Finishing with a flourish

[PointWarrior]

Yeah, chances we stumble @ GTown are tiny, but still substantially higher than we stumble @ Butler.

Can we seriously just stop talking about "where this team will stumble" when we are discussing this year's Butler / Depaul / GT.

I mean THIS TEAM, we get it past MU teams stubbed their toe or in Wojo's case "cut off their foot"

[Uncle Rico]

Can we seriously just stop talking about "where this team will stumble" when we are discussing this year's Butler / Depaul / GT.

I mean THIS TEAM, we get it past MU teams stubbed their toe or in Wojo's case "cut off their foot"

Butler is a trap game

[mugrad_89]

Can we seriously just stop talking about "where this team will stumble" when we are discussing this year's Butler / Depaul / GT.

I mean THIS TEAM, we get it past MU teams stubbed their toe or in Wojo's case "cut off their foot"

These are the same folks who were convinced that last Saturday’s game at DePaul was a trap game.  Yes, the game that we won by….(checks notes)…20.  👀

[Dr. Blackheart]

That hybrid zone-man defense MU deployed at the end was outstanding. Nova was totally confused. I think 8 kills in a row.

MU now the 52nd ranked defense in Haslam.

[JakeBarnes]

That hybrid zone-man defense MU deployed at the end was outstanding. Nova was totally confused. I think 8 kills in a row.

MU now the 52nd ranked defense in Haslam.

Love to see it. I really think when this all shakes out this is a top 40-50 defense on Kenpom.

[mugrad_89]

That hybrid zone-man defense MU deployed at the end was outstanding. Nova was totally confused. I think 8 kills in a row.

MU now the 52nd ranked defense in Haslam.

The last five minutes was a defensive clinic.

[PGsHeroes32]

Love to see it. I really think when this all shakes out this is a top 40-50 defense on Kenpom.

Definitely has the potential.

Think its been mentioned by others on here before. Overall we have played a quality offensive SOS which made our D look worse than it was. We also played most of our tough BE offensive games by the halfway point. Hence the recent drop.

And some of our D was due to our style and promoting fast pace and easy buckets. But when games get to crunch time we have proven to clamp down on D in most games. Really if anything its usually a lack of scoring late rather than stops.

[DegenerateDish]

I disagree with this strongly. Butler cannot score with us. Ranked 11th in offense in Big East play. Ranked 9th in defense. Since the start of Big East play, Butler ranks #240 in Torvik. Not just worst in the Big East, but worst by a wide margin (Georgetown is #163). Butler has no bench, can't rebound, and has been poorly coached. I'm far more afraid of DePaul at home than Butler, who has gone 0-8 against top-50 Big East teams and lost by an average margin of 22.8 ppg (none closer than 20). And that includes 4 home losses by 20+ points.

Though I'll be honest, I don't think we lose any of the bottom feeder games. DePaul or Georgetown might give us a good half, but I doubt any can keep up for 40 minutes.

Again, I never said we’re losing at Butler. Context of my comment was based on the options Topper mentioned. Of those options, it’s 100% Butler that MU has the CHANCE to lose. MU isn’t losing at home to DePaul, Butler, or the Jhonnie’s or at GT.

[MU82]

Can we seriously just stop talking about "where this team will stumble" when we are discussing this year's Butler / Depaul / GT.

I mean THIS TEAM, we get it past MU teams stubbed their toe or in Wojo's case "cut off their foot"

It has moved from COLE-y and dopey to comical. It's literally hard not to laugh when some folks start talking about all the games we can lose -- usually because of some nightmare from the past.

Sure ... any team can lose any game ... it's sports. But there is absolutely ZERO reason to think this season's Marquette team is gonna lose to this season's Butler team ... because Hinkle ... or because they did 5 years ago ... or because whatever ghost they want to bring up.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Can we seriously just stop talking about "where this team will stumble" when we are discussing this year's Butler / Depaul / GT.

I mean THIS TEAM, we get it past MU teams stubbed their toe or in Wojo's case "cut off their foot"

Reread my post

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Also, "here comes the February swoon" comments. Last year they slipped down the stretch sure. But before that, there is only one scholarship player on this team who played for Wojo - Oso got 38 total minutes two years ago.

What happened then has no bearing on what will happen this month.

[PGsHeroes32]

Anything could happen. And maybe we finally have a game where we completely lay an egg.

But I dont think we lose any of the non big 3 games left.

Personally though, I truly think at Georgetown is more of a risk than at Butler. At least Gtown is proving to play like a half of competitive ball a lot recently.

Butler(hope I dont jinx us) is being treated as a buy game oppenent on their home floor these days.

[CTWarrior]

Villanova defends us very well.  Really limited the driving/cutting/dishing.  Both games.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

But I dont think we lose any of the non big 3 games left.

Personally though, I truly think at Georgetown is more of a risk than at Butler. At least Gtown is proving to play like a half of competitive ball a lot recently.

This is exactly what I said, which PointWarrior misconstrued to mean I was saying we should worry about losing to Butler.

Quite the opposite; I was agreeing with brew that anyone worrying that Bulter would be a tough game is being way too pessimistic. As bad as Georgetown is, Butler is clearly the worst team in the BE at the moment.

[muwarrior69]

Also, "here comes the February swoon" comments. Last year they slipped down the stretch sure. But before that, there is only one scholarship player on this team who played for Wojo - Oso got 38 total minutes two years ago.

What happened then has no bearing on what will happen this month.

....but, but today is Ground Hog Day.

[Silent Verbal]

Last night felt like the type of back-and-forth contest we simply never won under Wojo.  Villanova’s had an off year with some injuries and the coaching change, but they came ready to play and gave Marquette a heck of a game for 38 minutes.  Any 4-minute lapse by MU — bad shot selection, sloppy ball movement, defensive breakdowns — and Nova easily could’ve pulled ahead by 10 points.  For a while it seemed like MU wouldn’t be able to get over the hump.  But they never stopped fighting, never “lost” a 4 minute battle between official timeouts, and ultimately came out on top.

That was a great college basketball game.  It’s nice to be playing for seeding at this time of year instead of watching the bubble to see if we’ll even get in.

[Newsdreams]

Butler is a trap game

Classic definition, they're looking ahead at Tuesday's game 4 sure

[GoldenEagles03]

Classic definition, they're looking ahead at Tuesday's game 4 sure

Kinda funny that with how good we've been I haven't really even looked at the schedule.  Normally I'm looking to see where we can possibly snatch up some easy wins, but every game feels winnable so I haven't even bothered to look(until now) who we have coming up on the schedule.

[PointWarrior]

This is exactly what I said, which PointWarrior misconstrued to mean I was saying we should worry about losing to Butler.

Quite the opposite; I was agreeing with brew that anyone worrying that Bulter would be a tough game is being way too pessimistic. As bad as Georgetown is, Butler is clearly the worst team in the BE at the moment.

Not meant specifically for you TSmith - just responded to the last post mentioning a potnetial loss to GT, Butler.   I get it that you are saying the it's a far more potential to lose to GT than Butler.   

[cheebs09]

Kyle Neptune is already starting to be one of my least favorite opposing coaches with as much as he bitches to the refs. Do it with some aplomb like your predecessor.

I’ve never seen a coach beg so much for a Technical on an opponent for talking trash.

[PGsHeroes32]

I’ve never seen a coach beg so much for a Technical on an opponent for talking trash.

Uconn fans were saying that Neptune is notorious for that.

Him and the bench yell when guys take 3s. Stevie fired back and Neptune tried to cry for a Stevie tech.

[BM1090]

Again, I never said we’re losing at Butler. Context of my comment was based on the options Topper mentioned. Of those options, it’s 100% Butler that MU has the CHANCE to lose. MU isn’t losing at home to DePaul, Butler, or the Jhonnie’s or at GT.

If we look at only BE play, Georgetown has actually been better than Butler.

[wisblue]

I actually feel really good about beating Butler quite handily. Twice.

But, won’t the game at Hinkle be Butler’s Senior Day?  I was informed  on another board that Senior Day turns otherwise indifferent teams into veritable Tigers. We should never forget the game at Seton Hall about 10 years ago.

[Newsdreams]

But, won’t the game at Hinkle be Butler’s Senior Day?  I was informed  on another board that Senior Day turns otherwise indifferent teams into veritable Tigers. We should never forget the game at Seton Hall about 10 years ago.

Wrong color

[The Thing]

Last night felt like the type of back-and-forth contest we simply never won under Wojo.  Villanova’s had an off year with some injuries and the coaching change, but they came ready to play and gave Marquette a heck of a game for 38 minutes.  Any 4-minute lapse by MU — bad shot selection, sloppy ball movement, defensive breakdowns — and Nova easily could’ve pulled ahead by 10 points.  For a while it seemed like MU wouldn’t be able to get over the hump.  But they never stopped fighting, never “lost” a 4 minute battle between official timeouts, and ultimately came out on top.

That was a great college basketball game.  It’s nice to be playing for seeding at this time of year instead of watching the bubble to see if we’ll even get in.

That Nova game felt like an NCAA tourney game. Good defense, slower pace, back and forth, etc. It was really nice to see MU lock down late on D and get the win. They definitely can win in different ways. Bodes well for March.