"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

MU hosts UConn

I know we've been dark here on Cracked Sidewalks for the last several days, thanks for bearing with us as we manage through busy times at the office and with work-related travel. Strangely enough -- via a quirk of unrelated developments -- four of us will be at the UConn game tonight on our blog's 6th birthday. (!!!) Thanks so much for your readership and for making our slice of the interwebs a part of your Marquette basketball experience.

Back to hoops.

So MU (13-7, 4-3) went into South Bend over the weekend and delivered another exquisite second half collapse --- offensively, defensively and Ed Hightowery*. Hey Ed, MU does not need help blowing second half leads, it is something of a signature move. Jimmy Butler summed things up pretty nicely when he said, "We've got to stop relying on our offense so much and guard on the defensive end, and I think everything will start to turn around if we do those things."

Co-sign.

Tonight it is time to get it right with fifth-ranked UConn (16-2, 4-2) in town. With a win the Warriors would move to a comfortable 5-3 in league play but a loss would leave MU at 4-4 with back to back tilts against Syracuse and Villanova to follow. NIT, hello.

Food for thought. MU could not contain Ben Hansbrough off the dribble last weekend. Tonight the Warriors will have to contend with the nation's second-leading scorer, Kemba Walker (25ppg), who's signature move is the dribble drive. Gulp.

Time to sack up, MU. Ken Pomeroy thinks the Warriors have what it takes, predicting a 75-72 win for the good guys.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice to see you guys have returned. Frankly after the ND gave I needed a break. When can we officially say that Buzz is on the hot seat?

I know many people will run to him saying how great of a recruiter he is and how hard his players play for him. BUT! He's consistently out-coached. The fact is, when you lose so many games in the final minute or give us big leads its because the coach cannot adjust.

When ND went from zone to man, MU died. His less than 1 minute left skills are pathetic. I have seen MU step out of bounds, trip, turn the ball over. The best coaches are prepared for those type scenarios. He isn't.

I'm sick of this bullshit. We're the best almost team in the world.