Was it a successful season?

[ATWizJr]

The wound is still open and it stings but, for me I'd have to say that it was a successful season.

Given the mnakeup of the team, our strengths and weaknesses, I'd say that for the most part the guys played up to their potential and Crean got most of what they had to give.  Our needs for the future are obvious.  with our undersized lineup we made the BE tourney, went 2-1, got a reasonable seeding in the Big Dance, won in the opening round and were a heartbeat away from the Sweet 16.

It is too early to set goals for next year's squad as it is unknown who is staying and who is going and what impact the new players will have, but, for this season's edition, I'd say "well done" !

[YoungMUFan4]

At the beginning of the year, I would have said it would have taken a Sweet 16 run for it to be a successful year but I want to take back those thoughts.  The heart, effort and resiliency this team showed throughout the year made it one of my favorite MU team to watch of all time (albeit, I am young).  You could tell they left it all on the floor and I can't ask for any more.

[Avenue Commons]

Yes. This team played well towards the end of the year. It's easy to say "what if" as we sit here today. I loved watching this team grow and I hope everyone comes back next year and they make another run. It was a fun year.

[esotericmindguy]

At the beginning of the year, I would have said it would have taken a Sweet 16 run for it to be a successful year but I want to take back those thoughts.  The heart, effort and resiliency this team showed throughout the year made it one of my favorite MU team to watch of all time (albeit, I am young).  You could tell they left it all on the floor and I can't ask for any more.

Agreed, wanted a sweet 16 run myself, but we ran into a team with two talented seven footers that killed us....need a quality big.

[marquette09]

We ran into a good team in the second round becasue we were a 6 seed.  Until we can win some quality road games in the big east, were going to be running into a lot of good teams in the second round if not the first round becasue we won't get a 3, 4 or even 5 seed. I know pre-season predictions are meaning less but we were predicted to finish 3rd in the confrence, and we finished 6th. Personally I thought this team should have made the sweet 16 this year and we can only look to our mediocre play (not just losing but getting blown out in a couple road games) in the BE as to why we did not make the sweet 16.  In the NCAA tournament there is such a big difference between every seed and though we played a talented team with two talented big men to the wire, I feel we should not have been playing a team the caliber of Stanford until later in the tournament because with the talent on this team ww should have been able to acquire a higher seed.

Was this season a failure? By no means, we were only one point away from the sweet 16, however I thought this team had the talent and potential to make a deeper run in the tournament this year. 

With that being said, next year could be a great year.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Successful, no doubt.

[NotAnAlum]

At the start of the year I was hoping for the kind of run Villanova had 2 years ago.  Ranked in the top 5 at times, run at the big east title, a 2 seed.  After a couple of the road melt downs I had pretty much given up on that.  From a mid Feb prospective the finish we had is "successful".  
Everyone will point to the lack of inside presence.  I think we fell victim to the inability to consistently hit the outside shot.  If our guards had anything close to Diener level shooting we would have been able to win without that inside presence.  Jerel's 3 point hot streak in the Stanford game tends to prove that point.  DJ or Wes shooting at the same clip and this team is hard to beat.

[bilsu]

Very successful. Every team we lost to was in the NCAA tournament, except for Syracuse. Syracuse has won its first two games in the NIT. I also do not think the lost at West Virginia was the bad loss I thought it was when it happened. If you look at our schedule. 6 of our 35 games were against teams that are in the Sweet 16. I believe this year is the toughest schedule MU has ever played. Two of the sweet 16 teams we beat on their home court.

[New Era Warriors]

Hell yeah this was a successful season. It's too bad we had to end it on a heartbreaking loss, but as a fan, it's good to know that you're so passionate about one team and that we care so much about one team. We live and die with the Marquette Warriors. Instead of thinking about fu@king Stanford, just remember all the good\fun\exciting times throughout the year: beating Oklahoma State by 30, winning AT Wisconsin!, beating Notre Dame by 26 at home (2 of 3 on the year), beating up Pitt at home, all the exciting home wins, the Bradley Center rockin with jump around guys...lol, cubillan doing the worm, beating UWM by 30 L0L, winning at Cincy (ooo that feels good), beating kentucky in the first round of NCAA tourney!, and just watchin OUR team lay it on the line night in and night out. be happy for them as they gave it their all. they truly are the hardest working team on hardwood. be proud to be a MARQUETTE fan! we can easily be any other average joe and be a fan of some crapty ass school, that plays in a crapty ass conference, that goes 15-14 every year, that plays in a 10,000 seat arena, and doesn't even make the NIT. BUT, we are a fan of MARQUETTE, who plays in the BIG EAST, we went 25-10 and made the NCAA tourney for the third strait year. we play in the Bradley Center with 18,000 strong supporitng the warriors. we have a passionate and VERY harding working coach that cares about nothing else but his players, fans, and winning. we WILL bounce back next year and it will be a fun and exciting year next year. don't worry everyone, the time will come again...life is good! be proud to be a Marquette fan! WE ARE MARQUETTE!!!

[Brew City]

Successful, no doubt.

It will really depend on who comes back, but I think the rough losses (GT, Stanford) at the end of the year will pay off big time next year.  This team will be battle tested, and pissed.

WE ARE MARQUETTE!

[77ncaachamps]

While a Sweet Sixteen appearance would have been the "icing on the cake," this MU team was able to put together a strong regular season finish and a run in the Big East Tourney - both were knocks in the previous seasons as the team would "fizzle" toward the end. Then, they were able to get the First Round monkey off their back and take one of the season's best teams into OT while outrebounding them (the #13 rebounding team in the nation) for the whole game.

Successful? You betcha...but the loss still stings. 

[muwarrior87]

We ran into a good team in the second round becasue we were a 6 seed.  Until we can win some quality road games in the big east, were going to be running into a lot of good teams in the second round if not the first round becasue we won't get a 3, 4 or even 5 seed. I know pre-season predictions are meaning less but we were predicted to finish 3rd in the confrence, and we finished 6th. Personally I thought this team should have made the sweet 16 this year and we can only look to our mediocre play (not just losing but getting blown out in a couple road games) in the BE as to why we did not make the sweet 16.  In the NCAA tournament there is such a big difference between every seed and though we played a talented team with two talented big men to the wire, I feel we should not have been playing a team the caliber of Stanford until later in the tournament because with the talent on this team ww should have been able to acquire a higher seed.

Was this season a failure? By no means, we were only one point away from the sweet 16, however I thought this team had the talent and potential to make a deeper run in the tournament this year. 

With that being said, next year could be a great year.

had Pitt not won the BET, we would have had a 4 or 5 but because of their win, they move ahead of us in the brackets and we get bumped to a 6.  Then Pitt would have been the team losing to Stanford and we could have not faced two 7 footers and more likely advanced to the Sweet 16.

[CTWarrior]

For me it depends on how you define successful.  We finished about exactly as I would have guessed before the season started.  So, since I was optimistic, that is successful.  

McNeal raised his game several notches and James had a much better season than a year ago.  Matthews, already a solid player, chugged along and improved some.  Hayward improved greatly.  

On the down side, Cubillan and Fitzgerald had disappointing seasons.  I think Fitz's struggles were the residue of his injury and he may have just been coming around when the season ended.  I expected alot more of Barro, but he was really coming on down the home stretch, too.

As far as the near future, none of our newcomers established themselves as big time D-I players.  Of course, Mbakwe could certainly become a big time player, but this was basically a lost year for him as a player because of the injury.  Acker did not establish himself as a guy I would be comfortable with as the regular PG on a top 15 type NCAA team, which I think is our goal.  While Hayward improved, I think it is obvious that he is a small forward, not a power forward.  Burke had his moments, but doesn't look like much more than a capable back-up with his senior year approaching.  The recruits, particulalry the guards, sound like they will be impact players.  I sure hope so.

Based on above, I would have classifield this as a neutral season, but I'd call it a success because we played well in both the Big East and NCAA tournaments, and I think Crean keeps getting better as a coach.

[jaybilaswho?]

Successful season for the most part. Really the only disappointing thing for me is not finishing higher in the BE standings than we did. With that said, I consider our run in the BE tourny successfull. I think that everyone could have expected a sweet 16 run from this team, but the fact of the matter is that MU/TC had to get past the first round. We did that this year. To me, anything past the first round was just icing on the cake.

Great '07/'08 campaign. I see big things for this team next year (god I hate saying that, it makes me feel like a Cubs fan).

[ChuckyChip]

I got caught up in the elevated expectations coming into this season, but as soon as I saw the team play, quickly realized that, for better or worse, we were basically the same team as 2006-2007.

This is a very good team, but not an elite team, that plays with a lot of heart.  The fundamental flaws of poor shooting and weak inside play were still there.  We didn't have any "bad" losses, and won at least one game (UW) we weren't expected to.

The play in the post-season was encouraging, and getting over the first-round NCAA hump was huge.

Overall it was a very good (not great) season.  I think the team's accomplishments matched it's abilities.

I see more of the same next year.  Barring any NBA defections, DJ, Jerel, Wes, and Lazar will once again man four of the starting spots.  We'll be undersized, but if the shooting can improve, a sweet sixteen run seems reasonable.

[augoman]

Well, we won my 'big 3'; beat Wisco, beat ND(2 out of 3), and the first game in the NCAA's..., so, to me it was successful.  That being said, however, I think my expectations have been lowering every year since '03, and my 'big 3' are actually a "minimum acceptable performance".  So, in reality, the season was not successful,
                                    merely 'acceptable'.

[TC4prez]

Since we had only 1 more win then last year despite returning every starter and are main bench players this was not a successful season.  We remained the same inconsistent team as last year. For this season be a succsess we would have had to have improved from last season.

[muarmy81]

Since we had only 1 more win then last year despite returning every starter and are main bench players this was not a successful season.  We remained the same inconsistent team as last year. For this season be a succsess we would have had to have improved from last season.

Advancing further in the BEast and NCAA tournaments doesn't count as improvement?

[ATWizJr]

does to me.