#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 tonight. Here’s a look at the Golden Eagles before tipoff.
Marquette is ranked 8th in the AP Poll.
They lost to UCONN 57-73 in the Big East Tournament Finals.
As a team, they shoot 48.2% from the field, which ranks 23rd nationally. Their Effective Field Goal Percentage is 55.5%, which ranks 15th.
Marquette ranks 15th in Assist/Turnover ratio, 26th in Scoring Margin, and 26th in Assists per game.
Junior Guard Kam Jones leads the Golden Eagles in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game, shooting 50.3% from the field and 41.4% from three.
Senior Guard Tyler Kolek averages 15.3 points and a team high 7.9 assists. He leads the nation in assists per game. Kolek shoots 49.7% from the field and 39.7% from three.
Senior Forward Oso Ighosaro (6’11”) scores 13.6 points per game, and leads the Golden Eagles in rebounding, averaging 6.8 per game. He shoots 58.1% from the field, which ranks 28th nationally.
Junior Forward David Joplin (6’8”) averages 11.0 points per game.
Worst case scenario I think we keep Bobby Lutz on the back burner. He’s not the ideal candidate but he’s a solid coach. He would just need some good recruiters on his staff because I hear that he’s not that big into recruiting himself. I wonder where we would be right now had we hired him as head coach 11 seasons ago? I remember his Charlotte squad pounded Sendek’s team years ago.
I hope Yow learned some lessons from her last coaching search. Here are my keys to the search:
1. Stay away from established coaches – for a seasoned coach this may not be an upgrade
2. Don’t allow coaches to use this opportunity to get a raise at current job – if they are not excited about the job walk away
3. Don’t lowball – this cost us a couple of options the last time
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4. Young coaches will show some reverence at the coaches in the triangle/ACC – don’t hold that against them
5. Don’t necessarily have to hire for next 20 years – during the Sidney Lowe search I was high on coach Fisher (formerly of Michigan U and now at SDSU) – ppl kept saying he was too old but guess what? He’s still coaching 11 seasons later
If you are in the midst of a losing streak, play State.
Cavs break out of shooting slump against Gottfried coached team… no surprises there.