Broncos face Diener-less Marquette in NIT tonight

[IE]

Rebounding, defense, fatigue, handling the hostile environment -- Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins believes all of those elements will play a role in how his team fares in tonight's first-round NIT matchup at Marquette.

Scouting, however, will not.

Because of the short turnaround from Western's MAC semifinal loss to Buffalo on Friday -- the Broncos' practice in Milwaukee on Sunday night was their only on-court preparation for the Golden Eagles -- Hawkins has no idea what his team will face when Marquette (19-11) takes the floor. Marquette's statistics and record are irrelevant. Film on the Golden Eagles is almost worthless.






It all stems from a Feb. 22 season-ending hand injury to star guard Travis Diener, which changed the complexion of the Marquette team. Minus Diener, who averaged 19.7 points and 7.0 assists, the Golden Eagles haven't been so golden.

Since Diener went down, Marquette is 1-3, including double-digit losses to Cincinnati and Saint Louis. However, that isn't enough to make Hawkins overly comfortable. In fact, the Golden Eagles' lack of identity is exactly what scares him.

"They were one team throughout the entire season and now they're in the process of being a different team. Any film we have or scouting reports can almost be thrown out. We know their personnel, but it's hard to predict how they'll play."

One player who worries Hawkins is 6-foot-10 sharpshooter Steve Novak. For the season, the senior "Levi Rost-like" forward is averaging 13.9 points while connecting on 47 percent of his 3-point attempts. Yet, in Marquette's Diener-less era, Novak has taken charge of the offense, scoring 18.5 points per game, including a 25-point effort in the loss to Cincinnati.

"He's one of the premier 3-point shooters in the country," Hawkins said of Novak.

Marquette is just as respectful, though more certain, of what Western brings to the court. Golden Eagles coach Tom Crean grew up in Mount Pleasant and is a veteran of the Central Michigan-WMU rivalry. Still, Crean insists the sight of Broncos jerseys won't bring back any childhood hatred.

"I have a lot of respect for Western Michigan," Crean said. "That program has been at a high level for some time. I think everybody has got a grasp on just how good they are.

"They're a great running team, an outstanding offensive rebounding team and they run their stuff very well. We've got to play a solid, smart game for 40 minutes if we're going to have a chance to win. One thing I know is that we have to beat them. They do not beat themselves."

WMU isn't the only MAC school headed to the NIT. After seeing their slim NCAA Tournament hopes dashed Sunday night, Buffalo (vs. Drexel), Kent State (at Western Kentucky) and Miami (vs. TCU) all earned a berth in the 40-team NIT field.

 

[IE]

Deflating high-pressure tactics

Teams know MU's Achilles' heel

The word has been out for quite some time - pressure the basketball and chances are you'll beat the Marquette Golden Eagles.

Tom Crean knows his team needs to take better care of the ball.


That's not news to Tom Crean's crew, which had problems dealing with pressing and trapping even with Travis Diener still in the lineup. But in order to make the most of their second consecutive berth in the National Invitation Tournament, the Eagles will have to have to buckle down and make teams pay by getting up court and converting easy baskets.

Turn it over as they did in their last game, a 60-57 loss to Texas Christian in which their 23 turnovers led to 25 points, and their post-season aspirations could be short-lived.

"We've got to handle the pressure," Crean said after practice Sunday. "We've looked like a junior-high team at times with the way we've handled the pressure, and that's no disrespect to the junior-high players and coaches out there. But we've got to do a better job of protecting the ball, looking up the floor, attacking, advancing the ball, not running away from it. We've got to have five guys with a point-guard mentality."

MU (19-11) was far from that against TCU in the first round of the Conference USA tournament last Wednesday. The Horned Frogs used early pressure to jump out to a 10-0 lead. The Eagles weren't even able to advance the ball over half court, turning it over on their first three possessions while TCU hit a pair of three-pointers.

A quick timeout helped settle down MU, and from that point the Golden Eagles held their own. They trailed by just six points at halftime, then held TCU to 15.2% shooting in the second half while using a late 12-0 run to take a 49-42 lead with 3 minutes 34 seconds left.

Desperate to get back into the game, TCU again ratcheted up the pressure and the decision paid almost immediate dividends. MU committed turnovers on five consecutive possessions - repeatedly getting caught in the corner or on the sideline, two cardinal sins when looking to combat pressing and trapping - and found itself behind by 50-49 a little more than 2 minutes later.

The game went to overtime where four more turnovers, including one with 15 seconds left that led to the game-winning three-pointer by TCU, eventually proved too much for MU to overcome.

"There's no excuse for the way we executed at the end of the game," Crean said. "We've got to get used to the fact that no matter who we're playing, we're going to see pressure."

Western Michigan has the quickness to cause MU problems as well. The Broncos use zone pressure effectively, and will also mix up their looks in an attempt to keep the Golden Eagles off-balance.

"They have pressure in their game; they have a 1-2-1-1, they have a 1-2-2, they press out of time outs," said Crean. "If they're watching our last few films, they're probably going to press us a lot more. But we're going to have to prepare for that no matter who we play."

 

[GOAT]

Thanks IE always good to see the paper stuff I dont get it all and you always got a new light good or not so good . For my side . Any way thanks.!!

 

[CHARLESMANSON]

Thanks for the key-info as usual IE.
I hope Marq loses this game on the sole reason that I'm sick and tired of hearing about "Diener being out". I know he averaged about 19 a game and is the team's sparkplug but my friggin god Diener this, Denier that. lol You'd think this guy was the second coming.