Marquette alum gather around the country to see Carrier Classic vs. Ohio State and unveiling of new shoes, but game is cancelled

Marquette alums around the country did a great job of using the opener vs. Ohio State to get-together.  However, once the opening tip was halted due to the wet court, there was no way either AD or coach was going to let the game be played considering the impact that injuries to Sullinger, Otule and Gardner had on OSU and MU last year.  Can you imagine the comments if Larry Williams said to go ahead and get the game in and then we lost someone for the year?

I happened to be traveling to Boston, and a quick check of the Marquette alumni page resulted in me connecting with Brad Hogan (standing in back of photo above), the co-Chair of the Boston MU Club.  I was able to join more than 20 MU Club members - to only 4 Ohio State alums despite their club picking the same location of the Courtside Restaurant in Cambridge.

The cancellation meant that the entire Cracked Sidewalks staff is tied in their predictions (click here), and Marquette is 0-0 until Sunday's 3:30 opener.  We also know what the new shoes look like, and that there were no tricks on the starting line-up as Buzz put Cadougan, Blue, Lockett, Jamil Wilson and Otule on the court for the opening tip.  Perhaps the most interesting obscure note of the night was that one gambling line put an over-under of 12.5 on how many points sharp-shooter Jake Thomas would have scored tonight.  While Jake appears to have the best outside shot at MU since Novak, noone really expected him on the court much so it will be interesting if someone knows something we do not.

The Big East had a good start to opening day when UConn upset Michigan State, but Georgetown was also cancelled after playing a pretty even stretch with Florida (trailed 27-23).  Rutgers was upset at home.  One Value Add note is that the team that Value Add says is most overrated (top 25 in polls but 96th best team in Value Add, was upset by South Alabama.  I did get inquiries on if the team ratings at www.valueaddbasketball.com included injured players such as Gasser for Wisconsin.  If you click on www.valueaddbasketball.com and type in the team's name in the search field you will see the ratings and all the players I included.  If a player is listed, then he is in the total, so Wisconsin will be much lower without Gasser, just as UCLA will with Muhammed being declared ineligible, and Marquette will drop some with Mayo out.

We will all try it again Sunday!