So Let's Dance!
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 4:22 PM CDT
86 comments
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well, as long as your team is one of the privileged few that will be particpating in the greatest of America's sporting events that is. Selection time is finally upon us, and if anyone out there can honestly say that the Marquette Golden Eagles are exactly where you expected them to be, then let me buy you a beer my friend. And I hope you are enjoying your new position as King of the Optimists. Most realistic predictions had Marquette not even in the picture for Selection Sunday. Even the sunniest of outlooks had us sweating bullets, with a bottle of booze in one hand and a handful of Tums in the other, as we nervously awaited our bubble fate.
As it is, none of that is the case. Marquette is sitting pretty, just waiting to find out our seed and first round opponent. How did this happen? I have no f'ing clue, but I don't care. If I had to guess, I'd say balls, sheer balls...and maybe 3-point shooting. But that's not important now. As everyone has said, everything from here on out is gravy. However, that doesn't mean I can't have a wish list.
What I am hoping for:
-Getting off the 8/9 line - By all accounts this is where MU is probably going to end up. Now I'm not foolish enough to think that any 1st round opponent is going to be a cake walk, but that doesn't mean I can't be peaking at our potential 2nd round game. That's all part of the fun, right? We should all really be rooting for the committee to look fondly upon our near misses versus the upper echelon of the Big East, and bump us up to that 7 seed. Or, if that doesn't work, perhaps look scornfully at those ugly NC State and DePaul losses and knock us down to a 10 seed. Either way, I'm cool with it.
-Avoid a potential 2nd round match up with Kansas - Ok, no one is any hurry to play a team that is good enough to get a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But if I had to pick the scariest of them all, I pick Kansas.
-Get a game on Thursday - This really makes no difference to me personally, I'm calling in sick regardless of what day we play. This one is for all the MU faithful that expected a down year for the Golden Eagles and snapped up tickets for the first round games in Milwaukee. I don't want them to have to choose between our game, and experiencing the first round action live and in person. Not that that should be a tough choice.
That's it. That's not much of a list compared to years past. I'm just thankful to be in the tourney for a 5th straight year. So sit back and enjoy it Marquette fans. Smile along with me during this brief reprieve from the blood pressure raising, hair pulling, ulcer causing "excitement" of this season. Lord knows we've earned it.
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They're all kind of terrifying
But: UK is freshmen that haven’t ever been to the tourney, ya never know. Cuse is in our conference so they’re out. Duke doesn’t scare me nearly as much as KU. And if Ohio St. snuck in somehow, they’re even less scary than Duke imo.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 4:53 PM CDT up reply actions
WE'RE NOT THE NO. 1 OVERALL SEED?!?!
Jobbed already.
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 5:03 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Duke jumps Cuse?
Interesting. But not a huge deal. I’m sure the Orange will be indignant, but I hear Salt Lake is lovely this time of year.
Lucky Us
At least it’s one of the more entertaining ones.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:14 PM CDT up reply actions
Well...
At least we get the POTY, not a Michigan St. grindfest.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:16 PM CDT up reply actions
Fine!
I’m curious who the 1st round match-up will be
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:15 PM CDT up reply actions
Damn
I wanted Gonzaga. Mid-Major bullshit.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:18 PM CDT up reply actions
That's a surprising and uncharacteristic display
Of confidence
by The Freshman Mistake on Mar 14, 2010 5:19 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
The interwebs
So this is what life outside the buffet is like?
Go Marquette!
by Superstitious Bando on Mar 14, 2010 5:17 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Bucky travels well
That’s why they put them in Florida.
Had to be said.
F Bucky!
by Superstitious Bando on Mar 14, 2010 5:29 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Wow
I like it. The Pac 10 sucks.
by Superstitious Bando on Mar 14, 2010 5:31 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Did we get pushed UP a line because WVU is a 2?
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 5:31 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Must have
It must have been a procedural thing
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:36 PM CDT up reply actions
So...
if Wisconsin beats Kentucky and Marquette beats West Virginia, then we’ll get Wisconsin-Marquette in the Elite Eight, right?
==
Check out Wezen-Ball.com
No doubt.
Forgive me if I’m not terrified of the Pac 10.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:40 PM CDT up reply actions
And...
We get to potentially play the weakest of the 3 seeds. I’m stunned by this. We didn’t get a draw like this when we had the 3 amigos and were nationally ranked all year. I guess it speaks to the weakness of the field this year.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 5:44 PM CDT up reply actions
We were the Dos Amigos last year ...
And, yeah, the field is weak as hell.
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 5:46 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Greg, Seth:
Trust me on this: WVU is good, but not THAT good.
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 5:50 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
On second thought:
Seth is a very, very, very smart man. Thanks for the sleeper love.
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 5:53 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Seth also has nice hair
by The Freshman Mistake on Mar 14, 2010 5:56 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
WarriorBrad checking in...
from 30k ft, free WiFi courtesy of…forgot the sponsor.
I pulled a total Marmalard getting on the plane, on the phone with Kensington (loudly) bumping into people.
Fuck it, I’m delighted with the draw. Bring on Washington and hopefully Steve Alford’s hair.
You shouldn't disclose your coordinates.
I think that’s military intelligence, or something.
by Rubie Q on Mar 14, 2010 6:17 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Couple thoughts from the field
Glad they dumped Illinois, Miss St and VT. Isn’t VT always in this spot??
Purdue will lose to Siena
Texas-UK could be a fun 2nd round game
Really surprised Nova got a 2 seed – they really stumbled down the stretch + they got an easy first weekend draw
BYU as a #7 is a bit low – BYU-KSU could be really good
A 6 is high for us, but looking at the other 6’s and the 7’s, we are in their class (except for BYU)
first blush
we may have stolen BYU’s 6
Lurking since 2006
by boyonthedock on Mar 14, 2010 10:39 PM CDT up reply actions
Washington
Expect this to be a really tough game. Their KenPom numbers are strong. Defensive weakness is fouling, but we don’t draw many fouls
Big pace disparity as well
they are #10 in pace – we must slow them down. Very interesting matchup brewing
by Warrior Brad on Mar 14, 2010 6:34 PM CDT up reply actions
Weak Field
I can’t remember a weaker field. There doesn’t appear to be much competition from the 4-6 seeds. Some of the 8-9 matchups are very intriguing, though.
He's been saying for a couple weeks ...
that this is the weakest field he can remember, and that Kansas is the only great team.
Weakness
Crusing through my picks, the most dangerous team for a #1 seed before the Elite 8 may be Louisville. The 4’s are garbage. UW, Vandy, bleh
by Warrior Brad on Mar 14, 2010 7:13 PM CDT up reply actions
works for me.
Lots of chalk for this guy
by Warrior Brad on Mar 14, 2010 7:25 PM CDT up reply actions
Was able to
Tell a Minnesota student on the plane that his Gophers made the tourney. He was pumped and the said “Screw the Badgers.” Gotta love that.
Congrats on the 6, from a UW fan...
A little UW info:
- We like to run, our transition game is one of the best in the country.
- Our lone Sr. was 1st team all Pac-10. Quincy Pondexter is a 6-6 wing who has a 6-8 post game and a developed a reliable jumper inside 20 ft.
- Jr. Guard Venoy Overton is a lockdown defender (Pac-10 all defensive team). He’s really a huge pest and is likely to be your most hated player by the end of the game…win or lose.
- Fr. Point Guard Abdul Gaddy was rated the #PG last year, only to John Wall. He just turned 18 during the season and seems a bit out of his league. His penetration is outstanding and his vision of passing lanes is second to none. He does, however, lack a confident shot and the grittiness necessary to take over a game (see #1 PG, John wall)
- Soph. Isiah Thomas is a fearless 5-9 shooting guard. Expect him to go 1-8 on 3PFG in the first 30 minutes then proceed to go 4-4 down the stretch. Clutch player who’s best attribute is his dribble penetration and ability to draw bad fouls.
- We lack a true big man. Mathew Bryan-Amaning is a quality power forward, and is on a hot streak. However, he cannot be relyed upon for interior defense and can become an offensive liability if he reverts to his finesse game.
- Jr. forward Justin Holiday (brother of Jrue), is another guy who’s able to shut down the best the west has to offer (also, Pac-10 all defensive team). He strugges when he has more than one assignment, but when able to lock onto the other teams big threat is our best all around defender.
That takes care of our starting. Overton and Gaddy will split alot of time as Overton is the spark off the bench guy. Seriously…if there was a national 6th man award he’d be a lock.
Out here on the Left Coast I don’t see too much BE basketball…how about the Eagles?
Great info, thanks!
I’m going to try to set up a Q&A with the mods of the Dawg Pound. Sounds like this should be an excellent match-up, and it’ll be crucial for us to slow down the Huskies, because we’d be overmatched if it turns into a track meet. We don’t have the height and we don’t have the depth to run with UW.
Height shouldn't be a problem...
our big man is 6-9. We’re fast and from the looks of it, we’ll need to shut down the 3 point shot. We play pretty tough man D…should be interesting.
6'9"?
That’s a luxury we don’t have. We max out at 6’6"
Our D is spotty at best, but we do feast on turnovers from the frontcourt
by Warrior Brad on Mar 14, 2010 7:43 PM CDT up reply actions
I stay up late
So I’ve seen a little of UW this year. My uninformed take:
-They do like to transition, but don’t seem to be as fast paced, up and down as they’ve been in past years.
-Pondexter is good. He’s a slasher, but not an outstanding outside shooter. At times it seems like he gets a little too content to shoot jumpers. After watching him play as a freshman, I must admit that I’m surprised he’s not in the NBA already.
-Like B Money said, they’re not an overly big team. So I don’t think we need to worry about anyone going Monroe on us.
-Hooray for Mo Acker! He gets to guard someon that’s nearly as short as he is.
-It’s really hard to get a feel for this team. The Pac 10 is undeniably bad this year. But Washington obviously is clicking at the right time, so they’re definitely dangerous. But all that being said, I’m totally ok with this draw. I’m sure it’ll be a helluva game.
by Mr. Kensington on Mar 14, 2010 8:23 PM CDT up reply actions
yeah...Monroe went Monroe on us already
so it’s kind of a wash (no pun intended). Although we do have 3 quality big bodies…they just can’t play at the 5.
That is what could be our best asset is depth. All 12 players on our active roster can go 40 minutes and are very good athletes. We have had quite a few tight games that we win with that depth. Also, our ability to get other teams in foul trouble.
Washington's defense appears to be decent
but Marquette has gone up against better. According to KenPom’s stats, Marquette has played seven games against teams with equal or better defenses than Washington.
Even with that, though, it’s looking like a toss-up — Marquette is a bit better offensively while Washington has the defensive edge.
The question I’d have for the visiting UW fans — what kind of traveling crowd would you expect? I know UW isn’t particularly close to San Jose, but I’m still interested in knowing whether Marquette is looking at a huge crowd disadvantage on Thursday.
You likely are...
UW has a spread out fanbase from the continental divide westward. There is a fairly large contingent in the Bay Area, and since we don’t have a heated rivalry with Stanford or Berkley, I’d expect support from the locals from the conference angle.
My guess is that UW did enough to warrant staying out west by winning the Pac-10 tourney. They just didn’t have the resume to stay in Spokane. Although it’s probably better they didn’t since all the WSU and Gonzaga fans (both heated BB rivals) snagged most of those tickets.
My guess is that they’re a 8-10 seed in most regionals.
As for UW’s defense, it’s Jekyl and Hyde. If there is a main weapon to zero in on (as long as it’s not a big man) Overton and Holiday may both be in the top 5 of best on ball defenders out West. Isiah Thomas has managed to shutdown P-10 POY Jerome Randle twice as well. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. We’ve struggled against teams that have either
a) multiple weapons or
b) 5 average players on the floor at once
I’m pumped since it looks like both teams are playing there best ball of the year, and it looks setup for the winner to sneak into the Elite 8.
What got screwed up
with Big East seeding. Is a potential ND-WV Sweet 16 matchup against the rules??
Twitterverse is aflutter about a BE seeding snafu
What gives then?
by Warrior Brad on Mar 14, 2010 7:44 PM CDT up reply actions
Hi Marquette!
Another Dawg fan here. Glad to see you guys are happy with your seed. I’m happy with the location for sure. Btw here’s the link to our best blog if you’re interested:
Break out the David Bowie
I got my red shoes, maybe Washington can dance the blues.
I root for the Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and yes, the Lions.
Me in 140 characters
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