Marquette Basketball Preview

Lets start off with this.... Its not the best but its the only thing I could find from YouTube of Ring Out Ahoya and ahh, welcome back to Marquette Basketball for the 2008-2009 season. It was a different off-season for Marquette as alot of players backed out of commitments as Tom "The Snake" Crean left for Indiana and now there is a new leader in Milwaukee by the name of Buzz Williams who seems as the right person for the job.

Let me breakdown how the year will run for College Basketball on the blog, once we get to December I will do Top 25 picks for the Saturday games and during the week any upsets that do occur I will definitely discuss them on the blog. Marquette is right up there with the Brewers for favorite teams so there is a possibility I will have an MU report after almost every Big East game and the two big non-conference ones (Wisconsin and Tennessee). I would like to introduce my guy Mach as my Big East corespondent; alot of stuff being written today were both our thoughts. Also I will be doing an overall College Basketball preview with the top 25 where we have the Games to Watch, Key Players and a breakdown of each team.

Games to Watch for MU: Wisconsin (12/06) @ Tennessee (12/16) @ Notre Dame (1/26) vs/@ Georgetown (1/31, 2/21) UConn (2/25) @ Louisville (3/1) @ Pittsburgh (3/4)
I think I have never seen a tougher down the road stretch for a team in College Basketball: GU, UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse, four out of those five teams are top 20 teams and the Orange could be right there too by that time. In my opinion, no conference will be tougher than the Big East this year.

Instead of key players for Marquette, I will be breakdown every player.
#1 Dominic James-Guard-5'11-SR- Mr. James is back for another year at MU which to most fans including me and Mach are very surprised that he is still here. We all thought he had big dreams of the NBA and now I think is more than ever ready to led his team. I expect big things out of him this year.

#2 Maurice Aker-Guard-5'8-JR- I thought that Aker was nice addition to the sqaud last year and will have more of a role this year as he learned more of the offense. I think this guy is a good version of a true point guard and will do some nice things off the bench.

#4 Patrick Hazel-Forward-6'7-SO- As me and Mach were talking online, I told him Hazel was my "Breakout Player of the Year" for MU. His Response: "AGREED, he is super long and relativity nimble." Trust me, he will be a great option off the bench all year and with the injuries with the big men right now, he will have a chance to shine early on.

#10 David Cubilian-Guard-6'0-JR- Another thing that was brought up was Cubi as we both feel he is a great six man and will provide needed three-point shooting. I always have loved the fiery passion that he brings to the court every game and I expect to continue as a vital part of the bench this year.

#12 Dwight Burke-Forward-6'8-SR- Now there are some who really dont like Burke and I am not one of them, granted I think he has some poor mental errors at times with fouls and such. But I do think he will be fine as their Center this season. He will be challenged all year long with the big men of the Big East, I can only hope he holds his own.

#21 Joesph Fulce-Forward-6'7-SO- A JUCO brought in from Houston who is out with a foot injury and there is a possibility he might redshirt this year as there have been setbacks with his foot according to Todd Rosiak of Journal Sentinel. He was a second team JUCO All-American as he average 19 and 13 so I am pretty excited to see what he can do and hope he doesnt redshirt.

#22 Jerel McNeal-Guard-6'3-SR- Mr. All-Around. I think McNeal has the best chance to be a solid NBA player for the next five years and I think he will have a huge year as he just keep getting better every year. I am curious to see if his permiter shooting is better than last year and I know he is up to the task of guarding the best perimeter players of the Big East.

#23 Wes Matthews-Guard-6'5-SR- Matthews is really overshadowed by McNeal and James and I think he provides more to the team sometimes than anyone else. You might not notice it but he always seems to get a big bucket when no one else is. I think Wes will have a big year and likely a 2nd team Big East all-conference player.

#32 Lazar Hayward-Forward-6'6-JR- My guy. This is easily my favorite player because he isnt afraid of the big men that he sees every night and he can hurt you from the perimeter or the paint. The big thing for him will be to stay out of foul trouble espically when he is playing the good teams because I feel when Hayward is out of the game for awhile, the flow seems more screwed up.

#33 Jimmy Butler-Guard/Forward-6'6-SO- Played with Fluce at the JUCO college where he averaged 19, 8 and shot 42.2 last year from the three-point line but the Warriors want to play him at the 4 to back up Hayward so it will be interesting if that continues all year with his deadly depth from the three-point line.

#42 Chris Otule-Center-6'10-FR- The lone freshman of the team and Mach heard rumors he was going to redshirt after he broke his left foot recently and is out a month. I hope he is not because he is the biggest player on the team. His senior year of high school averaged 14 9 and 6 blocks a game so he is obviously a defensive presence. I hope MU takes a long look at him before the redshirt comes out.

#45 Robert Forenzea-Guard-6'1-SO The walk-on wont probably see much time this season but hopefully when he does, he makes the most of it.

#55 Liam McMarrow-Center-7'0-SO He will be redshirted this year and is from Canada, thats all I really got.

Overall as I told Mach, I think Marquette will play with a chip on their shoulder all year long and nothing like we have seen before with this team. How disrespected to these seniors feel? I mean sure its a business (Its Indiana, lets remember, what a joke) but still, this guard combo is one of the most talented in the NCAA. As Mach put it, "From the comments they made, it seems like they were playing it off that they weren't too upset about Crean leaving like that, but you could also tell that they were hurt so i think that will factor into a lot of their passion during games to be honest." Couldnt agree more with that statement.

Lets go Warriors.

-Charlie.