A stunned 2010 Xavier basketball team after last years' loss.
Setting: Cleveland, Ohio.
Crime: 2nd Degree Comeback, 1st Degree Upset
Time of Death: Approx 9:45 pm – Friday, March 18th, 2011
The Victim: Xavier
File # NCAA.3.17.E – a.k.a. “X Marque’d in Ohio”
Let’s put 48 hours on the clock and start this week’s cold-case countdown to the Big East Conference kick-off – a match-up that has this young sports blogger predicting a second-half Marquette comeback resulting in a big red X for Big East Conference-Ranked #6 Xavier squad.
Marquette, ranked 11th in the Conference, is a team known for scrapping-up boards and easy buckets down-low. If Marquette rebounds the way they have all season this Friday in Cleveland against Xavier, they should be able to stay in control throughout this round 2 test in the 2011 tournament. Marquette will need to rely most on shutting down their biggest threat, Xavier’s Tu Holloway, as well as keeping a close eye on the rest of the rest of an offensive arsenal of long-range assassins and three-point threats, in order to pull out this win. Do that, and Marquette pulls an O.J. early in the tournament, getting away with murder.
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” – Yep. John Lennon was talking about this game when he wrote those lyrics back in ‘71. He wasn’t the only one imagining a Marquette win over Xavier.
Fact: John Lennon predicted a #11 Marquette victory of #6 Xavier in Round 2 of the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and knew he wasn’t alone making the call.
Actual Fact: So did ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi.
Boom, tag it & bag it. Case closed.
