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.
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.
I’m not sure how it happened, as I wasn’t able to see the game last night. But it sure seems like Villanova was down by 15 points with 3 minutes remaining in the game, and still beat LSU…in regulation. The bloggers at LetsGoNova have a good account of the action.
It seems as though LSU decided to employ the ever-popular “foul your opponent when he’s attempting a 3-pointer” strategy to ensure Villanova could get within striking distance.
I was able to catch yesterday’s game between Gonzaga and UConn, which ended up being an 85-82 win for Gonzaga. The game was as close as the final score indicates, and UConn could have tied it at the end of the game with a Dyson heave, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was my first time seeing UConn this year, so I thought I’d go through my first impressions:
UConn is much better than last year: Thank God! They were horrible last year. This year they are much improved and will be somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Big East. It will still be tough for UConn fans, who have been spoiled by nationally ranked teams for years.
Bad shot selection combined with poor shooting: Oh my…what an awful combination to have. Kobe Bryant may have bad shot selection, but he is a great shooter. Then there are others like Dwight Howard or Shaquille O’Neal who are awful shooters, but have great shot selection (i.e. only feet from the basket). Much of this UConn team suffers from both problems — Dyson, Price, Stanley Robinson. The difficulty with yesterday’s game was that Dyson and Price were both shooting well in the first half, which only led to worse shot selection (and worse yet, settling for outside shots). But it was clear to me that it was luck — you’d see a few swishes followed by an airball. The shot selection problem is also exacerbated by Calhoun’s inability to coach a set offense in the half court.
Thabeet still can’t catch or finish: Sigh.
New uniforms…again?: Sigh. They are so ugly. Maybe not as ugly as Syracuse’s jersey’s, but still pretty bad.
What’s with those lines bordering the number?
I heart Jay Bilas: He may be a Dookie, but the man knows his basketball.
The upside is that UConn will be entertaining to watch this year. I liked the effort they put in yesterday.
