The Wisconsin Sports Rant

I have to hand it to the Warriors tonight. They looked really awful for about 25 minutes, and then managed to get motivated and staged a furious comeback. Marquette shot the ball very poorly for most of the game, which put them in too deep a hole from which to recover. However, it is hard to make any type of comeback when your premier defender and offensive machine from the previous two games spends most of his time riding the pine. Jerel McNeal was whistled for several questionable fouls, and thus, had to spend extended periods of time on the sideline. This was indicative of the poor officiating throughout the game. My personal favorite occurred just after another horrible out of bounds call under the Pittsburgh hoop (the ball was clearly off of Pittsburgh). The Marquette bench got understandably animated, especially McNeal (remember, that’s where he spent most of the game). The official, Tim Higgins, came over and warned the bench. Then, as if to put emphasis on the fact that he was the big boss man in charge, and needed to punish Marquette for its zealous display of emotion, Higgins immediately made another poor foul call on the Warriors. That was a real classy move Tim. Or how about with just under a minute to go, after Wesley Matthews missed the corner 3 pointer and Sam Young pushed Dominic James to the floor to grab the rebound? No foul there I guess. Or how about when Lavance Fields elbowed James in the face but nothing was called? I could point out several more examples. It was truly pathetic. It was especially disappointing to see Marquette recover from truly horrible basketball to get within 3, the entire time having to battle 8 instead of 5. Let me be clear. Marquette didn’t lose because of the poor officiating, but it certainly didn’t help their effort to rebound and was severely frustrating to watch.

The silver linings here are twofold. One, Marquette proved that even after playing poorly for an extended period of time, they are capable of catching fire, a key element to making a successful tournament run. In the past two seasons, this team has fizzled in the NCAA tournament, and watching them, you knew that once things started to go south, that’s where they were staying. After seeing this performance, I am more confident that this team can weather a storm of bad play. Two, while I obviously would prefer to see Marquette win, the loss gives them an extra day to rest. I hate even mentioning this as if it were good to not be playing in the championship game of the Big East Tournament, but you have to take some positives away from this loss. Hopefully Marquette will learn from their experience at the Garden, and actually win a game in the Big Dance.

Bucks blow a 17 point lead and lose to the Knicks

Overrated Marquette loses to Notre Dame

And the Badgers lose to Purdue…AT HOME

This, my friends, is not how I would have hoped Saturday would turn out. The first two items are definitely annoying, but not shocking. The third is. The Badgers have now been swept by a team that has proven to be underrated; yet this should still not have happened. The seasoned, veteran team that Wisconsin is should not be giving up 72 points on their home court. That is not Wisconsin basketball. The irony of my conversation with one of my friends before the game was thick. We talked about how this is a great “team” because they don’t have a single superstar, and they really don’t lose unless multiple guys have bad nights. What is even more disturbing than losing at home is losing a game that meant first place in the Big Ten. Now Wisconsin drops to into third, and has two losses on the record to the team in first. A date in Bloomington looms this week as well, so we may be looking at a 2 game losing streak. All I can say is this was a very disappointing evening.

The Marquette-Wisconsin rivalry provided a highly entertaining game last night at the Kohl Center. It had some great offense (late first half), great defensive intensity, drama, and even a bit of a scuffle. This is the first year of the rivalry that I was honestly disappointed with the result. I am usually just satisfied with the game, and am happy for the team that wins. But this game left the same aftertaste in my mouth that the Seattle-Green Bay game of 1999 in Lamnbeau Field did. Wisconsin had this amazing, nearly TWO YEAR winning streak at home, and had it snapped largely because of poor free throw shooting. Just like Holmgren’s return in 1999, it was hard to take a home loss when it had been so long since the last one. Marquette proved, however, that they are a team to be reckoned with. They were able to out-rebound the much bigger Badgers, and grab a few more loose balls. The guards played very well, but it was the play of Ousman Barro and Dwight Burke that surprised. The Golden Eagles scored 44 points in the paint, and seemed to get a ton of offensive boards. On the other side, losing at home wasn’t the only rarity out of Wisconsin. They committed 18 turnovers, something that it would take them nearly 3 games to do last season. They also left 10 points on the table by shooting only 15-25 from the charity stripe. Statistics like this will make it very difficult for a team like Wisconsin to win when they lack the explosive presence provided by Alando Tucker last year. Still, the game may have been a positive in the long run for both teams. Marquette should now believe they can go into any arena and come away with a victory. Wisconsin should have regained a lot of confidence that they can hang with a good team, something they may have lost after being blown out against Duke. Overall, it was good to see both teams provide great effort and a highly entertaining matchup on national TV. Both teams should continue to do so as the season goes on.

What a maddening way to lose. Marquette played an outstanding game in the Maui Invitational Final Wednesday night. They passed well, played tremendous defense and all this despite a rather mediocre performance from Dominic James. There were some very unlucky bounces as I counted no less than 4 rim-out layups, and at least 4 outside shots from James and Jerel McNeal. Still, it is hard to win when half of your team is in foul trouble the whole game. The officiating was very poor. While I would say this was the case for both teams, it was definitely more detrimental for Marquette. McNeal and Dan Fitzgerald had to sit for significant periods of the game, taking away the team’s best defender and best 3 point shooter. It seemed that more than a few charges called on Marquette were blocking fouls at the other end when Duke was on offense. Still, missing a few key free throws and Big Dogs at the end (for those of you who don’t know…a Big Dog is a short shot of less than 6 feet that you pathetically miss despite no real defense) didn’t help. Oh well, better to lose a big game now than in March. Maybe they will have sufficiently softened the Dookies for Wisconsin’s visit on Tuesday.

Note: Yes, the Badgers will be playing less than 8 minutes from my house, but it is a long shot that I will be able to attend the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The prices for tickets are outlandish, though I would very much like to be there wearing red from head to toe among a sea of Dookie blue.

There has been a disturbing trend associated with the teams covered by this blog over the last 5 years. Ever since the Milwaukee Bucks took a nosedive for the ages in 2002, there have been far too many seasons that petered out long before they officially ended. Some examples to go with those miracle 2002 Bucks:

• 2004 Wisconsin Badgers football – Started 9-0 finsished 9-3, getting absolutely slaughtered by Michigan State and Iowa
• 2005 Wisconsin Badgers football – Aside from the amazing win against Auburn in the Capital One Bowl, this team puttered to the end with two straight Big Ten losses.
• 2002 Green Bay Packers – At 12-3 with a chance to lock up home field advantage, they were smoked by the Jets, then embarrassed by the Atlanta Falcons at home.
• 2003 Green Bay Packers – 4^th and 26. Need I say more?
• 2004 Milwaukee Bucks – Needing only one win in the last three games to secure both a winning record and at least one home court series in the playoffs, the Bucks blew all of them and had to face the Detroit Pistons. That ended badly, as one might expect.
• 2006 Wisconsin Badgers basketball – If you made the ‘L’s at the end of the year ‘K’s instead and hung them on the outfield wall at Miller Park, you probably would have thought you were watching Roger Clemens pitch.
• 2006 Marquette Men’s Hoops – After a pretty excellent season, the last two losses were their first round games in the Big East and NCAA tournaments. Granted, they were really young, so this was not the worst thing in the world, but it was frustrating nonetheless.
• Any Milwaukee Brewers team from the last 5 years

And now we can add to the list the 2007 Marquette Men’s Hoops team. What a pathetic performance last night. No scoring for nearly the first 10 minutes?? Only 5 two-point baskets all night? That is truly awful. I cannot believe they only lost by 12. Ever since the season’s high point (when they were 8-2 in conference), they have absolutely plummeted. The loss last night may have been partly due to not having Jerel McNeal available, but the overall trend since that apex is endemic to the whole team. Dominic James completely forgot how to shoot. Wesley Matthews has been totally absent. Dan Fitzgerald gets in foul trouble too easily, is too slow to guard his match-up much of the time, and then is inconsistent from the three point line. Overall, this team just stopped being good. That’s about as clearly as I can put it. They played a single good game during that time, and it was probably because they were honoring the ’77 team and were all high on adrenaline. The only positive for Marquette is that they graduate no one, and if they can play an entire season the way they were playing when they beat Pittsburgh (in either game), then perhaps they can rebound next year. Still, the way they finished out their 2006-2007 season can be classified as nothing short of disappointing and embarrassing. Boo.

Note: I hope and pray that I will NOT have to add the 2007 Wisconsin Badgers to this list.

Note #2:  Prayer not answered.  As usual.

Marquette lost the game against Pittsburgh in the Quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament due to two reasons. The first, which was in their power to control, was the turnovers. Dan Fitzgerald stepping out of bounds before hitting a three? Poor passes all over the place. Yeah, that was their own fault. The second reason was not in their control…the officiating. Call me a homer, a whiner, whatever. Look at the free throw disparity. Marquette got called for everything that was questionable. Every loose ball or rebound that was a foul, was on Marquette. The refs bailed Pitt out numerous times under the basket.  Even worse, Pitt was given free reign on the defensive end. When this happens, it is a snowball effect: Refs let Pitt get away with hacks, hand checks, etc., so they play tighter defense since they know they won’t get called. It cascades until you see them applying “pressure” that gets more suffocating as they continue to test the limits of what will be called against them. When nothing is, they can play as tight as they want. Likewise, when you are called for everything, you can’t afford to play tight defense unless you want everyone sitting on the bench. Pitt was in the single bonus with 11 plus minutes left in the first half, and the double bonus at the 6:40 mark. It was ridiculous. Now if you went to look at the free throw statistics as I mentioned, you would have found that Pitt went 27-41 (65.9%) while Marquette went 17-19 (89.5%). They hit 8 more free throws than MU even got to take! Appalling. But hey…Marquette was the 6 seed playing in only their second Big East tourney. Why give them the breaks, right?

Wisconsin dished out a whooping to Penn State in Madison on Saturday. This was the type of victory that looks good to those writers/coaches that didn’t actually see the game but have to vote in the polls. With the Florida loss, if Wisconsin and Ohio State both hold serve until next weekend, we should be seeing a game for the ages…#1 versus #2! I was thinking about how I would like Minnesota to upset Ohio State Sunday so Wisconsin could enjoy the #1 ranking for a week, but the more I think about it, the more I would rather Wisconsin gain the #1 ranking by beating the currently ranked #1 team. If UW can accomplish that feat and not let down to Michigan State, they should not only gain their first ever #1 ranking, they should also lock up a #1 seed regardless of the Big Ten tournament results. Granted, going into the Breslin Center is not a walk in the park, but Wisconsin is too good to lose that game, especially if they hit threes like they did against Penn State. In fact, if they can shoot the ball like that, they should be able to handle Ohio State or anyone else that gets in their way.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum Marquette has dropped three in a row. When they beat Pitt on the road, and were in the midst of their 8 game winning streak, things looked excellent. They were hitting their stride, handling teams with ease. Then they got blown away at Georgetown, and it seems that Dominic James has forgotten how to play to the level he is capable of. Jerel McNeal continues to play very well, but deserves criticism for things like missing the front end of a one-and-one that could have put Louisville away. I just can’t figure out this team. They were ranked as high as 8th (and have played like they deserved that ranking), fell out of the top 25 completely, climbed all the way back up to 11th, and now have dropped three in a row; including one to the major power DePaul, and one on their own turf to a Cardinals team they destroyed in Louisville a few weeks ago. They will most likely see a ranking in the 20’s if at all. Marquette is in grave danger of losing their first round bye in the Big East tournament, and we all know how difficult it is to win four games in four days. The bottom line is that this team needs to get their collective head out of their collective ass before they are collectively bounced out of the tournament.

Wisconsin took care of business in Minnesota, with Tucker pouring in 29 points on 10-20 shooting. It is frustrating that the talking heads on ESPN and such say that Florida is the only lock for a #1 seed at this point. That suggests that even if they were to slip up against any of their competition before the SEC tournament, they would still gain a #1 aeed. If that is the case, then why isn’t Wisconsin also a lock at this point? The Badgers have only 1 conference loss and 2 overall, the latter being the same as Florida’s overall record. I don’t want to make a huge deal about it, but I still find it frustrating. I think the Badgers could probably lose at Columbus, win the rest, and still hold a #1 seed.

Marquette seems to have reverted to their early Big East schedule form. Consecutive losses at Georgetown and DePaul, while not necessarily true upsets, have severely crippled their chances of winning the Big East regular season title. The losses have also likely dropped them out of the “protected” seeds in the NCAA tournament for now. They will really need to finish strong, perhaps even earning a trip to the conference tournament final to creep back into one of those top seeds. In Wednesday night’s loss to DePaul, Dominic James took another ill-advised shot at the end with way too much time left on the clock. He is clearly pressing at this point and needs to find better ways of trying to get out of his slump. For Marquette to make a run in March, he had better get back on track soon.

Finally, the Milwaukee Bucks did just as I had predicted in my side note from yesterday’s post. They made the wrong kind of history by being the Boston Celtics’ victims in their first win after a franchise-record 18 game losing streak. I also have to say that perhaps dismissing Stotts shouldn’t wait until April. The Bucks have obviously hit rock bottom. Their season is lost. Time to start thinking about those ping pong balls.

Marquette did their best Lewinsky in going to Washington and just blowing it. Talk about a terrible 6 minutes of basketball…Marquette had pulled to within 1 at 53-52 on Jerel McNeal’s 3 pointer with 5:43 left and then decided to stop playing basketball. It was truly a terrible stretch of play after that. For all the good that Dominic James does, when he is off, he simply tries to do too much. He can’t take the fact that he is off that day, and instead of trying to do all the other things like passing and being a floor leader, he tries to shoot his way out of it. Boy did he look silly at the end of the game. Badly missed threes, blocked layups when he tried to take 3 guys on at once. Just poor. Throw in that McNeal overall had a bad game, Matthews barely showed up, and the foul calls came fast and furious against MU, and you have the 12th ranked team in the county looking to plunge several spots come Monday. It is very frustrating that the three guard tandem everyone raves about chose perhaps the worst game on the schedule to coordinate their off nights. Now Marquette finds themselves in third place, and without the tie-breaker against Georgetown. Hopefully they rebound in a big way and realize that they need to focus and dig down on defense when their top guns have bad games.

What a thrilling weekend of college hoops for Wisconsin and Marquette fans! Starting on Saturday, Wisconsin went into a place that they haven’t had much any success the last decade, and came out with a hard-earned victory. Sure, the 2nd ranked team in the nation ought to win their games against unranked opponents, but college hoops fans know that it doesn’t work that way. Those who also follow Big Ten basketball know that there is no such thing as a “gimme” road game in this league. In fact, I have to agree with Bo Ryan when he said that experience is what allowed the Badgers to outlast Illinois. That trait is fast becoming recognized across the nation, and is most likely the reason for some of those first place votes Wisconsin is getting in the polls. I don’t hold any unreasonable expectations that the Badgers won’t lose again this season, but it seems that even on their off nights, they do the things required to win. During the Marquette game Sunday, Verne Lundquist was saying that both teams (Pitt and Marquette) had lost to Wisconsin and both coaches said that UW was the toughest team they faced this year. He also said something that I totally agreed with (which I don’t often do): that Wisconsin is solid in every area. It’s true…they may not be the best at any one facet of the game, but they have no glaring weaknesses either.

Marquette not only enjoyed a great weekend, they have had a spectacular week. Winning at Louisville and Pittsburgh is no easy feat despite the fact that Louisville is not having a great year. Freedom Hall has actually been rather kind to Marquette over the last few years, but the Peterson Events Center has been flat out rude to just about everyone. The beauty of the win Sunday is that Marquette looked poised, aggressive, determined, and (mostly) disciplined in their victory. The final few minutes were very frustrating, as all they had to do was not turn the ball over. Instead, they gave it away on three straight possessions, which allowed Pitt to erase a 9 point deficit in sort order. That set the stage for the questionable call on James that allowed Ronald Ramon to tie the game at the line with under 4 seconds to go. That call was not good, but Marquette would have had no one to blame but themselves had they lost. Instead, they refused to get down on themselves, and even after trailing by 3 in OT, played their hearts out and came away with a sweet victory. I have to admit, I did not think they would be able to hold on in overtime. But when a team shooting 64% from the line makes every single clutch free throw they had, it is a bit surprising! Credit coach Crean as well. He had some players in foul trouble for a good chunk of the 2nd half and overtime, even losing both McNeal and Fitzgerald. He was able to rotate players in to keep those guys around for as long as possible, and it paid off. Fitzgerald hit some Steve Novak-like 3 pointers that really were key to the victory. One more thing I want to note is how Marquette built and kept a lead for almost the entire game. They were all over the court. It seemed that on defense they were rotating very quickly and making the stops, while on offense the ball movement was crisp and with purpose. I was very impressed with how they operated as a team throughout the afternoon. They may ride their guards to success, but they are truly playing excellent team basketball, which is another testament to Crean’s coaching skill.

Both UW and Marquette played highly entertaining games this weekend that ended in victories. As good as we knew college hoops would be for our state this year, it continues to get better. Marquette has fully recovered from their mini slump, and looks more like the team that was ranked 8th after beating Duke rather than the team that dropped out of the rankings. And Wisconsin? I don’t know that anyone saw 15 wins in a row (and counting), and a gaudy 19-1 record coming. Let’s hope they keep it going.