Husband this morning: โArenโt you dressed a bitโฆ.casuallyโฆ.for a day of lectures and meetings?โ
Me: โF*** โem.โ
Tyler Kolek is a bad influence on me.
#mubb
Husband=Professor at St. Thomas. 3 children=graduates from St. Thomas.
Son=Works in IT at St. Thomas. Family=related (through child) to Coach Tauer at St. Thomas, who is also nephew of my former Chair.
If you ask: โWho are you rooting for tonight?โ
You donโt know me at all.
In 1977, my dad and I were in Atlanta when
#mubb
won it all. He bought me this 14k charm for my birthday that year. I havenโt worn it since he died in 1997, but Iโm wearing it this month. No pressure. ๐ฌ (This is a
#1
year no matter what comes next.)
Dear Creighton,
#mubb
sent you all the good energy and rooted for you tonight. Looking forward to all your good vibes for us in (checks watch) 11.5 hours from now.
We had a seminar at my university on the uses and abuses of AI. One of the exercises was to write something using AI. So I gave chatGPT some prompts and said, "Write an Ode to Tyler Kolek."
Not Bad.
#mubb
It was worth losing him to the Texas Experiment while we trudged through the Seven Plagues of Wojo if the outcome was that Shaka knows he wants to be here and we want him here forever.
Being upset that Shaka Smart isnโt using the portal is like being mad that youโre so happily married that you never got to experience divorce.
#mubb
is so lucky to have a coach that guys want to stick with because he sticks with them.
It is a HUGE sign of how well coached
#mubb
is that our guys kept up their unbelievable tenacity on defense even while they couldn't hit anything. This is a Shaka Smart Appreciation Post.
My take on Providence: Ed Cooley was their Buzz Williams โ โ seemingly great guy who everyone loved, stabbed those people in the back and left. That means they have a Shaka Smart in their futureโgood news! But first: a seven year slog through the desert on a horse with no name.
Did I sleep well?
No.
Am I a bit of a wreck?
Yes.
But out of 300+ teams in D1,
#mubb
is still playing. We are back on the nationโs map of relevance.
These nervesโthis stressโthis hopeโThis, too, is a gift.
Go get it, boys.
Itโs Marquette Gameday.
When Stevie Mitchell was thrown to the ground while trying to make a layup, got his own rebound FROM THE GROUND and put it back in--that's when I thought, "This is going to be a good day."
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My television died tonight. It has been on life support for a few weeks.
Iโm on my way to Target to buy a new one. No way am I missing the
#mubb
vs. UConn game.
Because thatโs what you do when you love Marquette basketball.
#WEARE
Guys! I won the faculty creative writing prize, called The Denny Award, for my blog post about Al McGuire and Marquette and my father!
#mubb
is the gift that never stops giving! Now I can take my husband to Hilton Head!
One of the best things about March Madness is the pure emotion, but man, it's tough to see Oso Ighodaro this heartbroken after Marquette got eliminated tonight
I can't stop thinking this morning about how Shaka coming out in a zone defense slowed Nova down and used up the clock in a way that made them uncomfortable on every possession. It's called coaching. And it is an art form when done well.
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A year ago, Zaide Lowery was a senior in high school. Tonight, he's playing Friday Night Ball in Madison Square Garden, New York City. How can anyone NOT be a college basketball fan?
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I heard from a good source that heโs โday to dayโ but it would take a โF***ing Act of Godโ to keep
#mubb
โs Tyler Kolek out of the Wisconsin game. I repeated this news verbatim to my husband and he observed that my vocabulary has become unusually salty since hanging out with
#11
.
Road win in a hostile arena against a team with its back against the wall and nothing to lose, down two major pieces of our team....this is a damned good win.
#mubb
We knew it was coming. Best of luck to
@_oso_i
, who represented
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on and off the court so well the past 4 years and truly helped establish this phenomenal culture.
It didnโt end well.
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took so many good shots.
None went in.
Worst part: seeing how gutted our guys were afterward. Knowing how hard they worked.
But?
Iโm so grateful for Shaka and these guys.
I wouldnโt have missed this for the world.
WE ARE.
A campaign for
@MarquetteMBB
to consider: Stevie Mitchell swiping things around campus or โdefendingโ people trying to get past him in hallways. Maybe swatting away paper going into garbage cans.
This man needs some hardware in March. Iโve got more ideas for our BE DPOY.
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I havenโt cried from happiness over a victory in a long time. I did tonight. And to all the
#mubb
fans at the game tonight: we heard you. WE ARE. Chills.
Morning mood. Me and Al, 1976. Iโd been crying all weekend because we lost to the Hoosiers. Only Al McGuire himself could have made me smile that day at the airport.
So he did.
Letโs make Al smile today.
Give โem hell, Shaka!
#mubb
Husband asked why Iโm excited about
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playingโฆ.Rider. Games like Illinois and UW are like romanceโexciting but fraught with anxiety. Games like this are like marriageโyou know the passion is there but itโs just fun and comfortable. (Wojo games: just an abusive relationship.)
Love and Basketball: asked Husband why on earth he was doing laundry at 8 oโclock in the morning. He wanted to make sure I had my lucky sweatshirt ready for 1 PM.
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I was looking through all the photos from yesterday's game and it really hit me: In every photo showing 2+
#mubb
guys where 1 of them just did something great, the player in back or off to the side is....thrilled. RELATIONSHIPS.
My two favorite lines from Van Gundy today:
#1
After they actually stopped play to decide if Kam had committed a flagrant 1, he said "You gotta have arms!"
#2
when Colorado had the ball with about a minute left: "If Colorado is going to win, they need to score."
#mubb
Gutsy game from
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today. We werenโt going to go undefeated and this is the kind of game that just might haunt the Friars in the Big East tournament. There was no quit in our guys. Love their grit.
I keep hearing that coaches like Cooley and Pitino need "time" to "build the program." Reminds me how lucky
#mubb
is, to have Shaka come in at
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and take about 10 minutes to build a winning culture of 1st class humans from top to bottom.
Inner Monologue Today: โThe Board of Trustees is on campus today so I really should dress up.โ
Picture: The Perfect
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Professional Game Day Outfit.
(I have tenure.)
TK in MKE, Oso at the hotel, Tre Norman vomiting behind the bench, Creighton hitting 3's by an insane percentage,
#mubb
down by 2 at half.
The legend of this game will be told around campfires for years to come.
#ThatsMyTeam
Dear Tyler Kolek, This is Irene. Sheโs 5. When she falls, no matter how hard, her first goal is to bounce right back up, saying, โIโm ok, Iโm okโ because she doesnโt want to stop trying and playing. This thumbs up for today comes to you from Irene. Go get โem.
23 years ago today, Al McGuire died. It was Al who turned me into a crazy Marquette Basketball fan, and I will never stop being grateful to him for that.
#1
โme in tears after loss to Indiana in 1976.
#2
โBefore the 1st game of 2024.
No more
#mubb
chatter about Saturday! There is a huge game against Butler at tomorrow night. They beat us at home to wreck our streak and they are hard to beat at Hinckle, plus they have a wily coach. Even the national commentators refer to their style as "Butler Bullyball."
My sister kept her season tickets throughout the entire Wojo era. She attended uncounted games whose motto was "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." I think
#mubb
should observe a moment of silence at the next home game in honor of THAT brave bunch of fans.
Coach K lost his final game at home, Brad Davison lost on his Seniors Day (I mean, hasn't he been a senior for four years already)--this has been an unbelievably good weekend! (
#mubb
won, the most important factor).
I was in high school. Marquette was ranked in the top five going into the season. I was young and yes, I was pretty much in love with a basketball team. It was 47 years ago. A lot has changed. Some things, though, never change.
#mubb
Letโs roll.
Heart over height!!!
@Sean_jones5
with all the statistics, opinions, etc! My son is here to show any young man hooping under 6feet!! You can play at any level!! Defense, drive, discipline, and faith!!
#mubb
Love you guys to the moon and back. I know you didnโt want it to end like this. We didnโt either. Thanks for all the joy. We will never forget you.
Today Iโm especially grateful for Shaka Smart and the guys heโs coaching for
#mubb
.โค๏ธ๐โค๏ธ๐ Nate Oats should be banned from coaching college ball.
Full day yet again of classes and meetings. Very important to look professional. So I decided to take my lead from my old copy of Glamour Magazine and dress for the job I want in 5 years. Yep. This tracks.๐๐๐๐
Providence Friars = cheap shot artists to the max. I am disgusted with this and with the refs for letting it get out of control. Somebody is gonna get hurt.
#mubb
St. Paul MN newspaper. Just another sign that
#mubb
is a national story again. (Iโm not going to take one iota of this for granted. We waited so long.)
My favorite daydream right now is the postgame presser after
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wins the South where Kam Jones walks in, sits down, pulls the mic over, smiles that big smile of his and says, โHey there, everyone. Iโm KAM JONES.โ๐๐
One of the great Marquette guards of all-time, two-time All-American Tyler Kolek declared for the NBA Draft and will forego his remaining college eligibility, as expected. Kolek was under-recruited, landed at George Mason then believed in Shaka Smartโs vision. Great story.
#mubb
Twitter this year has been phenomenalโsmart, funny, critical but rarely petty, classy and rooted in discourse that makes this philosophy prof proud to participate.
Our odyssey ended cruelly. But it has been a delight to have
#mubb
through all itโthe joys and the sorrows.
Well, today is the last day that I had โpossible Marquette gameโ on my calendar. Iโm looking forward to dancing with this gang again next year. So much.
#mubb
Cam Spencer is just tiresome, but I have to root for UConn tonight because I am just so damned tired of hearing all my life how the Big Ten is the mightiest conference. I don't want another summer of that nonsense.
Whatever happens going forward, let's all remember that
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has cut the lead from 15 to 5 and they have refused to give up. There is no quit in these guys and I love them for that.
One of my favorite game-watching activities this year is tracking Stevie Mitchell Joy Eruptions whenever a teammate does something great.
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Stevie was just celebrating Chase Ross' steal and bucket as if he had just done it himself. โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ