against the cupcakes.  We only had two of those games this year.  In conference and against the other high majors, two or three lost possessions with those guys making mistakes could cost us a game.

[Billy Hoyle]

Did you see Wojo there, hey?

Does he do hot yoga? It is pretty popular among ex-athletes.

[brewcity77]

Does he do hot yoga? It is pretty popular among ex-athletes.

He does.

[mileskishnish72]

Maybe Dexter, Oso and Perez were too tired to play.