"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Thursday, March 13, 2008

MU advances to play Notre Dame in the BET

MU overcame the feisty Seton Hall Pirates 67-54 to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Big East tourney. In one of the ugliest games in recent memory, Jerel McNeal's sublime performance was the difference. The slashing guard led MU with 21 points, hauled in 9 boards and dished out four assists. Dominic James landed up with 11 points, five boards and four steals -- each of which came in the last three minutes of regulation to help seal the victory. Lazar Hayward came through with a big second half, earning another double/double with 15 and 10.

The story of the night was offensive rebounding where MU snared 21 boards on their way to a 52-29 advantage on the glass. Despite that dominance, MU was unable to convert consistently (the Golden Eagles only shot 34% from the floor) and was miserable at the charity stripe (20-35, 57%).

Survive and advance.

Seton Hall Media Updates

With the win, Marquette improves to 23-8 on the season and will lace'em up against the Notre Dame Fightin' Irish tonight at 8pm CST. Marquette and Notre Dame split the regular season matchups with each team winning at home. Here's a quick look back:

MU/ND Game One
MU knocks off ND - game recap.
MU knocks off ND --numbers recap.

ND knocks off MU - game recap
ND knocks off MU -- numbers recap.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whew! Survive and advance is right. DJ only getting 2 assists in 33 minutes is frustrating. But it's this late in the season and in his career, so it's not worth it to expect him to change his ways. Great effort by Mo Acker and The Trend. Very productive with their time on the floor.

Question for the masses: Anyone else notice that nearly all of our guys double clutch the ball when around the rim? Joe Chapman used to do this to no end, and now Wes is doing it a lot. Last night, he did it when he had a clear layup. He drew the foul, which is good (and perhaps the intent), but sometimes it seems this maneuver gets in the way of an open layup.

And one more thing: Quite the lovefest between Coach Crean and Gonzo at the end of the game.

Good win. Bring on the Irish.

Anonymous said...

IF the fould shooting woes continue this will be a problem.

Nice minutes by Trend. He got screwed on the goaltend and when hacked in the lane. Unfortunately he was a prime contributor to the foul shooting problem.

I noticed Crean was drinking Diet COKE - did his contract w Pepsi expire???

Gene Frenkle said...

Lots of pro/cons to this game:

Pro - pound the offensive glass
Con - miss short put-backs

Pro - actually get fouls
Con - miss those free throws

Pro - great coaching/defensive adjustments to double-team Laing
Con - not the best D in the first half

Pro - Trend's production
Con - Mbakwe's ability to continue to miss put-backs. Frustrating. And Trend's awful free-throw shooting.

All in all, I'll take it. Bring on ND.

Great catch w/the Diet Coke too. Maybe Crean needed to change things up for the better.

I think we're looking good for a 5 seed. Beat ND and maybe, just maybe squeek out a 4 (depending on what other teams do today).

Anonymous said...

A four seed is dreaming. We will probably get a six and even a seven is not out of the question if we don't look good today. The committee won't like the big losses this year and will look back to MU's performances in the NCAA the past several years.

I agree with the comment on Acker. He is a defensive liability, but he should look to shoot the 3 more. His shot has really improved this year. He is also the best free throw shooter on the team, so he needs to play in foul situations.

Anonymous said...

I actually thought TC did a really good job getting this team ready for the zone defense. They attacked it very well both via the pass and the penetration. They got guys the ball in the right place to score - they just didn't knock down their shots. You can't blame the coach for that.

Anonymous said...

Win the Big East and we are a 4 seed. There is no other way.

Right now we are a 6 seed. Win v ND and we are a 5. But to movve to a 4 we have to Beat UL and GT as well as perhaps get some help form other conferences.

Anonymous said...

I actually see a win over ND tonight. Will shoot better than 32% and play more relaxed. Look for DJ to have a big game. Now onto the seeding. If we win the BE tourney we will still likely be a 5 with about a 33% chance at a 4. If we lose tonight we are a 7 or a 6. Win tonight 6 is a lock and 5 is possible. Get to the finals 5 is a lock. The win last night was huge in that we locked up a 7 instead of an 8. Huge difference avoiding a #1 in the 2nd round if we're lucky to win 1st round. I don't see much of a difference between a 5 or 6. As far as the pros of last night's game there we're none we beat a crappy team and played poorly.

Anonymous said...

Line on the game tonight is 0 points. This is a bit suprising, given ND's growing strength through the year and our slight tail off.

Captain Caveman has been getting better as the year progresses, but ND still lost when he turned in 40 points, so this shows that if we can clamp down on Pot Head and make some shots ourselves, we can beat these guys in spite of his muscle.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the vitriol directed toward Harongody, particularly comments about his apperance by MU fans. We'd kill to have him...

...as far as his looks are concerned, when you consider the designs our guys have carved into their heads, should we really talk?

Anonymous said...

No Vitriol (big word though). I would live him on our team.

I'm and equal opportunity nicknamer:

James = Carlton Banks
Blackledge = Kid Dynomite
Acker = Webster
Fitz = McCauley Culkin

I actually thought my shot at McAlarney was more mean spirited, but apparently it did not bother you.

Gene Frenkle said...

I was apparently on crack this a.m. and apologize for my poor math. No way we get a four unless we win the whole thing. Win tonight and we guarantee a five-seed. I don't think we're a six anymore.