I caught the Marquette-Wisconsin game on ESPN today. It was everything that makes college basketball wonderful — a highly competitive and entertaining matchup. I was definitely impressed by Marquette and have to give Big Willie stye credit on his preview post — Marquette definitely has what it takes to be the top team in the Big East. Today they beat a strong Wisconsin team at Wisconsin (Marquette 81, Wisconsin 76)– becoming the first of the previous 28 teams to visit Wisconsin and get a win.

Last year I said they were a poor man’s Villanova. They’re not a poor man’s anybody this year.

• Still wild: They’re still frenetic on defense and on the offensive boards. It makes for fun basketball to watch, especially because they’re amazingly athletic. Most teams will be absolutely exasperated by their play. Those few teams that retain composure and make quick, timely cuts to the basket will be able to expose Marquette’s trapping, gambling defense.
• Dominic James. Wow.: He is still as athletic as they come. In previous years, James would go solo and take on two or three defenders (and amazingly, scoring a significant amount of the time). This year, he seems to have matured a bit, but I feel this is one of the key areas for James and Marquette. Case in point:
  
  This is a 3 on 1 that James takes all the way; he scores a bucket and gets fouled in the act. What could be better? He had a great passing angle to Barro who could have wound up with a dunk. This is just one play, but I think it’s indicative of James’s play — and something to watch out for.

• Marquette’s guards get into the lane with ease, and this is their offense. Wisconsin played mostly man-to-man today and couldn’t stop anybody from getting into the lane. The result was a lot of easy dunks and layups for Burke and Barro, and open threes for the rest of the guards. I don’t believe many teams in the nation can match up man to man against Marquette’s guards, so most teams ought to try playing zone on them.
• Tom Crean looks a lot like Tom Arnold. I’m not the first to make this observation.

Categories: Commentary, Marquette, donald