James enjoys the Buzz, media updates

Jeff Goodman of FoxSports catches up with Dominic James -- who has nothing but good things to say about Buzz Williams, Trevor Mbakwe and Chris Otule (along with a shot at Tommy Irsay).

Goodman also reports that 2008 combo guard Varez Ward will visit Texas this weekend -- no word on any interest regarding MU.

Mike DeCourcy writes up an incongruous review of the Buzz Williams hire....strangely TSN says MU made a decision 'in a panic', but ultimately rates the hire as a solid 'B'.

In honor of Buzz......Buzz 'I Hate New Media' Bissinger that is, Deadspin is worried about Dwyane Wade these days. Dating Star Jones? Are you kidding me.

Um, hi....we're back

Life (er, work) has a funny way of interrupting your hobbies, hence the dearth of material here for the last several days. Capitalism has a funny way of demanding increasing amounts of your time. Anyway, we're back. For those of you who follow the threads on MUScoop and other sites, some of this might be redux -- but let's get caught up with Marquette hoops.

Marquette has offered 2009 stud Jeronne Maymon of Madison Memorial High School. Mark Miller of WSN Boys Basketball has the details here. Maymon, a 6'6" combo forward, currently sports offers from MU, USC and Iowa State with many more to follow. Maymon is off to a fast start this spring on the AAU circuit, turning in a series of eye-catching performances.

Darrius Morrow signed with ECU. Recruiting successfully requires patience and vision more than a hunger to settle for the 'best (only?) player available'. I'm glad to see that Buzz Williams appears to have exhibited that with Morrow.

6'10" Kyle Rowley reclassified to 2008 and signed with Northwestern. Good luck, Kyle.

According to the Big East Basketball Report, MU is after 2009 PG Justin Jordan of Fort Wayne.

Marquette University's athletic programs delivered academically once again. According to MU, each of th university's 14 athletic teams exceeded the NCAA's required Academic Progress Rate (APR). Congratulations, MU. If you want to see what happens when a university does not take care of the academic side of life, check out the SHU situation. For a history on MU's position with the APR over time, read our post on the subject from last year.

Steve Yanda of the Marquette Tribune ran a provocative article about the university's proclivity to favor the internal hire over a competitive, national search. Here's my key take-away from the article:

In February, Cottingham was named Marquette's athletic director after a 14-month interim stint during which he conducted the search for a permanent replacement. Though Cottingham stated throughout the search process that he was not interested in the full-time position, he eventually concluded he was the best person for the job.

Of the 60 candidates who applied for the full-time position, none were interviewed. As a private institution.

Talk about it in this thread at MUScoop if you're interested.

Kentucky Media Update and Numbers Recap

UPDATED
Great posts already from Hilltopper and MUWarrior92, and if you haven't checked it out, we highly encourage you to look at "On Golden Pond" and "Time to Exhale". There are a ton of outstanding video clips and stories.

• This Chicago Tribune article recaps the game.
• ESPN.com has the AP recap, and they also have Instant Analysis. There's also an article by Gene Wojciechowski that focuses on the Cats, but has some complementary info about Marquette's Defense.
• Rosiak's feature article talks about balance and relief, where the jsonline blog has a ton of entries (lots of good stuff).
• Here is a transcript of the postgame press conference, if you just can't get enough.
• CBSSports.com has a good article about Marquette's experience under pressure.
• From the Kentucky side, Matt Jones' KentuckySportsRadio.com has lots of coverage from their perspective.
• Yahoo Sports says we're no longer first round flops. Amen
  

In addition, Cracked Sidewalks wanted to commend the Kentucky fans for being good sports, even in defeat. The back and forth interaction, including cross-posting, and discussion on both sides was of a quality level. Our respect for Kentucky basketball has been increased this week.

Numbers Recap
Don't know what all of these numbers mean? Take a look at our explanation for Team Stats and Individual Stats first.

Despite the Kentucky Preview focusing on their defensive abilities, this was an offensive game that Marquette managed to win. We came out ahead in three of the four factors, especially on Offensive Rebounding Percentage (OR%). This was a key area for Marquette in the non-conference portion of our schedule, especially against UW@Madison, and the team has been on a roll at Offensive Rebounding in the last four games. Stanford will provide a real test (more on that later).

Individual Player Review



No surprise that the top four performers in this game were the top four players on our team. It was yet another good game by McNeal. James was just behind McNeal, and thanks to shooting 8/10 from the free throw line, ended up positive net points.

We're going to have more information here at Cracked Sidewalks as we begin looking towards Stanford, so keep checking back regularly.

Media Updates for Wednesday

UPDATED
Here's what folks all around the country are saying about the upcoming Marquette-Kentucky matchup:

• IWB's SportsBubbler site has video of the TC press conference from yesterday.
  
• The latest installment of the BIG EAST CAST is up and ready for your ears.
  
• In case you didn't stay up late, here is Todd Rosiak's chat transcript from last night.
• Rosiak looks into how and when the Wildcats hit their stride this season after a rough start.
• Rosiak's weekly Golden Eagles capsule.
  
• The Chicago Tribune, Marquette's hometown paper in March, says Dominic James is ready to flip the switch ..... to 'ON' we hope.
• The ChiTrib again talks about the matchup on Thursday --one that Crean thinks he's seen before - "They are very similar to Pittsburgh," Crean said. "They have outstanding guard play [and] forwards who can make plays."
• The Louisville Courier-Journal notes that Thursday's game is all about the guards. Gillispie noted MU's overall speed as a concern,
  

  "I think it's a very, very scary matchup for anyone that plays them because they have a really good team, and they're really, really fast at every single position, I believe," Gillispie said. "The most important thing is, they're extremely well-coached, and they play extremely hard every single time they play."

• The AP takes a UK perspective on the Wildcats' "scary" matchup on Thursday.
• The smarter reporter at the Appleton Post-Crescent takes MU as the Dairyland State's most likely to advance in their clever 'point-counterpoint. feature.
• Kentucky.com educates their readers on all things Marquette.
  
• John Clay looks at how the Cats have dealt with the different styles of play from opponents this season.
• BTW, here's a fun thread at the UK Rivals site -- 'what was your first memory of Marquette basketball"
• Basketball Prospectus breaks down the South and West Regions. Marquette is given an 80% chance of winning their first game and a 1% chance of winning the National Championship. Fun breakdown of all the teams to read, and some nice coverage of MU. "So you're telling me there's a chance..."
• The Sports Gal (espn.com) predicts Marquette to lose to Memphis in the Elite Eight. This comes after our defeat of Kentucky and Cornell. Wait! what? Not much respect for Stanford from the Sports Gal...
  

Don't forget to read our entry on 'Know Your Opponent', a special Q/A from a UK fan right here.

Much more to come today and tomorrow as gametime approaches.

Tuesday Media Updates

There's loads of interest in the MU/UK matchup -- just what you'd expect.

• First off, MU is a popular choice to get bounced in Round One this week. Paul Zeise at the Pittsburgh News-Gazette is one of the Cassandras, even though he insists MU will lose because it relies too much on the three-point shot. This is the kind of over-simplification you'd expect from somebody who doesn't cover the team, and wrongly assumes that since MU relies on guards it must rely on the trey. Zeise might be curious to know that MU shoots the three-ball just about as well as its next opponent - 35% to 36%.
  
• Not to be outdone, the Cincinnati Enquirer picks a Kentucky upset in the opener. Jonathan Smith of the Kentucky Kernel doesn't pick a UK win but he notes that the 'Cats have a 'favorable' matchup. Digger and Dickie V -- who also picked UK -- must be thrilled.
• Rosiak jumps back in the saddle with a feature on Jerel McNeal's return to the NCAA tourney this year.
  
• Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune offers a recipe for an MU win: a) don't snooze (honest), b) defend, defend, defend and c) be board bullies.
• Chris Jenkins of the AP is back with another feature, this one on Lazar Hayward, who, according to Dominic James, is the key to a run in March.
• Kentucky Sports Radio is getting amped up -- 60 hours until tournament time, the best time of the year for hoops junkies.
  

TYSHAWN TAYLOR UPDATE
This is OT from the NCAA tournament -- but congratulations to Tyshawn Taylor and the St. Anthony's Friars who finished the season 32-0 with a 62-39 win over Science Park. With the win, the Star-Ledger claims this group is the the second-best group Hurley has ever coached. Considering Bob Hurley has won more than two dozen state titles, that's quite a statement. Wow. Zagoria covers the champs here.

Congrats, Tyshawn!!

NCAA 2008 media updates

Here's hoping the Cracked Sidewalks readership has a subdued, manageable work week -- after all, there's an NCAA tournament to prepare for.

Here are this morning's key media updates -- pls note that MU beat reporter Todd Rosiak will host a chat at 8pm CST on Tuesday live from Anaheim.

• Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30pm CDT on Thursday afternoon.
• Rosiak has tidbits from Selection Sunday, including details on Buzz Williams' past experience as an assistant with UK head coach Billy Gillispie.
• The Sporting News has a preview capsule for this opening round matchup. TSN figures this game is all about the guards, "The fun part will be watching four seasoned, upperclass guards go at it. Bradley and McNeal are two of the best in the nation. In what promises to be a defensive taffy pull out top, it'll almost surely come down to whether James or Crawford or someone unusual goes on a binge."
• The AP looks at UK earning a bid in Gillispie's first season at the helm in Lexington - on the heels of 11 wins in their last 13 games.
• In a dueling AP entry, Chris Jenkins looks at MU's reaction to the bid -- including relief at being healthy in March.
• Kentucky.com notes that UK fans 'drool' for a shot at revenge with MU. Drool, that sounds about right. HAHAHAHAHAHA
• The News-Enterprise looks at the matchup, where UK is looking forward to a 'fresh start' in the post season.
• Columnist John Clay calls KU's return to the NCAA tourney 'Hollywood Material'...as if the previous 16 consecutive appearances -- which included a handful of national titles -weren't noteworthy.
• Clay also has a blog to check out.
  
• Rosiak on MU v UK ..... with roles reversed from the 2003 scenario -- and now it is time for the program to take the next step. Amen to that.
• The Chicago Tribune's capsules of the South Region
• The Chicago Tribune's preview of the South Region. Marquette is both struggling and a potential Cinderella.
• ESPN (video link) breaks down the South Region.
• Here's an official bracket from the NCAA
• Over at MUScoop, poster MUDish has a great breakdown of UK and MU
  

In case you are interested, here's the complete line-up of games in Anaheim on Thursday, all times PDT:

No. 6 Marquette vs. No. 11 Kentucky - 11:30 a.m
No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 14 Cornell - 25 minutes following
No. 8 Brigham Young vs. No. 9 Texas A&M - 4:25 p.m.
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 16 Mississippi Valley State - 25 minutes following

Much more to come all week long..........

Media Updates

UPDATED
Just a few quick links before things kick off tomorrow night.

Basketball Prospectus previews the conference tourneys for the Big East, as well as Conference USA, Mountain West, Atlantic 10, and the Pac-10. Marquette is given a 90% chance of beating Seton Hall and a 56% chance of making it to the semi's. Our odds of winning the whole tournament? 15%! Pomeroy also says:

I believe Marquette would be the first team to go 4-0 in two different conference tourneys if they were to pull this off. Back in '97, they won the CUSA Tourney by winning four games in four days.

Dwyane Wade's season is over. If you didn't catch it this morning, Steve Novak was also on the front of espn.com.

The JSOnline Weekly Marquette Report (still not calling it Golden Eagles) covers who is Hot and who is Not

Rosiak's preview calls Seton Hall a good matchup, and discusses how our current draw in the Big EAST tournament is favorable. Concerned about winning three times in one season against an opponent? According to Spiral97 at MUScoop.com, in 2007 a team that won the first two games ended up winning 71.4% of the time.

The Journal-Sentinel also published their All-State Starting Five CB Team, and Dominic James was left off of the list. Michael Flowers was named Player of the Year, so good for him. Frankly, I really can't quibble with Dominic James being left off the list. He finished third in cumulative net points for Marquette at 81.2 pts, just behind Lazar Hayward (82.8 pts) and Jerel McNeal (98.0 points). However, I do have to wonder how much of this is due to the fact that James has had two highly criticized games in the last week. Is this just an example of recency bias?

Former Marquette recruiting target Frank Ben-Eze has decommitted from Harvard, according to the NY Times. Although, Marquette is already one player over the signing limit, there is a good chance we'll see him more in the future. Connecticut, Boston College, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, DePaul and Rutgers have already inquired about Ben-Eze's availability.

The Bracket Project, an aggregation of NCAA seeding prognostications, has MU listed as a 6 seed right now.

Finally, The Big East Basketball Report posted its annual post-season bloggers' all conference selections. Click here to check it out.

Here's a look at the 2007-2008 Cracked Sidewalks All-Big East ballot:

Big East POY
Luke Harangody: toughest player in the Big East

FIRST TEAM
Roy Hibbert .... best player on the best team in the league
Donte Greene .... high energy, productive player
AJ Price ... finally arrives as the player many expected to see years ago
Kyle McAlarney ...... exceptional bounce back season
Terrence Williams ..... best all-around player in the league

SECOND TEAM
Jerel McNeal .... one of the league's best disruptors
Dominic James ... played through injury and turned in a productive season
Kentrell Gransberry .... a beast on the blocks
Deonta Vaughn ... key to the surprising Bearcats
Jeff Adrien .... an absolute load for the Huskies

THIRD TEAM
Sam Young ..... versatile forward led the Panthers
David Padgett .... Ville's most vital player?
Jerry Smith ..... solid all-around performer
Jonathan Wallace .... under-appreciated talent
Scottie Reynolds .... somewhat of a sophomore slump but still among the best

Big East Freshman of the Year
Dante Greene

All-Freshman FIRST TEAM
Jonny Flynn
Dominique Jones
DaJuan Blair
Mac Koshwal
Dar Tucker

All-Freshman SECOND TEAM
Austin Freeman
Justin Burrell
Mike Coburn
Antonio Pena
Corey Fisher

Coach of the Year
John Thompson

Defensive Player of the Year
Hasheem Thabeet

Most Improved Player
Sam Young

Recent MU Media Updates

Hello and Happy New Year folks......Here are few quick media updates that popped over the New Year's Weekend that might be of interest:

• Marquette-bound Nick Williams wowed fans in Milwaukee late last week as his LeFlore Rattlers stormed The Al and sacked Milwaukee Pius IX by a score of 79-51. The following night, LeFlore lost its first game of the season, an overtime defeat at the hands of Milwaukee Vincent 66-64.
• Brendon Desrochers of SNY is back with the latest installment of his Big East Cast. This time the Big East Cast welcomes Todd Rosiak to discuss MU and well as a host of updates from around the league.
• Don't forget to read John Pudner's latest installment of Marquette's top 100 players -- he's down to #26 -50 right now.
• Gary Parrish of Sportsline slots MU in as a #3 seed in his NCAA tournament projections.
  

MU Media Updates

While we're in the middle of a slow week of media coverage for MU, there are a few links below that you should check out:

• Brendon Desrochers of SNY gives a team-by-team assessment of the Big East in his latest post. Brendon slots MU in as the #2 team in the league and calls out interior defense as the Golden Eagles' biggest weakness.
• Brendon's Big East Podcast continues to be must-listen content -- find it here.
• Todd Rosiak provides his Weekly Golden Eagles Report -- loaded with good information. Todd updates Dan Fitzgerald's progress - "He's shooting the ball in practice in a very limited way," Crean said after the Sacramento State game. "He's not practicing right now. He's getting shots, making sure he's got the form down. But it'll be soon."
• In the latest ESPN Bracketology, Joe Lunardi has MU as a 3 seed.

BTW, kudos (major kudos) to the MU administration for prioritizing basketball, committing to invest in a big-time program over the long-term, and energizing the fan base. Look, we could be DePaul -- and just a decade ago the programs were largely comparable. Now the Blue Demons program is in danger of falling off the map. After a lackluster 2006-2007, Paul Gleason's team has not been competitive early this season and fans are now talking openly about their desire to eschew the Big East for the greener pastures of those darling mid-majors.

Bravo, MU.

Marquette media notes

Just a few notes to aggregate this morning that you might find of interest:

• It's great to see three former Golden Eagles doing so well up at UWGB. The Bullseye Brothers have an update on the recruiting prowess of Tod Kowalczyk, Jon Harris and Brian Wardle.
• Also from Bullseye, MU is mentioned as one of the early leaders for 6'4" guard Diamond Taylor from the Chicago area. MU is also listed by a couple of other recruits in this most recent report.
• 6'10" MU recruit Chris Otule led his team to the finals of Houston's Outback tournament over the weekend where FB Bush fell to Dulles 65-50. Otule scored 12 points in the loss, and was named to the all-tournament team. RCS Sports lists FB Bush as the #21 team in the greater Houston area. Fellow MU commit Erik Williams' squad - - Cy Springs - - is currently ranked #6 in the area with an 11-2 record.
• Check it out ....here is a YouTube look at Erik Williams sticking a 'three'.

BTW, Milwaukee basketball fans take note - - the 3rd annual Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout is coming to the Al McGuire Center on December 27-28. You want talent? This field has talent. MU commit Nick Williams will lead the Mobile LeFlore Rattlers, the reigning Alabama state champion and one of the nation's best teams, into Milwaukee. Other players of note include 2009 stud Jamil Wilson of Racine Horlick, 2010 stud Flavian Davis, and many more talented preps.

Media Updates for November 28

A quick rip around the Web .........

• Big East Cast takes a look at their first conference power rankings in the latest podcast.
• The 1212 Building is now, finally, DOA. The home to the MU basketball offices and much of the athletic department for decades will become a new administration building.
• Jersey City St. Anthony's opens the season ranked 5th in the first USA Today Super 25 high school rankings. Tyshawn Taylor's squad is loaded in the backcourt.
  
• MU recruit Nick Williams was named co-player of the week by the Press-Register after a huge start to his senior season. According to the paper "Williams had 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 90-71 win over Davidson, 21 points in an 84-47 victory over Vigor, and 36 points in a 70-53 win over St. Jude." Nice.
• Randy Hill of Fox Sports reports early season impressions -- including a few thoughts on MU which predictably revolve around Dominic James' shooting.

Marquette News and Notes

November 1.

Halloween is over, baseball has crowned its champion (your 2007 Boston Red Sox!) and now basketball ramps up. Here are a few signs of the season:

• The Tom Crean Show begins on Monday, November 5 on ESPN Radio Milwaukee. Details are available here on GoMarquette.com. The show will be streamed on gomarquette.com and ESPN Milwaukee. BTW, here's all you need to know about Tom Crean.
  
• Houston-area big man Chris Otule will visit MU this weekend. Otule is a 6'10" PF/C from Fort Bend Bush High School. Otule also plays for the Houston Lynx club team in the area. As this blog stated a few weeks ago, commitments from Tyshawn Taylor and Chris Otule would be a terrific recovery for MU on the recruiting front. One down, one to go.
• Just for kicks I checked out DraftExpress for their Big East preview. Do any of you think Damian Saunders will help Marquette this season? Comical.

Updates from around the Web

While we wait for Marquette Madness (highlighted by official visits from Iman Shumpert, Nick Williams, Jared Swopshire and perhaps others), here are a few links from around the Web:

• CNNSI says MU has the third-best backcourt in the nation. Click here to see the rankings. What do you think about MU's slot in the list? Talk about it here on MUScoop.
• Coach Rab is back with the 14th installment of In Rab's Words.
• The Fayetteville Observer notes that Roy Williams continues to recruit over Iman Shumpert down on Tobacco Road. No surprise there.
• Rivals.com catches up with Dominic James. "James received an invitation to the NBA's Orlando Pre-Draft Camp, but the reviews of his play there were Britney-at-the-VMAs bad." Ouch.
• It looks like MU is no longer interested in Josh Crittle. Here is a blurb from the Bullseye Brothers. Frank Ben-Eze and Dominique Rutledge, come on down.
• Adam Zagoria has updates on MU targets Tyshawn Taylor, Dominiqe Rutledge and Mookie Jones. The net of it: don't hold your breath, these kids have a few other visits to complete before deciding
  

YouTube Update: Marquette wants a packed house on Saturday. Here's a commercial that was on Channel 4 during prime time, no less: