Crow tastes good

[THRILLHO]

This game is Example 1A of how much Wojo boned us the last 3-4 years.  Marquette basketball is a brand and it was abused and neglected until now. 

One of the best home wins of the past 30 years.

I mean, I'm glad things worked out the way they did, but we beat #4 Wisconsin at home last year with a similarly young team and our coach got fired. Winning is better than losing but it's a long season!

[5DollarPitcher]

I mean, I'm glad things worked out the way they did, but we beat #4 Wisconsin at home last year with a similarly young team and our coach got fired. Winning is better than losing but it's a long season!

Not the same at all

[THRILLHO]

Not the same at all

oh

[The Lens]

I mean, I'm glad things worked out the way they did, but we beat #4 Wisconsin at home last year with a similarly young team and our coach got fired. Winning is better than losing but it's a long season!

In front of 4 fans

[Pakuni]

This game is Example 1A of how much Wojo boned us the last 3-4 years.  Marquette basketball is a brand and it was abused and neglected until now. 

One of the best home wins of the past 30 years.

Pump the brakes just a tad. Great win and all, but Illinois was without its best player. We've seen plenty of home wins over much better teams over the past 30 years.

[pbiflyer]

My observations are I don't know how Maryland let Morsell get away, he's a gamer. Kolek needs to be more of a scorer. His natural instinct is that of a passer, always looking to set up his teammates, which is awesome but this team needs scoring and he can get places on the court that most guys can't. This Kur is very valuable. Mitchell is a gamer as well.

And Shaka is awesome. Went away from the trapping zone once Illinois started exposing the corner 3s. Moved to more of a man to man that let Morsell check Frazier. Trusted the freshman over OMax to close the game out.

There was a graphic that he played 120 games at Maryland and had 0 20 point games. He's played three games at Marquette and had 3 20 point games. That helps explain it.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Pump the brakes just a tad. Great win and all, but Illinois was without its best player. We've seen plenty of home wins over much better teams over the past 30 years.

[CountryRoads]

Long way to go before tournament talk, but I can't recall...does the selection committee take into account that Cockburn didn't play tonight or does this win look the same on resume regardless? That's really the only thing that matters in my mind.

[Pakuni]

Am I wrong?

[The Lens]

Pump the brakes just a tad. Great win and all, but Illinois was without its best player. We've seen plenty of home wins over much better teams over the past 30 years.

You pump the brakes.  I'll let you order QDoba and have a get together.


The rest of us are ready to rock.

[muwarrior69]

I am not looking forward to Thursday.


It worked for Monday so I thought I would try it for Thursday.

[muwarrior69]

Pump the brakes just a tad. Great win and all, but Illinois was without its best player. We've seen plenty of home wins over much better teams over the past 30 years.

That is what happened over the last 7 years. Wojo would win a big game but seldom if ever let that winning momentum carry on to the next game. Let's hope Shaka can keep the winning streak going. If all the games are like the last 3 where we were not sure of the outcome this will be one of the most entertaining seasons in a long time.

[CTWarrior]

We got a VERY favorable whistle.

It feels like the first time we got some home cooking refereeing against a high major opponent in forever.  I think aggressive defense helps.  They easily could have called Kolek for a foul on the game winning play, let alone a kick.

[willie warrior]

It was not pretty but a great win for the Warriors.

[CTWarrior]

I was ready to settle for a moral victory.  Love the way MU fought back when they got down double digits.   Great defense by Kuath at winning time.  The soft block that he was able to grab himself was a thing of beauty.  Gutty performance, which used to be our calling card and looks like may be again.  There will be head scratching performances from a team that shoots like we do, but nights like last night are why I love college basketball.

[brewcity77]

Long way to go before tournament talk, but I can't recall...does the selection committee take into account that Cockburn didn't play tonight or does this win look the same on resume regardless? That's really the only thing that matters in my mind.

The general guidance is if you're without a player, it doesn't hurt you. So Illinois might get a pass for the loss. But it isn't viewed differently for the team that wins, so at the end of the year for us, this is a win over #XX Illinois.

While it seems contradictory to count it for one team and not the other, it's simply a quantity thing. Let's say Kofi misses 5 games later in the year and Illinois goes 1-4 in that stretch but is 26-8 on Selection Sunday. It's not that tough to say "they were 23-3 with him and 3-5 without, so we'll not hold the 5 against them as much" but recalibrating for those 5 teams that got the win, particularly when there are going to be dozens of players that miss games for top-100 teams, it's just too much when you're trying to build a bracket in a week.

[Newsdreams]

It feels like the first time we got some home cooking refereeing against a high major opponent in forever.  I think aggressive defense helps.  They easily could have called Kolek for a foul on the game winning play, let alone a kick.

Having a respected, experienced and established coach matters with refs

[ATL MU Warrior]

• When Frazier was killing us, Shaka moved Morsell from Curbelo to Frazier. Kudos to freshman Stevie coming up big enough to keep Curbelo from taking over so Morsell could shut Frazier down.
  
• Kolek's anticipation and timing was so good on the winning play. He was that dude tonight, never bigger than that play.
  
• Those writing off Kur may have been a little premature.
  
• If this team was good at offense, we'd be the top-10 team. But man, shooting from three and the line was terrible.
  
• The Fiserv was electric from the 6-0 run that gave us our first lead at 8-7. That was the best atmosphere since Markus was dropping 45 on K-State and Buffalo. So good to be back for a meaningful WIN.

Regarding Kur, I think Illinois was a far better matchup for him than our first two opponents who were both undersized. Classic ineffective big man due to nobody to match up against.

Not saying he played well in first two games at all but he was in a better situation to do his thing last night.

[goldeneagle91114]

I mean, I'm glad things worked out the way they did, but we beat #4 Wisconsin at home last year with a similarly young team and our coach got fired. Winning is better than losing but it's a long season!

Wojo was in year 7, Shaka is in game 3. Wojo had built his "brand" , Shaka just recruited the building blocks for his "brand".

Sure they're both top 10 wins. But they came a very different times in each coaches tenure and have extremely different back stories. Nothing about them is the same and the trajectory is vastly different.

[The Lens]

Context is key. MU fans have had their program high jacked from them by trust fund elites (Duke grads) who didn't get what #mubb is all about.  Our identity was stripped away. 

We've been irrelevant since the NBE.  Sure Kevin, Mike & Buzz all won HUGE games in the past 30 years.  So yes, I'm indulging in some hyperbole but this was a game where we announced to America that we're back.  The MU that people saw during Buzz & KO is once again cooking.   I saw smiles on fans faces I hadn't seen in 10 years. 

Last night was step one on a magical journey. 

We're back. 
We play defense, and we're a problem.

We are Marquette. 

[5DollarPitcher]

Wojo was in year 7, Shaka is in game 3. Wojo had built his "brand" , Shaka just recruited the building blocks for his "brand".

Sure they're both top 10 wins. But they came a very different times in each coaches tenure and have extremely different back stories. Nothing about them is the same and the trajectory is vastly different.

Correct 100%. Also, although Wisconsin was a relatively good team, they were nowhere near good enough to be the number 4 team in the country. They proceeded to go .500 in the Big 10. Illinois and will remain ranked in the Top 15 the rest of the season and compete for the Big 10 title.

Why must people try to dilute this win by trying to draw Wojo comparisons? Was Wojo merely a symptom of some underlying disease?

[fjm]

Correct 100%. Also, although Wisconsin was a relatively good team, they were nowhere near good enough to be the number 4 team in the country. They proceeded to go .500 in the Big 10. Illinois and will remain ranked in the Top 15 the rest of the season and compete for the Big 10 title.

Why must people try to dilute this win by trying to draw Wojo comparisons? Was Wojo merely a symptom of some underlying disease?

No one's trying to dilute it.

Why must people compare this win to everything in the last 7 years? Your insistence in comparing this to Wojo is weird. But I get it. I'm a huge Shaka fan.

But I saw a LOT of people smiling when we beat #1 nova. I walked out of the Kohl Hole with a lot of smiling MUBB fans after the Howard throat slash game.

I get it! New era! I'm pumped. But to say we had no other big wins in the last 7 years isn't true. And correcting that isn't dilution.

[Goose]

The Lens

I agree 100%. We are a basketball school and our program should be a brand. The perfect guy was hired and last night is a baby step in the process. This team may not be great, but there is no doubt they will playing tough as nails for 40 minutes. That is/was my complete reasoning for optimism this season. These guys are following a leader and that is the foundation of any successful program.

Down the road we will be talking about this season and how it was the turning point for the program. Better player will arrive, but this team will be remembered for being the start of the rebirth of the MU brand.

[fjm]

—that Stevie Mitchell D at the end of the game was great.

—get these kids on the free throw line. Sheesh.

—kam jones loves to shoot. Would be nice if a few more went in.

—it was good to see even Joplin and EE get in to play a bit in a tough game like this. Not a ton of minutes but important for their progression! They can say they played in this game and in this win. That's huge for them mentally.

—loved how Justin Lewis ran out with the ball at the end. He definitely looks faster this year. And was able to escape what looked like was an attempted NFL tackle.

—curbello stinks. We got lucky playing them without Kofi.

—huge win in front of a huge crowd. The crowd was great last night! Was hoping for more students but still great! Hope this brings back all the fans. Too many upper deck seats open.

[5DollarPitcher]

But I saw a LOT of people smiling when we beat #1 nova. I walked out of the Kohl Hole with a lot of smiling MUBB fans after the Howard throat slash game.

I was at both these games. Was one of the first group of students to rush in game 1 and started the "We Are Marquette" chant from the last row in the building in game 2.

But even still, those felt different than this. I told the person I was with at the game that that was easily the most entertaining MU game I've been to in the last 7 years. Is that anti-Wojo bias? Maybe. But I'm sure I'm not the only one that walked out and said that.

Feels good to have a brand.