Jack Harbaugh Fires 'em Up : Bootleg Video

This is shot during the pep rally before the UK game yesterday. Thanks, SoCalwarrior!

The video is a bit shaky .. skip forward a bit. You can tell Jack has given halftime speeches before!



UPDATED: Here's another great video by SoCalwarrior:

Time to exhale: Marquette advances in the NCAA Tournament

Marquette fought off Kentucky in the final minutes to notch their first NCAA tournament victory in the post-Wade era, winning by a final score of 74-66. With the victory Marquette advances to play the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday in Anaheim.

Jerel McNeal hit for 20 points (8-15 shooting), and Lazar Hayward netted 16 points (7 -11 shooting). Dominic James added 15 points and three assists (and zero turnovers in 29 minutes). Marquette shot 44% for the game.

Marquette led by as many as 11 in the second half, but Wildcat Joe Crawford had the game of his life, hitting 35 points, keeping UK in the game longer than expected.

With just about five minutes remaining, the Wildcats cut the lead to just three at 56-53 when Dominic James delivered in the game's key sequence. Following an offensive rebound by Dan Fitzgerald, James drilled an open three-pointer with 4:23 remaining to boost the MU lead to 59-53. After a UK miss, James took advantage of Ramel Bradley's tentative defensive play with four fouls to drive past the UK guard for the layup, stretching the Marquette lead to 61-53 with 3:14 to play.

Wesley Matthews sealed the win by sinking eight consecutive free throws in the last 30 seconds of the game. Matthews finished with 13 points. Overall, MU was an impressive 23-29 from the charity stripe on the afternoon.

Note to teams playing at the Honda Center, the games are being played under "West Coast Rules" whereby intentional fouls don't exist. Twice in the last minute, UK purposely fouled Dwight Burke, the worst FT shooter on the court, far far away from the ball. Twice, the refs applied West Coast Rules and neglected to call an intentional. Oh, well.

Tipoff for the MU-Stanford game is TBD -- either 5pm or 8pm.

This day has been a long time coming, and I've been dreading it all season. Lose, and we're one and done once again. Win, and we've got the monkey off our backs. I hardly slept last night, but I woke up believing this was our day.

I admit, it was very odd seeing Marquette's name on a bracket line to the right. LET'S GO WARRIORS!

AP Wrap / Official Box

Marquette Press Conference:

McNeal Destroys Notre Dame

UPDATED

Jerel McNeal went off for 28 points to defeat #14 Notre Dame in the 2nd round of the BET, in what is the biggest post-season victory for Marquette in the Post-Wade era. Marquette beat the hated Domers 89-79.

Marquette, down 10 early in the 2nd half, came roaring back to take and keep a 10 point lead. MU scored a whopping 57 points in the 2nd half. MU shot a blistering 52% for the night.

McNeal was beyond superlative, hitting 9 for 16, including 4 for 7 from long range. Lazar chipped in 16 and James 10. DJ had 10 points and you take a line score of 10/6/6 any day of the week.

Mo Acker started slow, missing his first couple shots, but he heated up, collecting 11 points with several daggers in the final 5 minutes.

Barro did a very decent job guarding ND's Harangody, who ended up with 13.

Marquette will face Pittsburgh, as the Panthers upset Louisville, who most picked to win the BET. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel. 8:30 CST, ESPN.

Marquette white-washed Pittsburgh last month, beating them at the Bradley Center by 18 points. Pitt may have some tired legs, using 8 players in their OT win. MU used 11 players tonight, in regulation.

Fire up, Marquette!

• Wrap/Official Box Score
• Video Highlights
• Chicago Tribune's coverage of the game (mostly from an ND perspective)
• Separate story on McNeal by the Chicago Tribune
• Rosiak's Recap
• Rosiak's blog focuses more on the favorable matchups from the 6th seed. Lots of good stuff in Rosiak's blog (as usual)
• ESPN's video highlights of the game

Now that's more like it: MU Thumps #22 Pitt

UPDATED:

Starting from the last 3 minutes of the Notre Dame game, through Seton Hall, and into an electric Bradley Center on Saturday Night versus #22 Pittsburgh, Marquette has played 83 minutes of inspired basketball with a 72-54 beat down of Pitt. Marquette now moves to 8-5 in BE play, in 5th place.

Jerel McNeal led the team with 17 quiet points, followed by a superlative effort by The Oooze, who racked up another double double, 14 points, 12 boards.

But they weren't the only stars last night, in that, MU got solid contributions from just about everyone. While James only had 4 points, he had a whopping 12 assists. Matthews accounted for another 10 points. And the Cube is back, with 13 points, hitting 3-5 from behind the arc.

The only minor disappointment last night was Trevor Mbakwe, who played his first minutes as a Warrior. With the expectation that Trevor farts thunder and craps lightening, his grand un-redshirting was uneventful at best, missing one shot, and getting zero boards in 8 minutes. If the game was tighter, I don't believe Crean would have played him for more than 1-2 minutes.

A note should be made about the crowd .. it was fantastic. Raucous. Students filled their section to the brim. That crowd went to 11. Some of it was for Pittsburgh, some for the Converse commercial, some for the Final 4 ceremony, and some for the Mbakwe unveiling. It will be interesting to see the Converse commercial, once complete. I thought the Bradley Center could have done a better job informing the non-students (who make up 75% of the crowd) what was going on, and to join in with the We Are--Marquette chant. I'll have video up later today.

Huge win. Next up, @SJU and home vs. Rutgers. Can you smell a 4 game winning streak?

One more item: Could Pitt fans be bigger a-holes? Quote: "Please let James have a broken wrist" and .. "I hope James has to have his hand amputated." Wow. Classy fan base.

• Game photos
  
• Recap / Box Score / Play by Play
• Rosiak's Recap
  

I need to put up a picture of a guy who sits a row behind me. Clearly, he reads Cracked Sidewalks.

I give you, the Cracked Sidewalks Fan of the Game:

Dozens Watch as MU Crushes Pirates

Marquette jumped out to a 30-10 lead in front of an empty Prudential Center, and cruised to an easy 89-64 win.

Lazar Hayward notched another double-double with 23 points, 11 rebounds. Matthews and McNeal chipped in 14 each.

Marquette crushed the Pirates on the boards, with a whopping 43 to 22 advantage.

The Pirates didn't put up much of a fight, except to fight. The coach got Tee'd up early, Nutter, their Sr. captain gave a blatant elbow to James' jaw and was ejected, and Mike Davis decided to say some choice words to Ooze, evoking a double technical. (You can get a technical for Sengalese cuss words?)

Marquette heads back home to play Pittsburgh on Friday at the Bradley Center.

Video clips from TallTitan:


AP Wrap / Box / Play by Play
Rosiak: Nutter Ejection

Marquette Breaks Seal - Beats UC on Road by 15

Marquette wins quality game at Cincinnati, 75-60.

After another slow start that had Marquette down 9 after 16 minutes of play, a new player hit the court. While #41 Ousmane Barro has been on Marquette's roster all year, this Ousamane Barro was someone entirely different.

This Oooze was hitting shot after shot, going 9 for 10.

This Ooze was grabbing rebound after rebound, ending the game with 10.

This Ooze has been on the back of a milk carton, missing in action for a score of games.

An evil twin, perhaps? Maybe it was Ousmane "Barrow", as ESPN flashed on the screen several times.

Lazar Hayward also had a superlative game again, hitting 19 points for the second game in a row. In total, 4 MU players hit double figures, with Ooze, Lazar, Matthews and McNeal reaching. McNeal also dished off a whopping 7 assists.

Scott Christoperson sparked MU's run, as he entered the game and 5 seconds later, promptly hit this 3: (props to TallTitan)



This is the first road win in the Big East for #16 Marquette (16-4, 6-3), who, let's face it, needed this win badly, losing the past 3 away from the Bradley Center. The win gives MU a solid grip on 3rd place in the Big East, with a 6-3 record. Half the BE season is now complete. Marquette will head into Monday's showdown with Louisville with some good mo-jo.

AP Recap / Play by Play / Box Score
Ooze Montage - Scoring Barrage
JS Online Recap
Rosiak - Wrapping up Cincy
Cincy Newspaper Story
Cincy Columnist on Game

Marquette Wins Ugly

Lazar Hayward scored a career-high 23 points to go with 8 rebounds and Wesley Matthews added 16 as the Marquette Golden Eagles topped the South Florida Bulls 62-54. Marquette (15-4, 5-3) appeared flat all night, and was tied with just five minutes remaining before Matthews connected on three 3-pointers late to rally the Golden Eagles to victory.

Once again MU was outrebounded. Once again MU started slowly. Once again MU shot poorly. Once again MU's offense relied far too much on isolation plays which put little pressure on the defense. The results? It took MU nearly 12 minutes to reach double figures in the first half. Asked at halftime about the slow start, Crean responded "we're not good enough starting games. We'll get that addressed another day." That day cannot come soon enough since halftime adjustments didn't take hold..........it took MU 15 minutes to score 10 points in the 2nd half.

Another serious problem tonight was Marquette's free throw shooting, which clocked in at a miserable 58% (18-31).

Dominic James was benched for much of the game, and Coach Crean was obtuse during the post-game interview on why DJ was out. James ended up with a career-low 3 points in 11 minutes, shooting 1 for 7, and 1 for 6 from the charity stripe. His running mate Jerel McNeal was also unimpressive. McNeal finished with 6 points on 2-9 shooting, forcing shots and turning the ball over three times.

On the blocks, Marquette was manhandled by USF's Kentrell Gransberry who finished with 15 and 15 before fouling out on a questionable call late in the game. MU had no answer for Gransberry, who just didn't have enough help to help the Bulls break through for a Big East road win.

On to Cincy.

MEDIA UPDATES

• AP Recap / Box Score / Play by Play
• Rosiak recaps the MU win
• Chris Jenkins of the AP on the game
• Tampa Tribune on the 'inspired' USF effort
  
• St Pete Times on the USF loss
  
• Rosiak's wrap-up blog on the MU win including TC's thoughts on DJ's benching:

"I'm focused on what it takes to win that game, and playing momentum. Sometimes it's just not people's nights, you know? And when you don't have depth there's not a lot you can do about it. When you do, you do something. I thought he did a nice job defensively. But I'm not really worried about all that. We needed to win the game. That's the focus."

Marquette Stomps ND 92-66

Marquette (13-2, 3-1) scored its first bucket immediately after the opening tip, and never looked back.

Jerel McNeal led MU with 18, but the Warriors had 5 guys in double digits, and the stud of the game was clearly Lazar Hayward.

Lazar poured in 17 on 6-11 shooting, 4 steals and a team high 11 rebounds, a quality double-double in 28 minutes. His performance was superlative, though the rest of the team had a couple dozen highlight reel moments themselves.

Marquette had no answer for ND's Luke Harangody, who easily poured in 29 points. With 15 minutes left, a guy in the row behind me said "That guy is going to hit 30 points." My answer: If we're lucky. -- Harangody is the real deal, and Burke, Ooze, and occasionally Trend Blackledge, "guarded" him to no avail, getting whistled 13 times.

Fortunately, when Marquette did have the ball, they found the net, hitting 46% for the night, and an huge 50% from 3-point land. MU also stole the ball 17 times, and had a great 23 to 13 Assist/TO ratio.

Trend had a quality outing, however, going 3-3, 6 points and two blocked shots in 14 minutes. On the post-game show, Crean gave credit to his wife Joani, who told him to play Trend more. Who knew Joani was the evil genius behind Tom?

Of note, Notre Dame had a couple thousand fans in attendance in the "sold out" Bradley Center. I'd bought tickets for a group of friends, who ended up next to a large Domer section. My good friend, Matt, said it was OK to be so close to them, because "you could see their tears better."

AP Recap / Box Score / Play by Play

JS Audio of Crean's Post Game

Game Shots from 204

ESPN Video Highlights

MU Beats IPFW 80-56

Marquette continued on its "taking care of business" parade, beating the Mastodons by a bunch of point on a sleepy Monday at the Bradley Center to go 8-1 on the season.

Dominic James was superlative, scoring 17 in 29 minutes, with 6 assists, including a pretty 4 point play. Hayward, Matthews, and Coobie all hit double digits in the 24 point drubbing. Added into the mix was 39 deflections and a whopping 50 rebounds.

Trend Blackledge had some very nice minutes, with 4 rebounds and a block and two steals in 10 minutes.

A definite concern is Marquette's FT shooting. MU went 12-23 tonight, as well as 21-38 two days ago. This cannot continue when Big East games start, 3 weeks from now.

AP Recap, Box Score, Play by Play
ESPN / AP Photo Gallery
Todd Rosiak's JSOnine Recap

Here's 40 seconds of the game that should be on Sports Center tonight:

Sunday Reading Material

Good Morning, Marquette Fans.

Pancakes tasting a little fluffier? Bacon a little crisper? Donuts a little gooier? Maybe your Count Chocula is a bit sweeter? Yeah, same for me.

Here's some reading material for your Sunday Breakfast.

• Appleton Post-Cresent: Upon Further Review
• Wisconsin State Journal: Matthews Pleased
• WSJ: MU Snaps UW's Streak
• Badger Nation: King James Rules
• JS: A Sizable Advantage
• JS: Michael Hunt - A Surprise Party in Madison
  
• JS: Notes & Quotes
• PRN: Biggest Win Since Kentucky
• Recap, Official Box Score, Post-Game quotes
  

Christmas Comes Early: Warriors Beat Badgers

In what may go down as one of the top 5 regular season wins in the Tom Crean era, Marquette soundly beat UW@Madison 81-76.

Dominic James was outstanding and poured in 20 points in 34 minutes, adding 6 assists and 2 steals. McNeal added14 points and had an amazing 5 steals.

Definitely worth noting is the play of our inside guys, Dwight Burke and Ooze, who went 7-10, 13 rebounds, and 21 points between them. You can't ask for much more.

Marquette shot a respectable 47% .. but more importantly, out-rebounded the taller Badgers 37-29.

Marquette led most of the game, and controlled the always rowdy Kohl Center crowd, withstanding every run UW put together. The can be proud of the composure they maintained at the end of the game, rebounding tough, both offensive and defensive.

When thinking about the biggest wins of Coach Crean's tenure, clearly beating Kentucky in 2003 remains at the top of the heap .. Beating #2 UConn in MU's first Big East game .. a few UL games stand out, beating Pitt twice last year .. but tonight's beat down of our most hated rival, on the road, is right up there.

This kind of win gives you the shivers, in that, most of us had it down as an "L" at the beginning of the season. Winning it, snapping a 28 game streak for UW, handing Bo Ryan only his 6th (s-i-x-t-h) loss at home in front of a crowd frothing at the mouth .. makes you excited for how far this team can go this year. Our shooting% is up, our FT% is up, our bigs are producing.

This is going to be a fun year, people.

• Box Score / AP Recap
• AP Photo Gallery
• Go Marquette Recap
  

MSG Report: MU over SJU

It was great to see MU back in MSG last night -- and even better to watch the Golden Eagles claim their first conference tournament win since 2002. The seats in section 44 rocked (even if I should not have been sitting there) A few thoughts on the game:

• This was a road game, no doubt about it. The MSG crowd badly wanted to erupt and rock the house for the Johnnies, and on a couple of occassions they nearly did. When SJU went on a 10-0 run midway through the second half to cut the MU lead to 49-47 the crowd was fairly electric, albeit modest in terms of raw numbers.
  
• MU fans represented nicely. MSG is a tough arena for teams that lack a large local alumni base....the Big East spreads fans out in small groups around the arena, so its difficult to establish a raucous atmosphere for MU and others with similar distance issues. Syracuse, UConn and SJU don't have to deal with that. MU certainly traveled better this year than last. A nice job by the alumni office and the Blue & Gold Fund teams.
  

The biggest sequences in the game were three IMHO

• Strong finish to the first half: When SJU cut MU's lead to just two late in the first half, 30-28, the house was rockin. MU finished the half on a 5-0 run, capped by a brilliant drive/dish from James to Hayward. MU led by seven at the break -- and scored the first basket of the second half.
• Fitz is tits: When SJU whittled a 12-point lead down to just two points with twelve minutes to play, Dan Fitzgerald sacked up and nailed a clutch three. The game nearly turned right there -- against MU. Huge shot.
• Matthews on the glass: With 43 seconds to play and MU up 66-62, David Cubillan missed two free throws. Wesley Matthews' rebound on the missed freebie was clutch...he was promptly fouled and made both free throws.

More thoughts on the game

• I wish MU had a player like Anthony Mason, Jr. He's long and athletic on the wing -- the kind of player MU just does not have in the program. He gave Matthews fits all night. I give TC a ton of credit for moving David Cubillan onto Mason midway through the second half (after Mason cut the MU lead to just two). Cuby helped take Mason out of rhythm despite the height disadvantage. Great move by Crean.
  
• Mike Kinsella. What a fantastic way for a senior to close his career -- he was a spark for MU, no question about it. Hopefully Mike gets the chance to channel Novak for a few more weeks.
  
• The refs. Sitting with Chicos Bail Bonds, we both admitted that MU got just about every call from the zebras last night. Several gifts. Who cares, MU deserved them.
• Eugene Lawrence is an incredible on-the-ball defender. MU ran several clear-outs for DJ, but he was unable to get by Lawrence off the dribble. 'Gino' is an under-rated player.
• Maurice Acker: No, he was not at the game last night but they could have used him. MU only has two players on the roster who can consistently dribble penetrate. With Jerel out, defenses can more easily keep James out of the lane which limits MU's offense substantially.
• Key defensive stops: MU outscoured SJU 11-7 during the last three minutes of the game. There was a key stretch from the 2:58 mark to the 0:54 mark in the game -- MU held St John's scoreless during those critical two+ minutes...a stretch where MU only managed one point. IMHO that's a good sign for this team -- even when the offense is sluggish, they brought their 'A' game on the defensive end and it paid off.
• MU's glossy shoes look good.
  
• DePaul -- I mean they can't suck enough. If DPU traveled a dozen fans I'd be surprised....it was downright embarrassing for them. The university only sent five members of the dance team and an abriged collection of cheerleaders. Clearly they expected to be one and done.
  
• Lazar Hayward's 'J' looks much better now than it did earlier in the season. Inside, he's always around the ball. Nice player.
• Dwight Burke is a huge 'effort player'. He was all over the place last night.
• Fitz Fitz Fitz Fitz Fitz. Is it just me or does he hit clutch threes with regularlity? His fan club rocks btw.
  
• It was great to see Chicos, Smitty, Smitty and hordes of other MU alums last night.

more to come......

Marquette beats SJU 76-67

UPDATED

Dan Fitzgerald hit a career 20 points, and Mike Kinsella hit two 3-point bombs to lead Marquette over St. John's 76-67. With the win, Marquette improves to 24-8 on the season. Fitzgerald was moneyesq.

Kinsella picked up 5 rebounds and 3 assists in only 14 minutes. Gotta love how Mike has played his last two games in the Blue and Gold. I admit it, I've always had a bit of a man crush on Mike Kinsella, wishing he'd get more PT and take care of business. Now that he leads the team in 3-pointer% (80%), I imagine others will jump on the Kinsella bandwagon.

Dominic James had a horrific shooting night, going 2-14, and one of those was a layup in the first 2 seconds of the game. He dished out 8 assists and distributed the ball well.

Marquette faces Pitt for the 3rd time this year, Thursday night at 8pm.

With two of the Cracked Sidewalks team at the MSG tonight, you can expect some first hand reports of tonight's game and the MU events in New York.

Official MU Box Score
AP Recap
GoMarquette Recap - Notes
Paladium-Item Recap
NewsDay (NJ) Recap
Rosiak Recap - Rosiak Blog on Game
Chicago Sports Recap

Hello, Lazar Hayward!

UPDATED
The Louisville hangover lasted 13 minutes. At 7:14 during the Marquette/Nova matchup, a loud siren went off in the Bradley Center, warning the Warriors their season was going to end nasty, brutish, and short.

After playing sluggish, MU was down 9 and must have had the entire season flashing before their eyes. It could have gotten very ugly in the Bradley Center.



Then Lazar Hayward decided to take control.

His 3 pointer with 6:21 to go in the first half brought the Bradley Center faithful to their feet, and with inspired play, MU kept everyone standing and screaming. With a enormous defensive intensity and some hot shooting by Lazar, MU went on a 14-5 tear to tie the game at half. The season was on the line, and they answered.

Lazar finished with 18 points in 28 minutes, a good sign of things to come for the freshman. The game was a foul fest, with the whistle blowing a whopping 54 times. If you drive by the Bradley Center right now, you can still hear the echos.

After poor FT shooting led to a loss on Saturday, tonight was a different story. MU attempted 35 and made 31 for an 89% triumph at the line. -- Where that FT shooting form was on Saturday, I know not. -- Matthews himself went 12-12, and is shooting them at a 91% clip over the past 9 games. Most importantly, MU made all 11 of its attempts in the final 90 seconds. WHEW!

I can tell you first hand. This was way better than losing. Way better.

Go Marquette Recap

Official Box Score

Todd Rosiak recaps the MU victory.

VillanovaViewpoint provides an excellent recap.

Andrew Sharos at MarquetteHoops recaps the slump buster.

Philly.com on the Wildcats coughing up a 9 point first half lead.

Another recap from Philly.com -- this on the Wildcats offensive woes. BTW, sounds like Jay Wright was impressed with MU's offense last night.

"We don't have a rhythm," Wright said. "We're not comfortable to know where everybody is, where the next guy is on the next pass. [The Golden Eagles], they drive, extra pass, extra pass, extra pass, shot. We're still drive, extra pass, shot. It's just playing together and having a feeling for each other."

GAME PHOTOS HERE
I'm not sure if it was the whole "winning" thing, or if I had the right touch tonight, but I think these photos are the best I've taken all year. Enjoy.

ON TO NOTRE DAME!

MU beats the Friars as #3 is Retired

We'll never know if Marquette would have beaten Providence last month if Jerel McNeal had played in that game. This Saturday, with McNeal healthy, Marquette never trailed the Friars and posted a 69-62 victory. This was Marquette's 20th victory of the season, the quickest MU has ever reached a score of victories.

McNeal poured in 18 on 8-13 shooting and collected 12 rebounds for his double-double. James was a non-factor in this game, shooting a cold 2-11 for 6 points. While Wes Matthews was not stellar from the floor, going 1-6, he drew 5 fouls and went 10-10 at the charity stripe and with that performance, is only a handful behind James in FT attempts this year. Over the last 4 games, Wes has been MU's FT shooting machine making 38-of-41.

The Marquette bench was superb today, led by Dan Fitzgerald who sank a Moneylike 4-6 from behind the arc. Fitz, Cube, Burke and Lott combined for 61 minutes and collected 22 points and 12 rebounds, which you gotta figure are close to a season high for bench production.

Of course, the main attraction for the sold-out Bradley Center crowd was Dwyane Wade, as Marquette retired his #3 Jersey at half time. After a 3 minute highlight video, Wade's jersey was revealed. Marquette has changed the "retirement" banner from a blue/gold rather boring piece of felt to 9 gorgeous full color banners with action photos of each retiree. A very large upgrade.

You can see pictures of the banners and other game photos on my thread at MUScoop.com.

Box Score

GoMarquette.com Recap Game Notes

I took video during the Wade half-time ceremony. I apologize for the poor video quality, as without a tripod, holding steady for 15 minutes is murder.

The first video is the video montage of Wade's highlights at Marquette and Miami. The second is the half-time speech from Wade and Crean.



Here's part two. UPDATE: YouTube is being difficult tonight. If the video doesn't play, check back later.