[Paint Touches] Is MU's Defense an NCAA Tournament Liability?

[PaintTouches]

I don't think so.
https://painttouches.com/2023/03/08/is-marquettes-defense-an-ncaa-tournament-liability/

It's not just the homer in me, either. The Q1/2 splits being so different from the Q3/4 splits is a bit of an outlier compared to other, similar great O mediocre D squads.

[panda]

We've won games recently with the defense spearheading the effort. Xavier game prime example. Things are clicking at the right time for this team.

[NCMUFan]

It is a very good defense.  Fewer defensive breakdowns than past years.  Good rotation.
Go Marquette!

[Goose]

Defense might be their key to March success, not a liability. Their defense has been outstanding in stretches, with every guy making improvement over the BE season. I am more excited about their defense than I am worried about. I have seen enough very good stretches to believe the D can win them games in March.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Defense might be their key to March success, not a liability. Their defense has been outstanding in stretches, with every guy making improvement over the BE season. I am more excited about their defense than I am worried about. I have seen enough very good stretches to believe the D can win them games in March.

Unlike Wojo's team this defense can get kills.  The Achilles Heel is rebounding and extended possessions (last year it was transition buckets).  That was Zach's role but it is incumbent for guys like Jop to step up.  Big East teams crash their guards and forwards. As Al used to say, NCAA runs are about the bench over performing.

[Goose]

Dr. B

Agreed on the bench overperforming and we have a very good body of work that proves we can get great efforts off the bench. The depth is a big advantage for MU the rest of the way. I have felt all season that having nine guys that ALL can contribute has been a big reason for the success.

[Herman Cain]

Defense might be their key to March success, not a liability. Their defense has been outstanding in stretches, with every guy making improvement over the BE season. I am more excited about their defense than I am worried about. I have seen enough very good stretches to believe the D can win them games in March.

I think when we get out of conference our defense will shake up our opponents . As they will not have such in depth knowledge as our conference opponents do.

We just have to hope our rivals aren't having ridiculous 3 point shooting games .

[StillWarriors]

I don't think so.
https://painttouches.com/2023/03/08/is-marquettes-defense-an-ncaa-tournament-liability/

It's not just the homer in me, either. The Q1/2 splits being so different from the Q3/4 splits is a bit of an outlier compared to other, similar great O mediocre D squads.

Very interesting, thanks. Is that perhaps a different year for Xavier? That record doesn't look right.

[Goose]

Herman

100% agree on opponents getting hot from 3. That is my biggest concern because we have seen it happen multiple times this year.

[barfolomew]

Good piece Andrei.
Here is my favorite quote with absolutely no context required:

"Marquette will make the Final 4 and you can book your Houston tickets now"

[Goose]

Defense travels.

[Herman Cain]

Defense travels.

Goose:
We shut down Hawkins with strong defense tonight.

[Goose]

Herman

I always trusted our D more than our offense and our offense can be very impressive. All season we have forced teams to use the whole shot clock. They can play D.

[MU82]

Goose, I liked what you said earlier about great defensive stretches.

We are not quite big enough, lack the rim protector and don't rebound quite well enough to be the kind of team that can just kill an opponent on defense all game. But we have the ability to shut down key players -- especially perimeter players -- for long stretches. And those stretches make the difference in games.

We also have enough defense to stop a team from beating us at the end, as we showed tonight against Hawkins, as we showed in the first Nova game against Dixon, as we showed in rattling Boum, etc.

Our defense down the stretch totally won tonight's game against an opponent that pretty much every national expert had been picking to make some noise in March. That defense will help Marquette make even more noise.

[Goose]

Another great performance on defense last night. There defense has been outstanding the past month or so, especially against better competition. The last three regular season games they had their 8-10 minute stretch of great defense and that set tone for those games. The defense the last two games has been fun to watch.

I am going to stand my opinion that defense will be this program's calling card during the Shaka era. They force teams deep in the shot clock on virtually every possession and have all season. The defense has been under appreciated and I believe will be the reason we have a lot of basketball yet to be played.

[Scoop Snoop]

Another great performance on defense last night. There defense has been outstanding the past month or so, especially against better competition. The last three regular season games they had their 8-10 minute stretch of great defense and that set tone for those games. The defense the last two games has been fun to watch.

I am going to stand my opinion that defense will be this program's calling card during the Shaka era. They force teams deep in the shot clock on virtually every possession and have all season. The defense has been under appreciated and I believe will be the reason we have a lot of basketball yet to be played.

Exhibit A supporting your comments was obviously the championship game. Miller sat in disbelief as Marquette bottled up a very good Xavier offense as evidenced in BE play. I was in awe of how our guys socked it to Xavier and saw the defeated expressions on the faces of the Xavier players.

[The Sultan]

I do think there was something to Xavier being tired since their bench is much shorter than Marquette's, but I am sure Shaka preached getting on them early for that very reason.

[Goose]

Snoop

We have seen many times this season an opponent making a difficult shot to be the shot clock buzzer and more shot clock violations than I can remember in a long time. They are now learning to close out those possessions. In addition, if the shot is not in late shot count it is often because of a forced turnover or a steal.

There is a reason why they educated the fans on deflections and kills, it is because this is a program that will be led by defense moving forward. The new kids coming in are defensive guys that can score and that will be the trend moving forward.

[Scoop Snoop]

Snoop

We have seen many times this season an opponent making a difficult shot to be the shot clock buzzer and more shot clock violations than I can remember in a long time. They are now learning to close out those possessions. In addition, if the shot is not in late shot count it is often because of a forced turnover or a steal.

There is a reason why they educated the fans on deflections and kills, it is because this is a program that will be led by defense moving forward. The new kids coming in are defensive guys that can score and that will be the trend moving forward.

I titled an email to my Marquette alumni brothers and sister-in-law "The Ghost of Al McGuire" and told them about how our team  had turned Marquette into a major player again, one that Al's ghost, hangin' at the Al, would be proud of.

My favorite Al story is when he and Maravich were being interviewed on the radio and Maravich mocked defense by comparing it to watching grass grow. Al shot back "If that's what you think, your ass is grassed and I'm your lawnmower."

[MUfan12]

Miller said it felt like we had six guys on the floor last night and I agree with him.

That was elite, elite, elite defense. Ran them off the line, communicated, recovered. Made them uncomfortable at every turn.

Not bad for being unsustainable.

[Goose]

Snoop

I hope you, your wife and all of the faithful fans had a weekend of a lifetime. It was unreal watching in my living room and can only imagine the excitement. Thanks for cheering on the boys!!!

[Scoop Snoop]

Miller said it felt like we had six guys on the floor last night and I agree with him.

That was elite, elite, elite defense. Ran them off the line, communicated, recovered. Made them uncomfortable at every turn.

Not bad for being unsustainable.

Miller and the Xavier players probably had nightmares of Marquette's defense after hitting the sack at their hotel. I doubt they got much sleep. 

[tower912]

To answer the question asked in the thread title.....


No.

[Goose]

Snoop

I believe that this programs defense is in year one of the process. Last year they did not have the right guys, this year they had more guys capable of closing out and the future it will be lockdown city.

[Tha Hound]

Can we get the updated D numbers including the last 3 games at MSG? How have the numbers looked since we played good teams in a tournament scenario.