Madness

UPDATED - Fulce's dunks

College Basketball is officially back, and last night's Madness gave fans a bit of optimism after a tough offseason.

First, check out the GoMarquette.com recap. The recap includes the full introduction videos for both teams, which you can also check out here . There is also a photo gallery on the official Marquette site.

Rosiak provides more color commentary, with a specific focus on Joe Fulce. Fulce was the winner of last night's dunk contest. Rosiak was also kind enough to provide a full recap of the winning dunk, which evidently was awesome. (We say evidently because the MUTV camera missed the entire exchange. This was disappointing to the large number of people that were watching online. However, we're not going to pile onto whomever was responsible. After all, it's a student operation, and they're probably getting hazed by other people enough. We're sure this will be a good lesson learned and funny story for the future.) We now have a copy of all of Fulce's dunks via youtube (check here) HT: MUScoop poster RoneyEford13. The reaction from the crowd, the judges, Fulce, and the team is outstanding.

Moving on, considering that Fulce was supposed to have more upside than Butler last year, how great would it be for him to be back to 100%? Not just for the team, but for the young man himself after all of his travails in getting to D1. We'll definitely continue to root for Fulce to stay healthy... everything else will fall in place with him if that happens.

As for the scrimmage, the most noteworthy thing from my perspective was that it was really hard keeping track of all the new players and numbers. Butler looked very smooth and more assertive than last year. Erik Williams was less assertive than Maymon, but that may have been a function of being on a team with Hayward and Butler. Otule looked light years better than last year. And, I barely heard Buycks' name during the scrimmage. However, one of the best summaries of how the players looked came from none other than Murffieus.

There were also several recruits in attendance (30 in total), but here were some of the notable ones according to Rosiak (Vander Blue, Tarik Black, Branden Dawson, Keaton Miles, and 2010 commit Jamail Jones).

We asked BMA for the opinion regarding several of these players, and here was the additional info.

• Blue - Nothing I can say that hasn't been said. (Rob's note - According to Rosiak, Blue was dressed head to toe in MU gear and was one of the very last to leave.)
  
  Update: According to this thread, Blue is destined to come to Marquette.
  
  
• Black - Think Trevor Mbakwe part 2 in terms of talent. Small, but very strong and very athletic. Most developed part of his game is defense. Offensively he scores a lot on put backs and dunks. Has some post moves and a nice jump hook. Really though he's a guy that his most impressive thing is effort. Nearly every national scout has talked about it. He's able to out rebound out score and out defend guys that look like they should dominate him because of their bigger size.
• Miles - Has a chance to be really really good if he's able to put it all together. Elite athlete. Can get to the rim with ease but often times decides to settle for three pointers, and he isn't a good enough shooter to do that. Good defender and rebounder. The situation reminds me a bit of Erik Williams. Top kid that no one is talking about pays his own way to come to Marquette's midnight madness. Back then we were all focused on Shumpert, and got a commit from this kid in Texas we didn't know much about. Now we're all focused on Blue and there's this kid from Texas we don't know much about. Maybe this year will be the same?
• Branden Dawson - Thought to be a Purdue or IU lean so it's big to get him here. He's another one that doesn't seem to quite get it yet, but even without putting everything together he's an elite prospect. Great at attacking the rim, great around the basket, excellent rebounder. Has a very good mid range game, and not so good from 3. He had a great summer, and seems to get better every time he plays. Plus, for a top kid he's not afraid to do the dirty work. You don't often see 6'5 SF forwards willing to mix it up for a rebound in the post, but he does.

Thanks for your thoughts, BMA. Buzz figures to secure another outstanding recruiting class if players like this are in the mix. One has to feel confident about the chances right now, and certainly at least optimistic about the prospects for the season.