MU Officially A Lock

[PGsHeroes32]

I am still skeptical of Marquette's seed, net rank 36, Ken Pom 40. That would imply 9 or 10. Yes q 1 and 2 have a lot of wins but a lot of losses. I do hope for a couple of wins in bet and a good draw in the ncaa tourney.

We have zero Q3 and 4 losses right now as well

Also 36 does point to a 9 seed.

If you assume teams like San Fran, Loyola, San Diego State, St Marys, Colorado State, Boise State, Virginia Tech, Murray State, Wake will all be ahead of us

[MuggsyB]

Are we officially an afternoon game on Thursday? 

[rocky_warrior]

Are we officially an afternoon game on Thursday?

Sigh.  Officially 1:30pm CT on FS1.  Please try to read what has already been posted though.

[PGsHeroes32]

Are we officially an afternoon game on Thursday?

Yes. Game 2.

1:30ish

[DoctorV]

Do NCAA teams often not scout their opponents?  I hope we play one of those!

I think most 10 seeds spend Monday celebrating and Tuesday playing video games, Wednesday is a travel day.

You know what I mean, I think.
You watch any film in the last month and you think "does Marquette always play this slow white kid that doesn't do much out there?"

You dig deeper and you think "well if we stop this kid from getting everyone else an open look and easy bucket their offense becomes a lot less effective"

I'm not sure if this is a flawed thought, but I would imagine that the defenses MU plays in the BE are a bit better than who we see on 3/17

[MuggsyB]

Yes. Game 2.

1:30ish

Ughh.  Ty.  I'll find a way.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Sigh.  Officially 1:30pm CT on FS1.  Please try to read what has already been posted though.

[PGsHeroes32]

I think most 10 seeds spend Monday celebrating and Tuesday playing video games, Wednesday is a travel day.

You know what I mean, I think.
You watch any film in the last month and you think "does Marquette always play this slow white kid that doesn't do much out there?"

You dig deeper and you think "well if we stop this kid from getting everyone else an open look and easy bucket their offense becomes a lot less effective"

I'm not sure if this is a flawed thought, but I would imagine that the defenses MU plays in the BE are a bit better than who we see on 3/17

crap, even if whoever we play has a solid D. Itll at least be a completely new team. BE teams played us twice each(aside from SJU) and all had a book out on us after a awhile. Other teams might not be as ready. Especially if we can win game 1 and get a team drawing us on short turn around.

[rocky_warrior]

You know what I mean, I think.
[snip]
I'm not sure if this is a flawed thought, but I would imagine that the defenses MU plays in the BE are a bit better than who we see on 3/17

I understand where you're coming from, but I can't imagine a top 100 team NOT watching several key video plays from their opponents wins, as well as several from their losses.  But maybe I'm just detail oriented. 

[wadesworld]

I don't think people understand the amount of preparation that goes into high level college athletics.

[MU82]

I think most 10 seeds spend Monday celebrating and Tuesday playing video games, Wednesday is a travel day.

You know what I mean, I think.
You watch any film in the last month and you think "does Marquette always play this slow white kid that doesn't do much out there?"

You dig deeper and you think "well if we stop this kid from getting everyone else an open look and easy bucket their offense becomes a lot less effective"

I'm not sure if this is a flawed thought, but I would imagine that the defenses MU plays in the BE are a bit better than who we see on 3/17

It's totally a flawed thought that we'll take our first-round opponent by surprise because they won't "dig deeper" right off the bat.

Most college coaches are good, they have knowledgeable and hard-working assistants, and almost all coaches are obsessive. Our opponent will see a week from Sunday who the matchup is, and by the time their coaches go to bed that night, they will have a complete scouting report drawn up and ready for Monday's practice. They'll have plenty of time to get ready for what we do. Not sure where you get the idea that there won't be full practices on Monday and Tuesday.

I am NOT saying our opponent will be able to stop everything we want to do. St. John's knew exactly what we'd do based on months of scouting and they still couldn't stop Morsell at the elbow, Lewis from all over the court, several alley-oops, some wide-open 3s for our best shooters. What I'm saying is that it's very wishful thinking to believe there won't be enough time.

Now, maybe our second-round opponent will not have the kind of time they'd like to prepare. But they'll likely be a 1 or 2 -- in other words, a lot better than we are -- so we'll need to do something special to beat 'em.

Frankly, I'll be more concerned about our defense's ability to stop our opponent than vice versa. And it won't be because Shaka didn't scout 'em and prepare the best possible plan.

[Dr. Blackheart]

It's the self-inflicted mistakes that drive me up the wall.  We had numerous chances to drop the hammer early in the 2nd half.  I also think many scoopers were frustrated with our matador transition defense.  This team has the pieces but we have to play with more intelligence and poise imo.

MU is an imperfect team who plays hard. I'd recommend you enjoy the ride.

[DoctorV]

I was being sarcastic about the playing video games and celebrating part.

That said, my point is that it's a tight window.
You are scouting as much as you can in that window, but how much do you share with your team with the hope think that they will grasp?

There is definitely scouting involved- reminds me of good old Buzzards postgame interview on shutting down that one PG in the dance, was it Tu Holloway? I think it was a Murray St kid that had an amazing year. That interview was awesome, but buzz also had the defensive personnel to do that.

If you scout this years MU squad in a short window and you go into practice on Monday morning to coach up your teams defense you focus a lot on Justin, but then it's kind of a crap shoot.
Not sure how far down the scouting report shutting down and his pick and roll abilities is, but I hope it's pretty far down.

I don't worry about MUs defense, that's just grit and determination with all that adrenaline. I worry about getting buckets, easy buckets, early and often. Then dropping some Darryl mid rangers and letting Jus be Jus, maybe a few Kam or Greg 3s and the day is a success.
I think it all boils down to that offense scoring some easy points and letting the confidence roll, and the defense will follow suit (or lead the way for the offense to close the deal)

[MU82]

I was being sarcastic about the playing video games and celebrating part.

That said, my point is that it's a tight window.
You are scouting as much as you can in that window, but how much do you share with your team with the hope think that they will grasp?

There is definitely scouting involved- reminds me of good old Buzzards postgame interview on shutting down that one PG in the dance, was it Tu Holloway? I think it was a Murray St kid that had an amazing year. That interview was awesome, but buzz also had the defensive personnel to do that.

If you scout this years MU squad in a short window and you go into practice on Monday morning to coach up your teams defense you focus a lot on Justin, but then it's kind of a crap shoot.
Not sure how far down the scouting report shutting down and his pick and roll abilities is, but I hope it's pretty far down.

I don't worry about MUs defense, that's just grit and determination with all that adrenaline. I worry about getting buckets, easy buckets, early and often. Then dropping some Darryl mid rangers and letting Jus be Jus, maybe a few Kam or Greg 3s and the day is a success.
I think it all boils down to that offense scoring some easy points and letting the confidence roll, and the defense will follow suit (or lead the way for the offense to close the deal)

A lot of wishful thinking there, but that's OK. It's what fans who aren't Debbie Downers should do!

We'll be scouted thoroughly, and the opponents' defensive game plan will include plenty about our pick-and-roll. Now, will they execute their defense better than we can execute what we want to do on offense? We'll see!

I sure hope you're right about our defense, because we haven't played a lot of good D the last month-plus.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Guys, every likely tourney team has a good idea of what their likely seed is and who their possible opponents are a t this point.  Our first round opponent is already preparing a scouting package on us.

[DoctorV]

Guys, every likely tourney team has a good idea of what their likely seed is and who their possible opponents are a t this point.  Our first round opponent is already preparing a scouting package on us.

Sweet. So who is Shaka and company preparing a scouting package for?

I'll guess Creighton unless proven otherwise.

It's one thing to gather data and some film on 15 teams that you can possibly face, it's all out there to be gathered in several hours.
It's another to watch and analyze several games of film on a team you haven't seen much, or at all, outside of some mainstream highlights.

Not that any of it will matter much anyhow tbh, the best team on that day will win the game more often than not.
For Marquette to be the best team on that day the easiest path, offensively, is an effective TyKo, as he previously was this season. There are other paths, several of them, but my hope is that the easiest comes to fruition and we don't have to worry about the others as much

[rocky_warrior]

Sweet. So who is Shaka and company preparing a scouting package for?

At this point?
Michigan St
Iowa St
TCU
San Diego St.
San Francisco
Davidson

Without a good BET run, one of those will likely be our opponent.  (Creighton & Seton Hall would also be of concern for those teams, but not us)

[wadesworld]

Put it this way. It's far more likely that our opponent will have watched 2020-2021 Oklahoma, Clemson, George Mason, and Maryland games than it is that they forgot to watch Marquette games prior to February 2022.

[muwarrior69]

MU is an imperfect team who plays hard. I'd recommend you enjoy the ride.

What a season; we are all so starved to have a winning season/program that when we do, the glass is  half empty rather than full when we don't play well. The thrill of actually competing and winning and the agony of losing this season is so much more fun as compared to the last 7 years we had to endure. The program has taken one step forward and we should all celebrate.

[Uncle Rico]

Lose Thursday and the 'Quette is squarely on the bubble

[MuggsyB]

Lose Thursday and the 'Quette is squarely on the bubble

Nope.  That's not happening Uncle R.

[Uncle Rico]

Nope.  That's not happening Uncle R.

That's not what I read

[GooooMarquette]

A little hyperbole but there were multiple unforced turnovers by MU and easy transition baskets by St. John's especially after MU made threes that accounted for at least 10 -15 points. 

Look I'm glad we won.  But we are as undisciplined a team as they come, lately.  We make things harder on ourselves than they have to be.

Go Marquette!

Agree. No way we should've expected a 20-point win, but the unforced errors are frustrating at this point in the season.

Still, the ride has been a blast....

[Goose]

Dr. B

We are an imperfect team this season and that is why I enjoyed the season so much. The effort put in, the different guys stepping up and everyone playing has been fun to watch. There have been a few disappointing moments, but the good moments have been really good. These guys deserve a few more weeks of basketball and I hope they get it. This has been one of my all-time favorite seasons and my excitement level for the future is very high.

[MuggsyB]

Kolek is so key to this team.  He doesn't have to be Steve Nash but we are at our best when he is on his game and finds ways to pick his spots a score a little bit.  The turnovers must go down though from our entire squad.  They're sloppy and primarily self-inflicted.   We can play up tempo but there no reason to be in a hurry every possession.

Our transition defense has also been astonishingly bad at times.  The easiest way to raise many scoopers blood pressure is to see an MU opponent go the length of the floor, in 2.6 secs, AFTER a made bucket.  These are focus issues, not a "flaw" or a personnel problem.  Get back,  stop the ball,  be less reactive and more decisive and physical.  It's also not illegal to take a charge on a downhill drive.   Get into people's grills, increase the tenacity meter,  catch the and secure the ball off the glass, and we're back in business.  There is no dominant team in '22.  Including the 1 seeds.