To All the Haters Out There

Basketball is fun when there is no pressure. Wisconsin is in the NCAA tournament and they belong. They will play well on Friday night in Boise and may well pull off a 12-5 upset over a team they played and beat two years ago. Wisconsin needs to start quickly and establish the pace of the game similar to their win at Michigan. It will likely be a slow, ugly, low-scoring game, and if Trevon Hughes can maintain his composure I like their chances in a squeaker.
Yes, Marquette has lost five of their last six games. Those losses are to three #1 seeds, a #3 seed, and a #4 seed. I do not recall any college team playing a similar six game stretch against premium competition. MU lead well into the second half in all but one of those games. Losing James hurts them defensively, but offensively this team is clicking with the remarkable improvement of Jimmy Butler. The common refrain that this is a struggling basketball team is simply not the case…they lost to excellent teams that played just a little bit better than they did. The tough competition will help them on Friday and I look for MU to join UW Sunday afternoon playing for a trip to the Sweet 16.