What the Silicon Valley Press is sayin' about MU

[BaltimoreMC]

"...because Marquette is next up, and if the Golden Eagles' struggle against Kentucky in the early game Thursday is any indication, Marquette is a far-flung thing from UCLA, Washington State or USC.  I think it all registered on Marquette Coach Tom Crean, who watched the game from press row for about an hour, until he quickly bolted early in the second half with a worried look on his face and the Cardinal ahead by 30."

Now I really want to kick their smug a$$!!!!!

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8641889

[timinatorx3]

Wow, Stanford looked like a No. 1 seed against the Ivy League Champs.... impressive!!!!!!1

[NavinRJohnson]

"...because Marquette is next up, and if the Golden Eagles' struggle against Kentucky in the early game Thursday is any indication, Marquette is a far-flung thing from UCLA, Washington State or USC.  I think it all registered on Marquette Coach Tom Crean, who watched the game from press row for about an hour, until he quickly bolted early in the second half with a worried look on his face and the Cardinal ahead by 30."

Translation: Prior to the 10 minutes or so of the game I watched today, I have never seen Marquette play.

[Marquette06]

Are you sure this article didn't come from the Onion?  Ridiculous!

[timinatorx3]

Think Stanford will still look like a No. 1 seed on Saturday if they take us this lightly?? I mean, they did dominate Cornell...

[77ncaachamps]

If this is any indication of what kind of game it was, we'd better hope we shoot over 50%!

"Cornell couldn't see the basket through Stanford's tall trees, making the Cardinal's defensive strategy look downright genius in the brain game of the NCAA tournament.

With the 7-foot Lopez twins altering shots inside and defenders in the face of Cornell's perimeter shooters, it didn't take an Ivy League degree to figure out the Big Red was in big trouble."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/19/sports/s155751D63.DTL&type=sports

Here's a cool tidbit from the MU-UK then Stanford-Cornell game:

"Note: Harbaugh sat just a few rows behind the Marquette bench. He wore a yellow Golden Eagles T-shirt and celebrated along with the rest of the rooting section as Marquette defeated Kentucky to reach the second round. Now comes the hard part. Saturday, the school that signs Harbaugh's paycheck will play the team Harbaugh's brother-in-law coaches (Marquette). All that's on the line is a trip to Houston for the Sweet 16. "I may be the only person in the building who knows the outcome. For me, it's going to be a win and a loss," Harbaugh said. Harbaugh made sure to change colors as soon as Marquette's game ended. He pulled off the Marquette T-shirt and replaced it with a Cardinal-colored polo shirt. The football coach then watched Stanford knock out Cornell."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/sports/ci_8642213?nclick_check=1

[TallTitan34]

His best bet may be to wear green to the game Saturday.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Can you say "Bulletin Board Material"?

[77ncaachamps]

Here's another article from a Mercury News writer's blog:

http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/collegesports/2008/03/20/stanford-hammers-cornell-thoughts-on-the-game-and-on-marquette/

*** Regarding Stanford-Marquette on Saturday afternoon:

Yes, Stanford will have trouble with Marquette's guards, and yes, Marquette will have trouble with Stanford's big men.

But I think the most interesting matchup will be how Stanford chooses to defend Marquette forward Lazar Hayward. He's a 6-foot-6 power forward who shoots very well from the perimeter.

Does Stanford play the Lopez twins together and ask Brook to chase Hayward around the perimeter?

That would put Marquette in a bind defensively, but it could also pose fatigue/foul problems for Brook Lopez.

Or does Stanford play one Lopez (on MU center Ousmane Barro) and use Taj Finger or Lawrence Hill at the four-spot on Hayward?

That's probably a better matchup defensively for the Cardinal, but they lose the impact of having the twins on the floor together.

(As noted below on the comment board, could be Robin doing the chasing, but the main point is: One Lopez on the floor or two.)

A second-round chess match for Trent Johnson, it appears.

[NYWarrior]

Wow, Stanford looked like a No. 1 seed against the Ivy League Champs.... impressive!!!!!!1

ROFLMAO

[Final Four or Bust]

This doesnt surprise me at all - all the Stanford folks I know are very arrogant (think dukies or nd folks, if not worse).  Only reason its not as well know is they are on the west coast.  A stanford person will always make it a point to tell you where they went.

[ecompt]

Stanford certainly is the best team in the Ivy League. They beat Harvard and Yale in the regular season and now Cornell in the playoffs. They also found a way to lose to Siena, so they're not unbeatable. It ain't gonna be easy, but this is a very winnable game.

[MUSF]

"Cornell couldn't see the basket through Stanford's tall trees, making the Cardinal's defensive strategy look downright genius in the brain game of the NCAA tournament.

With the 7-foot Lopez twins altering shots inside and defenders in the face of Cornell's perimeter shooters, it didn't take an Ivy League degree to figure out the Big Red was in big trouble."

Wow, put two 7-footers down low and put pressure on the outside shooters. That coach is a defensive genius.

Who writes this s**t?

[spiral97]

they ignore the fact that chasing barro around is folly too.. that's how we wore out pitt's grey last year.. haven't seen barro wear someone down like that this season but it's not a bad strategy to go to if fatigue is a concern for stanford's bigs...

[MUSF]

they ignore the fact that chasing barro around is folly too.. that's how we wore out pitt's grey last year.. haven't seen barro wear someone down like that this season but it's not a bad strategy to go to if fatigue is a concern for stanford's bigs...

Harangody was smoked at the end of our first ND game. I know he had a good game but he was definitely sucking air by the end of the game.

[spiral97]

they ignore the fact that chasing barro around is folly too.. that's how we wore out pitt's grey last year.. haven't seen barro wear someone down like that this season but it's not a bad strategy to go to if fatigue is a concern for stanford's bigs...

Harangody was smoked at the end of our first ND game. I know he had a good game but he was definitely sucking air by the end of the game.

trying to remember.. was he going man-to-man defense on barro through most of the game?

[Marquette06]

I didn't see the game so I'm just judging the article...

What a difference a year makes: Cornell didn't score for four minutes. In that same span last March, Louisville had 12 (and Stanford 2).

Can you really compare Cornell to Louisville?

Bilas was either trying to manufacture drama or has zero understanding of how Stanford plays ... or both.
He said repeatedly in the first half that Stanford's lead should have been bigger given Cornell's poor execution offensively — basically implying that once Cornell found its rhythm, the game would tighten up.

To me that says that Stanford didn't take advantage of opportunities Cornell game them.

What a strange article.

[77ncaachamps]

I just want it to be a high percentage of shots to fall and points off of TOs because I think Stanford's just going to settle into their 2-3 zone.

[CrazyEcho]

Stanford certainly is the best team in the Ivy League. They beat Harvard and Yale in the regular season and now Cornell in the playoffs. They also found a way to lose to Siena, so they're not unbeatable. It ain't gonna be easy, but this is a very winnable game.

Stanford is not in the Ivy League.  Ivy League consists of:

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
UPenn
Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell

[tomcrean4pres]

I saw we attack the S**t out of the Lopez twins and try to get some foul trouble...

[drewm88]

Talk to Higgins pregame a la Sam Young. Convince him that the Lopezes are actually on MU. When they're both on the bench with 2 fouls 8 minutes in, attack attack attack.

Pretty simple actually.

[Daniel]

It will indeed be a tough game for us - our small guards are going to have a hard time shooting over the 7 footers.  To win, we will need to score a lot of quick transition points - need to cause lots of turnovers and stops  - and we will HAVE to hit from the outside like we did agiasnt ND at the BC.

So we can win it, but we need to really have a great effort and result by most of our team.

So let's GO MARQUETTE!!!

[esotericmindguy]

Stanford certainly is the best team in the Ivy League. They beat Harvard and Yale in the regular season and now Cornell in the playoffs. They also found a way to lose to Siena, so they're not unbeatable. It ain't gonna be easy, but this is a very winnable game.

Stanford is not in the Ivy League.  Ivy League consists of:

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
UPenn
Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell

I know sarcasm is hard to pick up on at times....but seriously Echo, get it together.