Once upon a time, there was no hope for Marquette’s men’s basketball team. And that time was about three months ago.
Yes, back in October, hope was a commodity traded among many teams, athletic or otherwise. Maybe you hoped the Packers would beat Brett Favre. Maybe you hoped Team Conan would stave off Darth Leno.
But Marquette? Sorry. Hope left town last spring with one of the best senior classes Marquette had ever known. The best the Golden Eagles could do this year, said the masses, was look toward tomorrow and try to not embarrass themselves today.
Nationally, you’d sooner find the likes of Northern Iowa and Creighton picked to reach the NCAA Tournament. And some prognosticators, like collegehoops.net, barely considered the Eagles an NIT candidate. Regionally, both the Big East media and coaches pegged Marquette as only the conference’s 12th-best team.
And locally, some folks were downright brutal. Nobody will confuse Mark Belling with a sportscaster, but that didn’t stop him from unloading with both barrels on coach Buzz Williams and his program just before the season. With comments preserved on the fine Marquette blog Cracked Sidewalks, Belling caused a minor firestorm among some Marquette faithful. He didn’t just say Marquette would be terrible this season, but reportedly declared, “The program is imploding under Williams,” and called the coach a wrecking crew.
So no, don’t expect Belling to tout Buzz for coach of the year.
Truth is, though few went as far as Belling with their criticism, even fewer expected much from the Eagles this season.
There was a good reason for that. Actually, there were three of them: Wes Matthews, Dominic James and Jerel McNeal. Three of the top eight scorers in school history were gone, and folks simply believed that Marquette’s heart and soul had left with them.
As for the guys left behind, well, at least they earned the right to play the “nobody believes in us” card.
“If anything,” Maurice Acker told me at Marquette’s media day, “it motivates us to get in the gym, work extra hard – extra hard – so we can prove those doubters wrong once the season comes.”
And how could the Eagles do that?
“Just by winning,” was Lazar Hayward’s media day response. “Being young doesn’t mean you can’t win games. You do the right things, you’re in the right spots, you play defense, you be tough, usually you win games.”
That’s what you expect kids to say before the season starts. But who expects them to back it up with a 30-point win?
That’s what the Eagles did against Providence on Sunday. Williams said Marquette’s 93-63 frying of the Friars was his team’s best performance. So good timing by the fan with the “Who needs Brett? We’ve got Buzz” sign.
Yes, for a team that was supposed to stink, the Eagles sure have been coming up roses. There’s the signature victory over Georgetown and other notable wins against Xavier and Michigan. And the Big East defeats have almost been as impressive – two top 10 teams, three losses, five total points.
It’s certainly been enough to raise Marquette’s national profile. The Eagles aren’t ranked, but they’re receiving top 25 votes. And those who make a living out of making NCAA Tournament projections are paying attention, too. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Eagles on the brink of his bracket.
No, this is not a terrible team, and the program is far from imploding.
There’s plenty of credit to go around, from holdovers like Hayward, Acker and Jimmy Butler to the fresher faces of Darius Johnson-Odom and Bay View product Dwight Buycks. But none of it happens without the steady stream of strategy and enthusiasm that flows from Williams. A lot of programs would beg to experience his brand of “wrecking crew.”
Through significant injuries to Junior Cadougan and Chris Otule, not to mention Jeronne Maymon’s midseason (and rather selfish) defection, Williams hasn’t just maintained a cohesive team, but created a dangerous one. No team in the nation shoots 3-pointers better than Marquette. Few are as quick, especially on the perimeter, which must be eternally frustrating for opponents. The weakness, as always, is Marquette’s size disadvantage, but the Eagles sure do yeoman’s work in covering up for it.
And in a year in which knowledgeable fans wouldn’t begrudge the Eagles for taking a step backwards, somehow they continue to forge ahead.
So I gave Buzz a chance to gloat. I asked if we’ve reached the point of saying Marquette was underrated heading into the season? But he demurred.
“I don’t think so,” Williams said Sunday, and he proceeded to note that the Eagles have things to prove on the road. Unless that happens, “then what the coaches and the media predicted will probably come true. We’ll probably finish in 12th.”
But competition-wise, Marquette looks to be through the toughest stretch of its schedule. If the Eagles play the last half of the season as well as they’ve played the first, the NCAAs should come calling. So I wouldn’t put much stock in those media predictions, coach.
Sometimes we say goofy things.
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