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 POYLuke Harangody:
toughest player in the Big East
FIRST TEAM Roy Hibbert ....
best player on the best team in the leagueDonte Greene ....
high energy, productive playerAJ Price ...
finally arrives as the player many expected to see years agoKyle McAlarney ......
exceptional bounce back seasonTerrence Williams .....
best all-around player in the leagueSECOND TEAMJerel McNeal ....
one of the league's best disruptorsDominic James ...
played through injury and turned in a productive seasonKentrell Gransberry ....
a beast on the blocksDeonta Vaughn ...
key to the surprising BearcatsJeff Adrien ....
an absolute load for the HuskiesTHIRD TEAMSam Young .....
versatile forward led the PanthersDavid Padgett ....
Ville's most vital player?Jerry Smith .....
solid all-around performerJonathan Wallace ....
under-appreciated talentScottie Reynolds ....
somewhat of a sophomore slump but still among the best
Big East Freshman of the YearDante Greene
All-Freshman FIRST TEAMJonny Flynn
Dominique Jones
DaJuan Blair
Mac Koshwal
Dar Tucker
All-Freshman SECOND TEAMAustin Freeman
Justin Burrell
Mike Coburn
Antonio Pena
Corey Fisher
Coach of the YearJohn Thompson
Defensive Player of the YearHasheem Thabeet
Most Improved PlayerSam Young