A good night sleep helps to put things in perspective and tone down some raw emotions. It was needed as last night was certainly a disappointment but does not overshadow a terrific season. Going into the contest I was nervous about Florida's shooting and whether we had enough firepower beyond the big two. After settling into the first 10 minutes of the contest, I was no longer worried. We were the better team and my confidence was high. Florida was young, athletic, but not the scary team I envisioned. No way were we going to lose this game unless we got into foul trouble or had an awful night shooting the ball. Unless. Unless.
That's the source of the disappointment. As poorly as we shot in addition to the foul trouble of Junior and Jae, we were still in this game...30% shooting and we're still in this game amazingly enough. Florida was doing everything they could to avoid stepping 
on our throats and letting us hang around. We would not oblige. Air-balled layups, head scratching turnovers, and a general malaise could not get us to Elite 8. I dare say we actually looked a little flat at times. The effort was always there, but the energy was absent at times. Disappointing conclusion considering the opponent and the opportunity. Last year we "peed down our leg" to borrow a Crowder quote. UNC was so much better than us that it was expected. We were happy to be there. This year, a 3 seed and an opponent that we could handle. This was not North Carolina or Kansas. Yet something was off last night...other than our shooting. Wish I could put my finger on it. Effort strong, preparation strong, but at times they seemed in a funk. Just my opinion.
For the season, what can you say. I thought Buzz deserved Big East Coach of the 
Year at the midpoint of the season and felt he deserved it at the end of the year. Stan Heath did a remarkable job with the Bulls, but Buzz had to deal with two important injuries, off the court issues, finished in 2nd place for a team picked in the middle of the pack, and a much tougher schedule. The play of Crowder and DJO was a joy to watch, especially Crowder. The team was nails tough and brought a strong work ethic that matches their coach. They looked like they had fun doing it as well. A successful season anyway you cut it.
Next year....we'll get into next year down the road. Certainly some question marks as well as plenty of bright spots awaiting. For now, a terrific season ends in disappointment but a terrific season nonetheless. A salute to Buzz Williams, Jae Crowder and Darius Johnson Odom in particular.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Disappointing end to a successful season
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
DJO: Dominating the Big East
When Buzz Williams welcomed Darius Johnson-Odom to the Marquette campus two years ago, few expected the Raleigh product to emerge as a dominant player. At the time, Johnson-Odom was a late addition to a promising class that carried with it the burden of bridging the program out of the Three Amigos Era. In short order he became much more than that.
Surprising sophomore campaign
Once on campus, expectations quickly shifted as DJO emerged as one of the most exciting players around, demonstrating the unwavering confidence of a seasoned scorer. Although Lazar Hayward was the Warriors' go-to guy, Johnson-Odom distinguished himself as the perhaps team's most imposing offensive force. DJO brought a hybrid skillset of lethal accuracy from long-range coupled with a lightning-quick first step that allowed him to create his own shot in any circumstance. To paraphrase (re-quote?) Buzz, "DJO was the only guy on the team able to go 'get a bucket'."
Ultimately DJO averaged 13 points per game and connected on 47% of his three-point attempts as as sophomore, setting the stage for what MU fans hoped would be a big junior season.
Early season struggles
Expectations were sky-high entering this season, but early on it seemed as if the hype was too much as Johnson-Odom struggled to find his rhythm.
While DJO averaged 14.2 points per outing in the non-conference schedule, his wild inconsistency from the field was striking. The crafty lefty connected on just 42% of his field goal attempts and 33% from deep in through the season's first 11 games, numbers that contributed to Marquette's uneven play. His effort against Wisconsin, where he was just 1-9 from the floor, stood out among a handful of poor performances. In our December Big East Blogger Roundtable, we said DJO was shipwrecked.
Even though he closed the out-of-conference action with a pair of strong performances against MVSU and Vanderbilt, heading into Big East play DJO was a question mark.
DJO delivers 40% increase in scoring during conference play
Were the strong performances against MVSU and Vanderbilt enough to re-establish Johnson-Odom's confidence and consistency?
Apparently so, because in Big East action DJO has been devastating, raising his play to an All-American level. There is no player in the Big East, or likely the country, who has raised his game so dramatically and so consistently during conference action.
At the mid-point of the Big East slate DJO is averaging 19.9 points per game, fourth in the league and a 40% spike over his non-conference scoring average. He has scored in double-figures in every outing, and has logged 20 or more points five times while scoring less than 15 points just once.
If raising his scoring average by nearly six points per game was not impressive enough, realize he is connecting on a 48% from the field overall and 44% from three-point territory during this stretch -- dramatic improvements from his early-season efforts.
His performance against Syracuse last weekend was a microcosm of just how overwhelming DJO's offensive repertoire can be. Despite taking just seven shots (4 -7, 57%) he finished with 17 points. His sublime pump fake set up not only dribble penetration -- DJO was perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe -- but freed him up for open looks from deep (2 - 4, 50%).
His combination of deadly three-point shooting and relentlessness in attacking the rim is the straw that stirs the proverbial drink for Marquette's extraordinary offense. Johnson-Odom is still one of the few players in the Big East who can create his own shot from anywhere on the floor, a supreme advantage for Buzz Williams. Opposing coaches have to game plan for DJO, and his prowess ensures that teammates Jimmy Butler, Dwight Buycks and Jae Crowder have more freedom of movement on offense. The formula works -- Marquette enjoys a most efficient offense, 1.17 points per possession (ppp). As you would expect, MU leads the Big East in scoring offense overall and in conference play.
With 10 regular season games remaining, there's no sign that MU's offense -- or its most skilled offensive player -- will slow down.
Comparison -- Out-of-conference performance vs. Big East performance
Darius Johnson-Odom
| Out of Conf. | Big East | |
| PPG: | 14.2 | 19.9 |
| FG% | 42% | 48% |
| 3pt% | 33% | 44% |
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Marquette win makes road teams 5-14 in BE play
Marquette finally showed some zone busting, going 7 of 11 on treys in the first half including contributions from the big men (Jae Crowder hit his first three treys, and Joe Fulce his only attempt). Road teams were only 4-14 in Big East play before Marquette’s win, and even when the road team was the higher rated team they were only 3-6. Here are the road results by biggest win to biggest loss so far this season:
1. St. John's beat West Virginia 81-71
2. Marquette beat Rutgers 73-65
3. Pitt beat Providence 83-79
4. St. John's beat Providence 67-65
5. West Virginia beat DePaul 67-65
6. Georgetown lost to St. John's 61-58
7. UConn lost to Notre Dame 73-70
8. West Virginia lost to Marquette 79-74
9. South Florida lost to Connecticut 66-61
10. Providence lost to Syracuse 81-74
11. South Florida lost to Seton Hall 64-55
12. DePaul lost to Georgetown 86-75
13. Notre Dame lost to Syracuse 70-58
14. Georgetown lost to Notre Dame 69-55
15. UConn lost to Pittsburgh 78-63
16. Rutgers lost to Villanova 81-65
17. Depaul lost to Cincinnati 76-60
18. Seton Hall lost to Cincinnati 70-53
19. Seton Hall lost to Louisville 73-65
Marquette overcame an uncharacteristic 12 first half turnovers by once again drawing fouls including getting four on Rutgers’ tough big man Gilvydas Biruta by early in the second half.
MU did again leave too many 3-pointers open, especially by James Beatty (24 points) who kept Rutgers close.
However, the fast pace favored MU throughout, as Darius Johnson-Odom (29 points) and Crowder (15 points and 6 rebounds) dominated play for a second straight Big East game. Jimmy Butler was again clutch when he needed to step up (16 points, the one player hitting clutch free throws at the end while the rest of the team missed). Junior Cadougan dished out 8 assists to top his 7 assists against Duke for an all-time high.
Vander Blue was finally matched up against Beatty late in the game to stop him down the stretch. Blue also made a great “senior” like play when he made a bad pass for a turnover, but ran to the other end of the court to go to the floor and steal it and call timeout to stop a potential comeback by Rutgers.
Last year Marquette started the season 0-5 on the road but tonight's win gives them a 2-1 record, with the only loss being by one point in a very tough venue at Vanderbilt.
Because RPI credits 1.4 wins for a road win and only 0.6 for a road loss, so in RPI calculations MU is 2.8-.6 on the road, and would only drop to 2.8 – 1.2 even assuming they lost at Pitt Saturday.
This win will most MU into a projected finish in the 50s in the final RPI, as even with the missed free throws late they easily out performed the 4-point spread as well as ever computer model, all of which picked a win by a few points or an 8-point loss (Realtime RPI).
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Happy New Year, MU Undefeated in Big East -- Down goes Huggins
Marquette started the Big East season off well with a gritty 79-74 win over WVU in the 10am New Year's Day Hangover Bowl, sponsored by Bob Huggins' Miracle Tonic.
The least-showered Bradley Center crowd in history was on their feet as early as I can remember, shaking off NYE residue at the 17:27 mark when Jae Crowder got his first bucket giving the Warriors a 9-0 lead. The crowd enjoyed an early 11 point lead, only to have WVU claw back into the lead in the 2nd half. MU executed well down the stretch, coming from behind, scoring the final 6 points to win by 5.
Bloody-Mary drinking fans watched as Jae Crowder went a crazy 12 for 14, 29 points, 8 rebs, 5 assists and 4 steals.
DJO also put up great numbers with 21 points .. and not to be missed was Jimmy Butler, who was silent offensively for the first 25 minutes, but ended up with 10 and 7, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals.
MU's rotation was a tight 8 players, with Blue, Junior, and Fulce chipping in 9 points off the bench.
The Warriors had no answer for WVU's Darryl Bryant who had a career best 25, and were often frustrated by Huggins' 2-3 zone, of which Buzz admitted he didn't expect.
Marquette travels to Rutgers on January 5th.
Box Score
Photo Gallery
Rosiak
Happy New Year!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
DJO explosion saves 38-game win streak
Jimmy Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom netted 6 consecutive free throws in the final 30 seconds to survive 75-72 against UWM.
But make no mistake about it – if DJO had not simply played like the NBA player he is projected to be for the first time this year, UWM would have ended MUs 37-game win streak and there would have been no chance for the last second heroics.
Until Saturday night, DJO simply had not looked like the player projected to be the 38th player selected in the NBA draft after his senior season next year. (21 spots after Vander Blue, though we hope he is in the 2014 draft)
Warning to the Big East – he’s back! Just in time for bragging rights in Milwaukee.
Despite sitting several minutes dazed after an accidental hit to the nose, DJO hit 7 of 8 shots en route to 22 first half points, finishing with a career high 29 points on the night.
His hot hand from outside and ability to draw defenders and then kick out helped MU go 8 of 11 from beyond the arc in the first half to open a big lead.
However, MU continued to have trouble boxing out, including allowing consecutive offensive rebounds with 16 seconds left to cut the lead back to two points.
The only problem MU had experienced early in the season was leaving opponents open for 3-pointers. However, Gonzaga dominated for 15 offensive rebounds in the second half of the last game and UWM was able to pick up right where they left off.
MU has two creampuffs coming up, and will have to use those games to work on boxing out and guarding against the trey before Wisconsin comes to town December 11.
By the way, Rush the Court hosted a live blog on the game.
Media Links
- Despite the win, MU was disappointing tonight. Here's a recap of the flow of the game from muwarrior92.
- Anonymous Eagle delivers a thorough recap.
- Rosiak on DJO breaking out.
- Show me a moral victory and I'll show you a loss.
- Another JS recap.
- Rosiak's blog recap.
- UWM Panther blog recaps the MU victory.
- MU beats rival. Ok.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
4 studs and plenty of other contributors as Duke game nears
After stomping UW-Green Bay 89-69 last night at the Bradley Center, four days from now MU will have a chance to beat a No. 1 ranked team for the second time in history (think Wade dunking on Kentucky over and over for the first). Let’s get the one negative out of the way – MU has got to use the South Dakota game Saturday to figure out how to contest three pointers after getting burnt for 8 of 17 from behind the arc – even worse than the 40%+ allowed the first two games.
The defense has been great at pressuring, but if we leave Duke players open for three (48% as a team so far), it will be a very long Monday night. With that out of the way, Dick Vitale was right when he said while Butler was being beaten by Louisville (the team picked to tie for 8th with Marquette in the Big East), that MU was going to be a lot better than people thought.
4 studs plus many surprises and centers
The fact is that through three games, MU has four studs returning stars Jimmy Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom, MUs first 5-star Vander Blue and JUCO player of the year Jae Crowder. But we’ve had 4 studs before (3 Amigos and Lazar etc). The big deal this year is that MU has shown the depth is ahead of where we thought, and we have guys who can play inside.
According to the ratings (www.kenpom.com) Marquette’s competition has gotten a little tougher each game during a 3-0 start that included an 89-69 win over Green Bay last night.
One thing that has been consistent is Davante Gardner, who has played between 11 and 13 minutes in each game for a total of 36 minutes. Try these stats out for Davante in basically one full game of action at the collegiate level:
39 points on 74% shooting from the floor and 73% from the line, 15 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 2 assists
When it was reported that Marquette had recruited the 6-foot-9, 285 pound 3 star out of Virginia last year, it was assumed it would take a couple of years to get him in Division I shape. However, he went on to be named 1st team All-State in Virginia and he certainly is the biggest surprise, albeit through just three games against lesser opponents.
At very least, it doesn’t look like Big East foes will be pushing around another tiny Marquette team this year.
The surprises like Gardner are key because coming into the year there were four players who could dominate on any given night – returning stars Jimmy Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom, MUs first 5-star Vander Blue and JUCO player of the year Jae Crowder. The question was how many of the very talented new players could contribute right away to give MU the kind of depth needed to turn up the pressure.
Pressure defense
Three days after forcing 18 turnovers against one of the best teams at protecting the ball (Bucknell), MU forced six more turnovers in the first 10 minutes against Green Bay. That run was capped by a steal and layup by Vander Blue to make it 27-13. By the time DJO fed Blue on a break it was 51-28 with 2:09 to go in the half.
Brian Wardle’s team played tough throughout and did actually keep the margin within 20 for most of the second half, but the game was never in doubt.
Jae Crowder continues to impersonate Lazar Hayward, doing everything tonight with 17 points, 9 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a spike blocked shot – one of 7 rejections for MU after an incredible 11 on Sunday.
With Vander Blue continuing to be the smoothest player on the court with 14 points, it is clear Marquette does have the four anticipated studs, and with Chris Otule rejecting 4 more shots in just 11 minutes MU does at least have options with two big men.
That leaves the big preseason question of whether or not any of MUs three point guards were really ready to run the point. The key assist/turnover ratio looked good last night with Dwight Buycks (6/1 and 10 of the first 22 MU points) and Junior Cadougan (4-1) taking care of the ball. After this game and his stellar performance to key the comeback against Bucknell, it looks like Cadougan is the sure handed point to run the offense, and Reggie Smith is the lightning fast pressure to pick the opposing point guard on defense.
But Buzz’s preference still may be to have senior Milwaukee native Buycks at the point. After battling through injuries last year and infuriating me by constantly shooting from just inside the 3-point line, Buycks is also showing the long range ability he was supposed to have coming out of JUCO. Buycks 3-point shooting has really been incredible, as he has made 7 of 10 three-pointers, most from a couple of feet past the arc, and all three of his misses have been shots he had to take because the shot clock was expiring.
A lot of good things happening with just four days to go before the ultimate test in Duke.
Oh, DJO can fly. Here's the top play from last night, regardless of sport.
Brad Galli of MUTV Sports recaps the grounding of the Phoenix
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
More Tributes to Maurice Lucas
Plus other news from around the Internets...
Peter Vecsey has a wonderful, six-page feature about Maurice Lucas. It is well worth the time to read.
Rosiak called a number of former teammates and some coaches, including Bo Ellis, Dave Delsman, Rick Majerus, and Tom Crean.
If you're interested, Lucas' foundation is taking donations.
More season previews are starting to roll in. Luke Winn from SI looks at the BE and gives some props to Butler AND Johnson-Odom:
Jimmy F. Butler also makes SI's list of the Top 10 BE players.
Jeff Goodman drops some whispers from the nation's scrimmages. Good production from Davante Gardner and Buycks? Sign me up.
In other news, BE presidents and athletic directors are meeting today. Expansion is definitely a possibility. We'll be watching all of this carefully, and listening for any spooky music.
Going around to former players, Maurice Acker was drafted into the NBA D-League with the 5th pick in the 8th and final round. Acker will probably end up matching against his longtime pal, Jerel McNeal, who is also in the D-League. Good luck, Maurice and Jerel.
Watch some videos
Episode 11 of Marquette Revealed looks at DJO.
Speaking of MU legends, Rosiak had a great feature on Hank Raymonds. Let's appreciate Coach Raymonds while we still can. Watch the video from a few weeks ago. We missed this one, but it's great.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Hayward could give MU 13th biggest NBA presence
Only 1% of Division I college basketball players make the jump to the NBA each year, so the fact that Lazar Hayward could become the 8th former Marquette player drawing an NBA paycheck next year puts MU in elite company.
Lazar has shot up to a projected 38th pick in Thursday's draft (www.nbadraft.net), and all 16 times a Marquette player has gone in the first two rounds, he has played in the NBA. In fact, Wesley Matthews was the 14th MU player NOT drafted in the first two rounds to still make the NBA, meaning Lazar could be MUs 31st NBA player, and he could join seven former MU players who were drawing an NBA paycheck last season.
As for the future, DJO emerged as a potential future NBA player when he was selected as one of the Top 15 college guards by Chris Paul’s camp, and 5-stars like Vander Blue have a pretty good record of making the NBA (Note to Vander, we are talking about the 2014 draft for you AFTER your 4-year career at Marquette):
Colleges with the most NBA players, coaches and projected 2010 draft picks
1 UNC 23
2 Duke 18
3 UCLA 17
4 Kentucky 16
5 UConn 13
6 Kansas 13
7 Arizona 12
8 Texas 11
9 Ohio State 11
10 Florida 10
11 Georgia Tech 10
12 Notre Dame 9
13 Marquette 8
14 Alabama 8
15 Oklahoma 8
16 LSU 7
17 Memphis 7
18 Wake Forest 7
19 Syracuse 7
20 Southern California 7
Ed Davis’ projected 10th pick gives the Tar Heels 23 former players, while Jon Scheyer's rather shaky projection as the 52nd of 60 picks (14 spots behind Lazar), gives Duke 18 former players to break a tie with UCLA for 2nd.
Kentucky’s five projected picks starting with John Wall shoots them up to 4th place, while Kansas and Texas move up the list as the only other two teams with more than two projected picks this year.
Obviously, these counts won’t necessarily be the same as the actual rosters at the beginning of the next season. We could have our hearts broken like last year’s draft with Lazar not being called, Doc Rivers (or coaches Jim Boylan or Maurice Lucas for that matter) could hang it up, and Steve Novak or Travis Diener could always be cut, though Wes Matthews and Dwyane Wade look like pretty sure things to be back.
However, this is true of any of the teams listed. There are very few sure bets to be back as a player or coach. And we can still hope for McNeal or James to follow Tom Copa's steps by going oversees for a couple of years before coming back to play in the NBA.
The important thing is that when players like Vander Blue get down to their short list, they are only going to consider programs that have shown they can produce NBA players. With Buzz appearing to be able to develop players like Wes Matthews, Jimmy Butler and DJO, there are really only seven schools that can argue that they clearly offer a better chance for a player to make the NBA (Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA) .
Marquette is really on par with the other 13 schools on this list, and ahead of the other 327 Division I schools.
MU offers recruits the opportunity to play in front of the 10th largest crowds in the country, play for one of only 11 programs to make it to the NCAA tournament all of the last five years, and go to the only program in the country where they have this strong a chance to make the NBA AND don’t have to compete with football players for attention on campus. I mean really, why would any 4- or 5-star want to go anywhere else?
