I'm Back, Baby!!

Some of you may have noticed that I've been gone for quite a while. Nine months to be exact. Well, the fact of the matter is that I just never got around to posting as much as I would have liked last year, and near the end of the season I just sort of stopped posting. I've never really posted much over the summer, and I since I've transferred out of Marquette, I wasn't really planning to keep this going, so I didn't see the point in coming back and giving updates on things like Marquette Madness and Trevor Mbakwe's season ending injury. But now the season is upon us, and I just felt like I can't stay away any longer.

I'm going to give this one last try. Obviously, since I won't be at Marquette this season, I won't be able to provide the same things that I have in the past. The game previews and recaps (which were too few and far between as it was), will be gone. I will sometimes post a few post-game thought, especially for big games, but for the most part, this site will be all about commentary, which is what I originally intended, anyway. As before, I won't post too much breaking news, because I would just be re-posting things that I found elsewhere, so unless it is something really big, you'll have to wait a little bit until I provide some commentary on it (assuming that it warrants commentary). So with all of that stuff out of the way, here are some of my thoughts on the upcoming season, which begins tonight against IUPUI at the Bradley Center.

• With all five starters returning, I see no reason why this team can't win 25 games, plus whatever they can get in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.
• Trevor Mbakwe's injury will hurt this team, but not as much as some people think. He would have contributed rebounds and some solid defense, but there's no way he was going to average more than 4 ppg this season.
• Dwight Burke needs to step it up this year. He doesn't need to score too much, but rebounds and defense will be critical.
• Marquette fans are going to be happy that Mo Acker is around. I saw him play at Madness, and he is the fastest guy on the court. Add that to the fact that he is a great passer and pretty good shooter, and the team won't lose too much when D James goes on the bench.
• A big strength for this team will be its depth. With Acker, Cubillan, Hayward (or Fitz, depending on the lineup), Christopherson, and Burke as the main guys off the bench, this team is deep. Barring injury, this team will be able to give guys crucial rests and not lose to much on the floor.
• Not getting Iman Shumpert hurts, but it doesn't affect this years team, and if DJ comes back next year and Mo Acker has the type of impact I think he will, he wouldn't have that much of an impact on next years team either. What I'm saying is, it's not as big of a loss as it seems.
• I predict that this team will win 25 regular season games, 2 more in the Big East Tournament, and will reach the Elite 8 in the Big Dance, for a total of 30 wins. A bit ambitious, I know, but with the talent on this team, I think its possible.

I think this will be a really good season for Marquette basketball, and I am certainly looking forward to it.