Marquette "What Ifs"

[MUfan12]

Lot of interesting stuff in this that I hadn't heard before. Why did Hutch go to was with Deane? Did Harris think he was just joking around?

Devin was a total prick back then.

I forget why Hutch and Deane butted heads, it's too bad. That team had some talent.

[JWags85]

Devin was a total prick back then.

Ive mentioned before that Harris, as I want to say a sophomore at UW, threatened to "beat my a**", all 5'7 of my 16 year old self, for bumping into him as he was rushing out of a bathroom at my HS during a playoff VB game and saying "easy man".  Him being a totally arrogant douche during his visit is the least surprising thing ever.

[Scoop Snoop]

What if the "new" BE was never formed? Scary thought, huh?

What if we had gotten Bennet instead of Buzz?

[bilsu]

My first thought was Jim Chones.

However, the biggest what if has to be: Hank Raymond's not turning down the invite to join the Big East.
The decision to remain an independent in hind site was a terrible decision.

[jesmu84]

What if we find out what happened with Quentin Grimes?

[Uncle Rico]

What if we find out what happened with Quentin Grimes?

Ask Herm, he was there for his official visit

[MUdmb]

My dark horse "what if" is Ladaryl Billingsley not backing out and going to Tulane.  Would have been a massive improvement of talent around Wardle, who knows if that would have prevented Crean and his era.  However in the moment it was a pretty big blow to the program.

[Billy Hoyle]

My first thought was Jim Chones.

However, the biggest what if has to be: Hank Raymond's not turning down the invite to join the Big East.
The decision to remain an independent in hind site was a terrible decision.

Is this legit or an urban legend? Holy Cross was invited and turned them down. Nova was invited in their place. Penn State was rejected for membership in 1982 but Pitt accepted. I haven't seen anything to indicate MU was ever invited, especially considering it was the late 70's and every team could bus within the conference footprint.

[Lennys Tap]

What if Joey had picked Michigan State in the first damn place?

What if? Not a whole lot would change.

The 2018-19 team wouldn’t have been as good as it was and would have been rolled in the tournament’s first round by a different, higher seeded team than Murray St. Wojo would have been fired the same time he was fired and people who care about Marquette basketball would breath a collective sigh of relief.

[Billy Hoyle]

Is this legit or an urban legend? Holy Cross was invited and turned them down. Nova was invited in their place. Penn State was rejected for membership in 1982 but Pitt accepted. I haven't seen anything to indicate MU was ever invited, especially considering it was the late 70's and every team could bus to league games within the conference footprint.

[NolongerWarriors]

what if Devin Harris hadn't spent his entire OV talking s--t about Travis and other members of the team and Crean didn't pull his offer at the request of the team? Harris, Diener, and Novak would have been one hell of a big three.

What if Hutch doesn't get injured then go to war with Deane in 1998 after we'd started 10-0? Does a third NCAA tourney get Deane more leeway and does LeDarryl Billingsley not renege on his verbal?

Ooooh, the Harris comment is spot on.

I know a girl he dated in HS and he was the biggest a$$hole, and it caused a rift between her and her parents that's lasted to this day.  Just a horrible person.

[MUDPT]

If James Breeding would have had the intestinal fortitude to eject Myles Powell in the first half for his Flagrant 1?

[muwarrior69]

What if MU kept football would we be a P5 school?

[We R Final Four]

What if everybody stayed for post game on Senior Day? Would scoopers bitch about something else…..

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

What if MU kept football would we be a P5 school?

Not a chance.

[mug644]

What if everybody stayed for post game on Senior Day? Would scoopers bitch about something else…..

It's the one home game I get to most years. I love celebrating and honoring the seniors (and hanging with my old MU crew). I prefer the post-game ceremony and always stayed throughout. Pre-game ceremonies suck.

[We R Final Four]

What if Joe Wolf stayed in state?

[79Warrior]

Denny Crum that is always my biggest what if.

What if Dwayne Johnson stayed academically eligible and we made the tournament , that has a sub element of  What  if we kept Rick

Denny Crum is urban legend. He was very successful at UL at the time. It was Hanks job from day 1.

[MU82]

What if? Not a whole lot would change.

The 2018-19 team wouldn’t have been as good as it was and would have been rolled in the tournament’s first round by a different, higher seeded team than Murray St. Wojo would have been fired the same time he was fired and people who care about Marquette basketball would breath a collective sigh of relief.

You very well might be right about all of this.

I still wish that Joey had gone where he actually wanted to go from the beginning, and that Sam had played all 4 years of his fine college career for my alma mater.

[DFW HOYA]

What if Marquette had never dropped football and was playing a major college schedule at American Family Field?

Conference-wise, MU would probably be in the AAC along the lines of a Cincinnati, who plays at Notre Dame this week. So what would that have meant (favorable or unfavorable) for basketball?

[Galway Eagle]

What if? Not a whole lot would change.

The 2018-19 team wouldn’t have been as good as it was and would have been rolled in the tournament’s first round by a different, higher seeded team than Murray St. Wojo would have been fired the same time he was fired and people who care about Marquette basketball would breath a collective sigh of relief.

I disagree. You're absolutely right about the 18-19 team not being as good, however I think it's not necessarily a given they get rolled in the first round. The tournaments all about matchups and so that's never a given.

The 19-20 team would've been exponentially better than we got though.

[Viper]

What if Marquette had never dropped football and was playing a major college schedule at American Family Field?

Conference-wise, MU would probably be in the AAC along the lines of a Cincinnati, who plays at Notre Dame this week. So what would that have meant (favorable or unfavorable) for basketball?

hindsight is 20/20 but MU shoulda found a way to keep football. Even if we were playing today at the level of Gtown, Nova, StJ, Dayton, I’d think we all would take it.  And who knows…would anyone have thought UW would have the run they’ve had considering their decades of suck? btw, a what-if…supposedly MU was on Patrick Ewing’s final 3.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

F football. Glad we dumped it

[Herman Cain]

My original post that goes this rolling , was what if Gabe Levin stayed and played with Henry and Luke. That would have beenh one heckuva of a productive front line. Gabe improved significantly his last two years. 

[dgies9156]

Top few "What Ifs" in My Lifetime with thoughts:

1) What If.... Ric Cobb had hit both free throws with one second left in the 1969 Mideast Regional Final against Purdue?
Easy, we would have gone to the Final Four for the first time. Al likely would have been a legend even earlier and we would have been poised for a 10 year run as a Final Four participant. The emotional impact of Rick Mount 20 foot jumper in overtime to beat us by two was significant.

2) What if... Marquette had not been penalized for playing basketball while being African American in Georgia in 1971?
Probably would have gone to the Final Four. That team was loaded. But the Ohio State game in Athens, Georgia was the only one in his career where Dean Meminger fouled out.

3) What if... Jim Chones stayed for the entire year?
We would have been national champions in 1972.

4) What if ... Neither Larry McNeill or Jim Chones would have turned pro?
We probably would have had a three year run as national champions. In 1973, we would have had a front line of Chones, McNeill and a young Maurice Lucas.

5) What if ... Al had not picked up two technicals in the national championship game against North Carolina State?
Nothing, we probably would have lost that game anyway. David Thompson of NC State was Michael Jordan's equal. What drugs did to him was sad.

6) What if ... The NCAA had waited until after the Michigan game to decided whether Marquette would be invited to the 1977 championship tournament.
There would have been no 1977. We lost that game to Michigan at Crisler Arena. At that time, we were the team with one of the worst records ever invited to the NCAA.

7) What if ... Marquette had not been cheap and stupid when Al resigned?
We would have conducted a national search for Al's replacement. The often rumored Denny Crum story might have played out. Or, a relative unknown from the U.S. Military Academy, a guy named Coach K from the Bob Knight coaching tree, might have joined us. While there were no guarantees on any of this, we may well have found the next Al somewhere. Instead, we went with a guy we passed over in 1964.

8) What if ... Rick Majerus was ready when Marquette hired him?
Much of the 1980s and 1990s probably never would have happened. With a couple of recruiting wins here and there, Majerus would have taken us to the heights he took Utah -- and would have been with us until he retired or died.

9) What if .. We hadn't fired Wojo?
Chances are we would have held on to DJ Carton and Dawson Garcia for another year. The team would have been, on paper, one of the better teams in the Big East. But Wojo's coaching style would have left us a middle of the pack team and probably barely in the NCAA, where we would have lost our first game.

Interestingly enough, on Question 9, what if Wojo had acceded to demands to hire a bench coach who could put a spark in the Xs and Os and help design a more cohesive offense and defense? With a true Hank Raymonds type on the bench, Wojo might have started a run that would have built on recruiting success and led us to renewed prominence in college basketball. Unfortunately, the man was too stubborn at the wrong time.