I just walked in from Marquette's 93-82 loss to UCONN. I had so many thoughts racing through my head throughout the game and I didn't know how to put it to words. So I thought I'd take advantage of a current social media trend (which Rick Reilly has taken part of now, so let's just call it a dying trend). Techinically I do this for every column I write, but without further ado: The 25 Random Things About Marquette's 93-82 loss to UCONN.
1. UCONN came into the stadium to boos – and they pumped their chests. I know that they’re just trying to get people riled up…mission accomplished. I wanted to throw eggs at them. I could have probably picked off Thabeet.
2. What a great crowd. That was the loudest I have ever heard the Bradley Center.
3. It’s amazing what confidence can do to a jump shot. A couple years ago, Wes, Jerel and James would clank three’s all the time. You make a few, win a few more and the results are as clear as day.
4. About 9 minutes into the game, I started to wonder where Dominic James was. I honestly thought he was taking out for taking a dumb 3 that he actually made. Honestly though, I couldn’t care less because we were actually beating UCONN.
5. When fellow BTB’er Todd Fabos sent me a text saying “Left foot injury, out for the game” I could feel the deflation throughout the entire stadium. It’s as if he sent that text to 19,000 people. Hope you got unlimited, man.
6. AJ Price is disturbingly good. My ankles are still sore after seeing him juke out Jerel.
7. Big posterizing dunks are one thing – and UCONN had lots of them, but being able to have a player fall down from a cross over…that is hard to recover from.
8. UCONN plays with a swagger that borders on arrogance…looks like they get that from their coach.
9. The more I think about that little outburst Calhoun had, the more I start to think, “what a jerk.” I think the both of them were foolish in their own respective ways.
10. Best fan idea of the night – A guy with a blue Snuggie with a gold “MU” on it holding a sign saying “Fear the Snuggie.” Genius
11. Also good – bunch of signs in the form of nickels with Calhoun’s smiling mug on them.
12. Were the referees bad? Absolutely. Do I think MU had a better chance if it was called fairly? No.
13. Do I think MU would have won the game outright with Dom James playing? Yes.
14. Hasheem Thabeet is really a sight that has to be seen in person. He truly is a freak of nature. That aside, I was not very impressed with his game.
15. This is the difference between Crean’s MU and Buzz’s MU – almost all of my non-Marquette friends would be sending texts now saying “pussies” or “go UCONN”…now? I’m getting “tough loss, I was pulling for em” and “I still love this team.” There is NO difference in this team from last year, except the coach.
16. How to be optimistic about Dom James being out – if it were McNeal or Matthews, we would not have a suitable backup. Acker, while not as good a field general, is a serviceable backup to play the point.
17. He played it very well tonight.
18. How about this – former MU recruit Tyshawn Taylor dropped 26 on Oklahoma the other night. Imagine having that tonight.
19. The amount of basketball knowledge increases dramatically when moving from the first row of the student section to the last. It’s impeccable
20. To Walsh, the Daily Drink writer – sorry for not making it at the half. Please don’t let this hurt the DD/BTB allegiance.
21. I’m actually seeing the “Faces in the Crowd” trend at other schools! About time someone copies us instead of the other way around.
22. While looking over the stadium tonight, I’ve come to the conclusion that Freeway as gone AWOL. They played “Thriller” tonight. Since he has a microchip in his brain that automatically makes him dance whenever that comes on, I’ve come to the conclusion he wasn’t there.
23. Dwight Burke is like Ousmane “Senagalese Sniper” Barro, hard to watch, but hard not to love.
24. Here’s how I see the next games going out – loss at Louisville, loss at Pitt, followed by Doug Gottlieb saying that “he was right all along and we were overrated,” followed by a 25 point drubbing of Syracuse on Senior Day, followed by me driving to Bristol, CT and punching Doug Gottlieb in the eye.
25. Shake it off, Warrior fans and although it sucks, congratulate Dominic James for an unbelievable college career.
Until next time, Ring out Ahoya!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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17 comments:
Fu@! Tyshawn Taylor, he never believed in the school that's why he bailed when Crean left. He'd probably ruin the chemistry of the team.
Marc,
You are forgiven, my friend enjoyed the beer.
Next time, you owe me beer.
Nice post Marc.
Mike Stachowiak, I read your comment the first time, didn't need the other two.
Freeway was at Major Goolsby's. He is taking the Michael Jackson approach to his celebrity status....Only inside, only around guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aizz6YDvm0c
That Price move wasnt even that big if you watch it. He just caught McNeal off balance.
I'll chime in and say they dont want ass jockeys like you to throw input into the mix on a regular basis. We will soon enough figure out your true identity Mike...
I'm not going to miss screaming "NO!" every time James pulled up for a three, but it will be torture watching MU without him. Acker did a pretty good job putting in the minutes he did, but his game is so different it's hard to imagine the offense running right. He couldn't drive across the three-point line last night. It was all nibble-nibble-nibble and pass.
I'll take a crack at some optimism: I think Acker has got the potential to capably replace James on defense. He can run, for sure. He did a beautiful job pinning the ball-handler to the sideline at the end of the first half, leaving UConn without a shot. And to my eyes, Dominic was developing a tendency to sag into the lane when his guy didn't have the ball and getting caught too far away on a lot of shots. Acker certainly has no illusions about getting up high enough to block the bigs, so maybe they tighten down on the perimeter a little.
**we're
Good stuff, Marc. I was at the game as well and felt that MU was just trying to hard. A lot of rushed, reckless shots. Seemed like they were forcing it. Despite the loss (both the game and James), I think this was a great learning experience for the team. A big game like this will pay dividends once the tournmanet starts. Keep your head up...we'll be all right.
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