Marquette Hoops Discussion

[El Duderino]

Losing Rowsey will be like addition by subtraction. Playing two chucking small guards simultaneously hurt them more than helped them. Howard is the better prospect anyway....he even passes off from time to time.

Exactly they both are great offensive players but together they hardly play good at the same times and are terrible on defense...Rowsey is so fun to watch but I'm not shedding any tears watching him go

We have to find out if Wojo can get any team of his to defend well, even once they shed one of the 5'10 guards. I've yet to see it since he was hired.

Offensively, for as explosive as Rowsey/Howard could be sometimes while on the court together, they dominated the ball so much that the other three guys mostly just stood around watching.

Besides needing Joey Hauser to be good as a freshman, Marquette needs Cain and Elliot to get stronger and develop offensively during the offseason. Those two are hugely important going forward.

[Tfence92]

#1 NIT seed?

Who all do they need to lose this weekend for a miracle spot in the 68?

[Mags FTW]

#1 NIT seed?

Who all do they need to lose this weekend for a miracle spot in the 68?

Bama and UCLA losing today would help them.

[Thunder Muscle]

I guess we can debate who to listen to, but I feel Lunardi is kind of the go-to guy in these cases and he doesn't even have MU in the first 4 out. I don't want to say no chance, but I don't think it is much above 0%.

For the last 8 spots, I think Providence, USC, Texas, Louisville, and UCLA are locks. I think Alabama gets in with their win yesterday. That leave (2) spots in my opinion and if I had to bet I think the committee probably has us behind Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, and maybe even a now healthy Notre Dame team.

Lunardi's Bubble Watch as of Today:

Last Four Byes
Providence
USC
UCLA
Texas

Last Four In
Oklahoma
Alabama
Middle Tennessee
Louisville

First Four Out
Oklahoma State
Notre Dame
Arizona State
Syracuse

Next Four Out
Marquette
Baylor
Penn State
Nebraska

[Johnlac1]

Losing Rowsey will be like addition by subtraction. Playing two chucking small guards simultaneously hurt them more than helped them. Howard is the better prospect anyway....he even passes off from time to time.

Exactly they both are great offensive players but together they hardly play good at the same times and are terrible on defense...Rowsey is so fun to watch but I'm not shedding any tears watching him go

We have to find out if Wojo can get any team of his to defend well, even once they shed one of the 5'10 guards. I've yet to see it since he was hired.

Offensively, for as explosive as Rowsey/Howard could be sometimes while on the court together, they dominated the ball so much that the other three guys mostly just stood around watching.

Besides needing Joey Hauser to be good as a freshman, Marquette needs Cain and Elliot to get stronger and develop offensively during the offseason. Those two are hugely important going forward.

Well, that will be the 64 thousand dollar question: can the coach design an offense that is more than just two guards running down the court and gunning up threes?...which appeared to be Marquette's offense much of the time.
Watching Marquette this year (because I like Sam Hauser) made me aware that they have some other good players. But even a super shooter like Hauser was ignored for long stretches in many games.
Nevertheless, Marquette has some other players, like Anim and some others I whose names I don't know, who looked awfully good when given the chance.
Like the pro game, the college game is being built around the three. But having a strong inside game is still important.
A strong inside game opens up the outside.
Some defenders of their small, gunning guards might argue that they were the two best OTB shooters and manufactured many points that working the ball around or inside wouldn't have gotten.
True to a certain extent, but If the coach doesn't instruct his players on teamwork and taking good shots one season, it might be difficult for them to do it the next.
I'm not saying Wojo should go full bore Bo Ryan, but it did seem Rowsey and Howard were often pretty reckless at the neglect of the other players.

[Kerb Hohl]

Exactly they both are great offensive players but together they hardly play good at the same times and are terrible on defense...Rowsey is so fun to watch but I'm not shedding any tears watching him go

We have to find out if Wojo can get any team of his to defend well, even once they shed one of the 5'10 guards. I've yet to see it since he was hired.

Offensively, for as explosive as Rowsey/Howard could be sometimes while on the court together, they dominated the ball so much that the other three guys mostly just stood around watching.

Besides needing Joey Hauser to be good as a freshman, Marquette needs Cain and Elliot to get stronger and develop offensively during the offseason. Those two are hugely important going forward.

Well, that will be the 64 thousand dollar question: can the coach design an offense that is more than just two guards running down the court and gunning up threes?...which appeared to be Marquette's offense much of the time.
Watching Marquette this year (because I like Sam Hauser) made me aware that they have some other good players. But even a super shooter like Hauser was ignored for long stretches in many games.
Nevertheless, Marquette has some other players, like Anim and some others I whose names I don't know, who looked awfully good when given the chance.
Like the pro game, the college game is being built around the three. But having a strong inside game is still important.
A strong inside game opens up the outside.
Some defenders of their small, gunning guards might argue that they were the two best OTB shooters and manufactured many points that working the ball around or inside wouldn't have gotten.
True to a certain extent, but If the coach doesn't instruct his players on teamwork and taking good shots one season, it might be difficult for them to do it the next.
I'm not saying Wojo should go full bore Bo Ryan, but it did seem Rowsey and Howard were often pretty reckless at the neglect of the other players.

I dunno, man. I get your point that some of the other players around Rowsey or Howard would improve given more chances, but Marquette was #10 in offensive efficiency last year and is #22 in the nation this year.

There may be some intangible things that might change like the defense improving with Rowsey and/or Howard not in there or guys like Anim being more efficient in a different offense, but I don't think offense is the problem at all.

I also think that "addition by subtraction" on Rowsey is a bit dangerous. He plays bad defense but a guy that shoots 40+% on 8+ 3s/game is a serious weapon.

Sure, if you're bringing in a 2-way good defender that is pretty good on offense, that's good...but I'm not sure that those guys are hanging on trees to be plucked by non bluebloods.

[Mags FTW]

Marquette could’ve been a dark horse contender with a rim protector/rebounder. In a game dominated by the 3 point shot, they were 4th in 3pt %, 7th in 3pts made, yet are still a bubble team. Their lack of defense just keeps killing them.

[El Duderino]

Marquette could’ve been a dark horse contender with a rim protector/rebounder. In a game dominated by the 3 point shot, they were 4th in 3pt %, 7th in 3pts made, yet are still a bubble team. Their lack of defense just keeps killing them.

No question that lack of defense was by far their biggest problem.

Offensively though, they were just so reliant on the three point shot. I know it's probably not fair to compare Marquette to Villanova, but you watch that game and Nova had such a more balanced offense. When Marquette played man defense Villanova guards and wings attacked the paint at will on dribble drives and then when Marquette switched to zone, Nova started raining threes.

I'm not expecting Wojo to turn the Marquette program into Villanova, but at some point he has to put teams on the court who can defend at least reasonably well and offenses who don't get stuck in mud when NBA distance three point shots aren't falling.

With Rowsey leaving, the offense will change, but whether the defense finally becomes competent will play a huge factor in their success.

I will say though in a slight defense of Wojo, the Big East was a really good conference this year. Even the two bad teams in DePaul and St. Johns weren't cupcake wins. I'm kinda surprised at how quickly this new version of the Big East as developed into the conference it is.

[Chuck Diesel]

Why doesn’t the Australian play? I’ve seen him give good minutes.

[Mags FTW]

Hosting Harvard in the NIT

[bucksbrewers3]

2 seed in NIT shows how far they were out of the tournament. I give wojo next year with morrow, who should help their need down low and a group of mostly juniors and SRs as their main contributors until I get into the hot seat discussion.

[lessthannick11]

All NIT games will be at the Al instead of the BC, Apparently Marquettes contract with the BC expired so they have to play the games there, that and the fact that they wouldnt fill up the BC anyways.

[Thunder Muscle]

All NIT games will be at the Al instead of the BC, Apparently Marquettes contract with the BC expired so they have to play the games there, that and the fact that they wouldnt fill up the BC anyways.

Think it has more to do with the latter. Probably could tarp off entire upper bowl of BC for that one.

I've been out awhile but parking seems like it would be a nightmare at The Al. Unless they built a structure somewhere near in last decade.

[MickeyDavis]

I was at some full house high school games at the AL when they used to use it for WIAA tournaments. Parking is a pain but everyone managed.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

All NIT games will be at the Al instead of the BC, Apparently Marquettes contract with the BC expired so they have to play the games there, that and the fact that they wouldnt fill up the BC anyways.

Think it has more to do with the latter. Probably could tarp off entire upper bowl of BC for that one.

I've been out awhile but parking seems like it would be a nightmare at The Al. Unless they built a structure somewhere near in last decade.

Parking is a nightmare because people are lazy and aren't familiar with the area. There's a couple garages by McCormick area but people don't want to walk 6 blocks on a spring night.

[DingleJerry]

Is the game the same night as a Bucks game? Otherwise you'd think they'd have found a way to use the BC, make a deal somehow

[Mags FTW]

Is the game the same night as a Bucks game? Otherwise you'd think they'd have found a way to use the BC, make a deal somehow

Only 3200 people showed up to MU’s last NIT game. No reason to use the BC.

[DingleJerry]

Is the game the same night as a Bucks game? Otherwise you'd think they'd have found a way to use the BC, make a deal somehow

Only 3200 people showed up to MU’s last NIT game. No reason to use the BC.

oh wow, that's surprising. I mean it's not like I would've expected 18k or the upper levels to be full but still would've thought over 10K. Nevermind then, probably a bit cooler environment to be in a small place then.

[Thunder Muscle]

Yeah no one would show up. Even Louisille had their entire upper level tarped off last night and they're the only show in town & pretty rabid fans.

[neiLz]

What a horrible program.