Sure, Marquette had just won its fifth straight game on Saturday, another stomach-acid affair against suddenly relevant South Florida, which had a recent habit of beating the best teams in the nation.
And yes, it was the latest in a string of must-win adventures for the Eagles, who walk a razor-thin line with regards to an NCAA Tournament berth.
But I wanted to know about the truly important story at Marquette. I wanted the answer to the question that’s on the mind of every Eagles fan in America, if not the whole collegiate basketball world.
Why, pray tell, does the once-willfully bald Buzz Williams suddenly have hair?
College players are usually known for making their coaches’ hair fall out, not grow in better. So was this some strange reaction to a new shampoo? Or Buzz angling for a lucrative Propecia endorsement? Because these days, the man’s mane is approaching Punxatawney Polamalu proportions. Relatively speaking, of course. And here’s Saturday’s photographic evidence.
So after my media colleagues asked the mundane, less-relevant questions – you know, about such trivial stuff as Lazar Hayward ascending to seventh on Marquette’s all-time scoring list, or the team’s stifling defense against Dominique Jones, the country’s leading scorer since Christmas – I asked Buzz what’s up with the hair.
He answered with a story. Of course he did. Because Buzz tells the best stories this side of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
It was after the Jan. 23 Syracuse game. “They blew us out at Syracuse. They beat us by five,” Buzz recalled, a reference to the amazingly tight games Marquette has played in the Big East, where its five losses have come by a combined 11 points. “We went through a stretch in the second half where we were not us.
“That’s one of the things that we talk about every day in practice, every day off the floor,” he continued. “Marquette men’s basketball is not for everybody. We don’t need anybody, but we need everybody.”
Remember, this is a basketball squad that’s almost always outsized and can rarely rely on pure natural talent to win games. For the Eagles to find success, they have to be a better team in every sense of the word. When your games are as closely contested as Marquette’s, little mistakes become big ones in a hurry.
So on the airplane after the Syracuse game, Williams had a message for his players.
“I’m not sure why you guys are forgetting that we have to be us every single possession. So what we’re gonna do is, you guys can’t cut your hair, and I can’t cut my hair, and hopefully we’ll grow enough hair that it will be enough protection for your brain to not forget.”
Ah yes, the Chia Pet Cranium Care approach. I believe Red Auerbach tried it before settling on that whole victory cigar shtick.
But here’s the thing, folks. Since stepping off that plane and ceasing the shearing, the Eagles have won every time they’ve stepped on the court.
“And we’ve been us a lot better,” Buzz said. “And it’s not because of the hair. But I’ll grow my hair down as long as it needs to go.”
I don’t know, Buzz. The math seems pretty straightforward to me… you’ve stopped losing hair, you’ve stopped losing games, right?
Told you it was important stuff.
Think Pink
Marquette’s women’s hoopsters often fly under the radar around here, but there’s good reason for that to change this week. Terri Mitchell’s club hosts its fifth annual Pink Out game on Saturday at 1 p.m., when DePaul visits the Al McGuire Center.
Marquette has plenty of activities centered around the game, and full details can be found here. It’s all part of a nationwide drive – the Pink Zone initiative of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association – and money raised will go to fight breast cancer. That’s a cause particularly close to those in Marquette’s program.
It was the 2007-08 season, and Marquette would win the WNIT tourney, the first major championship for the women’s program. Erin Monfre, then a junior, played a key role in the accomplishment, hitting five 3-pointers in the title game. She did so just three months after losing her mother to breast cancer.
Monfre has moved on from Marquette – she’s now now a high school coach in Kentucky – but the Monfres remains involved in the fight against breast cancer. Her dad, Gary Monfre, owns Milwaukee Sporting Goods, and the company has created a special dry erase board for coaches across the country to use during Pink Zone games. Funds raised from selling the board will go toward local and national breast cancer organizations.
Be Prepared
The Milwaukee Wave – which raised $10,000 for breast cancer in Saturday’s Go Pink! game, a 5-4 win over Rockford – is celebrating the Boy Scouts of America on Sunday.
Prior to the 4 p.m. game against Philadelphia, Wave fans can enjoy the World’s Longest Pinewood Derby, a tribute to the traditional scouting race. Small, nonmotorized cars will race on a track that runs from the upper deck of U.S. Cellular Arena all the way down to and across the Wave’s playing field. And it will look a lot like this.
Fans can race their own cars starting at 10 a.m., but should preregister by calling 414-908-6346. The Wave is also running a celebrity division at noon. Cars representing area personalities will run against each other: Brett Favre vs. Aaron Rodgers, Prince Fielder vs. Ryan Braun, BoDean Kurt Neumann vs. BoDean Sammy Llanas, and many others. They’re even pitting yours truly against Journal Sentinel Wave beat writer Dave Boehler. Milwaukee Magazine vs. the JS? Apparently the Wave reads Bruce Murphy’s column.
Blog of the Week
Can’t get enough about Marquette? Neither can the folks at CrackedSidwalks.com.
Al McGuire aficionados will immediately recognize why a Marquette blog would be so named. But for the uninitiated, the explanation is found in a McGuire quote right at the top of the blog: “My rule was I wouldn’t recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That’s not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk.”
And the Cracked Sidwalks gang’s world is painted blue and gold. Game coverage, commentary, statistical analysis, recruiting stuff… if it pertains to Marquette hoops, you’ll find it here.
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Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And tune in every Tuesday morning at 6:30 when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault.
