Milwaukee: With Marquette’s latest heart breaking loss to Villanova in overtime, it seems their tournament hopes are slim to none. Before we completely give up on their chances, lets shine a light of hope on it. People talk what their record is and how they haven’t beaten a good team yet and that loss Saturday put them in an even bigger hole, but Saturday’s game should provide some confidence that they can pull it together and go on a run. Saturday’s game was tough pill to swallow, coming all the way back to tie it and get to overtime and then laying a huge egg in overtime. It was an emotional roller coaster for the team and fans.
Previously this team seemed to be lacking the toughness and passion we’ve seen from previous Marquette teams. But Saturday and even the game against Georgetown before that, they finally looked like they developed the passion that has made Buzz’s Marquette teams so great in the past. This Marquette team showed signs of life the past two games and if they played like this from the beginning of the year, this team wouldn’t be fighting for their tournament lives. Jamil Wilson has been the player we expected the past two games doing a little bit of everything.
Todd Mayo has hit some huge shots and has given the offense a much needed boost. We have seen Steve Taylor Jr, and John Dawson come through in the clutch when Marquette needed a spark. This has changed the direction this team is going in. They still lost on Saturday and still have a lot to fix, but this team still has a run in them and the remaining schedule is rather favorable. Here’s a look at their next 7 games:
Providence
@St.Johns
Butler
@Seton Hall
Xavier
Creighton
@DePaul
The next seven games, Marquette has a chance to run the table, playing four at home. They face a hot Providence team, Butler and Xavier who they lost both to on the road in close games and Creighton, arguably the best team in the conference. Of course there’s chance they could easily go 0-4, but being at home is a big advantage and they could just as easily go 4-0. With the way they played on Saturday they may be leaning towards the latter. They also have three very winnable road games with St. John’s in the Garden and both Seton Hall & DePaul, who they have already beaten at home.
7-0 maybe a bit of a stretch, but even if they go 6-1 it would put them right back in the tournament picture. If they do go 6-1 their record would be 17-10 with a 9-5 conference record with four to play. Their final four have two at home and two on the road. If they were to get to 20 wins and win one or two in the conference tournament they would have a good chance of making it to the NCAAs.
All this maybe a long shot, but Buzz has been able to rally his players before and the way they have played the past two games has shown signs they still have life. It will just be a matter of getting over the hill they have been climbing all season.
*Photos Courtesy of Marquette Athletics