Other C-USA games to note

[Quality Is Job 1]

You already know about DePaul's winning over Memphis at home, but how about TCU's going to Houston and winning 55-54?

Memphis is now 0-2 in conference after its nine-point loss at DePaul. Calipari was the one clamoring for the division-less schedule, and now it looks like it may come back to bite his Tigers. Memphis looks to get well against Charlotte (2-0) in the Pyramid Saturday.

The day after tomorrow, East Carolina hosts Louisville. Rick Pitino and the Cardinals better watch out. You can just about smell the upset brewing from here and now. The Pirates seem to knock off one of the conference favorites at their place every year.

Cincinnati plays at Marquette tomorrow. That's a game that could go a long way in determining who will win C-USA.

[Schasz]

Thicks,

Don't bet much of your hard earned money on Memphis beating Charlotte at home. Charlotte has beaten Syracuse on the road and has also beaten DePaul on the road...Memphis may be a weak link in CUSA. While they are tougher to play at home, I don't see Louisville slipping up at ECU.

[billiken_roy]

i dont think marquette will hang with cincy. cincy, louisville and uab are a step ahead of everyone else. marquette is on the next wave with us, charlotte and so miss imo.

[Taj79]

.... Cincinnati hasn't played ANYONE to date. They've only played two road games .... one at Valpo and the other at Tulane .... and the "highest" ranked opponent they've seen is Dayton who might have been #25 at the time they met UC in Cincy. As a comparison, WE beat UD at home. If I remember correctly, even the UC fanatics were not happy with UC's pre-conference schedule this year. 11 and 0 might be a tad inflated. But Huggy had just as many "newcomer" problems as we did this year.

Marquette on the other hand, has beaten then-No. 20 Notre Dame at home, and went on the road to play No. 9 Arizona and No. 18 Wisconsin. While they lost those two, it was by a total of 14 points. Not too shabby if you ask me. And then there is the experience of playing us. While some might laugh at that, I would offer that playing the Bills is an experience in defensive basketball that is more abnormal than normal in college basketball. In other words, MU is better situated in my opinion to win this game.

Add in the rivalry fact, the continuation of such in the new Big (L)East and the reality that this will most likely be in front of 18K plus UC haters and I believe that MU will win this one tonight.

At this point, I don't know what the spread is but I think MU wins by at least 5 to 10 tonight. Naticat will love me.

[gister]

Does that help or hurt us? It helps our RPI but it keeps Marquette's league record better than ours and that's the team we are chasing, assuming Cincy will eventually be league winner. But, like you pointed out, maybe Cincy really isn't that good. This game should be very interesting.

[huzzah]

In regard to us chasing Marquette, Brad, on the radio, indicated his displeasure w/ C-USA allowing Marquette to buy out a road game @ Southern Miss. This game will be played at Green Bay rather than Haitsburg, so Marquette ends up 9-7 in league competions @ home,and Sourthern Miss will be 7-9. Brad's beef w/ the league is they are suppose to create a "level" playing field and this sort of thing should never happen. The arrangement was consumated in secret, apparantly to avoid a clamour of opposing views. While Marquette appears good, as Roy states, it also appears they are being helped by the league(officiating at Milwaukee) and the above scheduling, to enhance their ranking and league prestige.

[bills16]

charlotte also snapped siu's 30 something home unbeaten streak earlier this year.

[Taj79]

I don't get that rationale. What are we chaisng them for? For a final, season-ending standing? Currently, UC, UofL, MU, UAB and Charlotte are all 2 and 0. We are 2 and 1. TCU is also 2 and 1 but we get the natural tiebreaker on head-to-head. But this is all too early to call nonetheless.

But to expand upon thi stheoretically, I'll ask again ... why are we chasing MU? If you believe, as I do and I think most of us do, the cream of the crop in this league are those five teams ahead of us, the only "chasing" to be done is for final season standings ... and if CUSA does as I expect and gives the top four teams byes in the conference tourney, then all we get my catching MU is that bye. Shows you my fickleness and memory but didn't we finish fourth last year and get the bye as well. I seem to recall a win and a loss in the CUSA tourney and then an NIT bid that I was real pleased with. If that happens again this year, while not totally happy, I will be pleased all the same.

I'm not in on the prediction thread, but as of now, if we protect the home turf, we have 16 wins. Maybe we lost our "stumble" game by winning last night. In any case, we always seem to have a "stumble" game ... all teams do. So let's drop to 15 wins. This means beating both MU and UofL at home .... or giving one of those up as the stumble game. Just speculating.

I've said before that traditionally, we are bad on the road. Wins at TCU and Dayton and the great game at MU have given me hope to think that might be a little different this year. We have six road games left. If we lost them all and add in the "stumble" game, we are looking at 15 and 12. But if my hopes are rewarded, and we win a game or two out of games at Memphis, DePaul or Tulane, we go to 17 and 10. Take out the "stumble" and its 18 and 9. That would be very nice to me going into the CUSA tourney.

Even if we don't get to a bye game, as a five or six seed, we should win another game to go to 19 and 9. One more win would get us to that magic 20 mark. Now the onus is on the NCAA. But even if all this fell apart, all we'd really need to do is get to the CUSA and winner takes all. Stranger things have happened. Mizzou in the Big 8. Detroit in the MCC. Miracle in Memphis.

To paraphrase the commercial, I think the season is a marathon. Donlt get too high, or too low, or lose sight of the goal. The CUSA becomes the sprint .... the sprint to the NCAA and onward. That's how I'm approaching things.

I don't think we're "chasing" anyone. I think we're building our own case right now. We need to win the next two to assume the best potential position right now. Be cliche and take them one at a time but break it down into steps. Step 1: Maintain the home turf for the next two games. Step 2: Steal a win in one of those three road games. Step 3:Defend home turf again for three. Step 4: Steal antoher road win in the next three. Step 5: Reap benefits at home by beating UofL and move on to tourney.

[davidnark]

The final league standings mean very little. All that really matters is where our final RPI stands relative to the other teams in our conference. Fortunately, our RPI is climbing, not falling.

[courtside]

I am curious to see just how good Cincy is in a tough environment myself. We can leave officials discussion out of it...nobody bullies his way into more calls than Huggy Bear. I would imagine Marquette would play mostly zone, maybe throwing in a few wrinkles. Make Cincy shoot it. Marquette plays Cinci and Louisville tough, home or road.

By the way Houston? Pitiful....that's a double digit road win this year for most conference teams.

[SluSignGuy]

It's probably drop with the next two games, but from then on until Tulane we should keep going up. Let's just hope we don't drop b/c of losses. The next two games IMO are must wins. We have no losses currently outside of the top 100 RPI, BUT we have no wins inside the top 50 RPI which has me nervous.

Steve

[billiken_roy]

our season will be made with the games with louisville, uab and cincy. if we can go 2-3 in those games we will be in the ncaa. any less than that start praying.

[Billiken Law]

>In regard to us chasing Marquette, Brad, on the radio,

>indicated his displeasure w/ C-USA allowing Marquette to buy

>out a road game @ Southern Miss. This game will be played

>at Green Bay rather than Haitsburg, so Marquette ends up 9-7

>in league competions @ home,and Sourthern Miss will be 7-9.

>Brad's beef w/ the league is they are suppose to create a

>"level" playing field and this sort of thing should never

>happen. The arrangement was consumated in secret,

>apparantly to avoid a clamour of opposing views. While

>Marquette appears good, as Roy states, it also appears they

>are being helped by the league(officiating at Milwaukee) and

>the above scheduling, to enhance their ranking and league

>prestige.

Marquette did not "buy out" the USM home game. An independent, Virgina-based promoter contacted USM and pitched the idea to them to move the game to Green Bay, WI, home of their most famous alum, Brett Favre, and they said "let's do it" as USM would make more money off this game than a regular home game (they drew 350 paid for a home game earlier this season - 350!). Marquette was told of the agreement and said "sure." They had no role in arranging it. If MU had the game would not be in Green Bay.

The truth (whether you all choose to believe it) is that USM sold their home game to an independent promoter, not to Marquette. MU will not gain any money from this game and isn't even involved in promoting the game or in ticket sales. The game is in Green Bay in an arena MU has never played in, so I'm not sure how it's a "home game" for Marquette. Also, MU has NEVER lost at USM, whereas even since MU and USM have been in the same conference MU has never won a home game against USM. The idea that this automatically changes a "sure win" for USM to a "sure loss" is shortsighted, to say the least. I don't agree with the league's decision to let USM sell this game but Marquette would have been foolish to turn it down. If SLU was presented with a similar arrangement (maybe a game in Cape to honor Rush Limbaugh - if he had gone to college) would they have turned it down??

And how have they been "helped by the league" in terms of officiating? They won the game, there is no conspiracy. Mulder and Scully wouldn't even bother looking into that game. In fact, wouldn't it have helped the league to have SLU win up at MU to increase their national profile and given them a RPI boosting win to maybe get one more team in the tourney at the end of the year??

[davidnark]

You can spin the facts however you like. The bottom line is that (a) Marquette is playing nine games in its backyard and everyone else in the conference is playing 8 and ( Marquette was careful not to disclose this fact until the ink was dry on the contracts.

The entity that is "promoting" the event doesn't matter one bit to the teams, coaches, players, and fans in and of the conference. Marquette isn't playing by the same rules as everyone else, and that is the FACT.

You can spin the situation to make Marquette look faultless (as you always do), but everyone outside of Wisconsin knows that it is BS.

[Billiken Law]

Let me ask you, would be a be a huge advantage if SLU played "home game" in Springfield? Marquette is not a "Wisconsin" team, they are a national team that happens to be in Wisconsin. In fact, many people who go to the game may do for for the sole purpose of rooting against Marquette.

However, to claim as Rammer did, that Marquette "bought a USM home game" is simply wrong.

[bonwich]

From the Journal-Sentinel, New Year's Eve. (Nark and I take great satisfaction in the author's ethnicity.)

Jerry Karpowicz: A wrong way from home

By Jerry Karpowicz

We all should be able to easily draw a line between right and wrong.

Marquette athletic director Bill Cords, and coach Tom Crean must have been so drunk with the success of last season they could not tell the difference.

On Sept. 11, six days before Marquette released its schedule, Cords and Crean appeared in Green Bay to announce Marquette would play a Conference USA game against Southern Mississippi at the one-year-old Resch Center in Green Bay.

Russ Potts, a promoter, Republican senator from Virginia and former sportswriter, approached Southern Miss AD Richard Giannini, a long-time acquaintance, with the idea of playing the game in Green Bay.

So Cords and Crean were in Green Bay, talking up the game. The game that will be a virtual home game for Marquette (minus the profits, as well as the cost of flying to Hattiesburg, Mississippi facing a hostile crowd).

Giannini told me the school will get $115,000 for making the switch and will net about $85,000 after expenses. He has been in contact with Deanna Favre, Brett's wife, in the hopes of convincing the former Southern Miss QB to show up.

So it's the money, which Giannini says is guaranteed. And it's the chance Favre MIGHT - a huge might, considering the Packers could be in the NFC championship game Jan. 18 - be at the game.

On Dec. 10, Favre reacted as if he had been hit from the blind side by LaVar Arrington when asked his thoughts about the game being switched in part for his benefit and whether he planned on attending.

"I have no idea; I really don't even know how to answer that question," Favre said. "I don't know why they would move that game for me. To answer your question, I have no idea."

So the only guarantee is the money.

Giannini told me there will be maybe 20 fans who make the trip on the charter

from Hattiesburg. If they have that kind of money, they could probably see Favre in Mississippi.

My chain of blame starts with Southern Miss for selling out coach James Green's basketball program.

Then comes Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky. He should have stopped it. Sorry commish, the recent directive requiring conference men's basketball games to be played in facilities primarily used by each institution is way after the final horn.

Finally, Cords or Crean could have blocked the at-tempt with some clear thinking and one simple word: No.

Instead, Marquette will in effect play nine home C-USA games while everyone else plays one fewer, and seven road games while everyone else plays one more.

Want to know how Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins feels? "We had meeting after meeting after meeting about how do we improve basketball in Conference USA, and how do we look out for the best interest of basketball and Conference USA and how to get the most teams in the NCAA tournament," Huggins said Monday night.

"I can't imagine after having those meetings that this would happen. I can't imagine that the conference would let it happen, and I can't imagine that the schools involved with the best interests of basketball for the league would let it happen."

Huggins voice rose when told Southern Miss and Marquette like to use the "We do what's in the best interest of our program" line.

"Then you know what?" Huggins asked. "Then they shouldn't be in the league. We shouldn't have a league then. We should all just do what we want to do.

"If I don't want to play at Marquette this season (Cincinnati plays in Milwaukee Jan. 14), I shouldn't go then, right? Because that's probably in the best interest of my program."

Giannini and Potts, in attempts to defend the switch last weekend, mentioned Southern Miss has not beaten Marquette in four tries in Hattiesburg while going 3-1 in Milwaukee. To them, that means Southern Miss has a better chance to win in Green Bay.

They also believe fans will spend $45, $27.50, $22.50 or $15.50 to cheer for Southern Miss because Favre went to school there. That theory has some holes, because as of Tuesday, 5,633 tickets have been sold (the Resch Center seats about 10,200).

Giannini and Potts were at least willing to talk about all this. Giannini said he would do it again, affirming my belief it's ALL about the money.

Cords and Crean? An MU spokesman said they chose not to use the opportunity to talk about their decision.

Crean's defense statement likely will come sometime before the game, or maybe on the 16th, after the game.

Here is the coach's best line from the Sept. 11 press conference, as reported by the Green Bay News-Chronicle: "We're certainly not going to mind driving an hour and a half down the road, rather than get in a plane and fly to Hattiesburg, Mississippi."

Cords likely will use one of his favorite forums, halftime of an MU radio broadcast, to tell the Creanaholics: "We have to do what's best for our program" and other nonsense.

I am aware this type of switching to a neutral site has taken place in college football, and usually there have been hundreds of thousands of dollars involved.

I don't think that's right, either.

Here is what I believe IS right.

If Giannini wants to honor Favre, do it in Hattiesburg, where your fans can see the game.

Banowsky should get his head out of his end zone and pay attention to something other than football Hey commish, how about that Hawaii Bowl? Cords and Crean, if they so badly want to play in Green Bay, should stop being cowards and find a way to play UW-Green Bay there.

Jerry Karpowicz is a copy editor at The Journal Times who has followed Marquette basketball since 1965.

[kshoe]

There are seven teams in my opinion that have the capability of finishing in the top 5 of the conference. (SLU, Cinci, Louisville, UAB, Marquette, Charlotte and Memphis) Every time one of these teams lose to the bottom half of the conference (Memphis at Depaul last night) it is a good thing for us. When these teams are playing eachother it is likely in our favor if the team we have the possibility of finishing above loses. I do not think there is a chance in hell we will finish above Louisville or Cinci in the standings. Marquette, however can be caught. Thus, we are chasing Marquette.

Now is that enough for me to call for Cinci against a school with similar values as ours, probably not. But as far as what will benefit the Billikens as far as the conference race goes, a Marquette loss would be good.

As to Billiken Roy's comments that we must win 2 of 3 against UAB, Louisville and Cinci I think that is crazy. 1 of 3 would be nice and will give us a shot at the NCAA if we take care of the other winnable games on our schedule.

[Billiken Law]

Old Mike Deane drinking buddy, anti-MU/Crean/Cords guy. This piece was, for the most part, fiction, but that is par for the course at the Racine Journal-Times.

Here's what really happened - it was all USM's doing:

MU, Southern Miss will meet in Green Bay

By DON WALKER

[email protected]

Last Updated: Sept. 11, 2003

In an unusual arrangement, Southern Mississippi will give up its Conference USA home game against Marquette University this season, and instead the teams will meet in Green Bay on Jan. 16, the schools announced Thursday.

Originally, the two had been scheduled to play on Jan. 17 in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The game will be played at the Resch Center, Brown County's new convention center and arena. The center seats roughly 10,500 for basketball.

The announcement was made Thursday at a press conference in Green Bay attended by MU coach Tom Crean and athletic director Bill Cords.

Southern Miss athletic director Richard C. Giannini said his Golden Eagles were excited about the arrangement.

"One of the main reasons we wanted to play in Green Bay is because of our strong relationship with Brett Favre," Giannini said in a phone interview. "Brett and Deanna are great alumni and outstanding benefactors of Southern Miss."

Favre played his college football at Southern Miss. Promoters of the Green Bay matchup say they hope to honor Favre at the game.

Russ Potts, a promoter who hatched the idea, said Southern Miss would be given a financial guarantee for the game and would be paid travel expenses.

"Financially, this will turn out to be better for us than playing the game in Hattiesburg," Giannini said.

[kshoe]

there will be far more Marquette fans in the stand than Southern Miss. You have an inflated view of yourslef if you believe people living in Green Bay are going to buy tickets to the game in mass just to call against Marquette. I bet Marquette fans outnumber Southern Miss 5-1.

[bonwich]

Winston Churchill is alleged to have once asked a British lady if she would sleep with him for one million pounds.

"Why yes, Minister, I think I would," she supposedly coyly replied.

Churchill then asked her if she'd sleep with him for a fiver.

"What kind of woman do you think I am?" she replied indignantly.

"Madame," smiled Churchill, "We've already determined what kind of woman you are. Now we're just dickering over the price."

Only Crean and Cords never even had to dicker over the price.

It appears that an allegiance with any athletic department with the intials "MU" causes the subject to lose any sense of ethics.

[billiken_roy]

i think that is a pretty good article that sums up the true feelings of everyone outside of crean's circle.

[billiken_roy]

1 of 3 would result in probably our only "quality" win of the season and probably place us squarely on the tourney "bubble". that bubble will be shared with all the big 10, big 12 and acc wannabe's that the committee so likes to cater to. no, 1 win wont do it imo. but we shall see.

[billiken_roy]

let's say there is 10,0000 fans in attendance that night. i say 20 will be there for southern miss. so 5-1 means that 100 marquette fans show up. awful lot of lost souls meeting in green bay just to say hi to brett. my guess is it will be about 5,000 true marquette fans about 20 so miss fans and the rest brett farve fans. sad thing is he probably shows up at some supermarket opening the next day and signs autographs for nothing. why did they spend $30 the night before? the whole setup just stinks (i wanted to write sucks, but i am trying to improve my language for thicks' sake).

[bonwich]

1) It dismays me that my own newspaper apparently missed this significant piece of news.

2) If it was so sleazy that the freaking board of directors had to ban it post facto, it was sleazy when it occured. Ahh, but the guys at Marquette had it brought to them -- they didn't initiate it -- so they must be real stand-up folks. And Mizzou bears no responsibility for accepting a student with 24 hours on his transcript from a single summer, because they didn't accept all the credits. The thrill of making the highest echelons of college basketball obviously also affects the oxygen flow to the brain.

C-USA bans future out-of-market 'sell-outs'

USM's sale of its home basketball game against Marquette prompts action

By Tim Doherty

[email protected]

HATTIESBURG — In a unique — and eventually highly controversial — move, Southern Miss sold a home Conference USA basketball game against Marquette to a promoter who rescheduled the contest for Jan. 16 at a "neutral" site: Green Bay, Wis.

It was the first time in C-USA history that such a situation had happened, and earlier this week the league's presidents passed a regulation making sure it would be the last.

The C-USA Board of Directors — composed of the presidents of the league's schools — approved a policy that requires the conference's men's basketball games to be played in facilities primarily used by each institution.

"The rule is intended to prevent institutions from moving games to other facilities or neutral sites outside of their local markets," C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said in a statement. "This policy, to a certain extent, is in response to the recently announced relocation of a home game to a neutral site and will ensure that the conference will be able to control the site of its men's basketball games in the future."

That did not sit well with Bill Cords, director of intercollegiate athletics and recreational sports at Marquette.

"All I know is that it's happened in other conferences, but it's happened in football," Cords said Thursday. "It's an inherent right that an institution ought to be allowed to do what it wants to do in its own best interests. But that's just my opinion."

And in the opinion of USM athletic director Richard Giannini, picking up travel expenses and a $115,000 guarantee to put back into Golden Eagles' basketball was in the best interest of a program that averaged 3,359 for 14 home games at Green Coliseum and is drawing announced crowds of 2,500 and fewer for its three home games this season.

"As we said earlier, this was a once-in-a-lifetime situation," Giannini said. "And it works well with our ties with Green Bay, Wis., and Brett Favre."

Favre, the All-Pro quarterback of the Packers, played his collegiate ball at USM. Giannini said if the Packers are not playing in the National Football League playoffs, that Favre and his family could very well be in attendance.

Still, the notion of Green Bay being a "neutral" site for Marquette had many around the league up in arms. In their view, not only did Marquette pick up a ninth "home" game — even though it is officially listed as the visitor on the schedules of both schools' Web sites — the switch gave Marquette a pass on making the long trip to Hattiesburg, where USM often has given higher-profile programs a tough time.

"There's a lot of coaches that compliment us in a sense, because they say, 'I don't want to go to Hattiesburg because that's a tough place to play,'" USM coach James Green said. "I had one school say they'd give us a 50 percent increase on what we got for that game if we would do it for their game in their state."

Green said he signed off on the switch, but wasn't delighted about losing a home game against a team that reached the Final Four last season.

"We're trying to make people aware of basketball (in Hattiesburg), and one of the reasons we moved it was because we said Marquette doesn't mean that much to our people," Green said.

"So, what are we trying to accomplish? If money is the most important thing, then I'll go and play all our games on the road for money."

[Naticat]

If it isnt the one they call Taj who wears that nasty Billiken Hockey jersey (Whats with Hockey anyway? That ranks with Soccer in my book)

Anyhow, I believe the last time you blessed this board with your early assessments of the Bearcats, they went on to win the next 20 games. If your counting, that will take UC into the 2nd round of the tournament from this point. Will history repeat itself?

Truth is Taj, the Cats have had a weak OOC schedule, I wont argue that. But have you paid any attention to the scores at all? Valpo came the closest losing by 19. On average most of the games have been decided by 26. Dayton was ranked #23 at the time of their thrashing, And Clemson has climbed their way into the RPI top50.

Now explain to me how Notre Dame was a better test for Marquette when Dayton has a better record, higher RPI, and tougher sos? By the way, as of right now, that Same Dayton team has a Higher RPI than Marquette. Given that will change once the game tips off tonight but still. Also, Marquette's sos is 46 spots LOWER than Cincy's.

One last thing before I go, Yeah the Eagles lost those two games by a total of 14 points, but lets talk about their home games vs Valpo, Canisius and Sacred Heart which they won by a total of 13 points.

Enjoy the game!