Seth Davis "Stocks for March"

[Secret of the Ouse]

Marquette: HOLD

Previous rating: Hold

This is one team that hasn't been overrated or underrated all year. The Golden Eagles have five Big East losses, but there's not a bad one in the bunch. They've got road wins over Wisconsin, Seton Hall and Cincinnati, and they picked up a much-needed statement win over Pittsburgh last Friday. But the problem with Marquette -- still -- is they have not developed an inside presence to complement their perimeter talent. Ousmanne Barro, a 6-10 senior, has been a major disappointment, and Marquette's other two forwards (Lazar Hayward and Dan Fitzgerald) are basically just tall guards. The Eagles' three-point shooting remains suspect, but their occasional ability to get hot, combined with the consistent toughness on defense, gives them a chance to beat just about any team they play.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, but I think Ouse has been playing very well as a big man in the BEAST the last 4 games or so, and no mention of TM getting his redshirt lifted.  I wonder if Seth Davis doesn't think it will be an impact, or didn't know about it when he wrote this.

[augoman]

I would guess, like me, he doesn't think it'll have any impact.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Calling Barro a "major disappointment" is beyond misguided. He is as good as he is capable of becoming.

[NCMUFan]

I think the article is written about the Marquette team that existed 10 games ago.  Crean is using his personnel differently.  Thanks Seth, I don't see anything wrong with flying under the radar screen.

[Wareagle]

My guess is that this is lazy work on Davis' part.  It seems like he just updated the W's and L's.  If he had been paying attention, you'd think a healthy DJ would at least get a mention.

[IAmMarquette]

My guess is that this is lazy work on Davis' part. 

Agreed.

[MUFanInGreenBay]

 Has this guy seen Barro play the last few weeks? Overall, I wouldn't say Barro has been a major dissapointment this year either. His finishing around the basket has been a disappointment much of the season, but his defense has been pretty darn solid all year if you ask me. It's guys like Burke that have been the major disappointment more than anyone. And Hayward is just a tall guard?? Yeah, right. Hayward has shown he can bang with the best of the bigs in the Big East and score inside. Sure, he hasn't always had success(see Louisville games) in the paint, however, overall he's been pretty good down inside. Fran Fraschilla called him one of the 5 best "hybrid" forwards in the nation.  

[HarveysWallbangers]

When you consider Barro is coming off possibly the best game of his career, you have to think Davis is working off comments made to him a couple weeks ago. I believe he previously mentioned Barro by name.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

I would guess, like me, he doesn't think it'll have any impact.

Davis doesn't even know Mbakwe was activated and played on Friday night. He's not exactly known for his diligence in regard to his reporting.

[bilsu]

The article is really right on. When MU stops hitting threes they go back into their funk. The lanes close up and MU's offense will stall. Barro can only score when he hides almost out of bounds. This only works it the other teams defense is drawn out. This team if it was hot from three point range for four straight games could make the final four. However, they will lose the first NCAA tournament game they cannot hit from the outside. Hayward really belongs at the 3 spot. he plays the 4 by default.

[Henry Sugar]

The article is really right on. When MU stops hitting threes they go back into their funk. The lanes close up and MU's offense will stall. Barro can only score when he hides almost out of bounds. This only works it the other teams defense is drawn out. This team if it was hot from three point range for four straight games could make the final four.

I don't agree with this.  I had actually started to run the stats to prove the point that you suggest, and I abandoned the idea because it wasn't true.  Our numbers were similar for both blowout wins and blowout losses.  There's basically no correlation between how many threes we make (or take) and how well the team does.  We only shot 6-24 from three against Pitt, as an example.

Earlier this month, Brendan Desrochers had an excellent article about Marquette (link below).  From the article:

"Marquette is not one of the five teams that hit a high percentage of 3-pointers nor is it one of the four teams that attempt a high percentage."

http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080206&content_id=1450018&oid=2

His view was that success was predicated on how well we did at 2-point FGs, and at defending either from three or inside the paint.