Good Morning Bulls Fans! Tonight your USF Bulls head up to the land of Beer and Brats to face a streaking Marquette Golden Eagles (15-8 6-5) team. Game is at 8:30pm, and it will be on BHSN for all you watching here in Tampa.
For my money, the best place to read up on Marquette is at www.CrackedSidewalks.com, always my first stop when reading up on Marquette basketball.
USF-MU YouTube: How could it be anything other than last year's upset win at home.
Marquette has been a pleasant surprise this season for Buzz Williams. Most figured that this would be a rebuilding year after losing senior leaders Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews to graduation. But like most Big East teams, they had people waiting in the wings to step up, and no one has done that more that Senior Lazar Hayward.
The 6'6 Forward is leading the team in both points and rebounds, averaging 18.6 and 7.8 respectively. Although undersized in the post, he plays a lot away from the basket and uses his quickness off the dribble and he creates some separation to the basket. It will be interesting to see how our bigs do against Hayward and Jimmy Butler.
This is an extremely undersized team, but will shoot lights out if you let them. They do have anyone taller than 6'7 in their rotation, and even then they normally go 4 guards most of the way. The Bulls will need to do an excellent job of boxing out, because they will crash the boards if they see an open area to jump into.
Another thing to look for is the return of Gus Gilchrist for the Bulls. As you all know, he has been out since December with a high ankle sprain, and Coach Heath has Gus pegged for about 20 minutes today. It will be interesting to see offensively how DoJo and Gilchrist work together after being out for so long. Hopefully DoJo getting double teamed leads to more favorable shots for Gus as we works his way back into playing shape.
What to expect? I really don't know. Both teams need this game badly as they jockey for postseason position. My prediction is if Gus scores 15, the Bulls win this one running away, if not it will be another nailbiter.