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The "So, About..." Series Continues: Juan Anderson To Continue Attending Marquette

2013-05-20T17:14:38Z

So, just when we got used to Marquette and head coach Buzz Williams going in to the 2013-14 season with an open scholarship, that's no longer a thing.

#mubb's Juan Anderson returning to Marquette for 2013-14 season. Sophomore forward had previously asked for release.
— MarquetteMBB (@MarquetteMBB) May 20, 2013

Let's recap the roster moves so everyone's on the same page, okay?

Junior Cadougan and Trent Lockett have used all of their eligibility
Chris Otule has applied for his sixth year of eligibility
Jamal Ferguson has decided to transfer
Vander Blue has entered the NBA Draft
Jake Thomas and Juan Anderson have both asked for their release, but have ultimately decided to not leave and will both be back on scholarship next year.
Duane Wilson, Deonte Burton, Jameel McKay, John Dawson, and Jajuan Johnson will begin at Marquette in the fall.

Did I miss anything? BECAUSE IT'S POSSIBLE THAT I DID. Sweet merciful crap, has an Elite Eight team with only two seniors ever had so much happen in the first 7 weeks of the off season?

Anyway.

Back when he was going to transfer, Anderson said his reasons were largely motivated by his family. Obviously, he's going to to elaborate on what that may have meant, nor do I want him to. But here's what he has to say now via press release from MU, not coincidentally after he's been at home after finals:

I had an extended opportunity to discuss everything with my family and after those conversations we believed, along with the coaching staff, that Marquette was the best place for me to continue my career.

And we'll tack on official comment from Buzz, too:

After multiple conversations that have transpired over the last month with Juan and his family, he has decided to come back to Marquette and rejoin our program. He is grateful for this opportunity and I am convinced this is the right thing to do.

So, yeah. I guess this explains why Buzz told Michael Hunt that he didn't expect Anderson to transfer. Of course, Paint Touches reports that Anderson had every intention of transferring, but while there were schools out west asking about Anderson, it appears that he wasn't getting quite the response that he was hoping for, leading to where we are now.

As I alluded to in the opening paragraph, Marquette now sits at the NCAA limit of 13 scholarship players for the 2013-14 season, presuming that the NCAA does officially approve Chris Otule's sixth season. Anderson's return should help alleviate any concerns regarding Steve Taylor's recovery from knee surgery that will keep him on the shelf over the summer. The Golden Eagles will have quite a talented and experienced front court for 2013-14, with the returns of Anderson, Otule, Taylor, Davante Gardner, and Jamil Wilson, along with the additions of McKay and Burton.

Your 2013 NBA Draft Combine Day 2 Live Blog!

2013-05-17T14:04:30Z

We're back with a brand new live blog for Day 2 of the Draft Combine. Last year, Day 2 had drills on one side of the building and agility testing on the other. It's a different location this year that seems to have way more court space, so who knows what we'll get today. What we do know for sure is that there should be all sorts of foolishness to make jokes about, and that's what live blogs are really about, right?

8:50: Look, the post goes up before the combine starts, so I've got to come up with something for this space, right?

9:05: Jay Williams says that Shane Larkin told him that the NBA made Larkin "give blood" yesterday and Larkin felt lightheaded during drills. Ok, I can get behind drug screening at the combine, but that would be what, a vial's worth? It shouldn't have been anywhere near the amount drawn when you're donating blood, right?

9:13: The desk crew discusses Maryland's Alex Len. They say that Maryland didn't do a good job of getting him the ball on a regular basis and that Len had a tendency to disappear in games. These two things are connected, aren't they? I mean, I know a guy with Len's size should be able to affect the game on the defensive end, but there's at least some connection between "not enough touches" and "disappears in games," right?

9:17: Nerlens Noel is 6'11" and weighs 206 pounds. Whaaaaaaat?

9:43: Lots of drills for the centers. Lots of discussion of the various skill sets of the centers. Lots of discussion of the measurements taken yesterday of all the players. Kelly Olynyk is referred to as a T-Rex because he has a wingspan shorter than his height. Good news for Olynyk, though: He's good at basketball.

9:45: Making Tom Thibadeau laugh causes him to break out into coughing fits.

9:50: Chad Ford goes on an extended tear about how Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant looked terrible in pre-draft workouts. But Howard looked terrible more because he was trying to prove that he had a perimeter game. My head hurts just trying to think about that.

10:02: The desk crew looks at the highest vertical jumps at the combine since 2000, and Nate Robinson is the only significant NBA player in the top 5. They do mention that Darius Johnson-Odom had the best jump last year.

10:09: We're focusing VERRRRRY closely on standing vertical jumps for the centers. You can hear drills being performed elsewhere in the building, and based on what the desk crew said earlier, that group should be the shooting guards. This live blog focusing on the performance of noted shooting guard Vander Blue is struggling right now.

10:12: Jay Williams: "If you've got position for a rebound, standing vertical jump doesn't matter." Fran Fraschilla: "If you've got the lower body strength to not get pushed off your spot, standing vertical jump doesn't matter." Well, I sure am glad we're focusing on the standing vertical jump then.

10:35: Yeah, I was afraid of this happening. Agility drills are terribly dull to watch, and the desk crew doesn't have a lot interesting to say, much less to question or make fun of. The most interesting thing in the last 20 minutes was Chad Ford explaining that the NBA sorts the players into positions, which is why Kenny Kadji is with the centers instead of the power forwards.

10:44: Rudy Gobert has the worst max vertical jump of all of the centers, but he's got the biggest measured standing reach in combine history, so does it really matter how high he can jump? Probably not.

11:13: Vander seems super excited about his lane agility time. Jay Williams immediately brings up the issue of whether he should have left school. Fran Fraschilla says it's hard to assess the overall situation as to why he left school.

11:44: I'm a little behind the times due to a pause button, but Vander has the best lane agility time of all of the shooting guards at 10.4 seconds, 0.2 seconds better than the second place guy, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. That definitely explains the excited screaming by Blue when he was done.

11:48: Vander is tied for the fourth best max vertical jump amongst shooting guards with Tim Hardaway, Jr. at 37.5 inches. Ben McLemore, Victor Oladipo, and Brandon Paul came out better than them. Blue only has the 8th best standing vertical jump at 28 inches. For what it's worth, they've only put nine SGs up on the screen and Ricky Ledo was the only one behind Vander.

12:00: Scrolling across the bottom of the screen is ESPN collecting all of the 3/4 court sprint times. Vander has the second best time overall at 3.14 seconds. The list includes the centers as well, as Cody Zeller was in the top 10. The point guards and all of the forwards haven't gone at all yet, so we'll see what happens on that, but it's a good start.

12:03: Power forwards are starting their agility testing, which means the shooting guards are done, which means I go make a sandwich. But before I go, Blue is tied for the 5th best max vertical overall, but Tony Mitchell just went banana sandwich on the test, so Blue's probably outside the top 5 now.

12:20: For those of you anxiously waiting: ham, bacon, summer sausage, sharp cheddar, root beer barbecue sauce, wheat bread.

12:25:

Vander Blue and Ricky Ledo on the floor wrestling for the ball. Competition much more intense today. #NBADraftCombine
— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 17, 2013

That's from over an hour ago before Blue was doing the agility testing. Hat tip to Paint Touches for retweeting it.

12:26: Instead of showing power forward skills testing, we're watching a video package about Nerlens Noel's ACL rehab. This is actually more interesting than the testing, because we're seeing the rehab drills.

12:37: Fran Fraschilla just called Jimmy Butler "a good role player." I get that he's probably fifth on the pecking order in Chicago behind Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, and Luol Deng, but Jimmy's drawing the assignments of guarding Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James throughout the season and playing 40+ minutes a game in the playoffs. Pretty sure he's one step above "role player" at this point.

12:46: Andy Katz reports that Shabazz Muhammad has a hip injury and isn't participating in on court drills, but plans on doing the agility testing. Ryen Rusillo immediately asks if we should actually believe that. Dude was big on the whole "I want to compete here" thing yesterday, so I want to believe him.

12:48:

Had a great day at the combine!
— Fleo Blue (@Vander13lue) May 17, 2013

Can't really argue with a guy feeling good about what he did, right?

12:54: /shakes fist at Trevor Mbakwe //still bitter ///not sorry

12:55: As Trey Burke gets ready for his 3/4 court sprint, they discuss his lane agility time, which is 0.8 seconds slower than Vander Blue's. Hanging out in a nearby doorway is Fox 6's Tim Van Vooren.

1:01: Over to ESPN2 we go! And for the second day in a row, ESPNU is showing the McDonald's All American game instead of the fifth hour of the Combine. I don't get you, ESPN.

1:05: The point guard lane agility times are in, and Vander still has the best time out of anyone in the Combine, and he's still got the 2nd best 3/4 court sprint time, behind Caldwell-Pope and in front of Cody Zeller.

1:14: Hmm. Those rankings for Vander might still be subject to change, as they're showing Peyton Siva going through some testing.

1:22: How about some tweets from Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune?

Ex Marquette G Vander Blue wants NBA teams to know he wants to play PG.
— Shannon Ryan (@sryantribune) May 17, 2013

That might really mean "willing to play whatever position you'll draft me to play," which is actually a good attitude to have. There's a lot of really great NBA point guards out there, though.

Blue sought advice from ex teammate and Bulls star Jimmy Butler. "’ If he really felt it wasn’t right for me he would have told me to stay."
— Shannon Ryan (@sryantribune) May 17, 2013

Gonna be some frosty conversations between Buzz & Jimmy, I think...

1:32: ESPN puts up the modified lane agility times for all of the guards, and Vander has the best time for all of the guards by nearly two-tenths of a second over Isaiah Caanan. To clarify the difference between lane agility and modified lane agility, lane agility is where the player makes a full box around the outside of the lane and then goes back around the way he came. Modified lane agility is where the player stands in the middle, bounces to one side, then to the other side, and then finishes by heading to the first side. Two-tenths of a second in that drill is a LOOOOONG time.

1:48: We're down to the last 12 minutes of watching the small forwards going through agility drills. C.J. Leslie has surpassed Vander's lane agility drill time. We're going to wrap this live blog up here. I don't know how fast any of the combine's activities will start affecting how people are looking at Vander and his draft prospects, but we'll keep an eye on it as we get closer to Draft Day! Thanks for reading!

Your 2013 NBA Draft Combine Day 1 Live Blog!

2013-05-16T13:47:54Z

I'm going to be honest with you: As popular as last year's live blog was, at the start of this past season, I wasn't really expecting to do one of these this year. At the end of the season, I was pretty sure that there wasn't going to be a Combine live blog. And for about 24 hours, in between Vander Blue not being invited and then being a late addition at the request of an unknown number of NBA teams, there definitely wasn't going to be a live blog.

Like last year, we'll be focusing on the Marquette component of the day's activities, along with any Big East participants as well. Who knows what else will happen along the way, so be ready for hijinx! For those of you looking to watch the action, it's on ESPNU from 9am to 1pm Central, and then on ESPN2 from 1pm to 2pm.

8:50: Well, we're still waiting. That's how this works.

9:06: After some technical difficulties, we're underway. Things I've already learned: I'm glad I've never watched UNITE on ESPNU and Fran Fraschilla has trouble identifying the camera that has the red light on.

9:07: Looks like we're getting small forwards out there first. Amongst the group on the floor that I saw: Shabazz Muhammad, Glen Rice, Jr., and James Southerland.

9:12: Nice to see that Andy Katz still hasn't learned how to pronounce Gorgui Dieng's name.

9:25: Chad Ford on New Mexico's Tony Snell: "He's a streaky shooter," as Snell airballs a three pointer in a shooting in transition drill.

9:30: Tom Penn (I think) says he's stopped watching college players on defense because "most of these players can't play defense to begin with." Oookay.

9:32: Deshaun Thomas is burying NBA three pointers. I mean, there's no one playing defense on him, but he's draining them consistently.

9:40: They show the season recap on the Cavaliers on the right side of the screen and it reminds me of something I thought of the other day: It's weird that they're holding the combine before the Draft Lottery, right? All of the non-playoff teams haven't been settled into their official draft slots, so the scouts and GMs for those teams kind of have no idea who they should be looking at.

9:46:

Topic at NBA Draft Camp--analytics. Wayne Embry reminded me that the most important numbers are on jerseys. Bucks won title with 1 and 33.
— Jim Paschke (@Paschketball) May 16, 2013

Um, what?

9:57: That's the second straight commercial break where the mics went hot a little earlier than anyone was expecting.

9:59: James Southerland gets the feature from the ESPN crew. "If you're going to have a special skill, this is the one to have." If you need a guy who's gonna shoot four desperation threes in one possession, James Southerland is the guy to draft.

10:21: Slow going here as we've moved on to the group of centers. Cody Zeller says he'd like to participate in drills today as a competitor, but he trusts his agent. Meanwhile, Shabazz Muhammad doesn't give a crap what his agent says. Which way is best?

10:28: Are we sure that Steven Adams isn't Adam Morrison after chugging a gallon of HGH?

10:36: 31 international entrants to the draft, the most since 2005. Given the ability of NBA teams to draft international players and just leave them overseas for a few years, that's not a good sign for Vander. For those of you scoring at home, the 2005 draft had Andrew Bogut going #1 overall and has had a grand total of six players make an All Star Game or All NBA team.

10:42: I like how ESPNU has the Season Recap box on the right hand side, and ends up cutting off graphics on the left hand side.

10:44: "If we could get a shot of him strokin' it right now..." NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

10:48: I don't get how I'm supposed to take Celebrity Sweat seriously with the spokespeople that they have in this commercial. My favorite part is how I can SEE Ray Lewis in the ad, but he doesn't do an on camera testimonial.

10:50: I see Livio Jean-Charles on Chad Ford's top five power forwards list, and I keep thinking that they're talking about Jean-Ralphio.

10:54:

Nerlens Noel just told me he measured at 6-11 and 3/4 with shoes here in Chicago.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 16, 2013

But is that with hair?

11:08: Point guards are underway, and ESPN's graphic says "Group 1," so I'm not sure if that means the next hour will be PGs as well. But this group has Nate Wolters and Peyton Siva.

11:17: I'm not going to lie, I laugh every time I hear about Shane Larkin transferring out of DePaul.

11:31: The desk crew talk about Pierre Jackson's height being in the neighborhood of 5'8", and then someone says he can "do anything on the court." I'm gonna go ahead and guess that he can't post anyone up. Just a guess.

11:35: Miami Heat season recap. Draft picks: None. Projected cap room: None. Well, I'm glad we've included all of that valuable information.

11:47: And Ryen Rusillo puts Nate Wolters at the wrong SDSU. Oof.

11:58: Power forwards AND shooting guards up next? The hell are they planning on airing on ESPN2 from 1 to 2? Or did they just mean "still to come?"

12:01: Vander's in this next group, wearing #35.

12:05: Or maybe not. Now they're showing power forwards as the next group.

12:16: This was definitely way more fun last year when there was two players I was trying to watch. SO SLOW. I just waited anxiously for someone to bring up Brandon Davies getting suspended at BYU.

12:40: 3 hours and 40 minutes in, ESPN gets around to explaining the MB patch on all the Combine jerseys. It's for Marty Blake, and from this Andy Katz interview segment, i'm still not sure who Marty Blake is.

12:48: They come back from commercial and Rusillo teases news about two potential promises made to players, and then they launch into a focus on Florida's Erik Murphy, and completely ignore the teased news. Nice job, guys. During the focus on Murphy, they try to draw a connection between Murphy and Steve Novak. Murphy was a 45% shooter from distance for the Gators this past season, so he's got that going for him.

12:54: I sure am glad that we spent time talking to Golden State's GM when they have no draft picks and no projected cap room. Boy oh boy was that time well spent.

12:56: On to ESPN2!

12:57:

Buzz Williams just showed up in one of the most hideous orange shirts i have ever seen.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 16, 2013

This may be the greatest moment of trolling in history. +25 points if you get the joke.

1:03: 15 minutes later, and on a different network, they get around to the promises. Germany's Dennis Schroeder, and a dude from Greece that Chad Ford drew a round of applause from the desk crew for pronouncing his name correctly, so I'm not going to try to type it out without seeing it on the screen.

1:05: Rusillo: "Vander Blue, out of DePaul..." Dude, screwing up the Nate Wolters SDSU thing was fine. That's just mean and uncalled for.

1:18: Vander misses a long jumper but comes back on the other end with a dunk in transition drills. Lots of time on this transition drill time is spent on closeups on Tim Hardaway, Jr., and now with an interview with Tim Hardaway, Sr.

1:25: Vander in trailer three pointer drills, but I can't see if any of them are going in, because the camera is moving with Georgia's Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who's right in front of Vander in line.

1:30: Mike Montgomery must have shoved Allen Crabbe before the shooting guards got started, because the desk crew reports that he's blistering the nets in shooting drills.

1:42: Hey, remember when the players I was trying to pay attention to were 1st team All-Big East and ESPN spent time focusing on them, which made the whole point of the live blog much more interesting? Yeah. Good times.

1:48: Vander forces... someone into a crummy three attempt on a defensive rotation drill, and then he ends up as the winger, but they cut to a tight shot of Ricky Ledo, so no idea how Vander did on that end of things. We then go to an interview with Buzz, along with a video package of Vander. Buzz says he doesn't know why Vander was a late addition. Buzz's shirt isn't orange, but he does resemble a gummi peach ring candy.

1:59: Drills aren't done, but ESPN's broadcast window is closed, so that is all we have today. I'm suddenly curious why the move to ESPN2 for one hour, so let's look at the cable guide.... Really? The McDonalds' All-American game? BOOOOOOOO. Ok. We'll come back tomorrow for agility testing, although if memory serves, that was less than fun last year. Upside: The NBA is going to share all of the data gathered this time, so we've got that going for us, which is nice. See you tomorrow!

2012-13 Player Review: #0 Jamil Wilson

2013-05-14T05:15:17Z

Jamil Wilson

#0 / Forward / Marquette Golden Eagles

Height: 6-7

Weight: 225

Year: junior

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2012 - Jamil Wilson	35	25.1	3.4	7.7	44.4	1.0	2.9	36.0	1.8	2.5	74.4	1.5	3.4	4.9	1.7	1.5	0.6	0.9	2.4	9.7

What We Said:

Minimum Expectation: Wilson ended up with 9.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game after he was inserted into the starting lineup following Davante Gardner's injury last year. 10 and 6 should be the basement here.

Wildest Dreams: Wilson's a gifted athlete and clearly a tough minded guy, given that Buzz was getting on him last year about blocked shots that he missed out on. Getting to play with a healthy Otule & Gardner frees Wilson up to do more on the court and get pushed by Buzz to maximize his potential. Those bits combine to turn Wilson into an All-Big East First Teamer by the end of the season. Yeah, that's right: I'm calling for The Leap.

Worst Nightmare: The light doesn't go on for Wilson and he has a pedestrian season.

This is the second draft of Jamil Wilson's 2012-'13 season review.

The first draft of the review came before I took a hard look at his season numbers, when I looked exclusively at Jamil's stats over the last 15 games of the season. In those contests, the Big Bagel averaged almost 12 points a game to go along with nearly 5.5 boards per, including sublime performances against the anthropomorphic glow sticks of Notre Dame (19 points, 4 boards, 1 steal, 1 block) and Miami in the Sweet 16 (16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks). Jamil hit double figures in points in 13 of his last 15 games, hit 25+ minutes in 11 of the last 15 contests, and had at least 5 boards in all but 5 of the season's last 15 tilts.

At the same time:

The first draft of this review overlooked the fact that Wilson turned in a donut against Butler in the Maui Invitational (0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist in just 14 minutes), looked like he didn't belong on the floor against North Carolina Freaking Central (NCFC, as I call them), and was held to single-digit scoring outputs in 8 of the season's first 14 games. For a guy like Jamil, who's got as much talent in his little finger as most players do in their entire body, that's wholly and completely unacceptable.

The good thing, of course, is that Jamil didn't come on like a lion and then go turtle-in-the-shell as soon as the rough-and-tumble Big East season reared its ugly head. Instead, Jamil saved his best ball for last -- or, at least, his best ball for when he was held out of the first 5 minutes of each conference game so he didn't pick up a cheap foul -- and looked every bit the stud we expected when he transferred home from Oregon two years ago.

And therein lies the rub with Jamil Wilson: many (most?) of us came into this season expecting Jamil to make The Leap, to put his impressive gifts on display and make this team his own. That didn't happen, of course. Rather, after a hit-and-miss start, we saw just enough to convince us that this year -- that is, 2013-'14 -- is the year that Wilson is really going to put it all together. The hope is that unfulfilled promise isn't going to be the epitaph for Jamil Wilson's Marquette career when all is said and done. But he's left himself precious little time to make sure that's not the case.

Best Game: If you've got a better line than Jamil's submission against the U in the Sweet 16, I'd like to see it: Wilson hit 3 of 4 triples and 5-of-9 from the floor overall en route to a dominating 16-point, 8-rebound, 2-assist, 3-block performance to carry MU to its first Elite Eight berth in 10 years.

Season Grade (1-Worst Nightmare to 10-Wildest Dreams): A 6 might seem like an overly harsh grade, but bear in mind that we set the floor for Jamil at 10 points and 6 rebounds per contest, which he didn't hit. Still, the last two months of the year came as close to "YOU TOTALLY REDEEMED YOURSELF" territory as we've seen at Marquette in a long time and left us once again waiting with baited breath for next year.

Who Is Getting Sent Home For The Summer?

2013-05-13T16:00:02Z

Final exams ended back on Friday, and the residence halls closed on Saturday afternoon, which means it's officially summer break for Marquette students.

That means it's time for men's basketball head coach Buzz Williams to send someone home for the summer!

You of course all remember last summer when news broke that Todd Mayo was indefinitely suspended from team activities, and how Paint Touches found out in October that whoever called it a suspension in the first place might have been using slightly strong language. (Aside: How bleeping ridiculous is it that it took until OCTOBER for someone in the Al McGuire Center to straighten out the details of Mayo's "suspension?") As Buzz put it when referring to the summer trips home for (in order) Maurice Acker, Joe Fulce, Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder, and Mayo:

"I think any time in our world, whatever that world is, that we can skew our lens a little bit it makes us more humble, it makes us more grateful," Williams said.

"And that’s why we’ll do it again next season."

Well, it's next season.

If someone's getting sent home for the summer, then we may as well get out in front of the message board freakout over someone "moving out" of Humphrey Hall and figure out the most likely candidates. We'll go through the returning roster in alphabetical order and assign each player a likelihood score going from 0 for zero chance they get sent home (I know, right? Novel concepts all around.) to 10 for we're helping them pack their bags already.

Davante Gardner: At the Buzz's Barbecue last summer, Buzz joked/insisted he wasn't joking that they had to schedule a game pretty quickly after Christmas because Ox enjoys home cooking a little too much and they need to get him back on campus for fitness reasons. Chance Of Being Sent Home: 3

Todd Mayo: There's no way Buzz sends the same player home twice, especially in consecutive seasons, right? Chance Of Being Sent Home: 1

Chris Otule: We're going to presume that CO will be in uniform in the fall, even though the NCAA still has to sign off on his sixth season. (I think. It's all been very confusing all season long.) Graduate school isn't a picnic, though, and I wouldn't blame Buzz for giving Big Chris the summer off. Chance Of Being Sent Home: 8

Steve Taylor, Jr.: Knee surgery means rehab means Chance Of Being Sent Home is 0.

Jake Thomas: Well, he's back and he's on scholarship, so we'll actually think about this one, as opposed to ignoring Dylan Flood and Garrett Swanson. Buzz did ask him back after Thomas asked for his release, so I'm guessing that Buzz isn't terribly worried about Thomas' focus or whatever. Chance Of Being Sent Home: 2

Derrick Wilson: I remain a resident of "Derrick Will Start At Point Guard In Game 1 Of The 2013-14 Season" Island. I'm going to guess that Buzz is going to want a little bit more offense out of him next year, though, and that requires a summer in the gym. Chance Of Being Sent Home: 1

Jamil Wilson: How effective is sending a guy home when he lives in Racine? It's not like it would really stop him from being on campus to hang out with his teammates or even prevent him from playing in the Milwaukee Pro-Am, presuming that returns for its fourth year. Chance Of Being Sent Home: 3

And that's it. Agree or disagree with any of the assessments? That's what the comments section is for!

Written In The Annals Of Women's Lacrosse History

2013-05-08T14:00:04Z

Yeah, they finished the year 2-15, and on a 13 game losing streak. But the first season of a program isn't supposed to light the world on fire, it's supposed to build a foundation for the future. I mean, Northwestern went 5-10 in their first season as a Division 1 program before going undefeated and winning a national championship three years later.

So it's important to focus on that foundation and give credit to those who have set all time records for those who come next to break. Of course, given that Marquette was playing mostly freshmen all season, odds are that some of these records, if not all of them will fall next year.

First, let's look at the awards that the team handed out, along with head coach Meredith Black's comments on each recipient:

MVP: Goalie Sarah Priem

Sarah definitely deserved the most valuable player award. She had a huge job as the starting goalie for a new program and not only stepped up, but exceeded all expectations. She did an amazing job day-in and day-out and helped our team grow on both ends of the field. She single-handedly kept us in games with top opponents and it was a pleasure to work with her and watch her grow over the course of the season.

Hustle Award: Defender Elizabeth Goslee

’Biz’ never stops working. She defines the word hustle in her play every single day on the field. Just when you think she should be too tired to keep going, she goes harder than she did before. She pushes herself at all times and pushes her teammates to work harder. Her hustle defines what we want Marquette lacrosse to be all about.

Most Improved: Midfielder Lauren Nickson

Lauren was outstanding for us this season. She was the spark that we needed many different times. She worked so hard on her own to get better and earn a spot on the field, both as a starter and as a reserve off the bench. She helped us have quality depth in the midfield on both ends.

MU Rah Rah Award: Goalie Emma Salter

Emma has the most spirit day in and day out that I have ever seen. She lightens every situation she is in and helps keep a smile on everyone's faces. Emma is positive and full of enthusiasm and energy. She is a pleasure to have on the team and has the best attitude towards every situation. We could not have faced all these challenges that we had this year without Emma right there to pump us all up.

Moving on, here's what Marquette accomplished this year in the world of statistics:

TEAM HIGHS:

Goals: 105
Goals in a game: 12, in the first win in program history vs Coastal Carolina
Assists: 38
Assists in a game: 6, also vs Coastal Carolina

INDIVIDUAL BESTS:

Points: Claire Costanza, 40
Points in a game: Kenzie Brown, 7 vs Coastal Carolina
Goals: Kenzie Brown, 24
Goals in a game: Kenzie Brown, 5 vs Coastal Carolina
Assists: Claire Costanza, 22
Assists in a game: Claire Costanza, 3, on two occasions, vs Coastal Carolina & vs Duquesne
Saves: Sarah Priem, 137
Saves in a game: Sarah Priem, 14 vs Rutgers
Save Percentage: Sarah Priem, 37.6%
Goals-Against Average: Sarah Priem, 15.36

The Marquette Related Tweet Of The Week: 4/30-5/6

2013-05-07T17:00:07Z

Here at Anonymous Eagle, we're hip to all the latest trends on the internet... or so we tell ourselves. We know how much the kids today like to keep in touch and communicate through social media. In particular, we're big fans of the service known the world over as Twitter. Each week, we'll bring you a tweet that we found particularly interesting/funny/thought provoking/ridiculous that has some kind of Marquette connection to it.

If you're paying attention to the NBA playoffs, you've almost assuredly noticed that the Bulls are winning games even though Derrick Rose is still out after ACL surgery, Kirk Hinrich is out with a calf bruise, Luol Deng is in the hospital after complications from a spinal tap to test him for meningitis, and Joakim Noah is playing with plantar fasciitis. This has led head coach Tom Thibodeau to play the cards he still has in his hand, and one of them is Jimmy Butler.

Just looked it up... Jimmy Butler has gone 148:29 without being substituted. Came in with 4:29 left in Game 5. Hasn't sat since. Wow.
— Dan Maciejewski (@dmaciejewski) May 7, 2013

That's 4:29 of Game 5 of the Nets series, all of Game 6, all of Game 7, and all of Game 1 against the Heat last night. And what did Jimmy do last night against the Heat? Oh, y'know, held LeBron James, the 2012-13 MVP to 1-6 from the field in the first half without committing a foul, and then on the last two possessions of the game, Butler forced James into a terrible running fadeaway and a deep three that clanked off the rim as the Bulls closed out a 93-86 win. Y'know, every day stuff. Jimmy had the main assignment on LeBron for Game 1 and James ended with a -15 for the game, while Butler finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and was +7.

Nicely done, Jimmy. See you on Wednesday for another 48?

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Yeah, That Was Kind Of Expected: #8/6 Duke 19, Marquette 3

2013-05-06T14:47:07Z

The sun was shining, a state record 4,202 people were packing the stands at Hart Park, and Marquette was debuting brand new gold uniforms. Everything was set for a wonderful finale for the first season of Marquette men's lacrosse.

And then Brendan Fowler won the opening faceoff, ran right down and scored four seconds into the game.

Ok, that's fine, right? Fowler's great on faceoffs, Duke's peeved about how their ACC semifinal game ended, they wanted a quick start to the game.

Then Jake Tripucka scored 70 seconds in. And Myles Jones got on the board 1:43 into the game. Uh oh.

MU finally got a chance for some offense on the fourth faceoff of the game when Fowler committed a violation at the X. That finally caused the scoring to slow down, but Duke wasn't done opening a lead. Case Mathias got the fourth tally for the Blue Devils before Kyle Whitlow broke the Duke run. Whitlow's goal was the only MU marker in the first period, while Duke would go on to score six more to make it 10-1 when they switched ends.

Cullen Cassidy and Ben Dvorak ended up getting goals for Marquette by the end of the game.

Up Next: The offseason. Marquette finishes the season with a record of 5-8, and regardless of the tilted field in the finale, it was a successful season. Marquette got an opportunity to play five teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament, and, in the case of MAAC champion Detroit, even beat one of the teams in the tournament. It might still be a bit of a climb for the Golden Eagles to get into tournament contention, but it's apparent that the foundation has been set by this crew.