Here's what makes me feel uneasy....

[scooter]

Die hard fan for 30 years plus here.  After reading through all these threads and throwing my two cents in throughout, I finally stepped away from the computer and took a break.  I realized I may have come across like my old man (I mean that literally and figuratively - he's a '56 MU grad).  One thing that always bugs me about dad is he's such a downer - always critical of MU - even though he's been a fan forever.  I sound like him tonight - I surprised myself. 

What bothers me is that this team is capable of so much more.  Chicos, I seem to be arguing AGAINST you.  But normally, not always on this board, I am a HUGE believer in MU.  But you're seemingly stubborn refusal to "hear" what anyone is saying on here got my feathers ruffled.

I love Marquette.  I want them to do well and always optimistic everytime the ball is tossed for the opening tip off against ALL comers.

BUT - we are not looking very strong lately.  Yes, we played well against GU, yes, we played well against Villanova and Pitt.  But we looked awful today.  The 7 of 9 games you refer to include some games that we absolutely should have won.  We really could use a win against someone we're "not supposed to beat."

We are very capable of laying an egg - as we have against UL, ND on the road, SU.  Someone pointed out in another thread, the field of 64 is loaded with top 50 teams (kind of a no brainer right?).  Well, our track record against top 50 teams this year is not too impressive so far.

I promise you, whether its Cincy or Seton Hall on Wednesday, there will be no bigger fan of the team than me, but we better right the ship quickly.  I've read my posts over and what is almost funny is that I come across as so negative when in reality that couldn't be further from the truth.  But in an ironic way, I think your "sugarcoating" everything (to borrower another poster's term) made me "turn" on my own team.

Every game from here on out is huge.  No more rotten eggs.  I agree, losing on the road to Syracuse is not a big deal, but looking like cr@p doing it is what has everyone up in arms.  Outside of McNeal, there were no highlights.

Let's put this one behind us and get the momentum back.

 

[77ncaachamps]

is the inability to score against the zone.

It seemed like MU couldn't establish a disruptive interior player or play that would bust the zone. MU made a couple of TOs from bad passing in the middle of that zone. DJ dribbled and rarely penetrated to kick the ball out for an open look, and rebounding was not at its best against this thicker interior team.

[ecompt]

The only thing we do well on offense is penetrate and kick out, and we can't do that against any kind of zone. DJ looked totally disinterested yesterday and Lazar after his first three was a non-factor. You knew TC had given up early when Scott and Trend were in the game in the game in the first half. But Chicos is absolutely right; matchups make the difference, and if we get the right ones we could win a game or two in the Dance. I think people are going to scream here if we're out on the first Thursday or Friday.

[21Jumpstreet]

...is that our supposed guard depth is our biggest strength.  I have always heard that guard play is key in the tourney.  I have not seen much strength with Cubes or Acker lately.  The teams we get soundly beat by have consistent size.  Big guards, big everywhere.  If our guards can't rebound we are in trouble.  We definitley have the capability to win a couple games in the big dance, if we get it in our heads that we have to hustle all the time.  There are no more pushover games.

[esotericmindguy]

Thats great that you're a huge believer, but the simple truth is they aren't that good....most people have been saying that all year on this board.  Besides the big win against ND we have played poorly against the top teams in the Big East.  I would be happy with a sweet 16 birth, but that seems unlikely unless we get a 6 seed, 7-10 have to play a 1 or 2 in the second round. 

We're a gaurd oriented team that can't shoot the 3, not a good combo.

[Big Papi]

I wasn't able to watch the game yesterday but listened to part of the second half and checked out the box score on the game so take my viewpoint with a grain of salt.

Heading into this game, I thought we would lose but as always when it comes to the prediction contest I can't help but predict with my heart but when you looked at Syracuse there were a couple of factors that really played against us.  First, a team that plays exclusively a 2-3 zone.  Not a team that plays man-to-man and than attempts to play zone against us.  Second, a team that desparately needed a victory.  And finally but most importantly, the huge height advantage added to their great athleticism just doesn't bode well for a team that is small.  These are not excuses just things to keep in mind.  From the looks of things in the recaps and boxscores I can't believe the following:

McNeal at all of 6'2" guarded Greene at 6'11"?  Talk about a mismatch.   I am disappointed that TC didn't make adjustments to Greene when he started getting hot.  I don't know if we played zone or put on a full court press but those 2 strategies should have been employed.  Syracuse loves to jack the 3s and they are not very good at it and their length should of had us in a zone exclusively for much of the game.

That we had 18 turnovers.  I imagine most were against the zone than in transition? Not surprised that Syracuse only had 14 turnovers if we didn't provide full court pressure as Pitt was the only game that Syracuse had a ton of turnovers. 

That DJ wasn't able to handle Flynn on the defensive end as he finished with 21 and 7.  Is Flynn that good or did DJ just struggle or did Flynn get his against Acker and Cubillian

Cube providing nothing in 11 minutes of action.  Can't have that.  Need production out of Cube down the stretch to do any damage and if he won't pull the trigger maybe Scotty should get some big minutes and see if he will pull the trigger.  Need one additional zone buster.

Another poor game from Hayward stat wise.  Is he tiring down the stretch or are teams taking Hayward out of games?  He had 5 turnovers and his shooting was bad.  Looks like he was too small to play the 4 against this tall Syracuse team.  Than again a zone......never mind.

Need to win the next two games as we really need a win against someone above us in the standings.  Add 2 wins against the top 4 and the last 2 losses are non-events.   

[79Warrior]

The only thing we do well on offense is penetrate and kick out, and we can't do that against any kind of zone. DJ looked totally disinterested yesterday and Lazar after his first three was a non-factor. You knew TC had given up early when Scott and Trend were in the game in the game in the first half. But Chicos is absolutely right; matchups make the difference, and if we get the right ones we could win a game or two in the Dance. I think people are going to scream here if we're out on the first Thursday or Friday.

I think we will exit both tourneys quickly. We just are not going to beat good teams without a center, period.Yeah, I know , we beat UW. That game was in December, March is a whole different ballgame.

[ChicosBailBonds]

The only thing we do well on offense is penetrate and kick out, and we can't do that against any kind of zone. DJ looked totally disinterested yesterday and Lazar after his first three was a non-factor. You knew TC had given up early when Scott and Trend were in the game in the game in the first half. But Chicos is absolutely right; matchups make the difference, and if we get the right ones we could win a game or two in the Dance. I think people are going to scream here if we're out on the first Thursday or Friday.

I think we will exit both tourneys quickly. We just are not going to beat good teams without a center, period.Yeah, I know , we beat UW. That game was in December, March is a whole different ballgame.

I'll ask again....last Saturday if we don't commit a stupid foul at the end, would we not have beaten a good team with a good center?  Yeah, I know we didn't win but it was a miracle that Georgetown did.

[NavinRJohnson]

The only thing we do well on offense is penetrate and kick out, and we can't do that against any kind of zone. DJ looked totally disinterested yesterday and Lazar after his first three was a non-factor. You knew TC had given up early when Scott and Trend were in the game in the game in the first half. But Chicos is absolutely right; matchups make the difference, and if we get the right ones we could win a game or two in the Dance. I think people are going to scream here if we're out on the first Thursday or Friday.

I think we will exit both tourneys quickly. We just are not going to beat good teams without a center, period.Yeah, I know , we beat UW. That game was in December, March is a whole different ballgame.

I'll ask again....last Saturday if we don't commit a stupid foul at the end, would we not have beaten a good team with a good center?  Yeah, I know we didn't win but it was a miracle that Georgetown did.

I'm afraid I'm not following this discussion...If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...I don't buy this whole good center stuff, etc., but I'm not sure how you would consider it a miracle that GU won. We lost that game because we failed to make FT's, and committed a couple bad defensive plays/stupid fouls. Georgetown made plays, and MU didn't, how does that constitute a miracle.

[77ncaachamps]

The only thing we do well on offense is penetrate and kick out, and we can't do that against any kind of zone. DJ looked totally disinterested yesterday and Lazar after his first three was a non-factor. You knew TC had given up early when Scott and Trend were in the game in the game in the first half. But Chicos is absolutely right; matchups make the difference, and if we get the right ones we could win a game or two in the Dance. I think people are going to scream here if we're out on the first Thursday or Friday.

I think we will exit both tourneys quickly. We just are not going to beat good teams without a center, period.Yeah, I know , we beat UW. That game was in December, March is a whole different ballgame.

I'll ask again....last Saturday if we don't commit a stupid foul at the end, would we not have beaten a good team with a good center?  Yeah, I know we didn't win but it was a miracle that Georgetown did.

I'm afraid I'm not following this discussion...If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...I don't buy this whole good center stuff, etc., but I'm not sure how you would consider it a miracle that GU won. We lost that game because we failed to make FT's, and committed a couple bad defensive plays/stupid fouls. Georgetown made plays, and MU didn't, how does that constitute a miracle.

Well, let's connect the Gtown game with this past one.

Syracuse did not have a much heralded center like Gtown did, yet their zone stymied our "potent" transition and guard games. How much of a difference would a REAL big man on the blocks have been to break the zone? I believe a real impact. Knowing we couldn't do anything inside, their 2-3 zone extended to the three, and that's not a good thing when you're being defended by big and long guards/forwards.

Agreed, MU lost that Gtown game and it was not a miracle. But what took place that game (MU forced a large amount of TOs and converted points) did not happen versus the Cuse. The Orange limited the transition baskets and matched us speed for speed. Paired with the aforementioned inability to shoot over the zone and attempting 16 less free throws (means we were drawing less fouls), they were our "worst nightmare": big, tall, fast, long...you get the picture.

[CTWarrior]

I'll ask again....last Saturday if we don't commit a stupid foul at the end, would we not have beaten a good team with a good center?  Yeah, I know we didn't win but it was a miracle that Georgetown did.

I've always said our problem is against big and quick.  Georgetown's big man is not the least bit agile.  Georgetown does not take adavantage of their size, preferring not to crash the offensive boards.  They use the old Kevin O'Neill MU style of backing up immediately to not allow the fast break.

Despite this, Georgetown's front line BADLY outplayed ours, by the way, though nobody seemed to notice.  So maybe we could beat a team with a good, agile front line, but our guards would have to dominate to make it happen.