Marquette blows 17 point second half lead to lose Old Spice Classic

Marquette had a golden opportunity to secure the Old Spice Classic in Orlando tonight as they faced the 5-1 Seminoles of Florida State. MU dominated much of the game leading by 12 at halftime and as many as 17 points in the second half.

With under 10 minutes to play, MU still held a double digit lead when the wheels began coming off. Over the course of the next 8 minutes, MU would score just 6 points while bricking free throws, layups, and 3 point shots. FSU tied the game at 48-48 with 3:51 remaining.

Lazar Hayward gave the Golden Eagles a lead again with a jump shot near the free throw line only to have FSU tie it with a tip in. MU surged ahead again with under two minutes to play on a Darius Johnson-Odom layup....the lead was short lived as an FSU three pointer gave the Seminoles their first lead since the early minutes of the first half.

The last minute became a back and forth affair with both teams hitting shots to put their clubs ahead. Senior Mo Acker drove for a layup putting MU up 54-53 with just over a minute to play. FSU answered with a 2 point jumper with 56 seconds to go. After a Buzz Williams timeout, Mo Acker found senior Lazar Hayward for another jumper giving MU a 1 point lead with 32 seconds remaining.

FSU decided to go down low again to Solomon Alabi for a third straight possession while MU chose not to double the post. Alabi spun toward the baseline and hit a short jumper to put FSU up for good at 57-56 with 12 seconds remaining.

After a FSU timeout, MU had a chance to go for the winning shot. Acker brought the ball up and passed to Johnson-Odom who came across the lane and threw an errant pass to high which went out of bounds.

With 3 seconds left, Buzz put Mbao on the inbound passer and it almost worked. Johnson-Odom stole the ball but fell out of bounds. FSU then threw a home run ball that MU also stole with 1 second left but Buzz Williams request for a timeout was not granted while Hayward threw up a desperation shot.

MU lost 57-56. A missed golden opportunity with the game well in hand. Tough to get greedy since very few expected MU to even be playing for the championship tonight, but this is a game they should have won.

The Golden Eagles shot poorly everywhere tonight. Only 52.6% from the free throw line, less than 40% from the field and only 22% from beyond the arc. Fatigue looked to play an important part of MU's shooting woes. The last 10 minutes of the game, MU looked beat. Buzz went with basically a 6 man lineup plus a few token minutes for Maymon and Fulce.


ESPN Recap


Boxscore

Warriors face Seminoles for Old Spice Classic title

Following a pair of surprising wins over Xavier and Michigan, Buzz Williams' crew will go for its third upset in as many outings when Marquette takes on Florida State tonight at 6:30pm on ESPN2.

FSU is 5-1 and advanced to the Old Spice Classic title game by beating Iona and Alabama. The Seminoles rely on a deep, balanced attack, with four players averaging between 9 and 11 points per outing. Nine Seminoles average at least 19 minutes per outing, highlighted by a deep frontline that enables the 'Noles to dominate the glass and to block nearly 9 shots per game.

Leonard Hamilton's bunch is paced by 6'9" sophomore forward Chris Singleton who leads the team with 11 points and 8 rebounds per outing. Former MU recruit Michael Snaer is contributing six points per outing and nailing 67% of his three point attempts.

Marquette will rely on the terrific tandem of Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler to set the pace in tonight's game. The prolific duo averages a combined 36 points and 13 rebounds per outing. While Hayward's consistent production is no surprise to Marquette fans, Butler has been a revelation in the season's early stages. The Texas native is hitting a remarkable 65% from the field and is one of the nation's premier offensive rebounders. A full 45% of Butler's rebounds are secured on the offensive glass.

Of course Hayward and Butler are the beneficiaries of improved guard play from David Cubillan and Maurice Acker. In addition the official Marquette game notes point out that newcomers Dwight Buycks and Darius Johnson-Odom are combining to contribute 19 points and nearly 8 rebounds per game. The pair is shooting nearly 46 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Media links
GoMarquette.com official game notes
Rosiak blogs his preview for the title game
The Talahassee Democrat profiles Solomon Alabi, the 'Noles 7'1" big man. Their biggest fella is good for 10 points and 6 rebounds per game so far this season.

Sagarin ranks MU #9 in country - Acker and Butler furthest ahead of projections

Wow, what a start! Looking strictly at the numbers, Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings have Marquette as the 9th best team out of 347 Division 1 teams, though still an underdog playing in Florida against #20 Florida State tomorrow. Marquette is #33 according to Ken Pomeroy but a clear underdog against #17 Florida State in his rankings.

No one believes we are really a top 10 team, and few would put us in the Top 25. It’s only six games into the season, and MU is very inexperienced and our starting center and point guard already are out for the season, but I wanted to take a quick look at who gets statistical credit for the fast start.

On October 22, I laid out the projected Win Credits for each player on the team, which pointed to a 19-win season. That still may be correct, but I wanted to look back at those projections player-by-player through the fast start.

Who gets credit for the wins?

First a very brief review of how the Win Credits system calculates how many wins a player has been worth to the team statistically, using Jimmy Butler as the example. The formula for Butler through six games shows:

STEP 1 = 100 points + 42 rebounds + 13 assists + 11 steals doubled + 7 blocks doubled – 357 opponents points/10 = 155 contributions

STEP 2 = 155 contributions / 638 team contributions X 6 wins = 1.5 Win Credits

Going back to my October 22 preview post, a typical junior coming off the 1.3 Win Credits Butler had as a sophomore, would improve to 2.0 Win Credits as a junior.

Based purely on stats, we would have expected Butler to be almost dead even with Dwight Buycks as a distant 2nd best player behind preseason All-Big East selection Lazar Hayward. However, his yearly statistics last year don’t measure his incredible finish late in the year, and the fact that he is the hardest working player Buzz has ever coached.

Who besides Butler is ahead of pace?

Therefore it is really no surprise Butler is way ahead of his projected pace. Here is a review of how valuable each player was expected to be in the October 22 post, and which players have been most responsible for the team being 6-0 instead of 4-2 at this pace. In short, Acker is also way ahead of his projected pace, and Cubillan and Buycks are also producing much more than expected.

(Listed in the order of how much they were PROJECTED to contribute, so Mo Acker is listed 9th based on expectations, even though he has actually been the 3rd best player through six games.)

1. Lazar Hayward (Oct. 22 projected 6.4 Win Credits, 1.4 so far) – The only reason Hayward is slightly off his projected pace and just behind Butler to date is the fact that he has only played 25 minutes a game due to 20 fouls and resting with the South Dakota game well in hand. His 12 assists show his continued unselfish play as he gets his young teammates involved and once again takes on the tough task of guarding opposing centers with Otule out.

2. Dwight Buycks (2.1, 0.8) – Many were surprised when I said the 3-star junior JC transfer projected to have more impact than the 4-star freshman. However, 3-star juniors are usually better than 4-star freshman, and at only 6-foot-3, the Milwaukee native is just behind Lazar and Jimmy with 33 REBOUNDS, and actually leads the team with 24 assists to get a solid 0.8 Win Credits, ahead of even the high projection I gave him.

3. Jimmy Butler (2.0, 1.5) – As mentioned above, Butler is actually slightly ahead of Hayward statistically as MU’s top player.

4. Jeronne Maymon (1.7, 0.3) – I really don’t understand some of the bloggers impatience on Maymon, asking why he isn’t “producing” more. As I pointed out October 22, the typical 4-star freshman in the Big East produces a moderate 1.7 Win Credits his freshman year, and clearly most of that is later in the year as they mature. I believe his 0.3 Win Credits are about what you would expect, and he clearly looks like a man among boys at times when he rips the ball away from people. He is already the best rebounder on the team, grabbing 30 rebounds in only 101 minutes for an average of a rebound every 3.4 minutes for tops on the team. Lazar is next at one rebound every 3.9 minutes, Butler and Fulce are at one per 4.4 minutes.

5. Erik Williams (1.7, 0.0) – His 22 minutes are disappointing, but really 11 points and 5 rebounds in half a game is a nice outing. If he and Maymon play a typical 4-star freshman season, MU has at least a great eight-man rotation.

6. David Cubillan (1.3, 0.6) – What a start! We’ve already gotten half of what we’d expect from Cubillan based on his first three years, but the biggest relief is to see his shooting touch finally back (8 for 20 on 3-pointers). However, the most impressive thing is that running the point, where Crean decided he simply couldn’t play, he has 22 assists to only 8 turnovers, almost 3-to-1.

7. Darius Johnson-Odom (1.2, 0.6) – Another player who is ahead of pace out-of-the-gates. His fearless drives and willingness to gun up the 3-pointer at the slightest opening (12 for 24 on treys, are you kidding me?) make defending him a nightmare. I think we are going to occasionally be screaming at him for charges and out-of-control turnovers, but we screamed at Wade for them too.

8. Joseph Fulce (0.9, 0.1) – While the dunk contest got the excitement up of a full return, Otule’s injury really puts some pressure on him to improve his defense. His four blocked shots in limited play are a good start, and he looks comfortable with the mid-range jumper.

9. Maurice Acker (0.8, 0.8) – Mo already has produced as much in six games as he was projected to contribute all year. Typically seniors improve a good bit, but based on his first two years here Mo Acker projected to be our 9th best player this season, and until Junior went down I thought it was good he was going out on a high note. WOW, WAS I WRONG! Based purely on the Win Credits stats, Mo has been MUs third best player behind Hayward and Lazar so far, and has already been worth the 0.8 Wins we would have expected him to contribute the whole season. Leading the team with 14 steals and completely disrupting opposing guards, just behind DJO for third in points, one behind Buycks in assists, and stroking half of his treys (9 of 18).

10. Chris Otule (0.6, injured) – I don’t know how many teams could go 6-0 after losing their starting point guard and center, so this one really stinks. Didn’t expect a huge contribution based on last year, but obviously at 6-foot-10 and improved, he finally gave us the options against big opponents.

11. Youssoupha Mbao (0.3, 0.0) – With Otule out, it would really be nice to get some minutes out of the 7-foot-2 Mbao. However, 3-star freshman usually produce almost nothing (0.3 Win Credits) their freshman season, so we just have to see.

12. Robert Frozena (0.0, 0.0) – You’ve got to love a walk-on who has already hit a three-pointers AND produced a traditional 3-point play with the bucket “and-one!”

While no one believes MU is really the 9th best team in the land, we are playing with the House’s money at this point. This is fun, and if the pattern of inexperienced teams improving throughout the season plays out, we may get to skip the NIT year I was anticipating. The seniors sure deserve it, Lazar for four straight years and Cube and Mo for sticking it out and improving their games so dramatically.

Post-game presser videos

Hat tip to downtown85 for finding these videos from the post-game presser.

Dear Cameraman .. any chance you could invest in some anti-shake technology?

Warriors upset #15 Michigan 76-65

Uh oh. Remember the dire predictions for Marquette's season? Time to recalculate.

Marquette is pretty good. After knocking off Xavier the day before, Marquette dismissed Michigan, who, oh by the way, was ranked #15 in the country.

It's early, but .. get excited Marquette fans. It's on like Donkey Kong. This season isn't going to be the whitewash, (I for one), estimated.

After snacking on 4 of the worst teams in D1, not much could be known. MU is now 2-0 versus quality opponents. When Cracked Sidewalks did their preseason predictions .. all of us predicted a loss to Xavier and most a loss to whoever we played next. Wrong.

Man, what a great Thanksgiving!

Rosiak's Recap
Rosiak's Other Recap
Official Box
Marquette recap

ESPN Video Highlights


Rob Lowe, our Vice President of Statisticology adds:

This was a fairly offensive game for Marquette, as they averaged almost 1.27 points per possession compared to Michigan's 1.04 ppp. Marquette did great at effective field goal percentage (58.5%) today, which was the key for the game. However, MU also won the offensive rebounding (39% vs 31%) and free throw rate (40% vs 33%) battles. And even though Michigan did better on turnover rate (their 14% vs our 16%), both teams protected the ball at a better than average rate. Just like in the Xavier game, MU won three of the Four Factors to earn the "W".

In the quick MUScoop preview, the two early matchups were the ability to force turnovers and get to the free throw line. Marquette did a good job of getting to the free throw line at a rate of almost 40%, but only harassed Michigan into a turnover rate of 14%.

Video from MU:

Marquette foils Xavier in Old Spice Classic

Athos, Porthos and Aramis were no match for Hayward, Butler and Acker as the Marquette Warriors (5-0) raced to a surprising and convincing 71-61 win over the Xavier Musketeers (3-1) in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic. Hayward led MU with 27 points, while Bulter finished with 15 and Acker chipped in with 11.

With the win MU advances to play the Michigan Wolverines today at 11am Marquette Standard Time on ESPN. The 15th-ranked Wolverines topped Creighton 83-76 in overtime on Thursday.

Rob is warming up on the evaluating the Four Factors -- check out his quick assessment of the game and a look ahead to today's tilt over on MUScoop.

Media update
Rosiak recaps the win
gomarquette.com recap (AP)
Rosiak blog recap
MU fans are happy
Xavier fans are not happy

Warriors battle the Musketeers in Orlando

Now that Marquette (4-0) is done with cupcakes, the season truly begins with the 2009 Old Spice Classic. MU's opening round matchup against Xavier (3-0) is set for 1pm on Thanksgiving Day. The game will be MU's first national broadcast on the season, shown on ESPN2 with Lou Canellis and Len Elmore (yay) calling the action.

Here is the Marquette Official Release, including their Game Notes. Did you know that Xavier is one of our longest-running rivalries? Marquette owns a 42-16 advantage in the series (***though I must admit that Xavier's 98-93 overtime win over MU in 1991 was the most disappointing loss of my undergraduate days at MU....Jamie Gladden and Jamal Walker were a helluva backcourt. MU should have won that game.).

Let's get back to the topic at-hand.

Marquette has cruised to a 4-0 record against a group of teams that can charitably be called 'weak'. Still, winning games against the likes of Little Debbie, Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines is good for the ego and likely the right call for a team so heavily reliant on newcomers.

Among MU's positives this season has been the consistent scoring of Jimmy Butler. The 6'6" junior came into his own late last season, excelling as a role player in March. So far this season Butler has been extraordinarily efficient on the offensive end and continues to be one of MU's most reliable rebounders. It is still very early but Butler's Offensive Rating is 160 at a usage of just 14%. Keep in mind that 100 is average and 120 is very, very good. For the season Butler is averaging 17 points and nearly 7 rebounds per game.

Seniors David Cubillan and Maurice Acker, oft-maligned by yours truly, are both enjoying a renaissance during their last collegiate season. The tough-minded Cubillan is displaying the shooting form he demonstrated early in his career. The Venezuelan native is connecting on 50% of his shots from the floor and better than 38% from deep, marked improvements from his abysmal performance last season (27% from the floor and 29% from behind the arc). Meanwhile Acker is sizzling from the field in the early going, hitting on 50% of his shots including 50% from deep. Perhaps Acker's little sleeve thingy is somewhat of a good luck charm.

From a stats-perspective, Xavier has also been playing a bit of a cupcake schedule, and they've been crushing it. After three games, Pomeroy considers them the tenth best team in the country, but honestly, it's way too early. However, here are some things to look at for Xavier.

• They have been hitting an eFG% of almost 67%. The Musketeers are making 60% of their two-point shots and 54% of their threes. IU transfer Jordan Crawford is pouring in 21 points per game and shooting better than 61% from the floor through the season's first 3 outings.
  
• Xavier is suffocating the interior defense, and limiting opponents to 36% inside. 6'9" forward Jason Love is a big reason why with nearly twelve boards per game (not to mention the 13 points per game he's averaging).
  
• They've also been stopping opponents from hitting the boards (only allowing an OR% of 21%)
• Their one weakness is that they don't force a lot of turnovers (14.1% forced). So one of the areas that is a real Marquette strength (protecting the ball) won't really matter against XU....... sweet
  

Based on Thursday’s result, Marquette will compete against either Michigan or Creighton Friday afternoon.

PS - Rosiak had another chat two nights ago. More good stuff from Todd.

Want to see what the Musketeer fans think about today's game? Visit their board for more.

**Joint post by Rob Lowe and Tim Blair

Marquette Early Season Tea Leaves

Before we kick into the preview of Xavier later, it's worthwhile to look at Marquette and how Marquette has been performing. This ended up being just a little more information than would fit in the Xavier preview. Let us state up-front, this is all just early returns based on four games, and there are almost no conclusions that can be drawn from the data. That said, we found it interesting to look at some of the early clues.

From the Pomeroy Scouting report:

Consistent with Last Year
Yet again, Marquette is doing a great job protecting the ball (TO% of 16%). If you recall, Marquette was #11 in the country last year at protecting the ball. Granted, this is early in the season, but the cross-season consistency with protecting the ball is great.

In addition, Marquette has also done a good job of scoring 2-point baskets this season, which was also a strength last year.

Inconsistent with Last Year
Marquette has also done a good job of effective field goal percentage (57.5%; #19 overall), forcing turnovers (27.3%, #16 overall) and limiting offensive rebounds by opponents (21.8%, #6 overall). The Warriors did not do any of these things particularly well last year (#85, #122, and #97, respectively), so it remains to be seen if that trend will continue this season.

What has been a big difference from last year is the Free Throw Rate disparity. Last year, Marquette tried (and often succeeded) at making more free throws than their opponent attempted. This has not been the same situation so far, as Marquette has been getting to the line less than their opponents early. Some of this can be chalked up to the zone defenses, and some of this can be attributed to the different mix of players. In addition, the results both offensively and defensively have been pretty variable, so I expect the results to smooth themselves out over time.

What has also been somewhat concerning is how well opponents have been able to score. In comparison to how well other BE teams are playing, opponents have been able to hit a higher percentage of field goals against MU. Part of this is also because opponents are getting to the line more often against Marquette than they are against other BE teams.

As Buzz likes to say, the team's character will be revealed over the entire season, but especially starting tomorrow. Check back later for our Xavier preview.

Marquette pounds South Dakota

The Marquette Warriors moved to 4-0 on the season with a 93-68 win over South Dakota last night at the Bradley Center.

Lazar Hayward led MU with 20 points and eight rebounds in only 20 minutes of action. Sophomore Darius Johnson-Odom added 18 while junior Jimmy Butler finished with 13 points, his fourth consecutive double-digit effort.

Marquette shot 50% from the field last night and dished out an impressive 26 assists. Defensively the Warriors remain a work in progress. South Dakota shot 50% from the field for the game, including 8-16 from beyond the arc.

The Cupcake Portion of the schedule is officially over. The Warriors are now off to Orlando for the competitive Old Spice Classic in Orlando. Buzz Williams' squad tips off at 1pm on Thanksgiving Day against the Xavier Musketeers. MU will then take on either Michigan or Creighton on Friday followed by a Sunday game.

GoMarquette.com continues to provide fantastic multimedia recaps of every game. Click here for the box score. Click here for the full post-game package including mp3 interviews with Butler and DJO.

Here is Buzz Williams' post game press conference



Rosiak's blog recap.
Rosiak focuses on DJO's outstanding outing in his print recap.

Chris Otule likely out for remainder of season

Heading into tonight's game against South Dakota the Marquette Warriors will be without 6'10" Chris Otule, who fractured his right foot in practice on Monday and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

The Otule injury leaves Marquette with just one player taller than 6"7" on the active roster in 7'2" freshman Yous Mbao. Otule joins freshman point guard Junior Cadougan on the sidelines this year. The injury-riddled Otule played in just nine games last season after injuring his left foot in mid-November.

Through the first three games of the season Otule showed clear improvement year-to-year, but it is difficult to gauge the impact of the injury since his minutes where fairly sparse at eight minutes per outing. Otule was averaging 3 points and two rebounds per game. In Otule's absence Buzz Williams will have little choice but to play 'small ball' with 6'6" freshman Jeronne Maymon likely to see more time on the floor.

Under NCAA rules Otule would qualify for a medical redshirt. Applying for the redshirt classification can only be made after the current season is completed.

All the best for a speedy recovery, Chris.

MU faces toughest test to date Tuesday

OK, the headline isn’t saying that much after wins over Centenary, Maryland Eastern-Shore and Grambling, but the fact is South Dakota looks to me like a much tougher match-up than those three.

The hard part is figuring out just how much better – and if that means they are good enough to give MU a little tougher warm-up before the battle with Xavier. This team could be a poor man’s version of our Utah State opponent from the first round of the NCAA last year – a team coming off a 20-9 season with a coach and trio of preseason all-conference selections used to winning – albeit against lesser foes. Dave Boots has won 443 games in 22 seasons at South Dakota, and appears to have them ready to be a decent D1 team.

Once we get a few more games in the stat books my colleagues will have much better number-crunching previews of games, but this early in the season I have to piece together little scraps of information to try to gauge how good an opponent is – particularly a team like South Dakota that has little statistical history against Division I opponents since this is the Coyotes first true D1 season.

The fact is we knew pretty definitely how bad the first three teams were. Neither Grambling or MD-Eastern Shore have finished in the top 300 in Pomeroy (www.kenpom.com) since the site started in 2004, so they were clearly among the bottom 46 teams in Division I. Centenary had been a little more respectable, averaging around 250th the last few years, but with the decision to start moving down to Division III they had lost key players and therefore might not be a Top 300 team this year.

It’s much harder to gauge where South Dakota falls among the 346 Division I schools, since they have yet to be rated by Pomeroy through last year. My guess is they could be anywhere from the 100th best team (which could battle MU) to the 200th best team (which would provide another highlight reel of dunks for us), based on the following:

Evidence the Coyotes will be tougher than the first 3 opponents

1. PICKED AHEAD OF SOME DECENT TEAMS. They are picked to finish first in the new Great West Conference ahead of Utah Valley and Chicago State, for whom we do have some history. Utah Valley was a decent program last year, going 17-11 and being ranked 159th by Pomeroy. They had one common opponent to Marquette in Houston Baptist. Marquette drubbed Houston Baptist by 31 points last year, but Utah Valley beat them by 38. Chicago State just missed knocking off Cleveland State last year and typically loses by 10 to 20 points against Big 10 teams and lost 106-87 to Marquette last year. So you might typically expect MU to beat Utah Valley or Chicago State by 10 or 20 points this year, and if South Dakota is picked by conference coaches to be better than either of them, they could give MU a close game – possibly.

2. FIRST STRONG INSIDE PRESENCE MU HAS FACED. The first three games, MU has been able to get to the offensive glass at will, grabbing 40.2% of their missed shots against teams with no size. The Coyotes will put up a much tougher fight, with two players who are going to be beasts in the new Great West Conference:

a. Senior 6-foot-8, 235 pound forward Tyler Cain (15.4 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 2.8 blocked shots last year) was named Independent Defensive Player of the Year last year when he led the Coyotes to a 20-9 mark. He is the preseason conference player of the year. Despite going up against three tough opponents already this year, he has maintained 12.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 1.8 bpg averages and will be the best player MU has faced to date.

b. Senior 6-foot-11, 265 pound center Steve Smith will be turning 25 years old in a couple of weeks, and gives them a great shot blocking, rebounding duo. He has talent, and originally went to Creighton but after battling through injuries for a couple of years transferred back to his home state, and appears to be healthy for the first time since high school.

As strong as MU has looked attacking the offensive boards in the first three games, it will be much tougher to get there this game, and they will be facing two excellent shot blockers when they come inside. If we are able to grab a lot of offensive boards Tuesday, it will indicate we really do have a team that can win by scoring off the offensive glass this year.

3. MOVE TO DIVISION I HAS BROUGHT IN BETTER PLAYERS. While those are the only big players, South Dakota has been bringing in transfers and keeping players at home with the move to Division 1:

a. As the all-time leading scorer in South Dakota High School history, 6-1 guard Louie Krogman (12.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.6 apg last year) would have normally gone to South Dakota State or out-of-state as Jamil Lott and others have done. However, he is putting up double figures again with sharpshooting.

b. The move to D1 also enticed 6-4 guard/forward Roman Gentry to transfer from UWM, and he is attacking the boards and has been selected 2nd team all-conference.

c. Two transfers from Western Oklahoma State College have looked comfortable against the tough competition to date, as 6-4 guard Mitchell Bouie has put up a quick 9 points a game and grabbed 4.8 rebounds, and 6-0 guard Kendall Cutler has taken over running the offense with 7.5 ppg and 4 assists a game.

4. GETTING BETTER AND BETTER. This will be South Dakota’s sixth game against a tough opponent in two years. They clearly were not ready to open last season at Cincinnati, and the Bearcats made them pay with a 77-46 drubbing. They looked much better a couple of weeks later in a 102-76 loss to a ranked Notre Dame team that was coming off the win against Texas. With all the new pieces this year it is probably no surprise they had not gelled in time for an opening game drubbing by Texas Tech. However, by the next game they made a late run at Oregon State (Pac 10, 18-18 last year), and missed consecutive three-pointers with a few minutes left that would have pulled them within one point, before running out of gas. They then beat a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi team that had competed for the Southland title last year and had almost knocked off the Texas Tech – indicating South Dakota may have substantially closed the gap between them and Texas Tech in the ensuing few weeks. They are coming in at 2-2 with the pieces coming together.

With all these new pieces – freshman and transfers – mixing in with their three established stars, South Dakota should get better and better as the season goes on. Of course, you can say the same thing about MU, which has much more talent and potential. While the first three blowouts were expected, I believe a blowout win over South Dakota would really indicate Marquette is ahead of schedule. On the other hand, if MU is looking ahead to Xavier, I believe the Coyotes have enough talent to potentially be a dangerous trap game. The fact is both teams have a couple of established stars, but both Marquette and South Dakota have so many new players making contributions earlier in the season that while MU should certainly win, the margin of victory is tough to predict. The one advantage the Coyotes do have if they keep the game close is that their young players already have played much tougher competition than our newcomers have.

The feast before Thanksgiving - cupcakes galore

One thing is certain, Marquette has loaded up on a feast of cupcakes and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. The current strength of schedule for our Golden Eagles stands at 345th in the nation. There are only two schools in the nation that have had an easier schedule than MU thus far - Gardener Webb and South Carolina State. Up next...South Dakota...ranked 324th in the nation. There is little doubt that after Tuesday night, MU will have the weakest schedule in the nation. (side note...before our Wisconsin-madison fans get too excited, their schedule strength is 330th).





So is this a bad thing? No one knows just yet. MU lost three essential players and are young everywhere with the exception of Jimmy Butler and Lazar Hayward. A soft schedule to start the season made a lot of sense to get the team off on a good foot. On the other hand, Thursday will be a huge surprise for this young team as they will play a game that looks nothing like any other they've played thus far.

That night MU will take on Xavier, currently 12th in the power rankings. To date, MU's toughest foe has been 296th - the squad from Maryland Eastern Shore.

This begs the question...how good are we? Honestly, I don't know how anyone can tell considering the competition we've played thus far. This weekend MU will finally find out as they are likely to play multiple games against top 100 clubs.

Plenty to learn and observe this holiday week.

Grambling things we like to see...

Otule dunking:

EWill playing:


Frozena, clearly our most popular player, getting a layup:


Post game:

3 big positives, 3 concerns vs. Grambling

Last year I wrote that I didn’t like having so many cupcakes on the schedule because no matter how bad MU beat them it dropped our RPI ranking substantially. Well, the 87-41 win over Grambling State will drop MUs RPI ranking in the final analysis, but after watching my first MU action of the season in person, I actually believe it was a good idea to start this season with four cupcakes.

POSITIVES

I thought there were three very positive developments in this win:

1. PATIENCE. This game taught our young guys patience. I discovered when writing the preview on the game that Grambling rarely stole the ball. It became evident why in watching their defense, as they play hard but NEVER take chances on jumping out in a passing lane. The result was they packed the defense in and frustrated MU, still holding a 6-4 lead five minutes into the game. MU adjusted and exploded for points the rest of the way.

2. CONFIDENCE. I believe at this point the most important thing we can do for the team is to give a team of newcomers confidence. I was most excited tonight about having 7-foot-2 Youssoupha Mbao take the court for the first time, and he had a nice blocked shot, an assist, drew a foul and sank the first free throw, and even showed a good ability to pop out 20 feet from the basket on defense and get back. Jimmy Butler and Lazar Hayward will always be awesome, but this game enabled Chris Otule to hit a couple of shots, David Cubillan to play great defense and grab five steals, Darius Johnson-Odom to put in a wild but exciting 13 points off the bench with no fear, Mo Acker to thread four assists, Joe Fulce to show some shooting range and his full athleticism back, Jeronne Maymon to look like a man among boys for his five rebounds and Erik Williams to finally get going with a nice dunk. Shoot, even Robert Frozena had a three-point play.

3. DWIGHT BUYCKS. But the newcomer I was most impressed with was Dwight Buycks. I found myself watching him off the ball like I used to watch Dominic James. After grabbing an offensive board and scoring 22 seconds into the game, he simply shut down Grambling’s attempts to grab backdoor rebounds. This team had been very effective last year and this at turning offensive boards to points, but last night they grabbed only 4 offensive rebounds against 30 defensive rebounds for MU. Buycks simply shut if off by grabbing 8 rebounds in the first 15 minutes of the game and boxing out the guards trying to score backdoor points. By half time he added 10 points as well, and then he did something neat. With a double-double virtually assured, he became very unselfish and started dishing instead to get other people involved, handing out five second half assists to finish just short of a triple-double at 10 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.

NEGATIVES

However, this was a weak opponent, basically four guards and a forward, and there were three smaller negatives.

1. TURNOVERS. This was not an aggressive defense, and most of the 13 turnovers were the result of sloppy or hot dog play.

2. LAZAR’S FOUL TROUBLE. The game marked the second time in three games that Lazar has played less than half the game due to getting four fouls, as he scored just 12 points. Against Centenary he scored only 9 points in 18 minutes due to four fouls. I am concerned that against clearly inferior players he needs to foul. The 28-point performance against Maryland Eastern-Shore is what we need to see.

3. FAILURE TO CONTROL OPPOSING STAR. I wrote in the preview that 5-foot-10 guard Ariece Perkis was clearly the one star of this team. Everyone on MUs team had to know it, and yet he put in another 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. After being lit up for 25 points by Centenary’s top player, I am concerned we aren’t able to better control the opponent's top player.

HOW GOOD IS THE BIG EAST?

While MU looks good in the early going, part of the question ahead is how much the Big East has fallen off of last year’s incredible level of play. While I always root for the Big East against other foes, I’ve found myself hoping that player departures from other teams will give MU a chance to move into the top half of the conference.

While the season is young, the Big East is looking as good as last year so far. The conference has the best record of any conference, with only the ACC being anywhere close. The Big East also has the most impressive wins with three wins over ranked opponents (Syracuse over UNC and California and Louisville over Dayton) and the only two losses being teams in the lower part of the Big East to teams expected to finish in the upper part of the SEC (Providence to Alabama and South Florida to South Carolina).

The following is where the 6 “BCS” conferences rank in winning percentage so far, with records followed by parenthesis on their record against other “BCS” conferences and which of those teams they beat):

1. Big East, 44-2, 90% (4-2, Syr >UNC, USF>UVa, Syr > California, Lville>Arkansas)
2. ACC, 37-4, 90% (1-2, win UNC>OSU)
3. SEC 32-7, 82% (4-1, wins Mississippi > Kansas State, South Carolina>USF, Bama>Providence, Mississippi>Indiana)
4. Big Ten 24-8, 75% (1-2, win OSU>California)
5. Big Twelve 33-13, 72% (1-1, win Texas Tech>Oregon State)
6. Pac Ten 23-10, 70% (0-3, no wins)

Looks like another tough gauntlet once we get to Big East play, but so far, so good.

Grambling Preview - Game Day

Here are some links and videos for the Grambling game today

• The official Marquette release (including the game notes)
• In an interesting twist, Junior Cadougan will join the radio broadcast team, along with Homer
• Rosiak previews the game on his blog
• Don't forget John Pudner's terrific preview as well.
  

From Marquette, here is a video where Buzz previews the game



Beyond the game previews, here's some additional links from around Marquette-land

• Buzz and the University of New Orleans settled their lawsuit. Yeah, maybe their decision to end D1 sports was consistent with their lack of commitment to the sports program.
• IWB has a nice feature on new commit Reggie Smith, including some quotes

Buzz talks about Reggie Smith too

Grambling Preview - Straight Outta the SWAC

The following preview comes from none other than our own John Pudner, whose work you may have seen here many times before. The especially detailed preview comes courtesy of John living in SWAC country. He's having trouble getting it published, so without further ado...
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Diminutive guards #1 and #2 will need treys to keep Grambling close

Writing from the home of the SWAC champion Alabama State Hornets in Montgomery, Alabama, I wanted to offer a little preview of the Grambling State game before flying up tomorrow to catch it. While this is clearly the third of four “cupcakes” of the season to warm up for Xavier on Thanksgiving Day, the Tigers did pull one November shocker last year when they stunned Morehead State, which went on to win the Ohio Valley Conference and destroy SWAC champion Alabama State in the play-in game.

Marquette needs to always find star #1 Ariece Perkis and #2 sharpshooter Donald Qualls off the bench. The 5-foot-10 Perkis may remind some of Dominic James for his incredible ability to grab rebounds from centers and forwards (he grabbed 106 boards last year, only two short of the team leader) and dish passes to all sports of the floor (Pomeroy ranked him as the 108th best assist man in the country last year despite playing on a poor team). Perkis led the team in points (11.9) assists (3.9 apg), and when 5-foot-8 Donald Qualls comes of the bench they have a dangerous combo that hit 100 treys last year and has combined to go 9 for 18 from behind the arc through two games this year.

Starting guard Lance Fuertado has made an immediate impact, pounding the offensive boards as Grambling has 25 offensive rebounds in two games. The three guards have each scored between 12 and 17 points in each of their opening games, while no one on the front line has hit double figures.

Grambling State may have gotten a few extra tips on Marquette when they lost a close game to fellow Louisiana school Centenary 71-66 on Tuesday. It took MU a half to shake free of Centenary 85-62 in the opener. For Grambling State to stay close, at least one of the three guards will probably have to have a performance like the 25 points scored by David Perez for Centenary in that game – a hot streak that stopped when Jimmy Butler was assigned to clamp down on him.

Beyond the three guards, little production so far

Grambling State is in the football-heavy Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), a proud conference of traditionally black universities that chooses to play its conference championship and the National Black Football Championship rather than join in the I-AA playoff system. In fact, last year Grambling won the SWAC title and the National Black College Football Championship, and after taking this week off to focus on basketball, they will play in arguably the biggest game of the year between traditionally black universities – the annual Bayou Classic that always pits them against Louisiana rival Southern.

Basketball has not been so kind to the SWAC. It is only 4-29 in NCAA tournament history, and last year Pomeroy ranked it as the worst conference in Division I. After winning the SWAC, Alabama State players (led by the coolest name in the game in 7-foot-1 Chief Kickingstallionsims) complained about being forced to play in the play-in game – only to be destroyed by Morehead State on national TV. Grambling State’s 6-23, 4-14 record therefore tied them for last place in the worst Division I conference.

They were expected to improve this year, but it was a tough offseason. Henry White, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard, died after conditioning during the summer, and coach Rick Duckett left in the aftermath. Coach Bobby Washington has taken over as interim coach and started 1-1, but the team must be fighting through an emotional roller coaster. Their one good defensive presence was expected to be 6-foot-5 shot blocker Jarred Riley, but he does not appear on their roster, and the team has yet to block an opponents shot.

They are a small team that rarely gets to the free throw line and only hit 61% last year when they did. With very little in the front line, the guards have to try to pound the glass, which leaves them very vulnerable on defense, and this is clearly an opportunity for an MU player to put up a career night if he gets on a roll.

A pretty easy 3-0 start from all appearances, but perhaps some fireworks from the trio of guards before it is over.

MUTV Weekly Nov. 20

In the newest edition of Marquette Basketball Weekly, host Brad Galli recaps the wins over Centenary and Maryland Eastern Shore, Chris Gaulke reports from the Bradley Center to discuss “paint touches” and the early success of Lazar Hayward, and Brad takes an “Inside Look at What Goes In to Marquette Basketball.” It’s a feature you won’t want to miss, highlighting the hair, uniform flair, and Buzz’s Style.

Plus, Todd Warner breaks down Marquette’s work against zone defense, Donnie Dwyer previews Grambling St. and the return of Yous Mbao, and we have Buzz Williams‘ reactions to signing Reggie Smith.
You will want to stick around until after the credits…for quite the funny close to the “Inside Look.”

Reggie Smith signs with Marquette

On the final day of the early signing period Buzz Williams went back to a Marquette stronghold, Chicago's south suburbs, to land 6'0" guard Reggie Smith of Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill.

Smith joins guard Vander Blue and forward Jamail Jones in Marquette's incoming 2010 freshman class. As a junior Smith averaged 18 points and five rebounds per game. Last season Thornton Township High School finished in 3rd place at the Illinois State Championships compiling 29-1 record.

Smith is ranked as the 105th overall player in the 2010 class by Rivals.com. The guys at Illinois Prep Bullseye wrote up a fine recap of Smith including a look at other prospects MU is pursuing in the Chicago area.

Despite his size Smith is not a true point guard though he figures to be at least a combo guard at MU. If nothing else, Smith is an athletic freak -- check out this video:



With Smith and Blue hitting campus in the fall, MU is well-equipped to replace seniors David Cubillan and Maurice Acker. Reggie Smith also provides some level of protection should Junior Cadougan fail to fully recover from his Achilles tendon injury.

Smith is the latest in a long line of guards from Chicago's South Side who have found their way to Marquette including Dwyane Wade, Jerel McNeal and Maurice Acker.

Boot Camp Video

Marquette moves to 2-0

Last night the new look Marquette Warriors defeated the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks 86-60. Senior forward Lazar Hayward led the squad with 28 points and 8 rebounds. Jimmy Butler landed up with 13 points and seven boards while Dwight Buycks and David Cubillan each finished with a dozen. Cubillan also had six assists.

Marquette led 40-33 at the half and used a pronounced turnover advantage to stretch the lead throughout the game. Buzz Williams' squad forced the Shore Hawks into 19 turnovers while coughing the ball up just nine times and shooting better than 52% from the floor.

MEDIA UPDATES

ESPN Box Score
AP Recap
Journal-Sentinel on Hayward stepping up in the win.
Rosiak blogs a recap -- which includes news that Fulce injured his other knee and a reminder that freshman big man Yous Mbao regains his eligibility for Saturday's tilt against Grambling.
Sportsbubbler photos from the win.
MUScoop posters wonder why freshman Erik Williams remains buried so deeply on the bench. Williams did not play last night but Robert Frozena broke a sweat. Williams only saw two minutes of action in the 23-point blowout of Centenary to open the season.
At 2-0 the fan base is becoming more optimisitic.

Here is Buzz Williams' post game press conference

Maryland - Eastern Shore

Just a few links for tonight's game

Here is the official GoMarquette.com preview. Click here for the UMES Game Notes.

Rosiak also has his preview on the blog. Did you know UMES has a player called Freddy Obame Obame? Or did you know about some of these famous UMES alums?

In a few other random links, here is a nice feature from Marquette on catching up with former players. Speaking of former players, the the jumpman23 site has an interactive "interview" with Dwyane Wade.

In quasi-disappointing news, PF target Tarik Black signed with Memphis yesterday. Get over your disappointment by watching the full "Remember the Titans" Intro Video before tonight's game.

Dump truck of videos from MUTV..

MUTV has been busy, pumping out videos the last few days.

It's Saturday. Sit back and enjoy some MUBB goodness:

Vander Blue @ the game:



MUBB Weekly part 1:



Part 2:



Post-game:

Un De Feat Ed!

Marquette started the 2009-10 campaign with a 85-62 thumping of Centenary. Jimmy Butler was superlative with a double double, 27 & 13.

Quick hits:

Rosiak
Box Score

Post-Game Presser:

Game Day is Back

Heck yeah... Game Day is back as Marquette takes on Centenary tonight at (checks sweet wallpaper) 7:30 pm.

Here is the official release from Marquette, including their Game Notes. In addition, at the link, they have a video clip of Buzz previewing the game. (We love the Athletic Department upping the game this year with all the video content). If you've not bought tickets yet, all tickets are half-price... so go watch the game.



Speaking of upping the ante, Marquette is initiating Live Blogging for this game. Here is the direct link. It'll be interesting to see how this goes.

Rosiak also has his preview of Centenary. In addition, he checks in today with a post on Musical Lineups? Basically, Buzz admits he still doesn't have a feel for who and what combinations will be most productive. Not surprising.

The Marquette Superfans have also released their Gold Mine newsletter for today's game. And speaking of super fans, take a look at these Marquette fans and get ready for game time.

If you want to see the world through Centenary's eyes, take a look at their Cents Basketball website, as well as an article from the Shreveport Times.

That's it (so far) for game day information. However, Marquette target Tarik Black is saying he hopes to make a decision in the early signing period. Black had been rumored to wait until the Spring. This kid can play ball, and would be a great complement to Jones and Blue.

Finally, go watch this sick dunk from Wade last night.

Cracked Sidewalks 2009-2010 Predictions

As we have done for the previous few years, here are the Cracked Sidewalks predictions for the season. Want some fun? Check out the picks from previous years.

2006-2007 (Actual record was 24-10 (11-7), and can be found here)

2007-2008 (Actual record was 25-10 (11-7), and can be found here)

2008-2009 (Actual record was 25-10 (13-7), and can be found here)

Onto the 2009-2010 season predictions!

Date	Opponent	Rob	Tim	Kevin	MU92	John	bma
11/13/2009	Centenary	W	W	W	W	W	W
11/17/2009	UM-Eastern Shore	W	W	W	W	W	W
11/21/2009	Grambling	W	W	W	W	W	W
11/24/2009	South Dakota	W	W	W	W	W	W
11/26/2009	Xavier (Old Spice Classic)	L	L	L	L	L	L
11/27/2009	Creighton / Michigan	L	W	W	L	L	L
11/29/2009	Bama, Baylor, FSU, or Iona	W	W	L	W	W	W
12/5/2009	NC State	W	L	L	W	L	W
12/8/2009	UWM	W	W	W	W	W	W
12/12/2009	at UW-Madison	L	L	L	L	L	L
12/19/2009	North Florida	W	W	W	W	W	W
12/27/2009	Presbyterian	W	W	W	W	W	W
12/29/2009	at WVU	L	L	L	L	L	L
1/2/2010	Villanova	L	L	L	L	L	L
1/6/2010	Georgetown	L	W	L	L	L	L
1/9/2010	at Villanova	L	L	L	L	L	L
1/17/2010	Providence	W	W	W	W	W	W
1/20/2010	at DePaul	W	W	L	W	W	W
1/23/2010	at Syracuse	L	L	L	L	L	W
1/26/2010	Rutgers	W	L	W	W	L	W
1/30/2010	at Connecticut	L	L	L	L	L	L
2/3/2010	DePaul	W	W	W	W	W	W
2/6/2010	at Providence	L	W	L	L	W	W
2/13/2010	South Florida	W	W	W	W	W	W
2/18/2010	Pittsburgh	W	L	L	W	W	L
2/21/2010	at Cincinnati	L	W	L	L	L	L
2/24/2010	at St. Johns	W	L	W	L	L	W
2/28/2010	at Seton Hall	L	W	L	L	W	L
3/2/2010	Louisville	L	L	L	L	W	L
3/6/2010	Notre Dame	W	W	L	W	W	W
								Average
	Full Season Wins	17	18	13	16	17	18	16.5
	Full Season Losses	13	12	17	14	13	12	13.5
	Conference Wins	8	9	5	7	9	9	7.8
	Conference Losses	10	9	13	11	9	9	10.2

Some commentary on the selections:

John
My theory is always that if you have experience (last year), you start hot and teams catch up to you late in the year, and if you have inexperienced talent (like this year), you improve throughout the year. We don’t even have four guards to go two-on-two in practice now, and I don’ t think we will be ready for even NC State, much less the trip to Madison, the Old Spice Tournament or the first four games of the Big East season. If we have a winning record January 10, we are ahead of schedule and could make a late run at the tournament. However, even if we are 8-8 at that point, if the freshmen aren’t getting booed and/or discouraged, I believe we really finish strong with two wins in the Big East tourney to take a 19-13 resume into selection Sunday.

Kevin
I have no idea how this team will perform. On paper, we’ve got one star (Acker!) and a bunch of guys who might be great, and might be busts. (Ok, Lazar and Butler are pretty good too.) -- Add to that some injuries, and my outlook is grim. Road wins are few and far between in the Big East, and it was tough to mark down even one road-W. Couple that with a ~50/50 win rate at home, and that gets you to a 5-13 Big East whitewash. Hope I’m wrong. I hope they win @DePaul. I hope they can outlast Pitt at the BC. Maybe eek out a win @ Seton Hall, and for the love of god, beat ND on Senior Night. That’d get us to 9-9. Hope against hope.

Rob
Like most of the fellow bloggers, I just see the first four games as being too brutal of a hole to overcome. I see MU splitting with Providence and beating DePaul twice, and then taking care of the reasonably close games at home like Pitt and ND. However, this team could easily surprise better or worse than these predictions by a wide range.

bma725
The only caveat for me is the final game of the OSC is based on the idea we're playing Iona. If it's anyone else, that should be changed to a loss for me. I may be a bit optimistic, but I think those predicting complete doom (meaning Kevin), are forgetting one that while we may have lost a lot of talent from last year, so did everyone else...and we reloaded a heck of a lot better than some of these other teams. We're not in as bad a shape as people think, especially if we can avoid further injuries. This isn't the deep Big East of last year, and I think our record will reflect that.

Tim
This is one tough team to predict. Somehow I have MU finishing with 18 wins and 9-9 in the BIG EAST. While the conference will take a step back from last year's extraordinarily top-heavy group, I think this year the league will be much more balanced until you get to the very bottom (hello DePaul!). With that balance comes greater unpredictability -- still, I can't come up with a scenario where MU finishes better than 9-9 and I see a much greater risk of a downside slide rather than an upside surprise.

muwarrior92
Youth is the reason I went with the predictions I did. I also believe we are very thin at guard and have always believed good guards carry you in college basketball. Road victories will be at a premium this year. Like bma, I kept thinking about the BE being down as well. However, I think teams like St. Johns and Seton Hall, with their experience, will be better simply because of the experience and not the talent. My biggest concern for the season is the injury bug since we’re so thin and injuries have followed Crean and Buzz like the plague it seems.

More on Signing Day (and some stuff)

Building on the original signing day post, here is more around the web on signing day at your one-stop shop for Marquette information.

Marquette provided several video clips for the signing day press conference.

Part One



Part Two



Now that you've seen the original press conference, here are some additional links from around the web.

Obviously, Rosiak covered signing day with plenty of quotes from the day.

In addition, IWB covered the Vander Blue signing. Check out the link for a video clip interview.

Finally, unrelated to signing day, check out this article on Wade wearing the 25th anniversary Jordans. It's a great article.

Jones, Blue sign with Marquette as Signing Period Opens

Buzz Williams and his staff were rewarded for months of aggressive recruiting when a pair of top 100 players signed on to play basketball at Marquette today.

Williams' second recruiting class at Marquette is highlighted by guard Vander Blue. Blue, from Madison (WI) Memorial, reneged on a commitment to UW@Madison to sign with the Warriors. A consensus top 40 player in the class of 2010, Blue is the highest rated recruit to sign at Marquette in decades. Scout.com lists Blue as the nation's third-best shooting guard while Rivals.com slots Blue in as the 22nd player in the nation regardless of position. To see Blue in action check out this video.

Also signing with Marquette today is 6'6" forward Jamail Jones. Originally from Decatur, Georgia, Jones is completing his high school eligibility at Montverde Academy in Florida. As a junior Jones averaged 17 points, 10 boards, 8 assists and three blocks per game. Jones verbally committed to Marquette in August, choosing the Warriors over Virginia, Georgia Tech, Xavier, Cincinnati, and Clemson.

Signing Vander Blue looks to be a watershed moment for head coach Buzz Williams. Williams has now signed the top prospect in the state for the second straight year, with Blue will joining fellow Madison Memorial star Jeronne Maymon on campus next fall. While message board chatter indicated that Bo Ryan did not aggressively pursue Maymon, the same can't be said of the more highly regarded Blue. Today Williams served notice that while he recruits nationally he gives no quarter in America's Dairyland.

In landing both Blue and Jones, Williams also is on the verge of breaking one of Marquette basketball's most frustrating cycles -- the inability back up one strong recruiting class with another. Last year Williams smartly capitalized on the recent success of the program and the promise of immediate playing time to attract current freshmen Maymon, Erik Williams, Junior Cadougan and Yous Mbao.

With today's signees Williams is proving that he can sell the Marquette program to the country's most desirable talent in more ways than one, something his predecessor was unable to do. Tom Crean, particularly with the Three Amigos class, became overly-reliant on a smaller pool of players which, in turn, inhibited his ability to sign other talented kids in subsequent classes. Buzz Williams will coach through the downside of that legacy this year but now has two more cornerstones in place as he rebuilds Marquette hoops.

Marquette still has two open scholarships to fill and remains heavily involved with a number of notable players, including 6'8" Tarik Black from Memphis. The national signing period continues through November 18.

It's Signing Day

Good morning in Marquette-land. With the official basketball season only two days away, today is a big day. That's because today starts the signing period.

Marquette is expected to sign Vander Blue and Jamail Jones during this recruiting period. With two more spots available in the class, it's certainly possible, even if most indications are that MU will continue to wait until the Spring. Regardless, with two Top 100 players already inked in this class, Buzz Williams has a great follow-up recruiting class.

Back to this season, Rosiak gave a report on DJO. There's good news here, as it turns out the foot that was injured in the MSOE game was not the original foot injury. Rosiak thinks that DJO might be held out of Friday's game, but the Marquette blog says he'll be ready for Friday's opener.

Speaking of Rosiak, he also had a chat session last night. I love those, as they are always interesting to read. Rosiak covers just about every imaginable topic under the Marquette sun. This is your must read for the day.

Finally, in good news for the Athletic Department, Marquette signed a multi-year deal to have AirTran as presenting sponsor of Marquette University Athletics. The deal was brokered by Nelligan Sports Marketing. According to Marquette, this deal will have a "traditional mix of marketing considerations plus unique elements that will be unveiled over the life of the partnership". Who knows what that means, but we support Marquette getting more cash flow.

Podcasts and Previews

Missed the Marquette Basketball Hour with Buzz Williams? Check out the podcast from last night's event at Marquette's podcast home page.

In addition, hometown reporter Todd Rosiak gives a great article focusing on Lazar Hayward. It's a good article on this year's star player. Rosiak also delivers a roster preview, and a preview of the Big EAST.

Finally, Marquette is slowly unveiling their intro video for games. This version goes through the 1960's.

Monday Media Update

Just a few links to catch up on various Marquette activities.

Rush the Court has their BE preview. Unfortunately, they pick MU as #11 in conference and missing the NIT. ouch. In some slightly better news, Vegas Watch has a stats-driven preview and they forecast MU as #8th overall. (HT: Villanova By the Numbers for both links) I would sign up for 8th right now.

Although we covered the links to the Post-Game Press Conference as well as the MSOE Highlight reel, there were a few other links to check out in case you missed them. Here is the official GoMarquette.com recap. Check out the Cubillan-Buycks podcast, the box score, or the photo gallery. If you didn't get a chance to read them immediately, Rosiak had an immediate blog post, a blog recap, and then an official story for the JSOnline.

Of course, we're not here to talk about the past (or something like that). Want to get ready for the season? Buzz' radio show is tonight at the Annex from 6-7 PM. If you want to get your info from the talking box, Inside Marquette Basketball with Buzz Williams, hosted by Dennis Krause, starts up again on Tuesday at 5 pm (Channel 32). Rosiak is also hosting a chat Tuesday night at 7 pm. Rosiak's chat sessions are great.

You could also brush up on Famous Centenary Alumni, or even Famous Marquette Alumni. We may just have to add Wesley Matthews to the list, who had himself a bit of a breakout game a few nights ago.

Yet Another Basketball Blog has a section of printable brackets for the Fall tournaments. I agree... Printable brackets are fun. If you want, here's the Old Spice Bracket.

Finally, MUScoop poster MUCrew has produced some outstanding wallpaper for the November schedule (1440x900 or 1084x768). Fricking sweet.

MU / MSOE Highlight reel

Looks like Marquette is going to pump out a lot of videos this year for fans. Outstanding.

Post-game presser MU vs. MSOE

MU hosts MSOE in exhibition tilt

With the new season less than one week away the Marquette Warriors host MSOE this afternoon in the year's only exhibition matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 1pm Marquette Standard Time.

The game will be streamed live on GoMarquette.com courtesy of the team at MUTV.