Thursday, February 26, 2009

Marquette just missing 1 piece...

The BC had a great atmosphere last night. The student section was rowdy the entire game. EVERYBODY was in their seats when basketball was being played...nobody was wondering the halls. I was in row W of section 4-something (ie...2nd last row in the place) and looking around the entire game I didn't see a single seat empty even at those top rows. Good times. Pretty much the complete opposite of any Bucks game.

Couple of points regarding the game:
UCONN doesn't have an identifiable weakness besides MAYBE not being deep enough for the tournament. However, the play makers on that team is just sick. Calm. Collected. You want to run plays for the beast down low? Check. Two man game at the top of the key with a big guy setting screens for a senior guard who can jack a 3 from anywhere? Check. Athletic forwards there for offensive rebounds and put backs? Check.

Marquette IS a much different team without Dominic James. Whomever commented earlier that the team will not miss a beat or even be better without James at the point (or whatever) is highly mistaken. Mo Acker is a suitable college backup. But James is a class above him...regardless of how he was overrated the last two years. It's clear he redefined himself and worked hard to become a legitimate point guard. There were countless times last night on fast breaks where Acker (who's very quick) would shoot up the floor and maybe have a 3 on 2 or even a 3 on 3 with a size mismatch. But he got tentative as soon as he reached the perimeter. That's the difference between him and James. James would break away, pass half court and then find another level of speed and burst past the defender right for a layup...or put a little juke on him and get into the lane for a floater or a dish. James' injury is severe for Marquette.

I believe (don't quote me) this past Saturday that Doug Gottlieb (who is turning into one of the most arrogant men on television) called Marquette the most "overrated" team in the country. Hmmm...ok. Maybe a little too much Doug. I would venture to say that last night proved Marquette could run with the top teams in the country. They were in the game until the very end...when that freaking dagger of a 3 point shot basically ended the game. I couldn't believe they let Price get a shot off like that when it's pretty obvious the ball was staying in his hands when he held it at the top of the key and wound the whole shot clock down.

That being said...Marquette can beat any team on any night...but their lack on size is what is going to kill them in the tournament. People have been saying that all year. Unless they get some ridiculous draw where they don't bump into any big teams, they're going to have to shoot lights out to go deep. The box score says it all. 2nd chance points will kill Marquette (as they did last night). UCONN had 14 offensive rebounds vs. Marquette's 6...and overall UCONN took them on the glass 44-25.

Sweet 16 team? Sure...I'll buy that. Beyond that...doesn't look good.

Let's just say I would have liked to see that game last night with Trevor Mbakwe playing significant minutes instead of Dwight Burke.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

They could use Mbakwe and Powder (Christopherson - backup PG) right about now. Ty Taylor would be nice too.

graf said...

why you got to throw the comment in there about the bucks? last night was two top 10 teams going at it, first time ever for MU at the BC. bucks haven't played a game of that significance since 2001.

Anonymous said...

We're screwed without him.

Matt said...

The James loss reminds me of UW's loss of Butch to injury a few years ago.

People always ripped James and Butch, but they did things for their teams that are not easily replaced by bench players.

UW was not able to replace Butch that year. We'll see if Marquette can do better.

Anonymous said...

What’s the deal with everyone suddenly sweating James' nuts now that he's hurt??

He's not good, if he wouldn't have gotten hurt that game would have been far out of hand by the end of the first half. Him making that first 3 was potential for a disastrous game. (as he would have continued to jack them up at 28%)James can't shoot, and had made his living by taking it hard into the lane throwing up some bogus shot that goes in less than half of the time.(46%)goal being to get to the line where he isn't much better(46%...horrendous)

Aker is without a doubt an improvement at the PG position, especially for a team with three other legitimate scorers (Mcneal, Mathews, Hayward) In Akers 33 minutes of action he threw up the same amount of shots as James' 4 minutes of action. (True point guard) had 5 less points, while only having 1 less reb, assist, and steal then James season avgs. And get this ZERO T.O.'s and ZERO missed shots against arguably the best team in the nation.

Anonymous said...

If you think Acker will be able to do anything against Fields, Sosa, Flynn and Devendorf, you truly are an idiot.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I hope I couldn't be more wrong.

Anonymous said...

ohh Lance...that's not even along the same lines as the argument.(unless of course you want to put james in the same class as Fields, Sosa, Flynn and Devendorf?) which in that case I would have to say you my friend are truly and idiot!

Anonymous said...

Comparing the PGs offense to DJ isn't what I'm saying though, really no comparison so I'll agree with you.

Defensively though, you think Mo will be able to handle any of them?

Anonymous said...

Acker is no way an upgrade over James. Acker is a nice backup PG. A backup. James is better on the break, runs the show, and turned himself into a good defender.

By they way, isn't Devendorf like 6-5? Neither James nor Acker are guarding this guy anyway. Man I hate Devendorf.

Anonymous said...

Brad's right, Devendorf is listed at 6'4" (of pure trash).