Biggest Surprise

[PGsHeroes32]

I agree with most of this. Saying at least we didn't get blown out is just an ignorant statement. The facts are we've lost four close games to three probable tournament teams. To say it's not a present concern is ignoring facts.

Now, I do believe we will improve in end of game situations as the season moves on as we learn from our mistakes. I'm very happy with where the team is at now if my only concern is losing tight games to good teams. But it's a concern.

Weve also boatraced two probable tournament teams.

At the end of the day my hope is we can go 13-7 in league play.

If we win 13 blow outs and lose all 7 in close games. I do not give a flying fu ck. And again, metric wise it actually will almost certainly help our seeding.

Then when you factor in the non con 3 blowouts and 3 close losses.

That has us entering BET and NCAA tourney play at 16-10 against high majors. Which then gives us a 61.5% chance of running a team we play off the floor and not even sweating out a post seasn game. And heck if we lose, itll be a fun one unlike UNC where we all wanted to drink the cyanide 5 minutes in.

Sure, based off our results we are much closer to being 12-2 than 8-6 so thats a bit annoying. But thats all it is. At the end of the day we just need to win enough bball games.

[MU82]

At the end of the day we just need to win enough bball games.

That's so silly. If we go 6-0 in the NCAA Tournament, winning all our games by double digits, it will have been a massive fail.

[panda]

Weve also boatraced two probable tournament teams.

At the end of the day my hope is we can go 13-7 in league play.

If we win 13 blow outs and lose all 7 in close games. I do not give a flying fu ck. And again, metric wise it actually will almost certainly help our seeding.

Then when you factor in the non con 3 blowouts and 3 close losses.

That has us entering BET and NCAA tourney play at 16-10 against high majors. Which then gives us a 61.5% chance of running a team we play off the floor and not even sweating out a post seasn game. And heck if we lose, itll be a fun one unlike UNC where we all wanted to drink the cyanide 5 minutes in.

Sure, based off our results we are much closer to being 12-2 than 8-6 so thats a bit annoying. But thats all it is. At the end of the day we just need to win enough bball games.

Agreed - we're right there. I believe we'll get over the hump, but I just want to see us pull out a close one.

[DoctorV]

What has surprised me the most this season is how much Marquette has outperformed the projections.

There were several on this board that were very bullish on this years squad, but the bottom line is that this team was projected to finish 9th in the BE in its preseason poll.
Perhaps there were a few outliers, but even some of the most glass half full fans wouldn't have imagined this good of a start.

It's easy for that to get lost in the hoopla as the season progresses. It's easy to expect more, and it's ok to expect more, but that doesn't change that up to this point the expectations have been met and far exceeded.

On top of that, it's the way that it's been done. Most would have said that IF* Marquettes offense can keep up with its defense that this team would comfortably dance. Now, if Marquettes defense gets up to speed with the current pace of this offense then look the F out.
The individual improvements are also all staggering.

That's why it's extremely exciting when I read some of the stuff Brew has to say about a "dangerous team in March" etc.
That means the data suggests that it is a possibility all of our wildest expectations can be blown out of the water this season, and who woulda seen that coming?

It's also extremely exciting that it's been fun as hell, just a joy to watch, and every step of the journey gives hope to a greater tomorrow.

Where do I stand? Well, again this team is so far greatly exceeding anything I would have expected. That said, it's a long season.
My instinct says that there will be a few games where the squad gets smacked back to reality- with a subsequent large dip in the metrics- but every game that passes I get more hopeful that maybe we won't see that. The home wins I've come to expect at this point, but I can see a bad road clunker where we drop substantially in NET.
I think my instinct says that likely due to past end of the season failures, it's just a hard thing to shake because it's happened so often in the last half decade.

At the end of the day Im just enjoying the ride and have one hope, an NCAA win.

[MU82]

The coaches -- or their grad assistants or their SIDs or their ballboys or whoever votes on their behalf -- got it horrifically wrong about Marquette for a second straight year.

[tower912]

There was nothing wrong with the predictions.  A whole lot of scoring, minutes, and leadership left.   Incoming was two guards and Gold.  And an NAIA guy.   MU had very little proven coming back.    So, 9th.    The offseason improvement was dramatic.   But not a given, according to the preseason prognosticators.    Ah, well.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Going into the season I said it wouldn't have surprised me if the team was a 2nd weekend tourney team or NIT-bound. I leaned toward us being an NCAA bubble team but I did think the potential range of outcomes could be that wide.

I did think those that thought this wasn't even an NIT team were nuts and there were more than a handful of those posters.

In spite of some of those tough losses I'm thrilled with how the season has started and what Shaka is building here. I know we're also looking for our Jay Wright as far as someone who can stay and lead this program for 20 years and I think Shaka can be that guy.

[The Sultan]

I agree with most of this. Saying at least we didn't get blown out is just an ignorant statement. The facts are we've lost four close games to three probable tournament teams. To say it's not a present concern is ignoring facts.

Now, I do believe we will improve in end of game situations as the season moves on as we learn from our mistakes. I'm very happy with where the team is at now if my only concern is losing tight games to good teams. But it's a concern.

Losing any game is a concern. Hell, every game has some concerns win or loss.

But losing a close game is much less of a concern then getting blown out.  Winning a close game is a greater concern than winning in a blow out. If we had to be 10-4 at this point of the season, I would WANT them to be four close losses and ten blowout wins.

[MU82]

There was nothing wrong with the predictions.  A whole lot of scoring, minutes, and leadership left.   Incoming was two guards and Gold.  And an NAIA guy.   MU had very little proven coming back.    So, 9th.    The offseason improvement was dramatic.   But not a given, according to the preseason prognosticators.    Ah, well.

We'll disagree on this, tower.

The coaches are supposed to be super-experts. They are supposed to be able to look at a player -- or in this case, several players on every team -- and see that a certain level of improvement was likely.

Those who played against Kolek, Jones and O-Max last year should have been able to see it. Oso was harder to project, as he is playing differently this year than he did last, but he was still gonna get better. Those new to the Big East -- Miller, Matta, etc -- have coached exceptional talent throughout their careers and should have been able to see it, too.

I mean, you have said on several occasions that you thought we'd be a lot better this season because you expected significant improvement from several of our players. Are you more knowledgeable about what to look for in a basketball player than McDermott and Matta are? Hey, maybe you are! And you're almost surely more knowledgeable than whoever voted on the coaches' behalf!

[The Sultan]

I don't think coaches pay a lot of attention to other teams pre-season until they have to. So I think tower, brew, etc. all had a better understanding of what Marquette could project to than other coaches did.

[tower912]

I paid attention.   They were paying attention to their teams.    The easy shorthand to predict a season is 'a team is as. good as what they have coming back.'   Look at the story about Shaka showing the freshmen last year's SHU box score.   That is what others thought was coming back.   I bought into offseason improvement.   

[MU82]

I don't think coaches pay a lot of attention to other teams pre-season until they have to. So I think tower, brew, etc. all had a better understanding of what Marquette could project to than other coaches did.

I think you're probably right.

And it's why relying on preseason coaches' polls as some kind of "benchmark" is flawed. Just because 10 coaches off the top of their heads thought we'd finish 9th doesn't mean we should look at beating that benchmark as an achievement. The achievement is playing as well as we have, winning the games we have, positioning ourselves to be in the NCAAT field, etc.

Sure, I get the easy talking point: "The coaches said Marquette would finish 9th!" But, as you and tower say, they aren't even paying attention.

[nyg]

MU is three games into BE play, so I will wait until the end of the next five games to determine the status of this team. It will be a good barometer of what to look for going forward.

@ Nova
@ STJ
Georgetown
Uconn
@ Xavier

As for "surprises", agree with others about Oso's performances and can't wait to see how he plays against Uconn and Xavier with their two bigs. 

[panda]

Losing any game is a concern. Hell, every game has some concerns win or loss.

But losing a close game is much less of a concern then getting blown out.  Winning a close game is a greater concern than winning in a blow out. If we had to be 10-4 at this point of the season, I would WANT them to be four close losses and ten blowout wins.

Sure

[MUfan12]

What is an endgame situation? Under 2 left? After the last TV timeout?

Because two of those four losses were well on their way before those points.

[4everwarriors]

Biggest surprise wuz Kolek sayin', "fook 'em" at a catholic university and such, aina?

[MuggsyB]

I'm also surprised that Wrightsil was not likely a big contributor if was healthy.  Gold is better than I thought he would be but we're essentially playing with one big. 

[Scoop Snoop]

Biggest surprise wuz Kolek sayin', "fook 'em" at a catholic university and such, aina?

Shows how much you know! Catholics invented swearing.

[tower912]

If there is an injury to one of the starters not named 'Stevie', all of this comes tumbling down.

[brewcity77]

But it's a concern.

No, it's not. At least not an intelligent concern. Is it a concern when you flip a coin and it comes up tails four times in a row?

If Chase and O-Max shots rim in, we're 11-2 and no one is talking about this inane point. Basketball is a make or miss game, and if you think there's some grand takeaway because O-Max missed a wide open three while Hepburn made a blind closely guarded 30-footer, you don't understand the game.

The coin came up tails. Doesn't change what this team is.

[tower912]

Indeed.    The record of the 4 teams who beat MU is 42-6.     Two of those were coinflip games.     We had a lead on the current #1 team in the country deep into the second half in their gym.    MU is doing just fine.     Say prayers for health.   

[panda]

No, it's not. At least not an intelligent concern. Is it a concern when you flip a coin and it comes up tails four times in a row?

If Chase and O-Max shots rim in, we're 11-2 and no one is talking about this inane point. Basketball is a make or miss game, and if you think there's some grand takeaway because O-Max missed a wide open three while Hepburn made a blind closely guarded 30-footer, you don't understand the game.

The coin came up tails. Doesn't change what this team is.

Pgsareheroes said it before I did - two of the four close games were very winnable. That absolutely changes who this team is.

[We R Final Four]

Biggest surprise wuz Kolek sayin', "fook 'em" at a catholic university and such, aina?

Traditional at that!

[PointWarrior]

Shaka's cookie crumbles...

[The Sultan]

Pgsareheroes said it before I did - two of the four close games were very winnable. That absolutely changes who this team is.

It changes the results sure. But it doesn't change "who this team is."  That's silly.