Miami vs. Marquette: Golden Eagles rejoice, Hurricanes reflect on strong season

Marquette’s 71-61 Sweet 16 win over Miami Thursday continued the best season in ten years for the Golden Eagles, but it ended the best season in program history, so despite the disappointing performance for one side, fans of both teams had something to be happy about.

Marquette blog Anonymous Eagle has been a fun read over the past week. While some blogs sweat through tournament marches, they’ve been just downright jubilant about everything, sort of like Buzz Williams, whose dancing GIF they posted the other day. They had plenty of reason to be pumped Thursday night, as their squad bounced back from a pair of close calls by trouncing Miami, leading by 20 at points throughout the second half before the lead dwindled to single digits in garbage time.

Here’s their postgame thread:

After a pair of squeakers to open the NCAA Tournament, Marquette rewarded its Pepto-chugging fans with its best performance of the year, as the outcome was never really in doubt after the first four minutes of the game.I’ve run out of things to say, so the next paragraph is brought to you by my #VictoryBourbon:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOO? WOOOOOO! WOOO WOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

For State of the U, the loss was obviously a disappointment as Miami clanged away, but blogger Jerry Steinberg didn’t lose sight of what mattered in a season that somewhat redefines what we expect out of Miami basketball:

Shooting 6-28 and 1-12 on threes in a first half is the NCAA Tournament equivalent of running across Highway 401 with a piano on your back. To make matters worse the Golden Eagles nailed 54% of their shots on the night. No analogy needed.

Bottom line the Hurricanes played arguably their worst game of the year tonight, and against a Sweet 16 opponent (believe me they are all good at this stage) that is curtains.

I could delve into even further analysis about what went wrong. But that would be a disservice to the great gift of a season we received this year.

They even posted “One Shining Moment” at the end, which always works.

Looking forward, Anonymous Eagle had hoped the Golden Eagles would be matched up with Tom Crean -- who, you might remember, was in charge of Marquette the last time they went to the Elite Eight -- but instead, they’ll play Big East rival Syracuse one last time.

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