Post by mhbruin on Nov 15, 2023 9:16:22 GMT -8
Marquette returns 7 of their top 8 scorers from last season from a team that finished #10 in KenPom. They have one of the better wins in the young season, beating rankied Illinois on their home floor. They are ranked 4th or 5th in the national polls. Yet they are only 4.5-point favorites against the Bruins in Hawaii. Has someone been smoking Maui Wowie?
I don't know what you expect, but for the Bruins, the real season starts on Monday.
Marquette will play mostly man defense with a lot of pressure on the ball, but they will throw in some zone.
They will press a bit, particularly after made free throws. They will use both a zone press and man press.
On offense, they will play four out or five out, with a ton of dribble penetration. They will penetrate and score, penetrate and post, and penetrate and kick the ball out. Kolek is a master at this, but others are very good at it too.
Marquette is quite a bit better than us at offense, and we may be a bit better at defense. We should have an advantage on the boards.
Both teams have very good turnover margins.
Inevaluating these stats, keep in mind that we have played a very weak schedule.
Marquette is a very good offensive team, shooting over 50% from the field and 38% from the arc. They are a very good defensive team. On paper, we are even better at defense, but that is against three weak teams.
Marquette is good at getting the other team to turn over the ball, averaging 15 turnovers generated per game.
Marquette had no new players through the transfer portal. Every player in the rotation played for the Golden Eagles last season.
Tyler Kolek gets the most attention, and he may be the best scoring point guard in the country, but Marquette is really a three-headed monster. Kam Jones, Kolek, and Ighodaro are all terrific players.
Kolek is a very crafty player. He mostly drives to the hoop and is equally good at finishing and finding the open man. He is also a very good outside shooter. He is unlikely to finish the season at 67%, but last year he shot 40% from the arc. If one of our guys can slow him down, we have a chance.
Kam Jones is the other outstanding guard for Marquette. He's an excellent athlete, he handles wht ball well and can score from all over the floor, but 75% of his shots are threes.
Ighodaro is another great athlete. He is listed at 6-11, but he is more likely around 6-9. He may have trouble with our size. He is mostly a threat around the basket. He is a good shot blocker.
The contest between their offense and our defense should be pretty interesting. As mentioned, they really like to drive the ball off the pick and roll. If we have a couple of great shot blockers, they might have some problems with that part of their offense. We may be forcing them to beat us from the outside.
As a 38% three-point shooting team, they might be pretty happy with that. We will need to pay particular attention to Kam Jones, Kolek, and Ross on the outside. This will be a great test for our inexperienced defense.
As 247 puts it: "Marquette wants to play space-and-pace. UCLA could trot out two centers. Who has to make the adjustment? Will Marquette flirt with some two-big lineups to combat UCLA's pure, raw size? Will UCLA have to downsize to handle Marquette?"
On the other end, they will probably presure the ball to make the pass into the post harder and then double once it goes in. Out posts may need to pass out to open threes. We haven't been hitting them this season. We may need to against Marquette.
In a battle of size vs quickness, I would tend to favor the quicker team. At this point in the season, it is hard to not favor the Golden Eagles. By March, this might be a different story.
I don't know what you expect, but for the Bruins, the real season starts on Monday.
Marquette will play mostly man defense with a lot of pressure on the ball, but they will throw in some zone.
They will press a bit, particularly after made free throws. They will use both a zone press and man press.
On offense, they will play four out or five out, with a ton of dribble penetration. They will penetrate and score, penetrate and post, and penetrate and kick the ball out. Kolek is a master at this, but others are very good at it too.
| UCLA Predicted Win % | Predicted Score | |
| KenPom | 33% | 67-72 |
| Torvick | 39% | 68-71 |
| Warren Nolan | 70-71 | |
| ESPN | 22.9% |
Marquette is quite a bit better than us at offense, and we may be a bit better at defense. We should have an advantage on the boards.
Both teams have very good turnover margins.
Inevaluating these stats, keep in mind that we have played a very weak schedule.
| Marquette | UCLA | |
| NET | 12 | 3 |
| KenPom Rank | 9 | 36 |
| Torvick Rank | 10 | 32 |
| KP Offense | 8 | 75 |
| Torvick Offense | 9 | 62 |
| KP Defense | 20 | 11 |
| Torvick Defense | 25 | 12 |
| Rebound Margin | -1.3 | 5.6 |
| Turnover Margin | 6.3 | 6.7 |
| SOS | 182 | 358 |
| Tempo | 102 | 318 |
| Record | 3-0 | 3-0 |
Marquette is a very good offensive team, shooting over 50% from the field and 38% from the arc. They are a very good defensive team. On paper, we are even better at defense, but that is against three weak teams.
Marquette is good at getting the other team to turn over the ball, averaging 15 turnovers generated per game.
Marquette had no new players through the transfer portal. Every player in the rotation played for the Golden Eagles last season.
| Size | Class | Mins | Pts | Reb | Assists | FG% | 3-Pt% | A / TO | ||||
| Kam Jones | 6-5 200 | Jr | 25 | 20 | 5 | 3.0 | 53% | 48% | 9.0 | |||
| Tyler Kolek | 6-3 195 | Sr | 28 | 15 | 5 | 4.7 | 57% | 67% | 1.8 | |||
| Oso Ighodaro | 6-11 235 | Sr | 31 | 13 | 9 | 2.3 | 65% | 1.0 | ||||
| Chase Ross | 6-5 205 | So | 21 | 8 | 3 | 0.7 | 56% | 50% | 2.0 | |||
| David Joplin | 6-8 225 | Jr | 23 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 32% | 31% | ||||
| Ben Gold | 6-11 245 | So | 17 | 6 | 6 | 0.7 | 47% | 22% | ||||
| Stevie Mitchell | 6-3 200 | Jr | 19 | 6 | 3 | 0.7 | 47% | |||||
| Sean Jones | 5-10 185 | So | 16 | 5 | 2 | 3.0 | 40% | 17% | 3.0 | |||
| . | ||||||||||||
| . |
Tyler Kolek gets the most attention, and he may be the best scoring point guard in the country, but Marquette is really a three-headed monster. Kam Jones, Kolek, and Ighodaro are all terrific players.
Kolek is a very crafty player. He mostly drives to the hoop and is equally good at finishing and finding the open man. He is also a very good outside shooter. He is unlikely to finish the season at 67%, but last year he shot 40% from the arc. If one of our guys can slow him down, we have a chance.
Kam Jones is the other outstanding guard for Marquette. He's an excellent athlete, he handles wht ball well and can score from all over the floor, but 75% of his shots are threes.
Ighodaro is another great athlete. He is listed at 6-11, but he is more likely around 6-9. He may have trouble with our size. He is mostly a threat around the basket. He is a good shot blocker.
The contest between their offense and our defense should be pretty interesting. As mentioned, they really like to drive the ball off the pick and roll. If we have a couple of great shot blockers, they might have some problems with that part of their offense. We may be forcing them to beat us from the outside.
As a 38% three-point shooting team, they might be pretty happy with that. We will need to pay particular attention to Kam Jones, Kolek, and Ross on the outside. This will be a great test for our inexperienced defense.
As 247 puts it: "Marquette wants to play space-and-pace. UCLA could trot out two centers. Who has to make the adjustment? Will Marquette flirt with some two-big lineups to combat UCLA's pure, raw size? Will UCLA have to downsize to handle Marquette?"
On the other end, they will probably presure the ball to make the pass into the post harder and then double once it goes in. Out posts may need to pass out to open threes. We haven't been hitting them this season. We may need to against Marquette.
In a battle of size vs quickness, I would tend to favor the quicker team. At this point in the season, it is hard to not favor the Golden Eagles. By March, this might be a different story.