Well This Sucks Part II

Its like a bad squeal such as 'Van Wilder: The Raise of Taj' because the Marquette lost on Tuesday night was a blowout 102-84 but here's the thing, I wasnt as mad as Friday night. The simple fact of the matter is they could not miss. So here are some thoughts....

-First off before I go into bashing my boys, I firmly believe if Nova keeps playing like they are right now if they get a bracket that doesnt feature an inside man, they very well could be a final four team. They shoot lights out and Dante Cunningham doesnt miss a 15 ft. jumper. They also do a great job rebounding with small size but if they run into Blake Griffith or Tyler Hansbrough they will get beat. This team isnt as explosive as the Allen Ray-Randy Foye-Kyle Lowery team who I was in love with for a long awhile and Jay Wright also is my favorite Big East coach not named Buzz Williams.

-Now on to Marquette, despite being Nova lights out in the second half (72%) the defense that MU displayed on Tuesday was one of their worst. They had so many open looks from the three point area and they had a lot of easy buckets.

-More so about the defense, I think Buzz needs to scrap the zone press against fast teams, it flusters a team like Georgetown or Notre Dame but not so much, a fast pace Nova team.

-The continuing theme of defense but when you give up a 100, you will have to address it. They gave up so many easy offensive rebounds and I didnt understand why Buzz didnt go back to his first game plan when MU beat Nova where Dwight Burke, Pat Hazel, and Chris Otule were rotating in pushing around the Wildcats inside.

-Free throws again. What the hell has happened. Dominic James is Ben Wallace's midget on the free throw stripe and now Jerel McNeal/Wesley Matthews look like another animal at the line.

-Lets all remember Marquette had a 37-29 lead during the first half and the Big 10 mastermind Doz made the best point I had ever heard about Marquette without a bias. "You know if Marquette has some sort of a big man, they win going away." Couldnt agree more with that, and lets hope in years to come Marquette can finally have a big man.

-Finally, I would just like to congratulate Jerel McNeal on being the all-time leading scorer at Marquette. Its a great honor and he is a stand-up guy to have it.

Charlie.