But, being an ever-eternal optimist, I came away from watching the spanking Marquette took from the Huskies on Sunday with a somewhat more positive outlook than I had before watching the spanking Marquette took from the Cardinals on Thursday night.,”I'm guessing not too many Marquette basketball fans came away from this weekend encouraged by the performance of their team.

The Golden Eagles lost. Badly. Twice.

Actually, "lost" may not be the most appropriate term to use in this case. "Lost" implies that at some point Marquette held possession of something valuable—say, a lead—and then gave it away. In fact, the Golden Eagles led for a whopping 46 seconds against Louisville and for a whopping zero seconds against Connecticut.

But, being an ever-eternal optimist, I came away from watching the spanking Marquette took from the Huskies on Sunday with a somewhat more positive outlook than I had before watching the spanking Marquette took from the Cardinals on Thursday night.

Squaring off against Connecticut's 7-foot-3 center, Hasheem Thabeet, at the tip-off of Sunday's game was not junior forward Dwight Burke, nor was it senior forward Ousmane Barro. Instead, head coach Tom Crean elected to go with 6-foot-9 senior forward Dan Fitzgerald.

I was thrilled. Not because I thought Fitzgerald stood a chance of winning the tip. Not because I thought Fitzgerald deserved a spot in the starting lineup. And certainly not because I thought Fitzgerald was the answer to Marquette's woes at the 5-spot.

No, I was thrilled simply because Crean was trying something new with the starting lineup. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching Burke amble around the court for the first two or so minutes of each game before being subbed out as much as the next guy, but I was hoping a change was coming.

While he showed signs of vast improvement earlier this season, Burke has struggled mightily as of late. He has not scored since he registered a point (singular) Jan. 8 against Seton Hall. Though Burke has started 14 of Marquette's 17 games this season, he averages almost four minutes per game less than Barro, who has cracked the starting lineup just once.

So when Fitzgerald trotted out to centercourt, I took it as a sign that Crean finally was taking his team for what it is —a squad of run-and-gunners. There's no use in pretending the Golden Eagles have a post presence. It simply doesn't exist.

"If we're not getting guard rebounds, we're not going to be nearly as good," Crean told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the Connecticut game. "That, again, is the big part of it."

He's exactly right. That is a big part of it. If you're going to rely on your guards for rebounds anyway, why not put more of them out on the floor?

For part of the final four minutes of Sunday's game, the Golden Eagles went with a five-guard lineup consisting of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews, David Cubillan and Maurice Acker. I'm not suggesting that towering fivesome should be the starting lineup, but it does play to the team's strengths unlike any other unit the Golden Eagles could offer.

Ideally, Marquette would have some balance in its lineup, some talented post play to match its talented guard play. The best teams in the country—Kansas, Memphis, Duke, North Carolina—do.

Since that's not going to happen, the Golden Eagles might as well stick with what they do best. Playing with a small lineup—such as the one Marquette started with against the Huskies—won't always work out, but it gives the team its best chance to win.

If that means there will be long stretches of games where Lazar Hayward (6-foot-6) is the tallest Marquette player on the court, so be it. At least we'll be seeing the Golden Eagles for what they really are.

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