Life Without Otule from Al Kelly

Here's an article by Tom Enlund of JS Online about MU's troubles without Chris Otule. Whether or not Chris comes back this season is still questionable and is still some time away. Once he's healthy enough to play the question will become are they going to use an injury related redshirt for him. He would be eligible to use the redshirt year and save a year's eligibility giving him two more years to play at Marquette. What would you do?


Life without Otule
By Tom Enlund of the Journal Sentinel

After Thursday night’s blowout loss to Vanderbilt, coach Buzz Williams stated what many have suspected for awhile where injured center Chris Otule is concerned.

“If Chris comes back, it’s a long time from now,” said Williams.

In other words, what you see is what you are going to get for awhile where the Golden Eagles are concerned and that’s not all bad since they will take an 11-2 record into their Big East opener against Villanova on Sunday.

And while the Golden Eagles have been able to win without Otule, their margin for error is certainly smaller with him on the sideline and they have struggled against teams with some length. That was the case when they suffered their first loss of the season against LSU and it was certainly the case when they got blown out of the Bradley Center by Vanderbilt.

Marquette shot 36.2% against LSU, which was their season low at the time. Against Vanderbilt, the Golden Eagles got far too few paint touches, shot a new season-low of 32.2%, and made 16 of 30 free throws (53.3%).

“We need to continue to do all of the things that we’ve done since Chris has been hurt, otherwise we won’t have success,” said Williams.

“Our team is what our team is and I’m OK with that. I like our team. But I like our team when we do what we practice.”

The 17-point loss to Vanderbilt was the worst home loss under Williams, surpassing the 80-68 loss to St. John’s on Feb. 15, 2011. It was the most one-sided loss at the Bradley Center since an 86-63 defeat to UAC on Feb. 2, 2005. Marquette’s last non-conference loss at the Bradley Center had been a 69-64 decision to Wisconsin on Dec. 11, 2010.

Center Davante Gardner made the first points of the Vanderbilt game by scoring on a tip-in 55 seconds into the game but things went downhill in a hurry for Gardner and the Golden Eagles after that as Gardner picked up two quick fouls and played two minutes in the first half and five minutes in the game.

Vanderbilt went on a 31-4 run against Gardner’s opening basket as Marquette went without a field goal for almost nine minutes.

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he tried to stop looking at the scoreboard since he thought he was seeing a mirage.

“I think people under-estimate the difficulty – I say people, not coaches – that you encounter when you lose a key piece to your team,” he said. “With Otule being out, they’ve been able to have success, but then all of a sudden we got a couple quick fouls on Gardner and the complexion of the game changes completely.

“You’re think, ‘Why is this happening?’ if you’re a Marquette fan but very few of us are built to (withstand) the loss of a key guy and foul trouble too.

“I think that was a big factor in the game that we got a couple quick fouls on Gardner and we were able to get the game under control.”

Vander Blue, Junior Cadougan, and Derrick Wilson also picked up two fouls in the first half but Blue played seven minutes, Cadougan played 11, and Wilson played nine.

“We do struggle when anybody gets in foul trouble,” said Williams. “We struggled with that throughout the first half and not just with Davante.

“If you pick up two fouls in 2 ½ minutes regardless of your position, you probably aren’t prepared to play. That doesn’t have anything to do with tactically or technically what you’re trying to do on offense. It has more to do with your energy level and your preparation in regards to playing.”

It had been hoped that Otule would be able to get on the court this week so team officials could begin to gauge if he would be able to return this season. But Williams said Wednesday that Otule was probably a week or so away from doing that.

Williams compared the Otule situation to that of 6-11 Vanderbilt center Festus Ezeli who has had knee problems this season. He had eight points, seven rebounds and six turnovers against Marquette in what was his third game of the season.

“If Chris comes back, when Chris comes back… it’s similar to what Vanderbilt has been through,” said Williams. “When is Festus coming back? Is he coming back? What kind of impact is he going to have? How much does that change what it is that they do? Obviously he has a presence.”