Hoopcap: Bottom Falls Out on Marquette

63 second half points. 63 fucking points. That’s how many points Marquette surrendered on Monday morning to 12th ranked Butler after having a 16-point lead at halftime. It’s pathetic and makes you question, what’s really going on at Marquette? Why aren’t things getting better? Why did this team wave the white flag and let Butler continue to score at will? The rest of the Big East has gotten better while Marquette continued to remain in neutral wistful for a better future.
Wojo stays stubborn on defense
For the life of me, I cannot believe Steve Wojciechowski did not make a move to a zone defense. I get Butler has some shooters, but it’s better they try to rain in threes versus getting easy layup again and again. Further, the zone helps out from teams not fouling every goddamn time down the court. Marquette were fouling a freshman high boys basketball rate in the second half. Maybe this is a young coach thing, but Wojo’s refusal to go zone is hard ass behavior that’s not going to win many games.
Luke Fischer is a trainwreck
Here’s a stat line for the senior… Zero points, one rebound and five fouls with zero court awareness. Butler took Fischer out of his element from the start of the game, and he could never recover. Fischer is making mistakes that we should see out of a freshman, and not a senior whose been starting for a couple of years. He continues to be a nightmare on defense. Matt Heldt should be starting for this team. He actually gives a shit on the defensive side of the ball.
Hate to say it, Reinhardt bad three seals MU’s fate for good
Obviously, Marquette couldn’t stop a damn thing, but for awhile, Golden Eagles were hanging in there. Butler led by one with 4:44 left, and Katin Reinhardt took a wild three that fell way short. What followed that miss was a Kamar Baldwin coast-to-cost layup to put Butler up three, and after another missed shot, Butler came down and drilled a three to put them up six. It was history from there.
Well the first half was sweet
I’m going to try and be positive for one part of the Hoopcap. First half rocked. It was one of Marquette’s best efforts of the season. Markus Howard went off for 16 points by himself, and Golden Eagles were rocking. It sucked to fall all the way to bottom by the end of it. Maybe, Golden Eagles can take something away from the first 20 minutes.
Players of the Game: Markus Howard (Marquette) Kethan Savage (Butler)
Next up: It doesn’t get easier for Marquette as they will head to Omaha on Saturday to play seventh-ranked Creighton. They might be more terrifying than Villanova. Marquette will be lucky to keep this game within 15 points even if Maurice Watson can’t go in this one.