On first look it might seem as though Marquette is loaded…… THEY ARE! All three of their sharpshooting guards are back, as is starting center Ousmane Barro and SF Dan Fitzgerald and Lazar Hayward. With Matthews, McNeal and James returning on top, David Cubillian adds some important experience. This looks like a team that can challenge for the Big East title if they stay healthy.
Frontcourt – Ousmane Barro (8.1ppg, 6.9rpg) returns to the post position Barro improved last year as the season progressed and is tough down low. Starting SF Lazar Hayward (6.6ppg, 3.6rpg) also comes back. Hayward split time with Dan Fitzgerald (7.4ppg, 3.9rpg) and either can start. Lawrence Blackledge (1.7ppg, 1.4rpg) will give Barro rest time and Dwight Burke (0.8ppg, 1.8rpg) can spell the duo at SF. This is one of many strengths for the Golden Eagles. GRADE – A-
Backcourt – Dominic James (14.9ppg, 4.9apg) may be the best player in the league. He just has to be more careful with his shot selection. He is a reliable point man, but has to stay under control and out of foul trouble. Jerel McNeal (14.7ppg, 4.8rpg) returns at SG. If James were not here, he would be the one to carry the team. Probably the best defensive player in the BE, he doesn’t have a weakness. Wesley Matthews (12.6ppg, 5.3rpg) is the SF. Matthews would be a star with any team in the league. Here he has to share the limelight with James and McNeal. David Cubillian (5.5ppg, 1.6apg) is primarily a point guard but will see time at all three backcourt positions. GRADE – A+
Depth – The Eagles are really deep down low with either Fitzgerald or Hayward coming off the bench. Tom Crean has a ton of talent at the starting positions but can bring in one of the above down low and Cubillian on the perimeter. Maurice Acker, a transfer from Ball State was rookie of the year in the MAC two years ago will also be a plus off the bench. GRADE – B+
Outlook – Barring injuries, this team seems to have it all. What remains to be seen is how they will stack up against Georgetown and Louisvile. I see no reason why Marquette should have to play on Wednesday at MSG in March. They will be one of the top four seeds….maybe even #1. GRADE – A
Well the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is almost over and the Big East results are in….some good and some not so good. Looking at the teams that did not advance here are some observations.
NOTRE DAME - A very disappointing loss in round one to Winthrop. I know everyone and their brothers were talking up Winthrop before the tourney began but the Irish didn’t lose because Winthrop is another George Mason. When a team shoots 4-13 from the free throw line you just assume they are a bad free throw shooting squad. Not the case here. The Irish shot about 75% for the year from the line. Shooting 31% in a tourney game is sure to get you a loss. ND shot 40% from the 3 point line this season but could manage 4 for 22 or 18% in the Winthrop game. They were also outrebounded 43-41. All this from a team that looked very good coming off the tough Georgetown loss in the BET. But let’s not forget that Winthrop was on an 18 game win streak with their most impressive wins over Mississippi State and High Point (twice). The Irish picked a bad time to have tourney jitters against a team that dominated squads like Radford, Coastal Carolina, and Liberty in conference. This loss was a huge blow to the reputation of the Big East.
Marquette – The Eagles just are not very good. I’m sure with McNeal they would have made a better showing but any team with a warm body up front could dominate Marquette at the end of the season. Shame because they were on a roll early on and just couldn’t get it going when it counted.
Villanova – The worst thing that could have happened to Scottie Reynolds was scoring 40 against UConn. The Cats went 2-3 from that point on. Reynolds began to play like he had no teammates and wanted to be the whole show. He pushed Sumpter into a supporting role and Nardi was too injured to take charge of the team. Was Jay Wright looking to sell a package to the Sixers with Reynolds as the star and Wright as coach? When Reynolds got the ball it was time for all teammates to go wait in the bench area until he either took a 35 foot jumper or tried to drive through all 5 opponents on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Scottie is a tremendous talent. He should just try a little to be a team player. His one-man show probably cost Villanova a chance to move on to the 2nd round.
Louisville – Nice first round crushing of Stanford, an average team from a weak league (with way too much respect in the seedings). Sosa had 16 in that win, but the troubling fact from that game is that he only had 1 assist. Today against Texas A&M he took one of the worst shots at the end of a game that I have ever seen. Oh, yeah, he did have 31 points. AND 1 assist. Here is a point guard who is a Scottie Reynolds wannabe. 47 points in two games and 2 assists! I’m sure that’s not the shot Pitino called for, down one with 15 seconds left. Or would Rick wind the clock down to have his freshman point guard fire one up from 25 feet? Someone has to tell these Freshmen point guards that there are TEAMMATES who are on scholarship too.
Pitt – Still going! It took an overtime to extend the Panthers’ season after blowing a 19 point lead in the second half. But they do play like a team and deserve to be where they are. More on them later.
Georgetown – The Hoyas are the toast of the Big East for making toast out of Jared Dudley and his headband teammates. BC is home again…… knocked out again by a Big East team (Nova erased them last year). Still fun to watch the Hoyas run an offense like no other BE team and when they turn up the heat on D they can put the brakes on most teams. More on them later.
Maybe when the pundits claimed this a down year for the Big East they weren’t far off target. Sure looked like our crying about ND’s 6 seed was off target. Syracuse almost lost the 1st round of the NIT, UConn could only beat Division One bottom dwellers and three of our six went out on Day 1. But we still have two in the dance.
So…… at this point we have 2 teams in the Sweet Sixteen. The scoreboard shows the ACC has one, SEC has three, Big 12 has two, Big Ten has one, Pac 10 has three, Conference USA has one, Missouri Valley has one, Mountain West has one and the Horizon has one.
Feisty, tenacious defense. Bodies hitting the floor, elbows being thrown. Lots of fouls (54 to be exact). That’s what comes to mind when I think of Marquette vs. Villanova. And pretty much, that’s what we got — the play below pretty much sums up what happens when the Golden Eagles play the Wildcats:
I like Dominic James. Sometimes he dribbles too much and doesn’t know where he’s going, but he’s got a ton of heart. And ups. Check this out:
Is it pronounced Dominique, as in Dominique Wilkins…or is it
Dominic, as in the kid in Kindergarten Cop (Random trivia: the actor who played Dominic was actually two actors — twins!)? Jay Bilas repeatedly called him Dominique, but I think it’s the latter. Any Marquette fans know the truth?
I was right about Villanova being a good offensive rebounding team from the other night. Here are the stats. They rank 11th in the country, according to stats-wizard Ken Pomeroy.
Last year, I thought Nardi was the heady one amongst Foye, Ray, and Lowry. He was the one wiling to run the pick and roll with Sheridan, instead of taking wild forays into the lane. This year he seems to have lost his head. I chastised him last game for making some bad plays. This game was better. But still, take a look at this clip (there was 26 seconds left on the shot clock).
Weak, Grey’s anatomy-watching men take charges. Real men (i.e. Marquette’s Wesley Matthews) flop.
So, is Villanova in or out? I think they’re in, despite the two close losses.
More on this game from our impartial Big East friends:
Marquette outscored Louisville in the second half 41-35 to break upon a three point lead at the half (see the ESPN recap). Dominic James played a great game, hitting tough threes and runners, as well as setting up teammates for open shots. On the other hand, Louisvlle’s star player — Terence Williams — went 4-16 from the field and scored 10 points. A few thoughts from the game:
Pitino didn’t prepare his troops enough defensively. The first half was a defensive hodge-podge as they tried a combination of a 2-3 zone and a weak full-court press. It didn’t work, so they switched to man-to-man, which also didn’t work. The man-to-man defense didn’t work for a fundamental reason (see below), while the 2-3 zone didn’t work because Louisville executed horribly. There were several times Dominic James got to the rim on a dribble drive, something that shouldn’t happen often against a 2-3 zone. It seemed to me that Pitino realized a 2-3 zone would be effective and threw it in the mix a few practices before the game.
It’s extremely difficult to play man defense against Marquette. Their three guards (James, McNeal, and Matthews) can easily get by a man defense on the dribble causing havoc as the defense tries to rotate. Despite their relatively strong three-point shooting, I’d rather play Marquette in a 2-3 zone than have their players pick apart a man defense.
Despite the loss on their home floor, there were plenty of silver linings for Louisville. Despite playing horribly on defense, they were down only 7 with 2 minutes left. Edgar Sosa, their starting freshman point guard, is coming along very nicely. Derrick Caracter, their star freshman, is finally playing after a bad start to the season. And playing against a tough Marquette defense, they only had 8 turnovers. This was my first good look at Louisville and I came away pleasantly surprised. If Sosa and Caracter, their two star freshmen, can grow and develop a bit more throughout the season, Louisville could slip into the tournament.
This will be the first in a series of posts on my first impressions of Big East teams. I saw Marquette play Wisconsin on Saturday, and here’s my thesis:
Marquette is a poor man’s 2005-2006 Villanova.
Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews remind me a lot of Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray, and Randy Foye (not necessarily in that order). Both triumverates are/were very quick and a bit undersized. They possess similar games: they either take you off the dribble straight to the hoop, or pull up for some ridiculous three that goes in more often than you think it ought to. Dominic James even wears the same type of elbow guard that Allan Ray did last year. Sometimes I think the Marquette guards get away with traveling when they execute a crossover dribble; I had the same qualm about Villanova last year.
Defense: Very tenacious — up in people’s faces, aggressively double-teaming, and waving arms and hands frenetically. Just like Villanova last year, they need this feverish pitch to overcome the size disadvantage. This was effective against some of Wisconsin’s players, who lost their composure and traveled or committed offensive fouls by using their elbows to get more personal space. At times, though, the defense seems out of control. In the first half against Wisconsin, the aggressive double-teaming hurt quite a bit, as Wisconsin held their composure and delivered quick, accurate passes to cutting players. The Marquette defense needs to work a bit more on rotating over after the double team.
Offense: Few set plays, a lot of penetration off of high screens and kicking the ball out for a three, and just letting Dominic James do his thing. It’s not the most aesthetically-pleasing flavor of basketball (I’m a Pete Carril man), but it works well with this lineup. Dominic James is a major talent and reminds me of Allen Iverson. But I think Tom Crean lets his players stand and watch James too often. On Saturday, they only had 8 assists on 26 baskets (as opposed to Wisconsin’s 17 on 29).
It’s hard for me to get a read of Marquette, but I think they’re in for a rocky year. They could beat or lose to anybody in the country on a given night. They sure are exciting, though, and I look forward to some crazy games this year.
Oh, and one last thing: Ousmane Barro is going to break somebody’s face this year. Dude has some nasty elbows.
