Marquette and UWM

I don't know which game was more painful to watch, the UWM one point victory over Detroit last night or the Marquette three point loss to Texas Christian University today. I guess it would probably be the Marquette game because at least UWM won and is now headed to the NCAA Tournament, but if they play like they did last night, there's no way they're getting out of the first round. As for MU, they looked horrible. I know they were without leader and point guard Travis Diener, but a division one basketball team should not look this bad.

For those of you who weren't able to see the Marquette game, let me sum it up; they went down 10-0 within the first 2 minutes because they couldn't get the ball up-court against the TCU press, they battled back and were only down 6 at the half, TCU wasn't pressing, Todd Townsend and Joe Chapman led MU to a 49-42 lead with 3:35 left in the game, TCU started pressing again and took a 50-49 lead, the game went to overtime when MU couldn't get a decent shot of in the last 20 seconds of the game, TCU pressed in the overtime and MU turned the ball over when they were tied at 57, TCU hit a three, and MU's last attempt was a three by Steve Novak which he lost on the way up; 60-57.

First of all the players on Marquette didn't even seem to want to throw the ball into guys who were open, but instead waited for someone to almost be double teamed and then threw the ball into him. After the ball was in the hands of a player who was double teamed; they could barely get the ball across half court. The team really missed Diener and didn't have a suitable backup for him. If this is what we are to expect from Marquette in the near future, the Big East will not be a pleasant home for them.

As for the UWM game, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be by the Panthers. This was the third or fourth game I saw them play all season and they looked much better in each of the previous games. I thought they would look outstanding in this game, seeing as how it was for a conference championship, berth in the NCAA Tournament, and on their home court, but they looked like a high school team at times. I will have to say they looked like they could beat Marquette if they pressed all game, but nothing about the way they played stood out for me, except how the Panthers don't look like an NCAA Tourney worthy team. But, they're in and I hope they do well.

I'm going to close this post by making a Rick Ankiel joke. For those of you who don't know, Ankiel is the Cardinals pitcher who once threw 5, that's right FIVE, wild pitches in one inning during a playoff game in 2000. Well, he is moving to outfield in the hopes he can make the Cardinals team this season. Here's the joke: Hey did you hear Rick Ankiel is moving from pitcher to the outfield for St. Louis? Yeah, I guess this way they figure if he misses his target, there are 6 other people who can catch it! Thank you, I'll be here all week at 3:00, 7:00, 7:15, and the adult show at 10:00pm, remember to tip your waitresses.

-Until next time...