PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Marquette is back in first place in the Big East, along with Georgetown. Buzz has done a hell of a job this year and Vander has finally turned into the player everyone hoped he would.
Pretty much everything to do with his vast improvement offensively is that Vander can finally hit jumpers consistently, even with his his still funky shooting mechanics. I'll admit to being surprised by just how much more his jumper is falling because i seriously questioned whether he'd ever be a consistent scorer unless he made a big change to those shooting mechanics. He always had been unselfish offensively, a solid passer, good at slashing the paint, and a quality defender.
I really gotta hand it to both Buzz and Bo Ryan. Going into the season and after watching early games for each team, for the first time in awhile, i had real doubts as to whether either team would make the big dance. Yet, here Marquette sits 18-6 and 9-3 in conference play, while Wisconsin is 18-8/9-4. Each has at least some shot of winning their conference, but odds being against it.
Given i'm old enough to remember both programs being in extended stretches of irrelevancy, it's so nice to now see both being run by coaches that each year are a near lock to put teams on the floor which win 20 plus games and make the NCAA Tournament. Not only that, both coaches have a nice recruiting class coming in next year.