"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

Friday, December 12, 2008

Friday Update - getting ready for IPFW

Hey there... it's been a slow week both here on Cracked Sidewalks and at MUScoop.com. There's just not a lot going on with the long break between the UW@Madison game and the game tomorrow. Hope that the students are doing well with their finals and will be ready to let off a little steam.

Good news, though, because the team kicks off with two games in the next four days. Tomorrow, the team wraps up a three-game homestand with a game against IPFW. Last year, Marquette won 80-56. Here is the official announcement from Marquette, complete with game notes, and two podcasts (Buzz and Burke). Rosiak also chips in with his own blog entry about the game. Check out the link to see what IPFW actually stands for, as well as some info about IPFW.

In Buzz' podcast and the Rosiak blog, Coach Williams mentions that IPFW just won on the road 63-46 at Valpo, which probably sounds impressive to Marquette fans considering how we needed Dominic James to score the last 18 points of the game for us to barely escape on our last trip. However, Valpo just isn't that good (#281 Pomeroy), so I am less impressed. They're playing worse than CMU, UNI, and UWM. It's not as though IPFW is that good either, although they are the best (#217) of all the cupcakes so far. We'll have more on the matchups in our IPFW preview tomorrow.

Rosiak also mentions that if you're hoping Joe Fulce and Chris Otule will be back by the Tennessee game, don't count on it. Buzz doesn't expect either player back until the Presbyterian game (12/28), and even then he expects them to be bad.

Speaking of the Tennessee game, Marquette travels down to the "neutral site of Nashville" next Tuesday as part of the SEC-Big East Invitational. There will be four games as part of this year's event, with two games on Tuesday in Nashville and two games next Thursday in Cincinnati. All games will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. It goes without saying that this is going to be a huge test for Marquette, but I'm sure that the coaching staff won't let the team look past IPFW.

Finally, pay attention to the Season Ticket Holder of the Game for tomorrow's IPFW matchup. Cracked Sidewalks' own Kevin Buckley will be on the court to receive the honor. Congrats, Kevin... I guess buying tickets for your friends/family by the gross added up.

1 comment:

Kevin Buckley said...

I am working on my STH-OTG speech right now. Watch .. my two year old will freak out on center court.

I wonder what my official powers will be? I imagine I can bump anyone out of any seat I wish. "Season Ticket Holder of the Game, move it, that's my seat now."

I'm definitely requesting Where the Streets Have No Name for the opening song, too.

Oh and .. Frozena Starts.