Anonymous Eagle: FanPosts

Providence 52, Marquette 50

2012-01-23T02:03:07Z

The problem with caring about something is that you give it the power to crush your heart.

With the game tied at 50 and 3 seconds remaining, Katie Young missed a three. Arlesia Morse scrambled for the long rebound and was called for Marquette's tenth foul, putting Providence into the double bonus. A scant 0.1 seconds remained on the clock. Providence's Rachel Barnes then sank both the free throws and a dagger into the heart of the crowd at the McGuire Center.

Your Golden Eagles built an early 10-5 lead, but the Friars (Aside: I'm not usually a fan of slapping Lady in front of the nickname for the women's team and downright hate adding -ette to the end, but referring to a group of women as Friars is hurting my brain) closed the gap within the first ten minutes. Both teams struggled with poor shooting and turnovers in the first half and Providence went into halftime with a 26-19 lead.

Terri Mitchell must have lit a fire under her team during the break as Marquette opened the second half with a 22-4 run to go up 41-30. Turnovers continued to be a problem: Marquette handed the ball over 27 times overall and a string of seven possessions which ended in either a turnover or foul allowed Providence to creep back in and tie the game.

The final quarter of this match-up became a nail biter has neither team was able to pull away. Cristina Bigica drew a charging call after a Katherine Plouffe jumper put Marquette up, but after the time out Bigica turned it back over. Providence's Barnes, Briana Edwards, and Alicia Cropper missed a combined 5 free throws. (Aside: This game would have caused RubieQ to R-U-N-N-O-F-T).

Marquette tied up the game at 50 with just under 90 seconds of play left. After getting the defensive rebound on a Providence miss and an offensive rebound from their, it seemed that the Golden Eagles controlled their own destiny with 27 seconds remaining coming out of their own timeout.

But you already know that this story ends with heartbreak, so perhaps it's time to move onto the highlights.

After the jump, Four Factors, Awards, and Whimsy.

Four Factors:

Courtesy of Brewtown Andy:

eFG%: MU - 44% PC - 35.3%
TO%: MU - 40% PC - 25.4%
OReb: MU - 32% PC - 42.5%
FT Rate: MU - 33.3% PC - 32.8%

Points Per Possession: MU - 0.74 PC - 0.78

Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: 38 minutes played, 3 steals, 6 of 8 from the field, and 4 of 4 on her free throws: this one goes to Katherine Plouffe even though her 6 turnovers are making my eye twitch.

Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: Arlesia Morse's last second foul can not diminish that she contributed a steal, 2 assists, and 9 points during Marquette's comeback run.

Whimsy: I need a hedgehug (or any of the cute animals at @EmergencyPuppy) to ease the disappointment of this loss.

Up Next: At West Virginia in Morgantown, Saturday, January 28th, 6pm.

#19/17 Georgetown 67, Marquette 39

2012-01-18T19:17:40Z

Ugh. I've been dreading this game. When the ladies fell to Georgia Tech at the Bradley Center, I blamed the unfamiliar surroundings. It was less easy to make excuses for when they got killed by Notre Dame in South Bend. But last night was the game where we got a painful reminder that this is a young team picked to finish 11th in the Big East.

The first Marquette possession ended in a turnover which became a familiar sight . Your Golden Eagles turned the ball over 29 times including at last two times where the crowd was still cheering a Marquette steal only to have the ball back in the Hoya's hands within seconds.

Georgetown was able to build a significant 20-6 lead in the first ten minutes as Marquette's only points for a six minute stretch came from an Apiew Ojulu free throw. The offense continued getting stifled by an aggressively pressing Hoya defense and the Golden Eagles made a paltry 12 of 44 field goals to post their lowest score the season.

After the jump Four Factors.

Four Factors:

Courtesy of Brewtown Andy:

eFG%: MU - 34.1% GTown - 46.3%
TO%: MU - 40.8% GTown - 26.2%
OReb: MU - 26.3% GTown - 44.4%
FT Rate: MU - 38.6% GTown - 20.9%

Points Per Possession: MU - 0.55 GTown - 0.92

Up Next: Providence at the McGuire Center, 7:00 pm on Saturday.

A fairly stupid Marquette Tribune article

2012-01-18T00:25:46Z

Here is a link to a very stupid editorial published in the latest MU Tribune. It is basically a call to action to put the "student" back into student-athlete. Funny, I thought our bball players were already students? If they werent, who was I taking class with all these years?

The mere mention of the Xavier-Cincy brawl and shamelessly tying into MU's program is also ridiculous. This article just reeked of whiny editors and poor journalism. Of course, I never expected much else out of the tribune. Paint Touches is the only info that is respectable associated with that crap.

To emphasize Paint Touches's awesomeness, here is the kick-ass followup article they wrote in response to the lousy Tribune one. Well done gents. Again.

Marquette 51, Villanova 50

2012-01-11T07:16:22Z

KATIE. F. YOUNG.

But first, we should probably talk about the first 39 minutes and 57 seconds of this match up. Your Golden Eagles went up 4-0 quickly and it soon felt that they would cruise along to a 10 point or so victory. The Marquette defense suffocated Villanova in the first half by switching defenders and forcing the Wildcats to take bad shots. At the half, Marquette led comfortably, 30-23, even though Nova's leading scorer Laura Sweeney had cracked double digits.

During the second half, the Golden Eagles only scored 21 points with 8 coming from free throws. In the meantime, while Sweeney got shut down and ran into foul trouble, the rest of the Wildcats stepped up and took the lead with 13:40 remaining. Turnovers continued to plague Marquette: Villanova scored half their points off turnovers. The problem was less glaring when Marquette was scoring in the first half. In the second half, I started looking for the McGuire Center's AED as the lead see-sawed between the two teams.

Down 48-50 with 55 seconds remaining in the game, Marquette lost possession of the ball on their end of the court on a jump ball when the arrow favored Villanova. The Wildcats took the ball down to their end and promptly started running down the clock. After a Nova timeout, Marquette got another chance when Katie Young stole the ball. Coming out of Marquette's own timeout, Arlesia Morse then missed the shot which would have tied the score and Nova's Rachel Roberts came up with the rebound.

At this point, all seemed lost and Katherine Plouffe's foul on Roberts seemed as though it would only postpone the inevitable.

Except that Roberts missed the free throw. Plouffe rebounded the ball, dished out it out to Young who took the shot from nearly half court as time expired.

AND IT. WENT. IN.

Oh, look, highlights so you can jump out of your chair and scream like those in the Al.

After the jump: Four Factors, Awards, and Whimsy.

Four Factors:

Courtesy of Brewtown Andy:

eFG%: MU - 45.3% Nova - 42.6%
TO%: MU - 34.6% Nova - 18.1%
OReb: MU - 36.0% Nova - 20.6%
FT Rate: MU - 27.9% Nova - 11.1%

Points Per Possession: MU - 0.84 SHU 0.82

Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: Go back to the highlights. Watch that Katie Young buzzer beater. Lose your mind. Rinse, repeat.

Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: Don't forget Katherine Plouffe: she notched a double-double (a team leading 16 points and 11 rebounds), had nerves of steel sinking all her free throws, and got the assist on the game winner.

Whimsy: Whimsy? Pffft. BUZZER BEATER. (Brewtown Andy sez: UPDATE! Katie Young's buzzer beater is the NUMBER ONE PLAY on SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays this morning!)

Up Next: The most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden, for a game against St. John's on Sunday at 1:15pm.

Marquette 69, Seton Hall 60

2012-01-08T06:36:05Z

Marquette got off to a rough start: their first two possessions were Gabi Minix turnovers which resulted in Seton Hall points. A couple more turnovers and missed shots allowed Seton Hall to build a 21-10 lead in the opening eight minutes. The good news was that when Brittany Morris, who topped the Pirates in scoring for the night with 26 points, sunk a couple of threes, Katie Young responded in kind to keep Marquette in the game.

Morris nailed a free throw with 10:44 remaining in the first half and then Seton Hall went cold. The Pirates wouldn't score again until the 13:50 mark of the second half. In the meantime, your Golden Eagles scored 26 unanswered points led by Katherine Plouffe who scored 13 during the run and 20 overall to lead the team.

The Marquette offense then sputtered a bit and several turnovers allowed Seton Hall to pull within seven twice. But with five minutes remaining, another three pointer by Young put Marquette up 61-51 and seemingly broke the Pirates' backs.

(Brewtown Andy sez: No women's hoops recap is complete without highlights!)

After the jump: Four Factors and Awards.

Four Factors:

Math is hard so the new management has been advised this is on his to do list.

(Brewtown Andy sez: You got it, Malibu Stacy! Here's the numbers.)

eFG%: MU - 62.5% SHU - 44.5%
TO%: MU - 24.3% SHU - 15.6%
OReb: MU - 33.3% SHU - 32.4%
FT Rate: MU - 29.2% SHU - 6.3%

Points Per Possession: MU - 1.12 SHU 0.94

Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: Katie Young did it all tonight: 18 points, 5 threes, a block, 5 defensive rebounds, no turnovers. Welcome back lady!

Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: She only made 1 her 6 shots, but Sarina Simmons was one rebound shy of the rare assist-rebound double-double. Nearly half of those assists and rebounds came during the comeback run as she dished the ball out from in the paint to better positioned teammates.

Up Next: Villanova at the McGuire Center on January 10th, 8 pm.

Maybe my 9th graders can make sense of this one... (MU@GU)

2012-01-05T03:58:29Z

How does MU manage to blow such a huge lead? I have no idea.
How does a math teacher who is a fan of the team unwind after such a crushing loss? By scrapping her lesson plan and sending her algebra students on a quest in search of answers. (Believe it or not, this actually connects to the stuff we are covering in class, so I'm not laying down on the job)

My brilliant lesson plan: (with student responses on where exactly things went wrong to come...)

Scatter Plot Lab: Marquette at Georgetown
Objectives: WALT use a scatter plot to determine relationships in real-life events; WALT find the line of best fit of a scatter plot; WALT find the slope of a line.
1. Read the entire lab before starting. Make sure you are ready for step #9.

2. Define the following (from your notes or the textbook):
a. Scatter plot:___________________________________________________
b. Slope: _______________________________________________________
c. Function:______________________________________________________
d. Vertical line test:________________________________________________
e. Line of best fit: _________________________________________________

3. Use the graph paper and play-by-play printout provided to plot each team’s score throughout the game. You should plot EVERY time someone scores. Be sure to color-code the points by team. Include this in a key on your graph.
a. What is the dependent variable?__________ Which axis is it on?______
b. What is the independent variable? _________Which axis is it on? _____

4. A vertical line (from 4.2) is defined as x=constant. You should create a vertical line for each timeout (there are 16) AND at the end of the first half. Label these lines on your graph, Then label the parts in between A-R.

5. Draw a line of best fit for each team’s score between each vertical line.

6. Find the slope of each line of best fit.
a. MU _____ GT______
b. MU _____ GT______
c. MU _____ GT______
d. MU _____ GT______
e. MU _____ GT______
f. MU _____ GT______
g. MU _____ GT______
h. MU _____ GT______
i. MU _____ GT______
j. MU _____ GT______
k. MU _____ GT______
l. MU _____ GT______
m. MU _____ GT______
n. MU _____ GT______
o. MU _____ GT______
p. MU _____ GT______
q. MU _____ GT______
r. MU _____ GT______

7. If you were going to pinpoint a shift in the momentum for each team, where would you place it (A-R)? Use the slopes of your lines of best fit and your own knowledge of basketball to help explain this. (Use 2-3 complete sentences).

8. Does your scatter plot demonstrate a function? Why or why not?

9. Be prepared to take a short exit slip quiz during the last 10 minutes of class on this lab. You should feel comfortable explaining the vocabulary and the basics of the lab.

More in-depth statistics to come... As they learn more in class and get to the point where they can be of some use to us in those regards. Maybe we can help @brewtownandy and @anonymouseagle out a little bit!

Badger Hate Week Fun Fact

2011-11-30T20:07:41Z

While some people think that the Wisconsin Badgers are THE team for the state of Wisconsin, others can look past this declaration of supremacy and single out the sole reason for their success.

Only at the Kohl Hole, will one encounter the elusive Sterling brand Basketball, which is ironic considering the ties Wisconsin has to Communism. You would think they would demand equality and choose the common basketball used by many schools, the Nike branded version. But no. Sterling it is.

Affectionately know as "The Bo Ryan" ball ( or Bo Ryan's Ball(s)) , this one of a kind basketball will be present at every Badger home game, and other teams will have to suck it up.

Real quick, a quick rundown of the basketballs used by many programs from the biggest conferences in the nation, Nike: 46

Wilson: 16

Adidas: 10

The Rock: 9

Spalding: 4

Baden: 1

The Magical Sterling Ball: 1 team (GUESS WHO. psst, its Wisconsin!)

While this may seem like a small thing to point out, let us look at Wisconsin's home record. 135-11. Yes, unfortunately the numbers are not flipped around. Consequently, this record is not a result of the basketball team's talent, but rather due to the use of the Sterling basketball. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it is a tool of magical prowess, soon to be analyzed after the leap.

Right, so The Rodents's record can be really attributed to the ball they use at court. Bo Ryan's balls have innate magical properties, imbued in them by the Olde Vampire himself to ensure his team's victory even in contests they should flat out lose. What are some of the effects this ball has? Well, strangely enough, it somehow only sticks to Wisconsin players hands, preventing them from turning it over very rarely at their home court (its a fluke when they turn it over rarely at away/neutral sites, call it residual magic or whatever). Additionally, especially this year, it has given their players the unnatural ability to make three pointers, causing the ball to soar through the air in curiously perfect arcs, kissing the net with flair. Crazy as it may sound, it is true. I would not lie to anyone, ever.

And, while it may seem like a bane to some teams, it is a boon for Wisconsin, known to have athletically challenged individuals who would not function in a normal game of college basketball. No, the Sterling basketball envelops the entire court in a time-dampening field, causing all players to execute plays and positions at an excruciatingly (and I mean excruciatingly) slow pace. The moment an opponent has the ball, they suffer the consequences, but since the Badger players excel at this grandfather pace, it works to their benefit.

So, there you have it. Take away Bo Ryan's balls (basketballs people. Basketballs) and the Wisconsin basketball team is nothing more than a bunch of...uninteresting, strangely non-diverse men....+1 perpetually angry vampire.

UConn to ACC?

2011-11-07T06:02:51Z

UConn to ACC?

UConn wants out... Big East = Fail?

So now UConn is going to the ACC?? Any new info on this?

Your Definitive Haunted Hoops Recap, Now With 100% More Mrs. B

2011-10-29T05:19:51Z

[Rubie sez: Mrs. Brewtown somehow found time to put together this excellent recap of the Haunted Hoops scrimmage, despite the fact that she was wrangling two energetic youngsters throughout the event. Pursuant to our long-standing agreement, we'll reward Mrs. B for her efforts the same way we compensate anyone who writes a recap when we're indisposed: with a slightly-used copy of Ice Princess, three room-temperature cans of Natty Ice, and a half-eaten bag of candy corn.]

My mission for this scrimmage, per BrewtownAndy, was to track Davante Gardner's three-point shooting. Easy enough: none made, none attempted. In fact, both teams combined to hit only 8 of 34 three pointers attempted (a paltry 23.5% success rate)* so this MAY be an area of concern. Darius Johnson-Odom accounted for a quarter of the makes, going 2-9 from behind the arc.

Sloppy turnovers by both sides were an issue in the first half, but improved after half time.

That's the obvious bad news out of the way. The good news? Junior Cadougan seemed to have command of the white team and hopefully can provide the leadership that seemed to be missing from last year's squad.

In a game with nothing more than pride on the line, both teams played hard until the end, epitomized by a ridiculous scramble for the ball that resulted in DJO literally tripping over a teammate with 2:22 remaining in the second half.

This game went into double OT so keep your AEDs on standby. Three different players blew the chance to win the game for the either side by missing free throws late in the first OT**. Cadougan stepped up in the second OT: he nailed two free throws and a layup to seal the win for the white team.

We can expect good things from both Cadougan and Chris Otule, who looked so comfortable and confident on the floor, this season. DJO may have struggled with three pointers, but was still a force inside the arc. I was also excited by Juan Anderson's performance and hope he sees some playing time.

* Stats are from Paint Touches' Twitter. They saw 3 more three pointers than I did because they are professionals.

** The overall free throw numbers were fine, but the late clutch misses did make me raise an eyebrow.

UCLA didn't want to play MU either

2011-05-21T17:16:46Z

Given Brewtown Andy's sarcastic comments about KY dodging a matchup with Marquette, I thought I might point this out...

Back in Marquette's heyday in the 1970's, Marquette and UCLA did try to schedule games together. The problem was, Marquette wanted a "One and One" series, where UCLA would play in Milwaukee one year, then the Warriors trek to the Pavillion the next season.

John Wooden's Bruins, though, just wanted a "One and Done," where MU would just come play a single game at the Pavillion. They didn't want to play at the MECCA, where the Warriors rarely lost.

Al and Hank naturally balked at that offer, therefore two of the most successful programs of the '70s never clashed in the regular season.

Mark Turgeon to Maryland

2011-05-10T11:58:58Z

Let the speculation begin

New Fansite

2011-04-20T03:42:39Z

http://www.mufanatic.com/

Your landing page for news about Marquette Men's Basketball!

I created the website with the intention of providing fans a place to quickly view the latest news pertaining to MU basketball.

So far, the site has been well received. Marquette fans from all over our country and the world have taken time to take a look and catch up on the latest news concerning our Golden Eagles.

MU Fanatic is sure to provide every fan with the dose of news about our great program that they desire.

Have a look and I hope you enjoy what you see.

Marquette Ranked in Top 20 Pre-Pre-Season Polls

2011-04-06T17:46:17Z

So yes, getting the love in the postseason ranking poll was nice and all, but you know your cookin' if you are a PRE-season ranking! I guess. Oh well, its still b*itchin', most of the polls out there right now have MU as a #12, not bad!

Here some links, courtesy of the interwebz and or shamelessly copied off muathletics.com

This guy has us a 12. TWELVE!

SI.com's Luke Winn has us a 19. Lame

Of course, Andy Katz has the Rodents ONE SPOT ABOVE US. Jerk.

Okay, not top 20, this is #25. Whatever, still a ranking!

Basically, the preseason polls out there (including some not linked above) are all over the place, they either have us all around the top 15, or among the high 20's

By the Numbers - Bucky in the NCAA Tournament Under Bo Ryan

2011-03-25T16:29:29Z

Overall record: 14-10
First round record: 9-1
- UW was the higher seed in 8 of those wins and upset Florida St as a 12 seed in 2009
Record after the first round: 5-9
- The 5 wins have come against teams with an average seed of 11
- Highest seeded victory was against Kansas St (5 seed) last Saturday
- 5 of these games were against a higher seed
- 6 of the these 14 games were against double digit seeds
- 7 of these games were played against a team that pulled an earlier round upset
Record against lower seeds. 13-4
Record against higher seeds: 1-6
Opponents' average seed in wins: 11
Highest seed defeated: 5 (two occasions)
Average margin of defeat: 13 points
Have lost to a lower seeded team in 4 of the past 5 years
Have lost to teams from the following conferences:
- ACC
- SEC
- Big East
- Pac 10
- A-10
- Ivy League
- Big South
- Horizon League
- Mountain West Conference

The Buzz On Buzz

2011-03-22T19:56:25Z

Marquette fans, my congratulations to you for keeping the Big East’s hopes alive. Moreover, I find it immensely easier to root for you than our UConn friends. This said, I noticed a lot of nasty stuff that was written here about your coach during the difficult times of the season. I’d seen enough about him to know that he seemed to know what he was doing, and that he was very likable. He also seemed to have the respect of his players. I came across this article today — many of you have probably seen it — which I thought was terrific, in fact, inspirational. Here it is: http://ht.ly/4jJLc Enjoy it, and all the best in the Sweet Sixteen and beyond!

A Friend from Red Storm Nation