Anonymous Eagle

5.14 Morning Coffee: Nothing Happened Edition

2012-05-14T14:06:38Z

To recap, nothing happened last week.

Another MLB PED suspension has been turned over.

Rawk. The Toadies are back.

Don Nelson just graduated from college.

Watch PBS tonight.

This video made me smile. The British are funny.

Well done, NBC. But will Dan Harmon not return? Wait. It's moving to Friday night? Get bent NBC.

Not so nice job NBC - This looks terrible.

Bikini Hockey League? OK, I might watch hockey now.

100th Digital Short is saved by Natalie Portman of course.

Minor detail, comes back to life.

WTF?

No surprise this story comes from the South.

Marquette Basketball Links:
BTA takes a stab at new arena. Interesting split on the poll in that article.
Good luck to the new Big East Commissioner.
Boise State might be on the way out.
Louisville is dying to get out.
Transcript of Buzz on the radio last week.
This post is why we keep Rubie around.
Paint Touches: The best place DJO & Jae to land.
Joe Chapman had a huge game.
Transfers are an epidemic says coach who lost player.
Kyle Davis? Marquette is apparently interested.
Some 3 yr old kid wears a MU or UNC jersey all day long. And can dribble & shoot. you would think someone would have bothered to put video of the kid in the story. Honestly, I'm not even sure that story has a point.

Random Music Video: RIP Duck Dunn!

The Milwaukee Bucks, A New Stadium, and Marquette

2012-05-10T14:45:04Z

Last week, Senator Herb Kohl, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, announced that it was time to begin planning for a new arena in Milwaukee for the Bucks and that he would be willing to make a personal contribution towards construction of said arena. Since a new arena would have to be multipurpose to assure its financial viability, I think it's safe to say that Senator Kohl and the Bucks would be more than happy to have Marquette games played in this new arena. Whether Marquette would want to play their games in this arena would probably depend on its location, but we're a long way from even having an idea as to where it would go.

But last night, I got a question on the AE Twitter account that actually makes a lot of sense off the bat:

Perhaps some of my #mubb followers can enlighten me as to why #MU couldn't fork over some $ 4 a new stadium. @AnonymousEagle @go_marquette
— Andrew B (@4ndrewBarnes) May 10, 2012

@AnonymousEagle @go_marquette help pay and continue to share with #bucks. Also share in non bball profits. Wouldn't hurt recruiting.
— Andrew B (@4ndrewBarnes) May 10, 2012

Like I said, this makes sense off the bat. Senator Kohl noted that the business sector and public sector will end up having to step up to help build this arena, so why shouldn't Marquette make a contribution towards the construction if they're going to end up playing games in the building? You make a one time (maybe three or four time to spread the expenditure out a bit) payment, you're part owner, you play for free in the building and you rake in a cut of every event in the building. From there, it's just a matter of how much the contribution has to be.

That's where we run into a little bit of trouble with this idea. Hit the jump and I'll explain.

The following are the five newest arenas in the NBA, the year they opened, and their construction costs, with all data coming from their Wikipedia pages:

Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, 2012, $1 billion
Amway Center, Orlando Magic, 2010, $480 million
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte Bobcats, 2005, $260 million
FedEx Forum, Memphis Grizzlies, 2004, $250 million
Toyota Center, Houston Rockets, 2003, $202 million

I'd address the cost of the Big East arenas, but it turns out that the Bradley Center is a fresh spring daisy relative to most of those buildings.

It would seem to me that either the Barclays Center cost is escalated by the sheer fact that it's in Brooklyn OR Mikhail Prokhorov is out of his frigging mind and will pay anything to anyone for anything. Either way, we can kind of ignore that price tag. So that leaves us with three arenas built in the last ten years for between $200 million and $260 million and one that cost nearly half a billion. The question that we then have to ask is: What would the price tag for part ownership be for Marquette with arenas in this price range?

Let's say it's a 25% stake in the building. 25% is a clear minority ownership, but enough of a serious contribution to allow for a significant returning revenue stream. If they manage to figure out how to build a new building for $200 million, that 25% stake would be $50 million. $50 million also happens to be the same amount of money that the university needs to finish construction on Engineering Hall. What if they can't keep construction costs that low, but Senator Kohl would require at least 25% ownership for profit sharing? That $50 million price tag starts going up pretty quickly. Marquette basketball already turns a profit by renting space in the Bradley Center, so I don't know if I see a need for the university to have part ownership (and part liability) in a new arena when that money could be much better spent on the university's core mission of education.

Poll

Should Marquette become a minority owner in a new downtown multipurpose arena in Milwaukee?

5.7 Morning Coffee: Lockett Up Edition

2012-05-07T14:09:38Z

A big tip of the hat to IWantFrys for the subject line.

Welcome aboard, Mr. Lockett. I love the fact that he went to Twitter to tell the world, and not let some 'insider' claim to have had the story first. The kid was pretty good at ASU. But, Arizona State was in the truly dreadful PAC-10. So how will that translate to Marquette and the Big East? I have no freaking idea. This all falls into the category of "In Buzz, We Trust." With the loss of DJO & Jae, the minutes are available for him. I know I feel a lot more comfortable heading into next season now than I did prior to his commitment.

Now we have one more scholarship to fill. Who wants it?

Remember Marquette players being issued a citation for being at a club underage, but not drinking? Made for a big story in the Milwaukee Journal. When Heisman candidate Montee Ball is issued a citation for trespassing, but not drinking? The JS regulates it being 'newsworthy' on page 9. Both stories should be non-stories. Just an interesting comparison.

Oh, looks like our Baghdad Bob commissioner is finally stepping down. (aka, forced to step down) The Big East has become Sid's house from Toy Story.

Great read: Too sweet to be sour, too nice to be mean. RIP MCA.

Lots of people went and saw The Avengers.

Poor Buck, the kids don't like him.

Suck it, Trebek.

Pizza cupcakes?

The curtain called Lord Albert's first HR.

Nightmare fuel.

I wrote about adult music I've been liking lately.

Then I wrote about why kids music is important.

Marquette Links:
Paint Touches: How Lockett fits.
Paint Touches: TJ is Taylor made for Buzz.
MU fan support is what brought Lockett.
Fox Sports AZ on Lockett.
Our SB Nation brothers, House of Sparky: Lockett leaves a big hole, on and off the court.
AP Story on Lockett.
NBC: Lockett lands at MU.
AZ Central snippet.
Durley has landed at TCU.

Random Music Video: Beastie Boys

Big East Presidents To John Marinatto: SCRAM

2012-05-07T13:36:58Z

CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy is reporting that the Big East presidents asked commssioner John Marinatto to resign yesterday and that Marinatto has followed through on that request this morning.

McMurphy's story also points out the following items that make the timing of this move interesting to say the least:

There are Big East league meeting scheduled for next week.
The BCS is in the middle of regular meetings to hammer out the plan for a college football playoff.
The Big East will begin negotiating a new TV contract this fall.

Given all of that, I would like to think that the league presidents wouldn't have made this move without some kind of immediate replacement plan in mind. I suppose we'll have to wait until next week to know for sure.

UPDATE: The Big East made it official, naming Jospeh A. Bailey III the interim commissioner. I presume that Mr. Bailey is this guy.

Welcome Aboard, Trent Lockett!

2012-05-06T14:00:43Z

The last two weeks, we've gotten news from Marquette's athletic department late on a Friday afternoon. This week, Friday passed without incident. Little did we know that this week's news was coming on Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, Arizona State guard Trent Lockett announced that he would be transferring to Marquette for his senior season. Lockett has earned a degree in Business Communications from ASU in three years and has elected to exercise his ability to transfer to a school with a graduate degree program that ASU doesn't offer and play immediately while moving closer to his mother in Minnesota, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

Paint Touches beat me to the punch on most of my thoughts on how Lockett fits into Marquette's team for the 2012-13 season, so go read that.

Hit the jump and we'll talk about what this means for Marquette from a more long term perspective.

South Orange Juice's Jason Guerette had this to say after Lockett's decision started flying across the Twitter-verse:

Another transfer decides to head to Marquette to play for the incomparable Buzz Williams. He hasn't missed on one yet. #mubb
— Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette) May 5, 2012

My first reaction was: Wait, Lockett is only Buzz's second transfer into the program after Jamil Wilson. Then I realized that Guerette had to be including junior college transfers as well, and he's right. Look at the list:

Who had the least successful MU career on that list? Joe Fulce? Fulce's MU career was hampered by injuries and we *still* named our Undersung Eagle post game award after him because we felt he never got enough credit for his contributions. Jamil Wilson's clearly going to have a major impact on this team over the next two seasons.

So we know Buzz can definitely look at guys who have experience past high school and figure out that they're going to work in his system of play. This fall, Buzz adds two more transfers: Lockett and TJ Taylor. Can they both make an immediate impact? What's Marquette's ceiling if they do?

Happy Quatro De Mayo!

2012-05-04T14:01:10Z

It's the fourth of May, or for our Spanish speaking friends, Quatro De Mayo. What better way to celebrate than with Marquette's very own Quatro De Mayo, Todd Mayo?

Here's a clip of him throwing it down in Morgantown this season, complete with a fantastic call from Bill Raferty:

And here's MUTV's highlight package from this past season's Wisconsin game which will be commemorated as Quatro De Mayo Day going forward. We get to see two Mayo floaters (but sadly not The Floater) and a snazzy pass to Juan Anderson for a layup.

4.30 Morning Coffee: Monkey Edition

2012-04-30T14:10:40Z

Well, it was nice knowing you, Jamail. Best of luck. Brewtown Andy said it best: So Where Do We Go Now? Jamail is friendly reminder that recruiting services and "experts" aren't exactly "experts." This kid was world beater in high school and both Rivals and Scout were high on him. What did that get him in college? Bupkis. So if you want to hang your hat on every words these clowns have to say, go right ahead. Just don't be shocked when something they say turns out to be wrong.

As for the craziness with transferring and the iron-clad contracts that schools and the NCAA make the kids sign, Rubie suggests the kids take the power back. Part Two is here.

25 driving songs.

The Wiffle Ball is 60 years old.

A Hollywood reboot I'm actually interested in.

Movies that were ruined by their own marketing.

Batman mustache.

Whoa.

Well, duh.

I want these monkey shoes.

I interviewed a monkey last week.

Marquette Basketball Links:
From last week, our player reviews of Jae, DJO, Junior and Vander.
Paint Touches: Jae's path to the NBA.
Cracked Sidewalks: Maybe another JUCO?

Random Music Video: Gaslight Anthem

Your Marquette In The NBA Playoffs Open Thread: April 28th Edition

2012-04-28T16:40:14Z

The NBA Playoffs start today! Four of Marquette's alumni in the NBA are playing for playoff teams and all four of their teams start their series today. Hit the jump for the schedule and hit the comments to talk about the games!

First up: Jimmy Butler's Bulls finished tied for the best record in the NBA in this strike shortened season. They'll play the 76ers starting at noon Central time on TNT.

At 2:30 Central, Steve Novak, the NBA's best three point shooter this season, and the New York Knicks take their talents to South Beach to start their series with Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat. You can watch this game on ABC.

Rounding out Marquette's involvement is Lazar Hayward's Oklahoma City Thunder hosting the defending champion Dallas Mavericks at 8:30pm Central on ESPN.

If you care about non-Marquette series, you can also watch the Magic play the Pacers at 6pm on ESPN.