If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter, there is no one I am harder on than Jake Thomas. The reason I harbor this anger towards Thomas is I feel he takes up time from other guys whom could be contributing in more ways than what Thomas does for the team. But on Saturday, he served me and the rest of the Marquette fan base a heaping pile of crow. Thomas drilled six three pointers as well as going 5-5 to begin the game and became the difference for Marquette. In their short time of being conference foes, Thomas has a personal ownership over Xavier with eleven threes and scoring 35 points in two games against them.Let's hope this is not a blip on the radar for Thomas. Maybe this jump starts him a bit for the final part of the season. The expectations are not 15-20 points honestly, rather Thomas making a couple threes for Marquette to add some outside scoring. It becomes frustrating when he does not have even an attempt midway through the second half. Thomas' ability to make threes makes Marquette's offense more open than it is when the threes are not falling for this team. This also means I need to keep quiet on Thomas for at least a couple games unless something terrible happens with him. Thomas showed his worth on Saturday afternoon.
Another player whose been heavily criticized throughout the year, Derrick Wilson, put together one of his better games of his career. Wilson had nine points, four assists and a career-high six steals. Also not showing up in the box score is how well he defend Xavier star Semaj Christon holding him to 10 points. Chirston was the difference in the first game these two teams played as he had 28 points, and Wilson along with other Marquette guards shut him down. Wilson's last five games have been a revelation of sorts with him doing enough to fill up the box score in one way or another. For the second straight season, the point guard is justifying his head coach's decision by the end of the year.
A couple things that might get lost in the shuffle with how good Thomas and Wilson were on Saturday was Jamil Wilson having a quiet 16 points which is his third straight game with 15 points or more. Wilson continues to put together a strong February after the St. John's disaster. Additionally, Marquette once again took care of business from the free throw line making 24 of 27 meaning in the last two games, Golden Eagles have shot 61 free throws only missing seven of them. That's how you win basketball games. Another way to win basketball games is a turnover differential ratio of 19 to five. Marquette took care of business in all facets of the game.
Many people want to have NCAA Tournament aspirations after this game, but as Anonymous Eagle points out, it is way too early to have that conversation. Even if they beat Creighton, it seems like it could be too early to start talking that way. I agree with the usual great AE, but what I found interesting is Todd Fuhrman, a Las Vegas sharp, has Marquette in as an eleven seed playing UConn in the first round with Kentucky being the three seed in the bracket. This system is not a typical bracketology rather looking at all of Vegas' numbers. One thing I have learned through my formative years is Vegas always knows better than all of us.
Instead of worrying about the bubble, why not let's just have fun for the first time this season with Marquette. In a couple weeks if the winning continues, we can get things bubbling.
Charlie.
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