MUTV catches up with DJO and Chris Otule

The guys at MUTV Sports are keeping the Marquette hoops content flowing right through the close of the academic year. This week Todd Warner and Brad Galli catch up with Darius Johnson-Odom and Chris Otule -- good stuff.

DJO


Otule

2010 Warrior Day Golf Outing is coming up

Folks don't forget to mark your calendars for the 2010 Warrior Day Golf Outing on Monday, July 26. Hosted by Bo Ellis and his family, proceeds from the event will support the American Liver Foundation (ALF) and endow The Nicole Ellis Scholarship Fund at Marquette University. To register please visit The Nicole Ellis Foundation web site.

This year's event will be held at the the Hawks View Golf Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. As you'd expect the outing will bring out many all-time Warriors greats as well as lunch, dinner and prizes. Here are some highlights from last year's event

Wish list for additional BE teams if anyone is raided

While we are in a holding pattern waiting to see if Buzz signs Dieng or Noreen, stays with the current roster, or signs someone else, Joe Paterno this weekend once again called for the Big 10 to move quicker to expand. If they do manage to get some combination of Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn and Notre Dame, the SEC is expected to raid the ACC and the dominoes will start falling.

It will be hard to stop either conference, since at a reported $22 million (Big 10) and $17 million (SEC after new CBS deal), either conference could probably go all the way to 16 teams if they want, and the Pac10 has a pretty free shot at Utah, Boise State and Colorado, and might even play for Texas schools. That would leave the Big 12, Big East and ACC weighing options.

I hope the Big East stays intact with the Big 10 just grabbing one Big East school and going west for the rest (they really don’t care about college football in New York), but if the conference is raided, the following is my first stab at a wish list of potential replacement teams.

My criteria is footprint (believe we need to be in Florida and the Northeast), if the basketball could realistically get up to the level of Big East play, and if the school has a football program that could help offset any football teams that left to maintain the BCS status. I have no idea which of these are realistic, so shoot holes in it, but here we go. I list current conference, basketball ranking among 347 schools and football ranking among 120 schools:

1 Boston College, currently in the ACC, ranked 62nd in basketball by Pomeroy, ranked 43rd in football by CBS – First on my wish list would be getting BC back. They can’t be happy traveling to empty ACC football title games instead of playing their northeast rivals.

2 Maryland ACC 11 106 - If Big 10 raids the Big East, it’s pretty clear the SEC will raid the ACC going after Clemson, Georgia Tech and Florida State, at which point we might have a shot at getting both BC and Maryland from a weakened ACC.

3 Temple A10 22 60 – Football is really improving, and certainly the basketball is always there if Nova doesn’t object to another Philly school.

4 Marshall CUSA 81 65 – same as Temple, good fit if WVa doesn’t mind.

5 Butler Horz 12 no football – Butler, Xavier and Dayton offer no football, but could help keep the Big East as the top hoops conference if we lose a few others.

6 Xavier A10 14 no football

7 Dayton A10 26 no football

8 Central Florida CUSA 167 61 – if the SEC grabs Florida State and even Miami, the theory is the ACC will push hard for South Florida. I believe Central Florida could excel in basketball as quickly as they have in football with the huge growth and funding behind all the Florida schools, which is why I list a couple of other state schools further down.

9 Ohio MAC 93 54 – maybe I’m overreacting to one upset win over Gtown, but with a football team that led Ohio State in the 4th quarter a couple of years ago, that might be a play.

10 Memphis CUSA 55 112 – starting to stretch the geography a little, but if we did start to look at 20 teams the hoops is obviously there and a BCS affiliation would help them keep some of the incredible local football talent.

11 Buffalo MAC 164 87 – they played UConn tough in hoops, and the football is just one year removed from a conference title.

12 Houston CUSA 89 39 – I know we are really stretching geography here and the Big 12 would probably grab them if the Pac10 and/or ACC raid them, but if we got Memphis we may want to recreate a division of our former CUSA foes.

13 Central Michigan MAC 193 20 – admittedly purely a football play.

14 Western Michigan MAC 143 93 – if we brought in Central Michigan, Western does have a little big of basketball history.

15 Florida Atlantic SB 208 95

16 Florida International SB 291 108

17 Bradley MVC 114 no football

18 St. Louis A10 94 no football

19 UAB CUSA 64 88

20 Navy Pat 288 25 – if another David Robinson were to ever show up, Navy’s resurgent football would be a nice fit, but I just can’t see them getting remotely respectable in basketball.

As I said, hopefully the Big East stays in place and the Big 10 grabs Rutgers, Nebraska and Missouri, but if not, this is my wish list for consideration.

Playboy: MU #1 Catholic Party School

As if recruits needed another reason to select Marquette, Playboy named the institution as the nation's #1 Catholic party school.

This should help recruiting. Think about it .. Buzz will be telling some mom how great a Jesuit education is, how valuable a MU degree is, then mom leaves to get lemonade, boom. #1 party school, Playboy edition.




Oh, that quote 20 seconds in from a "Marquette Message Board"? "This is awesome. I'm updating my resume."

That wasn't some graduating senior, some job hunting 22 year old. It was more like a 41 year old, former Season Ticket Holder of the Game, who writes for Cracked Sidewalks. Hmm .. who could that be?

If my mom was alive, she would be so proud right now.


More coverage from the MU Tribune.

MU honors the 2009-2010 Warriors

Marquette hosted its annual basketball banquet last night at The Al. With more than 500 in attendance a series of awards were handed out, punctuated by Lazar Hayward being named the team's MVP for the season. Surely the highlight of the evening was this excellent video recapping highlights from last season.

No surprises as signing period opens

As expected Marquette today announced that junior college standout Jae Crowder and Philadelphia prep star D.J. Newbill signed their letters of intent with the university.

Crowder, a dead-ringer for Denver Nuggets forward Rolando Balkman, fills the program's most immediate need -- replacing Lazar Hayward. At 6'6" and 220 pounds, Crowder figures to step into the Warriors' rotation and contribute immediately. Todd Rosiak delivered a terrific feature on Crowder earlier today. The official Marquette news release can be found here.

D.J. Newbill also formally signed with MU today after verbally committing in January. The official Marquette news release can be found here. Newbill will join a talented group of freshmen guards this fall -- Vander Blue, Reggie Smith and Jamail Jones.

....Now things get interesting for Buzz Williams. By all accounts Williams and his staff are aggressively recruiting a number of talented players, one or two of whom could be on campus this fall. Among the names floating around --

• Former N.C. State commit Luke Cothron, a 6'8" forward. Cothron is thought to be a Crimson Tide lean but is considering MU along with Auburn, UConn and Tennessee.
• 6'8" Davante Gardner (Kings Fork HS, Virginia) is reportedly deciding between MU and USF.
• 6'11" Wake Forest signee Carson Desrosiers might be back on the market. The Massachusetts product signed with Wake over MU and others during the early signing period and speculation abounds that he might re-open his recruiting pending a review of the Demon Deacons' new head coach Jeff Bzdelik.
• 6'10" Gorgui Dieng will visit Marquette and Colorado. The Senegal native is also considering Louisville.
• 6'9" Reggie Murphy from Los Angeles is said to be considering TCU, Oklahoma and MU with the Horned Frogs in good position to land him.
• 6'4" guard Patrick Swilling apparently did not sign today and he was very interested in Marquette several weeks ago.
• Josh Langford, linked to Marquette after de-committing from Louisville, appears to have moved onto other suitors.
  

I'm sure there are many other kids in play for Marquette with nearly a month to go in the spring signing period. Of course, as constituted the Warriors are full-up on the scholarship front for next season so if Buzz is out recruiting, somebody is on their way out.

Catching up

The national signing period opens tomorrow and runs through May 19. One of MU's first signees is expected to be D.J. Newbill from Philadelphia. The 6'4" guard turned in a spectacular senior season, leading his squad to the state title game while averaging about 25 points per game along the way. Newbill was named the Pennsylvania AA State Player of the Year.

The Philadelphia Daily News caught up with Newbill who expects to be on campus in July to enroll in summer classes and begin his work with the MU program. Check out the full article here.

In other news from the program:

• 2010 big man Maurice Walker committed to Minnesota after considering MU among other programs.
• Heading into the spring signing period, ESPN has MU ranked with the 16th best recruiting class in the nation.
• Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press Gazette named Buzz Williams the coach of the year in his annual recap of all Division One teams in the state. Demovsky found plenty of love for the Marquette hoops program in his rundown of the state's best.
• After turning in a series of fine performances during Final Four weekend, Lazar Hayward opted to skip the Portsmouth Invitational.
• Jerel McNeal's first professional season ended in embarrassing fashion. The Marquette graduate was booted from his team after testing positive for marijuana.
• Dominic James is closing out a strong season in Turkey. The point guard is averaging better than 14 points and 4 assists per game, scoring in double figures in 10 of his last 11 outings. Mersin has won six of their last eight, their best stretch of the season.
• The Marquette basketball team banquet will be held tomorrow night on campus.