Morning Grinds: News & Notes for Marquette Basketball

The Warriors are off until Saturday when they travel to Louisville for a morning tip-off against Slick Rick's Cardinals. Louisville fell to Villanova last night in Philadelphia, 88-74. We'll get to that game later in the week. In the meantime here are updates of interest on a host of former Marquette players.

Marquette graduate Jerel McNeal is playing well in the NBA D-League this season. McNeal is averaging 17 points (45% shooting), four assits and nearly four rebounds per game for Rio Grande Valley. McNeal matched his season high with 27 points last night leading Rio Grande Valley to a 124-106 win over the Erie Bayhawks.

Dominic James is excelling in Bulgaria as Lukoil Academic continues to lead the league with a 13-1 record. James leads the team in scoring at nearly 15 points per game and is in the top 10 in the league in both steals (1.7/game) and assists (3.9). Lukoil lost its first game of the season last night, falling 86-79 to Lisboa e Benfica in the EuroChallenge. James led the team with 25 points.

Travis Diener is lacing'em up for Dinamo Basket Sassari in Italian Lega Basket Serie A. The team is struggling at 5-9, 14th place in the league. Diener is averaging 11.6 points on 45% shooting (29% from deep) and 3.7 assists per outing, which is 7th-best in the league.

Meanwhile Wesley Matthews continues to impress in his debut season with the Portland Trailblazers. ESPN recently named Wesley as the league's most improved player through the season's first trimester.

Oh, that Wade guy is living in another stratosphere, leading the Heat to a gaudy 30-10 record. That guy can ball.

Reggie Smith, who decided to leave MU during winter break, has enrolled at UNLV. Surely this means that MU will go to the Final Four next season. Odartey Blankson must be proud.

Finally, for all of you Danny Pudi fans out there, the Marquette grad appeared on George Lopez' show last night and his passion for Marquette hoops was apparent.