I think my wife summed it up well. About 4:30pm, she was flopped on the floor, still clad in gold, and said "Blah. It feels like all the joy has been sucked out of me. Can we just go to bed now?" -- It didn't help that we had to endure some very classy UW fans chanting "F-YOU MARQUETTE" on the way back to our car.
GoMarquette.com Recap
Here are some Game Photos I took .. probably the only ones you'd want to see are the shots of Bill Cords, who was honored at half time.
P.S. Hey, Marquette? Could we figure out a way to keep UW fans from coming to this game and screwing with the Home Court juju? Easily 30% of the crowd was wearing Red, and that's just unacceptable. Since the tickets were never sold to the public, the only way a ticket could be had was through the season ticket holders who could buy 10. Ok, ok, and the people who bought 5-packs. That's another way. Please, no more 5 packs for UW fans.
As a good Season Ticket Holder, I took my allotment and brought 10 MU fans (who I forced to wear gold.) New system for 2008: Find out who the traitorous Season Ticket Holders are, and penalize them 5 Blue & Gold points for each person wearing red in a seat they purchased.
Are you kidding me? MU fan here, you cannot blame the crowd for this butt kicking. First off, the crowd at the most was 15% red. Can the red be blamed for us missing countless " NO FOOTERS" in the first half, or better yet multiple open uncontested three point baskets? Hayward alone had 4 uncontested three's that he bricked. I have lost respect for this post if you cannot accept the as_ kicking that took place today. I cannot wait to see your reaction!
ReplyDeleteThat's unfair to attack this blog like that. It is clear that he is writing out of frustration, and that should not discount the amazing job that he has done these past few years. We all need to vent after that loss.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work! I love this blog!
15%? I'd say between 30-35%, considering the luxury boxes were 90% red. Last year in Madison there was around 25% MU fans, with most of them stuck in the upper deck. Granted the Bradley Center is a larger arena and MU is a smaller school, but the amount of Badger fans in the lower bowl was ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteStill, the crowd had nothing to do with the poor play today. Tucker could not be stopped by anyone, and our bigs played so poorly that Matthews had to be on him most of the game. I would have at least liked to see Blackledge get a chance to play inside, but I guess if he can't earn his minutes he's not going to get a big challenge. And I know there was some foul trouble, but giving Tucker about 8 points of wide open layups and slams was a terrible breakdown.
Hayward stepped up with his extra minutes but he still needs to be able to hit some shots. I wouldn't argue against starting him over Fitzgerald if he continues to improve, since Fitz can't hit anything...the Novak comparisons have sure been lost, haven't they? At least Hayward can rebound.
If the free throws are made, the game also gets closer. James will be at best a lost bench player in the NBA if he can't hit 70% of his free throws.
The 4 on 1 breakaway was inexcusable.
Here's an interesting stat: James and Cubillan are the only players on the team with assist-to-turnover ratios better than 1:1. Fitzgerald and Blackledge are both exactly 1:1. Lazar Hayward has one assist on the entire season. I'd even argue that Cubillan is a little too eager to give the ball up and it seems like he's making a more difficult play by kicking the ball out on some of his drives than it would be to finish at the hoop, but maybe some of the players should learn to make a pass that isn't a handoff at the top of the key.
No where did I say we lost because of UW fans. Try reading more carefully next time.
ReplyDeleteWe lost because UW was clearly the better team. The 4 points they won by was deceiving, as it was indeed a butt-kicking from tip to buzzer.
(odd .. at 9am, the 11:30pm, then minutes later, the 1:32am comments just showed up.)
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 11:30 - just a note, this blog is a team effort, with contributions from 3-4-5 different guys at any time over the years, each with different news and opinion to share. -- Thanks for your support!
As a UW (undergrad) and MU (grad school) graduate, it was a bittersweet day. The win would have been huge for either team. Yesterday, I wore my red proudly from the upperdeck, but today I am back rooting whole-heartedly for both schools. I am sorry for the Wisconsin fans who resorted to expletive-laced taunting, but there was an equal amount coming from the other side. Unfortunately that is the norm in sports these days.
ReplyDeleteThe game was as exciting as I thought it would be. I thought the refs were far too involved. They made a number of poor calls against both sides. I guess it was good that one team wasn't getting collared with a majority of the bad calls. Have you ever seen so many travling calls in a DI basketball game before? No doubt the popular call of the day.
I very much enjoy this blog. Keep up the great work!
ND senior parent here and now the parent of an MU freshman too.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who hasn't been at an MU game before (and from Madison too for heaven's sake) a comment you're all already probably familiar with.
The MU student section is amazing.
Beats the pants off of either ND or UW.
Tough loss though. Does MU have anyone that can hit a 20-footer?
Did MU Hilltopper hear the chant byy the MU student section at the beginning of the game? F-U WIsconsin was said on many occasions. It wasn't just wisco fans chanting that.
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear that, but did read a couple reports of just that. Fortunately for my Rule of Double Standards, it's OK when we do it.
ReplyDeleteKidding. Classless both times.
Yes, at the beginning of the game as well as several times during warmups the entire student section erupted in a "F- the Badgers" chant. However, later in the game the chant was drown out by a "Let's go Badgers" chant.
ReplyDelete