Marquette (2-0) takes on UW-Green Bay (1-0)

After a dominating opener against Prairie View A&M and a comeback victory against Bucknell, Marquette heads back to the BC tomorrow night to open play in the CBE Classic against in-state foe UW-Green Bay.

Two former Marquette players will be pacing the sidelines for Green Bay. Brian Wardle is in his first year as the Phoenix head coach and Brian Barone is in his first season as an assistant under Wardle.

Wardle made his head coaching debut last week against Minnesota Duluth and his team allowed just 36 points on 23 percent shooting.

Here's one man's opinion on Wardle (for what it's worth): "I think Green Bay hit another home run with the hiring of Brian Wardle. Getting to coach Brian for two years, the first thing that I noticed was what kind of leader he was. He was nothing short of spectacular in that department – from the time he was a player to when he was a valuable member of our staff. He has an energy and a passion about him with an attitude that makes those around him better.” - Tom Crean

Here’s UW-Green Bay’s preview of tomorrow night’s game.

Lineup Questions

The most intriguing question through two regular season games for Marquette fans is how the starting lineup will look every night and which player will step up. Davante “I have too many nicknames” Gardner is getting a lot of attention for his stellar play through the team’s first two matches, but he could just be a constant spark plug off the bench.

Erik Williams and Chris Otule both got the starting nod in the team's first two games, but neither have made a huge impact, playing less minutes than several reserves.

In terms of success, it seems like Buycks, Blue, Crowder, Butler, and Gardner would be a good-looking starting lineup, but as we know it's all about what happens in practice so your guess is as good as mine in terms of the starting 5 come tomorrow night.

In addition, there have even been plenty of arguments about who should start in MU’s match against Duke next week.

Where are you guys?

DJO – who everyone predicted to start and star for the Golden Eagles – has been near invisible, coming off the bench in both games and scoring a total of 21 points. He’s also gotten off to a slow start from behind the arc, hitting just 1-of-6 from range. In the post-game press conference after the Bucknell game, Buzz didn't seem too worried about him saying, "I think DJ will be better than fine as time goes on, and our team needs him. But we need him just as much to be present defensively as we do offensively."

Joe Fulce has played an average of 7.5 minutes per game and attempted 2 shots in 2 games. Many had Fulce starting for MU and playing a big role on this year’s team, but so far it’s been Crowder and Garnder taking those minutes.

A few more things:

• Here’s episode 12 of Marquette Basketball Revealed.
• Here’s a link from Inside Milwaukee on Buzz's patience with the team.
• Rosiak's preview for tomorrow's game.
• The Oshkosh paper looks at Wardle's return to Milwaukee.
  
• Brian Wardle's finest moment at Marquette.
  

We Are Marquette.