Marquette Golden Eagles are in a bad spot. Truth be told, they still have a puncher’s chance at the NCAA Tournament. But most Marquette fans think there is a better chance of Chris Farley rising from the dead than that actually happening. But if Marquette is going to make us believers again, they need to win. And they need to win a lot of games. They got it done against Butler on Tuesday afternoon. The game should have been over early but Marquette let Butler creep back into this one. Marquette survived another last-second shot and won 70-67.

Player of the Game: D.J. Carton – Good game from D.J. this afternoon. He finished with 18 points and eight rebounds on the day. He did miss a big free throw late, but other than that, things were good for the sophomore point guard. He also scored an offensive rating of 147 during this one which is pretty damn good. Butler did not have an answer for him. He continues to be a bright spot for the Golden Eagles.

Honorable Mention: Dawson Garcia – Weirdly, Dawson was awesome today. He had 14 points in 18 minutes. Yes, he did have some foul trouble, but Garcia played really well in this one. He needs to be fed in late-game situations though. I do think it is a combination of Garcia not being a primary ballhandler combined with Steve Wojciechowski’s affinity to let Carton create versus running a set. Garcia not scoring down the stretch was an issue.

What went right for Marquette: The defense show itself for 75 percent of the game – The story of the big collapse is coming here, but the fact is Marquette was very good against a bad Butler offense for a majority of this game. They played strong against the Bulldogs’ putrid offense. It was nice to see that Marquette could actually still play a little defense from time to time.

What went wrong for Marquette: The turnovers, the fucking turnovers man – Marquette turned the ball over 31 percent of the times they had the ball. 31%! That’s crazy. How the hell did they win this game? Koby McEwen had eight on his own. Marquette seems to be allergic to winning. They stumbled ass-backward into this one. And built a big enough cushion not to blow it. It’s a miracle.

Next up: Marquette plays Creighton at home on Saturday afternoon. They will go for the sweep of the Jays. The last time they played them, everyone thought Marquette was headed for bigger and brighter things. Then the bottom fell out on all of us.

Charlie.