A Marquette's Victory Sandwich with Heaps of Mayo

Marquette Golden Eagles trailed by 10 points with 15 minutes left in the game to lowly Butler Bulldogs team. This is not your older brother's Butler team as they only holds two Big East wins in conference, and frankly not very good this season. Combined with Marquette's effort against St. John's, their poor play for the first 25 minutes of this game, the feeling became like the Golden Eagles may have packed in the season and gave up completely on their chances to turn around the season essentially accepting mediocrity.

Except when they hit the lowest of lows, they bounced back with a vengeance. Marquette came back to beat Butler, 69-62, in a second half that featured Marquette doubling their point total from the first half along with a coming out party of sorts for Todd Mayo, Golden Eagles most reliable player. They willed this game away from Butler, and once again put themselves at .500 in the Big East chaos in the middle.

Mayo does not have the cleanest record with Marquette or their fanbase. He missed half of his sophomore year to sort things out. He hung out in the offseason with brother O.J., of the then Dallas Mavericks in South Africa missing team activities raising speculation. Mayo also missed the Wisconsin game this year for a violation of team rules. But like teams, sometimes it takes a player a long time to figure their shit out, and who they are as a person. Signs point to Mayo growing into a different player and potentially a star player.

After Marquette escaping Seton Hall, I made a mention about Mayo becoming a star on this team. No one really found me crazy, but no one really agreed with me either. I am not trying to call myself Marqustradamus, but man, something seemed different with Mayo. He played fully engaged and did not worry about making a mistake plus his clutch free throws against Seton Hall and Villanova for that matter is something that cannot be taught. Since then, Mayo sent the Georgetown game to overtime in a comeback victory, nearly won the Villanova game by his damn self scoring the last 10 points and played a great second half versus Butler on Tuesday night.

There are still some flaws in Mayo's game, but he deserves to be playing 30 or more minutes without question. I have no idea if he has a Manu Ginobili quirk with starting, but regardless, Mayo should be a 30+ minute player for the rest of the season. The team is better when he is on the court. The thing that is dangerous about Mayo is he can make a 3-pointer in an opponent's face then take him to the lane on the subsequent possession. He is not just a 3-point shooter nor just a slasher, Mayo is balanced instant offense when he gets started up like he did on Tuesday night against Butler. Hopefully, things have clicked and he is ready for a major February and March.

Along with Mayo, Marquette seemed to really have a rotation that worked for them with a four guard lineup with Chris Otule in the middle. It featured Derrick Wilson, Jake Thomas, Deonte Burton, Mayo and Otule. They played great together, and even with Otule, they played fast and aggressive. This needs to be one of the rotations for Buzz Williams, and find a version of this involving the likes of Jamil Wilson and Davante Gardner. The rotation issue appears to be a Rubix Cube for Williams, and maybe he has at least solved a fourth of it.

Jamil deserves a mention for his play today even though his minutes in the second half became limited with foul trouble. Wilson had 17 points with six rebounds including the only one to have a great first half for Marquette. Everyone put Jamil on a pedestal to start the season. Everyone expected him to be a star, and simply put, he will never be a star rather just a complementary good player. While it is annoying with his fouls and disappearing in the offense, Wilson has scored in double-digits now in seven of Marquette's nine Big East games. So while there is a disappointment about his play this season, it may not be as bad of a season as some want to say it is for Wilson.

Marquette gets a week off meaning they will have ample time to prepare for Seton Hall, a team they beat soundly for 30 minutes and then fell apart late yet held on for victory. Additionally, they head to an arena that has given them all sorts of trouble and both teams are in the mix with six teams within two games of third place in the Big East. Let's see if the Golden Eagles can do the unthinkable and win two straight games. It has happened before.

Charlie.