Streaks, Blocks and other Marquette Notes

I tend to throw out a lot of useless/useful stats and info on Twitter that never actually get fleshed out into an article or even a blurb.

So for the sake of those who may not frequent Twitter, here’s a little taste of what has been on my mind.

We’re going streaking

Marquette has won 13 of its last 14 games, which is a pretty outstanding feat in its own right. But when put into perspective of Marquette’s history the past decade, makes it that much more incredible.

Now, going on a nice streak in the middle of the season isn’t any sort of valediction in and of itself. If Marquette collapses and misses the NCAA Tournament, no one will care about the 13 wins in 14 games and we’ll be back to arguing about Wojo’s seat warmth.

But I think it is important to recognize a feat not accomplished in the past decade. Teams with 3 or 4 NBA players, teams that won the Big East and teams that made multiple Sweet 16s never had that on their resume. Not all of the wins have been pretty, but this squad has been excellent in close games and deserves recognition.

#SamStanSZN

Sam Hauser had himself a week, scoring 56 points in 2 games and leading Marquette to a 2-0 record. As such he was named the Big East’s Player of the Week for the first time this year (and the first time in his career).

Which got me thinking…

That same article pegged Marquette as the 8th best team in the Big East this season, so there was plenty to find fault with, but it was an asinine piece the second it was published. And we even said as much.

Sam has been pretty good all season, but if he can replicate 3/4s of what he showed this past week the rest of the year, we’ll be talking about which of he and Howard deserves to be Big East Player of the Year.

John the Baptist

Theo John showed glimpses of great defensive potential very early this year.

However, despite being a tremendous asset on defense, he couldn’t stay on the floor to save his life. Just 10 days ago, he was fouling out almost 1.5 times per 40 minutes.

Since that timely Tweet, Theo John has taken his game to the next level, almost simply by being able to stay out of foul trouble. He’s still fouling 7.4 times per 40, but being able to bring that down a full point in 4 games is amazing.

And when he’s on the floor, he’s not only the best shot blocker in the Big East…

He’s hands down the best shot blocker Marquette has had in the past 12 years.

He’s a sophomore who has grown tremendously since earlier this year, let alone his freshmen year. Big things are ahead.

Pick & Rolling

The first half against Providence was a nightmare offensively.

The second half against Providence was a dream offensively.

I still haven’t been able to find a silver bullet other than Marquette scored more points, but the pick and roll numbers are quite interesting.

Howard was the handler for most of those possessions both halves so it’s not like someone else took over. And there were a few nice possessions in the first that resulted in good looks that were missed.

Sometimes, it’s just as simple as making shots.