Looking ahead to Marquette
Florida coach Billy Donovan admitted following his team’s 84-50 win over Norfolk State that he hadn’t watched Marquette much during the regular season.
Donovan said he’ll take a crash course this week in studying Marquette, UF’s Sweet 16 opponent on Thursday in Phoenix (10:17 p.m. TBS).
Donovan could call Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, a close friend, for a scouting report. Or LSU coach Trent Johnson. Both Southeastern Conference coaches faced and beat Marquette during the non-conference schedule. LSU won 67-59 in Baton Rouge, while Vandy won 74-57 at Marquette.
Marquette (27-7) has won 15 of its last 18 games, playing at a high level since the Big East Conference season began. Like Florida, Marquette, relies heavily on ball movement, averaging 16.3 assists per game. Marquette has two primary scorers– senior guard Darius Johnson-Odom (18.5 ppg) and senior 6-foot-6, 235-pound forward Jae Crowder (17.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg). Crowder was named Big East Player of the Year.
Marquette shoots 45.7 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from 3-point range. Despite Crowder’s bulk down low, Marquette is not a great rebounding team. The Eagles have a negative (-0.1) rebounding margin this season.
Donovan said he knows Marquette coach Buzz Williams “pretty well.” Williams attended and spoke at Donovan’s coaching clinic at UF last August.
Kevin Brockway gave up on his dream of becoming a lefty starting pitcher for the New York Mets when he walked four straight batters, then hit one in a middle school game in Suffern, N.Y. Since graduating college in 1993, he’s worked as a sports writer at daily newspapers throughout the state of Florida, beginning with the Key West Citizen. He then moved on to the Northwest Florida Daily News and Naples Daily News before becoming the men’s basketball writer for The Gainesville Sun in 2003. Brockway has won multiple state and national writing awards during his 16-year career. Favorite pastimes include karaoke and watching baseball. Favorite college hoops team growing up was St. John’s.
I know it was early in the season but they were handled pretty good by those SEC teams. We are looking hot going into this game. I figure the difference in the game will be second chance points. If we can get some O-boards we may do some damage. Looking for Young to be strong in this game
by clay
Marquette is the favorite. They like to run and score in transition. They play a lot like us and are very physical. Look for a close intense game.
by Brian