Fulce and Cadougan sit down with MUTV Sports and more

Well the season's over but MUTV Sports is still cranking out great content. In this first clip Todd Warner interviews Joe Fulce.




Brad Galli is next up with an interview with Junior Cadougan who talks about teaming with Vander Blue next season.




What folks saying about MU

• In case you missed it earlier in the week Rosiak took a very early look at which MU players are most likely to emerge as leaders and go-to guys for next year's squad. Rosiak also talks to Buzz Williams about the heightened levels of competition for playing time he expects with next year's roster.
• If you can't get enough Buzz Williams look for him on the tele. Williams was hired as a guest studio analyst for the NCAA tournament on CBS College Sports Network.
• With the off-season coaching domino season just beginning, Buzz Williams says he'll remain true to MU. Of course, this is college basketball's most cliche storyline but one that must be written, I guess.
• So MU is full-up on scholarships for the 2010-2011 season right? Well, maybe. IWB reports that Marquette is one of the schools who has offered and is actively recruiting 6'4" combo guard Patrick Swilling from New Orleans.
• Congratulations to MU commit DJ Newbill as his Strawberry Mansion squad advanced to the state championship game last night. Newbill had 12 points in the 49-47 win over Imhotep. Mansion will play South Fayette for the Pennsylvania state title on Saturday in State College.

Also, click on this link to watch Buzz Williams' season recap press conference from the official MU site.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

UPDATED

(or... a flimsy excuse to link to the "Where the Wild Things Are" Trailer)

After a tortuously long off-season, in which the only news that popped up lately seemed to be bad news, College Basketball is back! Now, with the proverbial "young but talented team", the Marquette community can enjoy the adventure that the 2009-2010 season will be. That's right... tonight is Midnight Madness!

Here's your flimsy link between "Where the Wild Things Are" and this year's basketball season. The classic story, with minimal words, is essentially a tale of how children master feelings. Well, I don't know about you, but I have all kinds of feelings about his season, including hope, fear, excitement, and disappointment. This year could go all kinds of different directions. In addition, as the trailer linked above suggests, inside each one of us is the same hope, fear, and adventure. Flimsy link #1 is that each of us represents Max on our adventure through the season. Midnight Madness is the beginning of our Wild Rumpus. (Plus, I kind of like thinking of this year's team as the Wild Things from the classic tale, but don't have enough hubris to believe that nickname is either valid or going to stick.)

However, after initially posting, MUScoop.com reader dsfire was disappointed that we didn't explain whose nickname was The Wild Rumpus or why he should start... and then suggested it be Frozena. So there you go... flimsy link #2 Rob Frozena is "The Wild Rumpus". Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Regardless of which Wild Rumpus you want to start tonight, Check out GoMarquette.com for additional details on the Madness. As has been previously stated, the festivities kick off at 6 pm with a Women's Volleyball game, and then continues into Marquette Madness. Doors open as early as 5 pm if you want, and Madness starts no later than 7:30. If you are local, show up and you'll receive a free long sleeved t-shirt and a poster. In this year's twist on the dunk contest, all the judges will be from the Milwaukee Bucks. This includes none other than Assistant coach Jim Boylan, a former Marquette player and member of the 1977 National Championship squad (duh), as well as Charlie Bell, Joe Alexander and Brandon Jennings. Give Alexander a healthy boo. To get yourself ready, check out a sneak preview of the Marquette Madness video.

If you can't make it there, MUTV is streaming the event online. Online fans will need to click on just one link to gain access to the complete event. Here is the link for the web stream. To build some hype for the event, MUTV has introduced a new TV reporter (it's actually a minute-long clip from Joe Fulce and some other guys). In this clip, Fulce calls Frozena "Peter Parker", which is actually pretty funny. Evidently Fulce has not heard that Frozena's real nickname is "The Wild Rumpus".

Andy Katz gives what is one of the better previews on Marquette. It is cautiously optimistic about the season. You've got to read it. Rosiak also mentions it too in his blog post, but his focus is on the Blue Ribbon grades for Marquette (Backcourt: B-minus, Bench/Depth: B-minus, Frontcourt: B, Intangibles: C). If you are an ESPN Insider Subscriber, you can read the full information here.

Good news for ...

Good news, for those of you who love loooong seasons.

It just got longer.

Todd Rosiak is reporting that Junior Cadougan ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon and will likely be out for the entire season.

With Darius Johnson-Odom also spraining a ligament in his left foot, he'll miss the next month as well.

That leaves Dwight Buycks, David Cubillan, and Maurice Acker, as the three true scholarship guards who aren't wounded.

And, don't forget Joe Fulce’s continued recovery from knee surgery, which leaves the Warriors with 9 healthy players.

MU adds aircraft carrier to 2009 recruiting class

In a stunning development this week Marquette announced the signing of Youssoupha Mbao, a 7'2", 215-pound center from Dakar, Senegal. Per Rosiak's thorough article from today's paper the big fella was also being recruited by Kentucky, USC and Virginia Tech but opted to sign with Marquette on his official visit this week.

Mbao played ball at Stoneridge Prep last year in Simi Valley, California last year averaging 13 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks per game and will have four years of eligibility at MU. Rosiak spoke with Tony Benford, who led MU's pursuit of Mbao, for more details on the newest member of the program.

Mbao rounds out what can only be called a spectacular collection of basketball players in Buzz Williams' first full recruiting class, a group that Hoop Scoop previously ranked as the nation's best. Mbao, who is ranked #125 in the 2009 recruiting class, joins an accomplished group that already included 6'9" Brett Roseboro, 6'6" Jeronne Maymon, 6'8" Erik Williams, 6'3" Dwight Buycks, and 6"2" Darius Johnson-Odom.

As they say, 'you can't teach height' and heading into future seasons the Warriors will have plenty of bigs for the rotation. With Mbao signed, Buzz Williams has three players in the stable at 6'10" or taller with sophomores-to-be Chris Otule (6'10") and Liam McMorrow (7'1") joining the newest Warrior in the Aircraft Carrier Section of the roster. Incredibly, despite losing two of its bigger players to graduation or transfer after the season, the Golden Eagles could enter next year with ten players standing 6'6" or taller.

Or will they......

With Mbao signing his national letter of intent the 2009-2010 roster is over-subscribed by one scholarship player. With 10 potential players on the frontline, attrition with the bigs is most definitely in order -- something I never thought I'd say about the Marquette program. Clearly the coaching staff is prepared for another player departure, and one possibility is a medical waiver. With Joseph Fulce's inability to contribute after his early-season knee injury and the silence surrounding Liam McMorrow's status, the notion is not far-fetched. Essentially, an injured player would forgo future eligibility due to a medical condition but remain on scholarship at the university. In turn, the program would recoup the use of an athletic scholarship for use with another eligible player, in this case Mbao. With finals coming up in a couple of weeks, we'll find out soon enough.

Nevertheless, in just one calendar year Buzz Williams completely transformed the makeup of the team. The coach quickly re-charted the direction of the program away from a dependency on undersized, redundant backcourt talent in favor of taller, longer players that naturally fit into the five positions on the floor while also re-distributing players within class years (MUScoop's handy Scholarship Table sorts out the large yet balanced incoming 2009 class)

Additional Updates

• Speaking of height and roster makeovers, don't forget that heading into 2010-2011, MU will welcome 6'10" Monterale Clark to the team. Clark, a native Milwaukeean currently playing JUCO ball in Texas, signed his LOI with MU earlier this year. Rosiak filed this report on the local product here.
• Finally, the annual Basketball Banquet was held last night on campus - here's the recap from the MU folks.

Homer Interviews Joe Fulce

Coach Buzz did his first TV show with Dennis Krause on Time Warner Sports (32)

Below is a clip with Homer interviewing Joe Fulce -- be sure to enjoy this clip because you won't see Joe Fulce on the court until the end of December. That's right, in case you missed it, Rosiak reported earlier today that Fulce's knee injury will take longer than expected to heal and the 6'6" sophomore is out until perhaps the last non-conference game on December 28. Joining Fulce on the injured list is redshirt center Liam McMorrow, who will undergo surgery on Wednesday to repair a stress fracture in his right foot which will keep him out of action until March. Not good.



Anyway, the Buzz Show is on TWC32, every Tuesday at 5pm and 10:30pm, and repeats a few times through the week.