One "bad" loss...back off!

[Windyplayer]

My god, guys, they lost one bad game--first if the year--to a team that's in the RPI top 100. And guess what, this team is still in, like it or not. We have great wins including a fantastic road win and have one not-so-good loss on the ROAD. Everyone calm down and sleep before posting more garbage that you'll regret.

[NersEllenson]

How dare you be a voice of reason.  WE ARE MARQUETTE.  We have every right to be outraged.  Anything less than Big East titles at this point or Top 4 finishes are unaccpetable.  Or so some idiots here believe.  Some here don't care that Nova and UCONN under Jay Wright and Jim Calhoun could only muster 9-9 this year.  WE ARE MARQUETTE -and have a legacy of conference championships.  Wait..maybe not..but since we are a basketball only school, in probably the 2nd or 3rd lest attractive city in the Big East conference - we should expect more out of our program.

 

[wardle2wade]

By watching the game, we all know it was a bad if not horrible loss... but looking at the computers, does this qualify? 

Prior to the game, SHU's rpi was 96 and their kenpom was 61.  I'm asking genuinely... it definitely wasn't a good one, but is it a "bad" loss?

[brewcity77]

By watching the game, we all know it was a bad if not horrible loss... but looking at the computers, does this qualify? 

Prior to the game, SHU's rpi was 96 and their kenpom was 61.  I'm asking genuinely... it definitely wasn't a good one, but is it a "bad" loss?

Not a bad loss at all by technical standards. We pretty much locked SHU into the RPI top 100. It isn't good, but not at all the disaster the naysayers are claiming.

[ChicosBailBonds]

How dare you be a voice of reason.  WE ARE MARQUETTE.  We have every right to be outraged.  Anything less than Big East titles at this point or Top 4 finishes are unaccpetable.  Or so some idiots here believe.  Some here don't care that Nova and UCONN under Jay Wright and Jim Calhoun could only muster 9-9 this year.  WE ARE MARQUETTE -and have a legacy of conference championships.  Wait..maybe not..but since we are a basketball only school, in probably the 2nd or 3rd lest attractive city in the Big East conference - we should expect more out of our program.

When you finish in the Big East

2006  4th
2007  5th
2008  5th
2009  5th
2010  5th
2011  11th....well, let's just say Mu has proven the previous 5 years what its capable of. I guess we shouldn't aspire to those silly expectations....

What's ironic as hell is your posts the last two years saying we were on our way to Final Fours, Big East titles, etc...you got us all fired up ners and now you're backing down.  Why?

[lab_warrior]

My god, guys, they lost one bad game--first if the year--to a team that's in the RPI top 100. And guess what, this team is still in, like it or not. We have great wins including a fantastic road win and have one not-so-good loss on the ROAD. Everyone calm down and sleep before posting more garbage that you'll regret.

Yeah, let's get busy polishing that turd we all saw yesterday...QUICKLY!  Enough of this "no bad losses" bulls***.  We played about the worst basketball I've seen since the Western Mich. game of the NIT the past two games, when we should be improving, and playing with some sort of intensity/urgency.

Again, if you think we're in with 9-9, and 14 losses trash, fine.  I think it leaves us left out on Selection Sunday.  Our only way in now is to somehow make a run in the BET, probably two wins.

[Windyplayer]

Did you read the post, Lab_Warrior? No one is saying it's not a tough game to lose against a less-than-quality opponent, but I think teams are entitled to one of these a year especially on the road. I know it didn't come at the most opportune time, but this team still has plenty to be hopeful for come selection Sunday as long as they take care of business against the Friars.

[Tugg Speedman]

One point ... SH was not a bad loss

                SH     Gonzaga
KenPom =   56          33
Sagarin =    68          45
RT RPI =     97          66
ESPN RPI =  91          63

Before last night our worst loss was Gonzaga.  Now it is SH.  But the standard definition of a "bad loss" is RPI above 100.  SH is just under that.

So when ESPN runs the tourney resume graphic next week, "bad loss" will still be listed as "none".

Additional thought .... of the 13 losses we have.  11 are in the tourney teams, Gonzaga is a bubble team and SH is out, unless they make a huge run in the BE tourney.

[NersEllenson]

When you finish in the Big East

2006  4th
2007  5th
2008  5th
2009  5th
2010  5th
2011  11th....well, let's just say Mu has proven the previous 5 years what its capable of. I guess we shouldn't aspire to those silly expectations....

What's ironic as hell is your posts the last two years saying we were on our way to Final Fours, Big East titles, etc...you got us all fired up ners and now you're backing down.  Why?

If you want to split the hairs between finishing 8th or 11th we can - as there were several 9-9 teams as you are aware.  Considering the mess Buzz Williams walked into at Marquette, due to the shoddy recruiting of Tom Crean after the Big 3, Tom Crean's transfers, as well as the kids who signed with MU, only to leave after the coaching change - MU hit a bump.  The fact the performance hasn't dropped off further is a HUGE testament to our head coach.

Again, in your world, give it 5 years.  Even the UNC's of the world have off years.  And even the IU's of the world have 3 straight horrendous years, no being able to eclipse 3 conference wins.  Newsflash Chicos - maybe 2 programs (Duke and Kansas) can claim they've been Top 3 or 4 in their conference of 12 teams for every season the last decade.  But hey, in your view, given that MU is not a blue blood, elite college program - MU should stil compete at that level, right?

[Lennys Tap]

When you finish in the Big East

2006  4th
2007  5th
2008  5th
2009  5th
2010  5th
2011  11th....well, let's just say Mu has proven the previous 5 years what its capable of. I guess we shouldn't aspire to those silly expectations....

Chicos "facts"     Actual Facts
2006 4th -    tied for 4th, 5th and 6th
2007 5th      tied for 5th and 6th
2008 5th -    tied for 5th and 6th
2009 5th -           5th
2010 5th -    tied for 5th and 6th
2011 11th -  tied for 9th, 10th and 11th

Don't you ever get tired of this BS? How can you do crap like this and say with a straight face you don't have an agenda?

[NersEllenson]

Chicos "facts"     Actual Facts
2006 4th -    tied for 4th, 5th and 6th
2007 5th      tied for 5th and 6th
2008 5th -    tied for 5th and 6th
2009 5th -           5th
2010 5th -    tied for 5th and 6th
2011 11th -  tied for 9th, 10th and 11th

Don't you ever get tired of this BS? How can you do crap like this and say with a straight face you don't have an agenga?

Can't wait for the highly charged reply coming at you Lenny's telling you what a joke you are.  As is usually the case when Chicos agendas get revelaed and he's left with egg on his face - he comes out in rants that are usually so far off topic and emotionally charged - to hopefully divert the issue.

What a complete tool to have to live one's life in such a fashion as CBB - to pretend something to be ture, that really is not. A complete farce.  Sad.

[willie wampum]

Not a bad loss at all by technical standards. We pretty much locked SHU into the RPI top 100. It isn't good, but not at all the disaster the naysayers are claiming.

So that's how far MU's program has fallen, huh? 

"Not a bad loss by technical standards?"  How about the simple standard of how they played...the eye test.  MU had everything in the world to play for.  It was literally a play-in game for the NCAA tourney and MU couldn't be bothered to play with any desire, fire or intensity.  You can't measure it "technically," but something is wrong with the team.  You don't come out flat on senior day (and another play-in game) and follow that with an even more uninspired performance if everything is A-OK with the team and coaching staff.

[Mutaman]

Is there anyone out there who is satistified with the way this season has gone?

[tower912]

I am disappointed that we failed to overachieve.   But to borrow from the inimitable Dennis Green rant, we are who they thought we were.    We were picked anywhere from 7 (IIRC) to 12 in the BEast.   The pre-season pundits pretty much nailed it.   I, like most of the rest of the board, was expecting us to out-perform those expectations.   We didn't.

[TJ]

How dare you be a voice of reason.  WE ARE MARQUETTE.  We have every right to be outraged.  Anything less than Big East titles at this point or Top 4 finishes are unaccpetable.  Or so some idiots here believe.  Some here don't care that Nova and UCONN under Jay Wright and Jim Calhoun could only muster 9-9 this year.  WE ARE MARQUETTE -and have a legacy of conference championships.  Wait..maybe not..but since we are a basketball only school, in probably the 2nd or 3rd lest attractive city in the Big East conference - we should expect more out of our program.

Your hyperbole is obnoxious.

[connie]

Is there anyone out there who is satistified with the way this season has gone?

"Satisfied," no.  I am not satisfied.  I am, however, a realist, and while I had hoped we would have a better overall record, not blown large late game leads, and crushed all BE competition, I, like many on this board thought we would have difficulty this year.  The fact that we have had failures to meet my hoped expectations does not leave me satisfied, but it doesn't make me run for the hills screaming in fear either.

[NersEllenson]

Your hyperbole is obnoxious.

No more obnoxious than those who are all up in arms over how bad this team is, that Buzz should be canned, etc.  

However, if you would, please do rebut the content of my post and tell me why my "hyperbole" is so far off base and obnoxious, than the reality of a lot of what gets thrown out around here with regard to expectations/overreactions.

[romey]

I am disappointed that we failed to overachieve.   But to borrow from the inimitable Dennis Green rant, we are who they thought we were.    We were picked anywhere from 7 (IIRC) to 12 in the BEast.   The pre-season pundits pretty much nailed it.   I, like most of the rest of the board, was expecting us to out-perform those expectations.   We didn't.

This is the part that really p!$$e$ me off.  When the preseason predictions came out, I believed we could do better than projected.  judging from the early season posts, many of you felt the same way.  Preseason optimism one might call it.  As the season progressed, and we saw flashes of positive things from our team, and individual players as well, we had reason for continued optimism.  We came up short against some tough OOC teams, (UW, Vandy) but continued on and beat who we were supposed to beat.  "No bad losses."  The we won some big games in conference (ND, SU, UConn).  We were looking pretty good heading into the Cincy game.

So, I ask everyone who says we finished where we were predicted to finish, or we tied with Villanova and UConn, or we are who they say we are, ath that point in the season, were you not thinking - "predictions be damned, we are in a position to show those preseason prognasticators that hey were wrong and we were right?  So then we begin our tailspin, and finish the season playing arguably our worst basketball of the season, and suddenly, it's okay because that's how we were supposed to finish?

I'm not happy.  I'm very disappointed we finished where we were predicted to finish.  It doesn't make me feel any better that THEY we right and I (WE?) were wrong in the preseason.  We had it right there to take it.  Just win the games we were supposed to win in the last couple of weeks and right now we'd be a "lock."

BTW Tower, not a personal attack, just right now I'm upset that we had this set up and we didn't seize the opportunity.

[tower912]

I didn't take it personally.    The opportunities were there and we didn't seize them because we were the limited team that the preseason pundits thought we were.   Sure, I'm frustrated.    The almosts are infuriating.  Seizing them would have meant we were indeed better than predicted.   But for whatever reason, this team never found a way to perform in the crunch, never found a way to become more than the sum of their parts, never found the magic. 

[JD]

I don't get the people who argue "We were predicted in the begining of the year to end up where we did, or Uconn and Nova are 9-9"  Is that relevant at all?  Who gives a F#*K where they end up or where we were predicted to end up.  The fact is that MU shouldn't be 11th in the BEAST and should have locked a spot a while ago.  The lack of focus and determination with other things is why we're in the situation we're in right now.  That is why fans aren't happy.

"Some kids play sports for the juice box and dinosaur snacks after the game and some just win!"

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

I'm with Connie & Tower.

[NersEllenson]

I don't get the people who argue "We were predicted in the begining of the year to end up where we did, or Uconn and Nova are 9-9"  Is that relevant at all?  Who gives a F#*K where they end up or where we were predicted to end up.  The fact is that MU shouldn't be 11th in the BEAST and should have locked a spot a while ago.  The lack of focus and determination with other things is why we're in the situation we're in right now.  That is why fans aren't happy.

"Some kids play sports for the juice box and dinosaur snacks after the game and some just win!"

Are you a spoiled teenager?  Or were you a spoiled child growing up?  Newsflash - you don't get to win and have things your way every single year - not in life, and certainly not in sports.  Seems all of your posts I recall reading recently are all of an "entitled" sort. 

[JD]

Are you a spoiled teenager?  Or were you a spoiled child growing up?  Newsflash - you don't get to win and have things your way every single year - not in life, and certainly not in sports.  Seems all of your posts I recall reading recently are all of an "entitled" sort. 

Yeah I am an only child, how is the relevant?  Pardon me everybody for having "realistic" expectations that weren't met in my opinion.  I guess I just ask way to much!

[marquette99]

Seton hall is ine the top 100, so this is not a bad loss.  Mu remains one of only 23 teams in the country without a bad loss.  As I've document, seton hall's sagarin rating since hazell returned would put them in the ncaa, so we lost to a tourney-level team that had just killed st johns and they were at home.

No question we played purely, but your post is right on.

[tower912]

I don't get the people who argue "We were predicted in the begining of the year to end up where we did, or Uconn and Nova are 9-9"  Is that relevant at all?  Who gives a F#*K where they end up or where we were predicted to end up.  The fact is that MU shouldn't be 11th in the BEAST and should have locked a spot a while ago.  The lack of focus and determination with other things is why we're in the situation we're in right now.  That is why fans aren't happy.

"Some kids play sports for the juice box and dinosaur snacks after the game and some just win!"

I see a flawed team, an inconsistent team, a team that has had flashes of brilliance but hasn't been able to sustain them.   I see a team that has been poor on defense, erratic in rebounding, with inconsistency at PG, SG, C, PF.   But I've felt that way a lot of years.   Most of the Dukiet years, a lot of the Deane years.    I see Villanova fans calling Wright a lousy coach, Syracuse fans losing their minds because they lost 4 straight, Sparty fans wondering if Izzo lost it....there are a lot of PO'd fanbases out there.  344 teams end up ticked at the end of the season.  So, I'm frustrated that this team did not perform to my optimistic expectations.   Just like I was disappointed by the Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Phil Mickelson, US Ryder Cup team.    Of all of those, the one I am least pessimistic about long term is MU hoops.   It was an underperforming year, relative to expectations.   Oops.