Morning Grinds: News & Notes for Marquette Hoops

UPDATED

The Warriors are in Pittsburgh preparing for the second leg of the current two-game road trip. After topping Rutgers on the road MU remains one of seven undefeated teams in Big East play with St. John's setting the pace at 3-0. Before we get to the Saturday matchup here's a look at your morning grinds on MU:

• Shannon Ryan at the Chicago Tribune penned a profile of emerging star Jae Crowder this morning.
• Ray Mernagh of the Big East Basketball Report also profiled Crowder this week. And thanks to Ray for helping to keep MU's proper nickname alive and well.
  
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette compares the MU and Pitt programs and finds different paths to consistency. You must read this article.
• The Anonymous Eagle takes an early look at the matchup with the Panthers -- and even dips their toes in tempo-free stats.
• Adam Zagoria recaps yesterday's Big East coaches' conference call -- good info from Buzz and his peers.
• Jerry Carino offers up a Big East notebook. There's loads of good info here but somehow Carino ignored DJO on his "Who's Hot" list.
• Steve Novak was waived by the Dallas Mavericks.
• Wesley Matthews is profiled by The Columbian -- a great read.
  
• There's still no word on where former MU player Reggie Smith will land up. Smith left MU during the Christmas recess.
• Earlier this week Rob engaged with Luke Winn of CNNSI in a spirited debate on Twitter concerning the relative value of free-throw rate (FTR) and other tempo-free stats. The back and forth was enlightening -- and Luke brought it up in his updated NCAA Power Ranking article today. Thanks, Luke.