The Marquette view

[jon breiner]

For the past few years, my MU friend Pat has written me his game 
thoughts and I usually share them with the forum.  I guess the view from 
the outside is very similar to the view from the inside:

jon b


I have yet to watch the tape of the game, so my comments are from
watching the game on ESPN only. I don't care that UC is considered down
this season, this is a big win for Marquette. There have been a few
years, including last season, when UC was supposed to be rebuilding and
came out to win C-USA. Cincy has done an incredible job of holding serve
at the Shoe over the years and MU has not shown a consistent ability to
win on the road. Anyway, the following are random thoughts not put
together in any sort of coherent fashion.

This was the first time that I really felt that MU should win the game
at the Shoe as MU has better talent. While the loss of Cordell Henry
showed early in the season, Diener has excelled at the point in C-USA
play. The addition of Jackson is the primary difference. MU has lacked a
consistent inside scorer for years. Jackson has showed the ability to
dominate in the paint, and the fact that MU went inside to him early was
telling considering UC's reputation in the past. Clearly Maxiell is not
the interior player many thought he would be. While I expected Jackson
to play well Saturday, I did not expect him to dominate in the post the
way he did. Maxiell did not show any toughness. Another factor has been
the play of Todd Townsend. Early in the year I talked with friends about
the hole we had at the small forward spot. Townsend has developed
nicely, especially his shot. From MU's standpoint, I was pleased with
the team's play while Wade was on the bench. In the second half Wade
showed why he is a great player, but it was his defense with 2 fouls and
his assists that really impressed me. 

I was concerned about Field Williams or Tony Bobbitt going off for 20+
points if they got hot. While Williams got his points, I believe they
were in Kleinschmidt time (the only time former DePaul player Tom
Kleinschmidt would score against MU was in the final 3 minutes when MU
was up big). I know UC has struggled to score this season, but I was
surprised by the lack of an offensive philosophy. It seemed as if UC was
playing a rec league offense instead of using plays and sets like in the
past. This was surprising to me since Huggins' teams are usually well
prepared offensively. I saw UC play Xavier and Oregon, so I did not know
which team would show up. Stokes is a fine player, but he seems better
suited to being the second or third option. I think he misses having
Logan around since Logan was the focus of the other team's defense. I
also expected UC to be more prepared for the matchup zone. The first few
times MU used it UC looked confused. Huggins is too good a coach not to
be prepared, but that had me wondering.

At this point I think UC has its back against the wall. Playing at
Freedom Hall and hosting Oklahoma State means you could be facing a four
game losing streak, including two in a row at home. Wow. I expect UC to
play better, and it strikes me that UC could actually jump up and beat
UL Wednesday. Huggins' teams seem to play best with a chip on their
collective shoulders. I don't know why, but I think UC could be in
position to win one on the road they shouldn't (hopefully not on March
8). Here's hoping UC beats UL since that could make the MU - UL game on
the 15th for the lead in C-USA.

Finally, it's still a shame Slive had to screw over C-USA basketball by
admitting East Carolina and TCU. Figures he'd leave after he sees what a
mistake that was. Pity this is the last year that MU is guaranteed home
and home with UC and UL. I figure MU gets DePaul (natural, long term
rival), SLU (makes sense) and either UC or UL in their mirror games next
season. So MU gives up one of those two in order to ensure we play
Houston. [Sarcasm on] Yeah, that'll help Marquette. [Sarcasm off]. Go
Marquette!