I am sure that we will all feel down for a few days after tonight. I am simply greatful for this message board so we can come together and vent our frustration.
Now moving on to the Marquette game Saturday. I see this game as a huge game. To be honeest I didn’t expect us to win tonight without Mitch (I did expect it to be closer then 22 pts). A win over Marquette would serve as a quality win over a good opponent and let’s not forget that we will get our chances with Cincy again.
However, a loss to Marquette, in my opinion, could be devestating and tough to overcome later on in the year.
Winning at Cincy would have been great, but I don’t think many people expected to beat them at their place especially without Baldwin. They pressed our guts out without him and I don’t believe you can press him like that, he’s too quick. However, it is disappointing to lay an egg on national TV.
Losing this one’s okay, nobody (at least nobody with half a brain) expects us to go 16-0 in the conference and you’ve got to figure this to be one of the L’s. Once again, you just hate to get punked.
On to Marquette. This is one that I fully expect to win for two reasons- we’re considerably more athletic than they are and Mitch tends to give Deiner fits- just hope the Refs let him. We win this one, and we’re definately on the right track. Remember, we got drilled by Memphis last year and that kind of woke us up, hope the same happens here.
Good thread because I’m already focusing on the next at hand. Yes we got punked last night but it’s done and over with. I was disgusted with how we mailed it in the final 5 minutes more so than just our overall play in the 2nd half. But if this team comes out flat on Saturday and plays uninspired ball, it’s going to be very hard for me to support them the rest of the way. I can pull for a team that’s losing but at least giving 100%. But I will NOT support a team that just gives up or is only going through the motions.
The loss last night was expected but the margin of victory/how we played were not. But we have to show up on Saturday and win this game. If we do, this can still be a great season for us. This team better come out wanting to play and have last night behind them because Marquette isn’t going to roll over for us.
I truly believe we’ll be ready for Marquette come Saturday. No question about it, we must win this game. If we don’t I think we’re NIT bound minus going undefeated the rest of the way or winning the conference tournament. I just don’t see how we can lose this game and have our RPI rebound to the point we need to get an at large
If we have Mitch I think we can win. Without him we will struggle again and it will be difficult. I think a big reason we got killed on the boards was we didn’t have Eddie down there to help. Him running the point took him out of his game. That along with Withers and Iti not producing as they should.
The player that concerns me most is Novak. He’s the type of player that poses serious match up problems for us.
Marquette is huge, if we were going to go 3-1 over this stretch (the best you could really hope for) what better way to end it with a win. I’m sure we will see a fired up squad Saturday.
I agree. We played like crap last night, but there is no point in dwelling on it… we’ve bitched enough. A win Saturday would make us 4-1 in conference and that would certainly be a great start.
Marquette plays at DePaul tonight (9:00) so at least we will have one more day of rest than them. We have to contain Diener and Novak. We also need more consistent offense and better rebounding out of our big guys. I think we will come out fired up and ready to play. Niners by 8.
[i]Originally posted by LutzFan[/i]@Jan 20 2005, 12:03 PM
[b] Marquette plays at DePaul tonight (9:00) so at least we will have one more day of rest than them. [/b]
I hope they go into triple OT and M'quette wins. It will be interesting to see how/if they recover and play us on Sat. afternoon.
My hunch is the God’s will be working against us by Depaul beating Marquette,making our game with Marquette much more important for them than if they beat Depaul.I’ve bitched enough about Martin,so i’m not gonna beat that horse any more.Fact is,we were 12-2 with him sucking,so he can’t hurt us much more.The absolute key to the rest of the year in my opinion is Curtis.If he reverts to last year form we finish in the top few in conference,and get to the dance,and can be very competitive.If he can’t get out of his funkmeister ,than i’m afraid,everything else doesn’t add up to much.Novaks the only guy that can really torch us on the quette.If we can get thru the screens that they’re gonna set for him and contain him…we win. I think we win…[COLOR=green]go niners!
[i]Originally posted by lucky57[/i]@Jan 20 2005, 03:16 PM
[b] My hunch is the God's will be working against us by Depaul beating Marquette,making our game with Marquette much more important for them than if they beat Depaul.I've bitched enough about Martin,so i'm not gonna beat that horse any more.Fact is,we were 12-2 with him sucking,so he can't hurt us much more.The absolute key to the rest of the year in my opinion is Curtis.If he reverts to last year form we finish in the top few in conference,and get to the dance,and can be very competitive.If he can't get out of his funkmeister ,than i'm afraid,everything else doesn't add up to much.Novaks the only guy that can really torch us on the quette.If we can get thru the screens that they're gonna set for him and contain him...we win. I think we win...[COLOR=green]go niners! [/b]
I agree about Withers. He has been the missing link for us this year. This team will go as far as he will take them. If he continues his poor play, we will struggle.
From one of the fan comments/questions in the “Chat” link:
After watching MU play against both Memphis & So Florida, it is quite obvious that MU lacks the athleticism to compete with Cincy, Louisville, Memphis, Charlotte in Conf USA. Put a quick guard & a tall guard or small forward to trap Diener, the offense comes to a halt, resulting in a lot of turnovers [Memphis]. Other than Diener [super] or Mason [semi-super], MU has no one who displays any athleticism whatsoever. Novak becomes a non-factor against quick athletic teams[Memphis or So Florida], as he cannot create his own shot.
[Mike P, any chance that you could do something similar with Jena? Would be nice to get her thoughts on the Niners in addition to her regular game stories, etc.]