Marquette, MI

My first time in Marquette, MI, the largest city in the UP of Michigan.

What a fun city and great people. A couple nice golf courses as well. Right on mighty Lake Superior. A lot of history and historic buildings.

Glad to be here in August and not January.

Rick Majerus Passes Away at 64

Rick Majerus, who had only one losing record in 25 seasons of coaching college basketball, has died. He was 64.

Majerus had a history of heart problems and said last month that he would not be returning to Saint Louis University because of his cardiac condition.

John Huntsman, a longtime friend of Majerus, confirmed in a statement that Majerus died of heart failure in a Los Angeles hospital.

Majerus had an overall record of 517-216 at four colleges, including a stellar 323-95 mark at Utah from 1989-2004. In five seasons at Saint Louis the Billikens were 95-69. He began his career at Marquette, his alma mater, in 1983 and also coached at Ball State from 1987-89.

As someone that grew up on the outskirts of Milwaukee, I'll always remember Majerus as the colorful coach of Marquette back in the early 1980s. 

He was a coach that was always had a great quote or two.  My favorite was after a big win at Louisville when he was at Marquttee and in th postgame news conferece he was so ecited, he said he was "going to eat every rib in Lousiville."

He probably did.

Friday NCAA Sweet 16 Play of the Day

Marquette

Getting 4.5 points from North Carolina makes Marquette the play tonight in NCAA Sweet 16 action.

Marquette has come on late in the season as they are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall, and against ACC foes they are 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games.

The Tar Heels are 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 games as a favorite and other than Long Island, they aren't blowing teams out.

Look for Marquette to keep it close and cover.

Here are my predictions for the other three games tonight:

Take Richmond +10.5 vs. Kansas

Take Ohio St. -6 vs. Kentucky

and

Take VCU +4 vs. Florida St.

Good Luck!