11.24 Morning Coffee: Real Close Edition

There is no rest for the wicked, or no rest for college basketball bloggers. We'll have a Thanksgiving post tomorrow and a Q & A with Marquette beat writer Todd Rosiak on Friday. Then our regular game thread and recap on Saturday night for the Bud Haidet Classic. So don't go anywhere, we got you covered this weekend.

The best of Thanksgiving on TV and in movies. Although it's a good list, omitting this is shameful.

And this is reason 1,032,589 I hate Hollywood.

Victoria's Secret models dancing and lip syncing.

Cookie Monster wants to host SNL. (Terrible idea)

The future of America is in good hands.

Apparently Bruce Pearl is like Jesus.

A seven overtime basketball game.

Yeah, you did it wrong.

Random thoughts on the game:
- As well as Buycks played in the first four games, he's played just as awful these past two
- We have big men, but they're no good if they don't rebound. They're better on offense, but not D.
- Jae's defense leaves a LOT to be desired.
- Transition defense leaves a LOT to be desired.
- This team does a great job fighting to get back into games. I'll be curious to see how they play when they have a lead on a quality opponent.
- Gardner needs to get healthy in a hurry.
- We're taking too many bad shots. Team isn't buying into Buzz's "Take the first best shot" mantra. Some are taking that as: "shoot when I get it."
- DJO still not there yet.
- In conclusion, November and December wins don't matter come March. I don't care about early season tournaments. I want to win in March. And listen, this team lost by five points to the #1 team in the country and by three to a team in the the top 20. So despite all the problems this team has at times, two losses by a combined eight points by two ranked opponents shows this team is close -- real close -- to putting together something special. It may not happen by the time we play Wisconsin, but they're getting there.

Marquette Basketball Links:
The team is doing good things this morning.
Rubie is struggling, you've been warned. Read our recap here.
Rosiak's blog post and recap here.
Cracked Sidewalks recap here.
Chicago Tribune recaps.
MUTV Sports recap.
Rapid recap from ESPN.
Slipper Still Fits (Gonzaga blog) recap.
We interviewed the guys from Gonzaga's blog and then we returned the favor. (Wait, they never posted our answers.)
Revealed Episode 14 was another great episode.
Maybe the Big East isn't going to have a down year?

Next up on Saturday: UWM. See you at the Cell. Glad this pathetic series "that everybody wants" is finally coming to an end.

Random Music Video: Phunk Junkeez - I Love It Loud (cameo from Chris Farley)