Marquette Starts a New Season from Joe Streator

Here we are 2-0 and what do we know about the team? Not much more than at the end of last year in my opinion but it's nice to see FT shooting get off to a good start. Let's hope there is no game under 70% this year.

It appears that DJO and Crowder have picked up from where they left off last year which is good. It sure would be nice if DJO has a season to make him a first round pick and that Crowder does enough to be picked in the second round.

It also appears Vander Blue has significantly improved from his terrible performance last year. If that proves true we are a big step closer to being REALLY good.


Cadougan dishes out the occasional spectacular assist but (much) more is needed from him. Otule and Gardner do not appear to have taken dramatic steps forward but both improved throughout last year and there is no reason not to expect the same this year.

Jamil Wilson is still finding his spot in the pecking order. I think his ability to transfer his reputation as being the best player on the practice court last year to being close to the best on the real court this year will help tremendously.

Highly touted freshman Todd Mayo could be very good but I am not jumping on the hype band wagon right away. We all know who said "The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.

That leaves sophomore Jamail Jones and freshmen Derrick Wilson and Juan Anderson. I was disappointed in Jones last year but that is my fault; I believed the hype; shame on me.

I want to tip my hat to Juan Anderson's performance so far. I believe he has already made a great contribution to our success this year by getting suspended for three games for accepting a free sky box ticket to a Brewer playoff game. He certainly has made it easier for Buzz and everyone else to get their point across about being extremely careful with what they do off court. Actually, I think he told Buzz and Buzz told him to go ahead, knowing the penalty was insignificant and it would help the team. Thank you Juan.

What is the outlook for the year? Well, 5-0 after the Paradise Jam and then keep an eye on the Wisconsin game there December 3 and the Vanderbilt game here Dec 29.

Win both and we'll be close to a top 10 ranking and there will be no reason not to think we will be fighting for the Big East title again. Split and the year will be good, give us some frustration and we'll still end up in the NCAA tourney with all the talking heads saying teams do not want to face us in the tourney.

Lose 'em both? Not possible so nothing to say. We could easily be 12-1 before the Big East begins and then I will go out on the limb just a bit and say 13-5 in conference.

Rankings this early mean nothing, but we play four games against top 10 teams then throw in games against other ranked teams: UW, Vandy and Cincy (twice.) This allows for one 'bad' loss in conference and one win against a current top 10 team. I'll take it. After all, the men's basketball team cannot let the women's volleyball team have the best MU Big East tournament seed, #3, this school year.

Coach K now has the most Division 1 wins. Fifth and sixth on the list are Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun who will probably end the year second and third, passing our old friend Adolph along the way.

Number seven on the list is Jim Phelan the coach at Mt. St. Mary's. I suspect that was a factor in Buzz' scheduling Mt Saint Mary's for the game last Friday. Buzz has a way of showing respect for those who have been great for the sport.

I'll end by passing on some interesting information about how Marquette Athletics funds itself. Marquette offers the equivalent of 110 full scholarships divided among 175 student athletes.

When we entered the Big East, 75 scholarships were covered by endowments (I guess that is the best way to describe it.) Now 95 of the scholarships are fully funded. I think it is impressive that the athletic department is so close to being able to pay its own way. Hard to know what the economic future is, but when 86% of the athletic scholarships are fully funded it appears our athletic department is in good financial shape. Hopefully sooner rather than later the remaining scholarships can be fully funded along with all the coaches' salaries.

Here's hoping all of you had a good summer and fall and that we have a lot of enjoyment ahead of us.

Joe