Rasslin' with the Red Storm

[tower912]

Kolek fouled him.

[HutchwasClutch]

It touched OMax's hand.    Just barely.

Agree, that was not a missed call. 

[HutchwasClutch]

At least not this year. No more Senior day.

Shaka was no doubt feeling the weight of getting Kennedy in.  That why some coaches just have seniors start the game and sub them out after a possession or two.  That's the best way to play it. 

That said, Kennedy in there had zero to do with how dangerously close it got to OT, but certainly could have.  They were playing 4 on 5 for however many seconds he was out there. 

No harm done, play it differently in future years is all to be learned. 

[muwarrior69]

Did you ever play high level basketball?  He talks a ton, but so do SOOO many guys.  I don't recall Larry Bird ever getting sucker punched.  Reggie Miller got in a tussle with punches thrown but he was an aggressor, not cause he was running his mouth.

Anyways, as someone who was at the game today, Jeff "Da High Steppa" Anderson put in a Donaghy level performance.  I don't think he was out to get Marquette, but he had some weird need to assist and keep SJ in the game at all costs.

Early on, when MU was rolling, I believe at the under 12 timeout, Anderson is talking to fans near center court(which he does WAYYYY too much).  Kolek comes over to say something.  Mind you this is before any weird calls and Kolek hadn't been remotely demonstrative to this point.  Anderson ignores him.  Kolek moves around to get Anderson's attention, High Steppa rotates his body 90 degrees to continue giving Kolek his back while saying whatever he's saying.  Kolek shrugs in annoyance and walks away.  At that point, I was thinking "I wouldn't be shocked to see some nonsense".  Sure enough, within 5 min of gameplay, he had made 3 questionable calls including running across the court to overrule something.  The Kinsella interaction was absolutely ridiculous to see in real time.

The last minute of the game was one of the weirdest, most surreal, jarring finishes to a game Ive ever attended.  The turnaround David Jones 3 in the corner off the steal was absolutely absurd.  The phantom And-1 on Addae-Wusu's 3 was inexplicable in real time.  And the entire, I mean ENTIRE, arena, including both benches, was baffled by the final "shooting" foul that put Stanley on the line.  The initial signal by the official was out of bounds, Marquette ball.  When Kolek didn't go to throw it in, the reaction was they called it SJ ball.  When Jakubowski announced a foul, it wasn't even immediate disgust, it was a murmured "WTF?!" reaction.

On a more humorous note, my favorite random part of the game was at 15:30 in the 2nd half, a ball went off a foot and out of bounds, MU ball.  David Jones sprinted to the SJ bench and sideline making the "REVIEW IT" twirling motion.  As if that was a thing that would be done at that point of the game.  It made me laugh.

What didn't make me laugh was the following Steph Curry-esque performances:

David Jones (career 29% 3P shooter): 2/5 from 3, both contested desperate shots late.
Dylan Addae-Wusu (34% 3P shooter, averages 1.2 makes per game): 4/6, new career high in points, only other time he's ever made 9 shots in a game was against Depaul
Posh Alexander (18% EIGHTEEN 3P shooter): Before missing a rushed 3 late, he was 3/5. Leading up to today, he made NINE 3s all damn season.

Actually feeling blessed to win despite 3 separate Jean Felix performances.

X beat us in just about every stat except rebounding and we won by one, go figure. A good team still wins even when the other team is playing their A+ game. Let the blessings keep comming.

[The Sultan]

The thing that concerns me the most about SJU was they really got into the lane at will. And if they get hot, they most certainly could beat us at MSG. I would much rather play Butler.

[wisblue]

I don't think that last foul call was a shooting foul.

Wasn't SJ in the double bonus?

[HutchwasClutch]

The thing that concerns me the most about SJU was they really got into the lane at will. And if they get hot, they most certainly could beat us at MSG. I would much rather play Butler.

Summed up perfectly.  The comments in Go Butler thread about playing them are really stupid and so homer sounding. It's tournament time, beware of everyone because anything can and does happen. And pretending there's no difference between playing St John's or Butler is just deliberately ignoring reality. 

[The Sultan]

I don't think that last foul call was a shooting foul.

Wasn't SJ in the double bonus?

Yes.

[PointWarrior]

Summed up perfectly.  The comments in Go Butler thread about playing them are really stupid and so homer sounding. It's tournament time, beware of everyone because anything can and does happen. And pretending there's no difference between playing St John's or Butler is just deliberately ignoring reality.

COLE gets stronger in the post-season too..

[Goose]

Point

The fear factor is going to rise rapidly over the upcoming games for the COLE squad. Couple that with NLW and Farley licking their chops to chirp in, it is going to have some folks on the edge of their seats.

To be honest, I now enjoy the COLE folks and the trolls because they missed out on a great season. Actually, a season that might not be repeated for a very long time, at least I hope they are never picked 9th going into BE season under Shaka.

[The Sultan]

I don't think it has anything to do with COLE to suggest that Marquette matches up better against Butler than SJU. They should beat both regardless.

[Goose]

Sultan

I was talking more in general terms, not specifically regarding of the BET match up.

[MarquetteFan94]

This has likely been mentioned, sorry if repetitive.

Noticed Ellis practicing with the team yesterday in pregame then in uniform on the bench, without warmups on at tip-off.

I had thought he was redshirted (or medical/injury waivered) this year, guess that's not the case? 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

This has likely been mentioned, sorry if repetitive.

Noticed Ellis practicing with the team yesterday in pregame then in uniform on the bench, without warmups on at tip-off.

I had thought he was redshirted (or medical/injury waivered) this year, guess that's not the case?

He was/is redshirted. Warming up in uniform doesn't burn the redshirt.

[The Lens]

Summed up perfectly.  The comments in Go Butler thread about playing them are really stupid and so homer sounding. It's tournament time, beware of everyone because anything can and does happen. And pretending there's no difference between playing St John's or Butler is just deliberately ignoring reality.

MU is going to have to tighten up its interior D.  To invite the opportunity to play SJU agin is not homerish it's the realization that if we're gonna win 5-6 games on the NCAAs we have to beat all comers.  Let's see if we can fix that leaky sink in 4 days.  I don't avoid problems, approach them. No finish line.

[MUfan12]

65 foot heave.
Crazy ass falling away three in the corner
Banked in 4 point play.

That's 10 points on lower than low percentage shots. Now we're scared of those guys? F*ck that.

[Uncle Rico]

65 foot heave.
Crazy ass falling away three in the corner
Banked in 4 point play.

That's 10 points on lower than low percentage shots. Now we're scared of those guys? F*ck that.

Yup.  We just as likely beat them by 30 as anything.  Don't care if it's Butler or them

[MU82]

Agree, that was not a missed call.

OK, enough Scoopers say O-Max touched the basketball on that play to make me now believe I saw it wrong.

[tower912]

MU crushes Butler.  SJU at MSG has a punchers chance.

Not fear.  Reality.

[Uncle Rico]

MU crushes Butler.  SJU at MSG has a punchers chance.

Not fear.  Reality.

Butler might be a trap game, though

[Shooter McGavin]

Yup.  We just as likely beat them by 30 as anything.  Don't care if it's Butler or them

100% Rico.  They can't repeat that again. We can.  Not concerned at all.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I really don't think SJU has a punchers chance. They got like four punchers chances yesterday and still lost

[Dr. Blackheart]

I really don't think SJU has a punchers chance. They got like four punchers chances yesterday and still lost

I was looking at Pomeroy's odds charts by minute in the game.  Their highest odds of winning was at the 6 minute to go mark at 12%. Even at the end with that ridiculous run it was only 10%. 

#COLE

[geps]

Interesting we have scored exactly 96 on the Johnnies twice.

[94Warrior]

OK, enough Scoopers say O-Max touched the basketball on that play to make me now believe I saw it wrong.

He did.  It was ridiculous of the ref from half court to run in and stop play when he was the furthest from the action.  The ref right on top of the play saw O-Max touch it, as did most of the fans in the Fiserv.

We had an advantage at the time, for a ref to blow his whistle, he better be certain of what he saw.