Anonymous Eagle

Your Post-Game Dejection Thread: Notre Dame 76, #15/15 Marquette 59

2012-02-04T20:13:14Z

Notre Dame has shot 32.6% from behind the arc this season, ranking them 241st in the country.

The Irish shot 11-23 behind the arc this afternoon to roll to an easy victory over your Marquette Golden Eagles. That's 47.8% for the game. Pat Connaughton was the worst offender, making 5 of his 8 three ball attempts.

Darius Johnson-Odom and Vander Blue tied for a team high for Marquette with 12 points.

We'll have a report live from Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center coming up once Warrior Brad and Mr. Kensington manage to escape from Indiana, but until then, your thoughts on the game are welcome in the comments section below.

2.4.12 Saturday College Hoops Open Thread

2012-02-04T15:45:01Z

Saturday means college basketball all over your cable guide, and we're here to provide space for you to discuss the events of the day!

Things get started with College GameDay coming to us live from Columbia, Missouri with a feature game between #4/4 Missouri hosting #8/8 Kansas. From there we get a day with 12 ranked teams playing games on the road. We might be in for a heck of a newsworthy day.

Here's the games that are getting a national broadcast on various networks. All times are Central, as usual. If you find a barnburner on a local channel, be sure to let us all know about it!

South Florida at #14 Georgetown, 10am, ESPNU
#2 Syracuse at St. John's, 11am, ESPN
Detroit at Butler, 11am, ESPN2
Vanderbilt at #11 Florida, noon, CBS (check your local listings)
#15/15 Marquette at Notre Dame, noon, CBS (check your local listings)

Boston College at Georgia Tech, noon, ESPN2
#3 Ohio State at #20 Wisconsin, 1pm, ESPN
Temple at Rhode Island, 1pm, ESPN2
Penn State at Iowa, 2pm, ESPNU
#6 North Carolina at Maryland, 3pm, ESPN

#13 UNLV at Wyoming, 3pm, The MTN
Middle Tennessee at Denver, 3pm, ESPN2
New Mexico at Boise State, 3pm, NBC Sports Network
Old Dominion at George Mason, 4pm, ESPNU
Air Force at Colorado State, 4pm, CBS Sports Network

#1 Kentucky at South Carolina, 5pm, ESPN
Iowa State at Oklahoma, 5pm, ESPN2
#20 Indiana at Purdue, 6pm, Big Ten Network
Richmond at Duquesne, 6pm, ESPNU
Mississippi at Alabama, 7pm, ESPN2

#8 Kansas at #4 Missouri, 8pm, ESPN
UC-Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton, 8pm, ESPNU
Indiana State at Wichita State, 9pm, ESPN2

Women's Basketball Game 23: Marquette vs Pittsburgh

2012-02-03T21:00:35Z

Marquette heads back out onto the court at the Al McGuire Center tomorrow night to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers. Tip off will be at 7pm. For those of you unable to make it to the AMC, the game will be streamed on GoMarquette.com with Kyle Dlabay and Armen Saryan on the call.

It will also be the Golden Eagles' yearly Pink Out game in support of breast cancer awareness. The team will be outfitted in pink uniforms and the coaches, cheerleaders and band will also be wearing pink in some fashion. Spectators are of course encouraged to wear pink as well. For more on the event, you can visit the official page on GoMarquette.com.

Pittsburgh (8-14, 0-9 Big East) has lost 8 straight and has yet to win a true road game this season. This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, as the Panthers have a roster consisting of two redshirt sophomores, four true sophomores and six freshmen. Two Panthers average in double digits in scoring: freshman guard Brianna Kiesel at 13.0 per game and redshirt sophomore guard Ashlee Anderson at 10.5 per game. Kiesel also leads the team in assists with 3.3 per game. Given her statistical dominance within her team, it's not surprising that Kiesel is one of just two Panthers to start every one of Pitt's 22 games.

Know Your Foe: On the Notre Dame Burning Men

2012-02-03T14:30:11Z

A couple days back, on the heels of the epically awful Michigan State-Illinois rock fight that ended in a 42-41 Illini victory, Shane Ryan wrote a post at Grantland's The Triangle blog advocating the introduction of a 24-second shot clock in college basketball. The thesis of the post, in a nutshell: the number of possessions in the average college basketball has fallen steadily since the late 1990s, and during that same time frame, there's also been a significant (though probably not precipitous) drop in scoring. Ryan attempts to tie those two facts together, and argues that the increase in pace forced by a 24-second shot clock would go far to restoring the luster that Ryan feels is lacking from the college game.

It's a superficially intriguing argument, I suppose, but among the myriad problems with the thesis -- for example: (1) correlation (lower possessions and lower scoring since 1997) isn't necessarily causation (lower possessions = lower scoring); (2) decreasing the shot clock wouldn't have made the Michigan State-Illinois game any prettier, it just would've meant more missed shots; and (3) it wholly disregards the detrimental effect one-and-dones are having on the quality of the college game: scores are lower, in part, because a lot of the really good players pop in for a season and then bail for the NBA -- is the fact that Ryan uses Wisconsin as his example of the team that's destroying college basketball with a plodding pace.

I'm loathe to dismiss another man's distaste for Bo and the Badgers, of course, but it seems than Shane Ryan has a particularly sharp burr up his ass when it comes to Buckyball -- you might recall his earlier essay declaring the Badgers The Most Boring Team in America after UW nearly went all tortoise-and-the-hare in a game against UNC in Chapel Hill -- and that bias points his argument about tempo in college basketball in the wrong direction.

You want to see a team that's ruining college basketball with tempo? Don't bother with Madison, where the Badgers at least have the decency to run an offense while they're bleeding out the shot clock. Look towards South Bend, Indiana.

Let's talk about the nauseating "burn" offense, after the jump.

PICTURED: This is the burn offense. Or at least 90% of it.

A few years back, when ~~Shrek~~ Luke Harangody was lost for an extended period of time and Notre Dame was struggling to score points, Irish coach Mike Brey unveiled something he called the "burn" to compensate for Harangody's missing offense. Knowing his team couldn't keep pace with the Syracuses and UConns of the world, Brey chose to have his team play a modern-day version of the four corners offense: Notre Dame "burned" the first 20 (or so) seconds of the shot clock, then ran its traditional offensive set in the last 15 (or so) seconds. In essence, the burn is a whole lot of dribbling by the halfcourt stripe, followed by a few seconds of activity when the team actually attempts to score.

You think I'm exaggerating? I'm not exaggerating. (Much.)

In the burn offense, Notre Dame works the shot clock down to 10 seconds before looking to attack the hoop, on every possession, to the extent that on some possessions Notre Dame endures a shot clock violation, and thus a turnover, rather than give the ball back to its opponent quickly.

"We are still just as aggressive as we normally are, it just takes us longer to get to it," [Notre Dame guard Scott] Martin said. "We don't stop looking to score, we just wait for it, wait for it, let the clock burn down a little bit, then we have our aggressive mindset the rest of the shot clock."

Notre Dame employed the burn with great success at the end of the 2009-'10 season, stalling its way to four straight wins to end the Big East season (51 possessions in a win over Pitt; 58 in a victory over Georgetown; 61 in a win over UConn; and 63 in an overtime win at Marquette that still pisses me off) and two more wins in the Big East Tournament (including another 50-possession snorefest against Pitt in New York). But the burn's moment in the sun (or shadow, depending on your perspective) came last season, when the Domers stole a win at the Oakland Zoo with a forty-nine possession lullaby that ended as a 56-51 Irish win.

This year, after senior Tim Abromaitis wrecked his knee and robbed ND of its most consistent scoring threat, the burn was unleashed once again: Notre Dame is ranked 296th in KenPom's adjusted tempo metric (63.5 possessions per game), having played just two games that had more than 70 possessions (in a demolition at the hands of Mizzou and a two overtime victory over Louisville). In Big East play, the Irish have already played five games that finished with fewer than 60 possessions (vs. Pitt, vs. USF, vs. UConn, @ Rutgers, and @ UConn).* And, once again, the burn is proving to be as brutally efficient as it is brutally ugly: after dropping a 65-58 decision to Rutgers on January 16 to fall to 3-3 in the Big East, the Domers have run off three straight wins (including a 62-possession slobberknocker with then-No. 1 Syracuse) and now sit at 6-3 and in a tie for fourth place in the Bizarro Big East.

* By contrast: Marquette, which is 28th in KenPom's adjusted tempo (70.7 possessions per game), has played one game all year that ended with less than 60 possessions (home vs. Pitt), and just three others that finished with less than 65 possessions (64 in Norfolk the Sequel, 63 @ Bucky, and 64 vs. USF).

I'd write that the game tomorrow is going to be a clash in styles, but having seen enough games at the Joyce Pavillion at the Center of the Purvell Quadrant (or whatever the hell it's called now), I have a pretty good idea that this game isn't going to break 60 possessions. It's gonna be tedious, and it's gonna be ugly, and it's not going to win any awards for Artistic Achievement in a Basketball Game.

Grab your barf bags and strap in, kids. At least we only have to do this once.

2.2.12 Big East Review

2012-02-02T16:30:05Z

We had three Big East games last night and somehow, none of them qualify under the heading of Bizarro Big East.

#14/14 Georgetown 58, Connecticut 44. The Huskies shot 30% for the game while Hollis Thompson ZZZZZZZZZZZ. Marquette's only played 4 games this season that was as slow or slower than this game. Where was I? Oh, right. Thompson scored 18 points and pulled down 9 rebounds for the Hoyas. UConn falls to 4-5 in Big East play while Georgetown's 7-3 record has them alone in third place for the time being. I think it's safe to say that UConn's not going to recapture the magic of last season.
Providence 78, Rutgers 67. Vincent Council scored all 11 of his points and dished out 10 of his 14 assists in the first half to get the Friars out to a 40-26 halftime lead. While this is just Providence's second Big East win, it was in the Dunkin' Donuts Center, so we can't be surprised that they took down an erratic Scarlet Knights team.
St. John's 87, DePaul 81. The Blue Demons found a way to lose again, giving up an 11-0 run to throw away a double digit lead down to just 1 point at the half and then coughing up an 8 point lead to a 13-0 Red Storm run. D'Angelo Harrison's mean face scared DePaul into letting him score a game high 29 points, largely because of 7-11 three point shooting.

Cincinnati 64, Marquette 52

2012-02-02T15:22:42Z

Marquette's women's basketball team dropped their fourth consecutive game last night with a 64-52 loss to Cincinnati. Katherine Plouffe led the way for Marquette (12-10, 3-6 Big East) by posting her eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Dayeesha Hollins led the way for Cincinnati (11-11, 2-7 Big East) with 22 points.

Things started out slow, with the first basket not coming until the 17:03 mark of the first half when UC's Bjonee Reaves drained a three pointer. The teams would trade baskets and leads for the next 7 minutes until Jeanise Randolph put back a Chanel Chisholm miss to give Cincy an 11-10 lead and the Bearcats would never trail again.

Sarina Simmons hit an and-1 free throw with 14:37 left in the game to tie the score at 35. But Marquette shot just 31% in the second half while missing all eight threes they attempted and Cincinnati closed the game out by outscoring Marquette 29-17.

Let's hit some highlights and then meet back up after the jump for Four Factors, Awards and Whimsy:

Four Factors:

eFG%: MU - 36.1% Cincy - 47.2%
TO%: MU - 27.9% Cincy - 20.2%
OReb: MU - 42.9% Cincy - 36.1%
FT Rate: MU - 29.6% Cincy - 40.7%

Points Per Possession: MU - 0.80 Cincy - 0.99

Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: It's a pretty easy choice to go with Katherine Plouffe here. She grabbed 7 offensive rebound to get to that double-double while chipping in 2 assists and a block.

Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: I'd have to give it to Apiew Ojulu with 8 points and half of her 6 rebounds coming on the offensive end. But that's by default, because there's not much else here to get excited about.

Whimsy: Fox News recently spent time taking shots at the new Muppets movie for being mean to oil companies by having an oil tycoon as the villain of the movie. Well, Kermit & Miss Piggy are in England promoting the movie this week and someone asked them about the kerfuffle:

Up Next: Saturday night brings Pittsburgh to the Al McGuire Center for Marquette's yearly Pink Out game. You can find more details about it here.

Women's Basketball Game 22: Marquette vs. Cincinnati

2012-02-01T20:00:37Z

Marquette (12-9, 3-5 Big East) returns home to the Al McGuire Center tonight for the first of two home games this week. Tonight's opponent is the Cincinnati Bearcats (10-11, 1-7 Big East). For those of you who can't make it down to the AMC tonight, the game will be carried live on Time Warner Sports 32 at 7pm with Steve "The Homer" True and Michelle Griffin Wenzel on the call.

While the Bearcats have obviously had their struggles this season, they are coming into this game after picking up their first Big East win of the season, a 55-54 road win at Syracuse. Senior guard Bjonee Reaves had the game winner for Cincinnati with 5 seconds left in that contest and averages the second most points on the team (12.5) behind sophomore guard Dayeesha Hollins (14.3). Sophomore forward Tiffany Turner leads the way for the Bearcats on the glass with 6.3 rebounds per game, but senior guard/forward Chanel Chisholm is right behind her with 5.9 per game.

Marquette looks to shake off three straight losses against Cincinnati by overcoming their offensive shortfalls in those games. The Golden Eagles only reached 50 points once during their losing streak, as they hit that number exactly in a 52-50 loss to Providence.

SHEESH: Davante Gardner Out Tonight With Left Knee Sprain

2012-01-31T22:44:47Z

We value the research done by the Anonymous Eagle Bureau of Nonsensical Investigations a great deal around these parts. That said, their digging into the status of Marquette sophomore forward Davante Gardner ended up sorely lacking in official information about tonight's game against Seton Hall.

That kind of official information was made available to us about 30 minutes ago via the Marquette Athletics Twitter account:

#mubb's @iGetBuckets_54 will miss tonight's game vs. SHU with left knee sprain. His future status will be evaluated on game-by-game basis.

Immediate reaction: Crap. Secondary reaction: Jay Cutler had a knee sprain, too. Tertiary reaction: Double crap.

Possible good news: Cracked Sidewalks says Jamil Wilson has been Marquette's third best player over the last five games. Now we just need to figure out who's replacing Jamil's contributions from the bench.

Your reactions are always welcome in the comments section.

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