Miserable Marquette Season Ends with a X

Marquette did not make an appearance on the bubble. Nobody talked about how the Golden Eagles 'needed one or two wins' to make the Big Dance. A team picked to win the Big East had become irrelevant in absolutely no time. Although with Villanova falling earlier in the door, the door was open a touch for Marquette to make a run. It did not happen as Xavier beat Marquette, 68-65, where they took control early on in the second half and Golden Eagles could not get their heads back above water.

This game really became a microcosm of the season. A game where Marquette plays competitively in spots, disappear at different occasions and a Buzz Williams decision that makes your head spin. Golden Eagles really played to their season's worth which is about lower than low. It is like praising an alcoholic for not having a drink in a week or so. Marquette did some nice things, but once again, they could not close out a basketball game

One of the more encouraging things about Marquette's season in October was the massive recruiting class coming in for 2014. Duane Wilson, Deonte Burton and JaJuan Johnson were all hyped up to be the next great players for Marquette. Wilson got hurt, Johnson never really made it off the bench and Burton finally got a chance to start on Thursday. He had a career-high 23 points in an aggressive performance where he showed a will to get to the lane and make shit happen. Marquette did not have enough guys this year that wanted to make shit happen. Burton might not have much of an outside shot yet, but he can entirely fill up the tin. The mind-boggling thing is he stayed on the bench for most of the final seven minutes of the game. Buzz Williams told Andrew Gruman and others, it was due to his defense and then you see this from Paint Touches.

Xavier scored on 11 of its 14 final possessions. Good thing Deonte wasn't in to make it worse.
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) March 14, 2014

The fact Williams used his lack of defense as an excuse is a fair one for why Burton did not start all year, but to keep him bench when he is playing the best game of his career is absolutely maddening and disappointing. There are times where you need to sacrifice defense for good offense. Marquette has enough players that can fill it up and if they have to play in the eighties, so be it. It is also a complete and utter joke given Davante Gardner cannot guard a statue, Todd Mayo's closes like a 21-year-old kid at the bar, Jake Thomas is a disaster (He did make a really smart play last night though) and basically, none of these guys really play concrete defense. I know Marquette's numbers show they are better than most, but we see mirages all the time. Burton needed to be out there, and the fact, Williams kept him on the bench is such a timid, feeble move. Change scares Williams, let's just all admit that about the coach. He cannot handle freshman being the leaders of this team especially when he kisses the collective asses of all the seniors.

Heavy criticism of Williams feels completely wrong honestly. Many critics would say 'Look at DePaul, they are praising just winning a Big East conference tournament game, and you have coach that got you three Sweet 16, how ungrateful.' It is not ungrateful, just concerned how Williams handled this roster and what the team will be like moving forward. A great coach like a Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, tends to find a way to make things work with a roster and rarely do they get defeated like Marquette's head coach did all season with trying to figure out this roster.

Even though Todd Mayo is about as reckless as anyone in college basketball, but he stayed engaged throughout the game. I did not realize Mayo had 21 points on 8/13 shooting, but he tried his best to keep Marquette in the basketball game. Twice, the Golden Eagles trailed by six points and Mayo nailed a three-point jumper (Worth nothing, Mayo found his three-point shot again at the end of the year). In the last six games, Mayo is averaging 17.1 points and in the last three, he had 20 or more points off the bench. Could a generally troubled player become a leader next year? I have high hopes which might be naive, but I am optimist that Mayo will stay in check knowing he is the man of the 2014-2015 team.

Mayo and Burton give me hope that this could be a one bad year and things might head back to normal. The trio of the two and Luke Fischer midway through the season could be real special. Not to mention, Duane Wilson will get the keys and it could be real special. Even though Williams mishandled this season, I still hold out hope it was an aberration and things will be back to normalcy next season.

The best part of the game yesterday was Jamil Wilson missing two free throws as Marquette down three with under two minutes left. If you wanted a clip to describe Marquette's season and Wilson's career, that would be the perfect one.  Happy, it is over and would not mind making a little noise in the NIT.

Charlie.