http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wire/chi-ap-bkc-marquette-roadtr,0,6286224.story
Marquette to start practice with road trip
By DAVE DE GRACE | Associated Press Writer
3:10 PM CDT, October 16, 2008
MILWAUKEE - Most college basketball teams will start practice Friday with Midnight Madness events on their campuses. The Marquette Golden Eagles are doing something totally different -- they're taking their show on the road.
With the school's midsemester break this weekend, new coach Buzz Williams is taking his troops to Chicago, home to many of the Milwaukee university's students and alumni.
Troops is an appropriate word, because Williams just got done putting his players through a weeklong boot camp with grueling twice-a-day workouts.
All 13 players on the roster participated in the sessions, and if one went over the time limit, no one on the team received credit for completing that segment.
"I actually forgot what it was like to play basketball because of all the conditioning we had to do," senior guard Dominic James said Thursday at Marquette's annual Media Day at the Al McGuire Center. "Now we're looking forward to getting away together as a team -- and no school either -- so it doesn't get any better than that."
Senior guard Wesley Matthews is still hurting from the Williams' drills.
"I think he wanted us to bond, but he could've gone about it in a different way," Matthews said with a laugh. "This trip will be on more of a basketball level like a true road trip, so it'll be up to us to perform."
The player most looking forward to the retreat is senior guard Jerel McNeal, a Chicago native.
"I'm the most excited because we'll be right down on Michigan Avenue," said McNeal. "Hopefully I'll get a chance to show off my hometown."
After a dinner with boosters Thursday night at the Shedd Aquarium, the team will visit a Special Olympics group Friday morning. Then it's three days of practice at the University of Chicago.
"We're calling it training camp because it just sounds a little better," said Williams, who took over when Tom Crean left for Indiana on April Fools Day. "Anytime you can do these types of things on the road, your growth curve is at a much faster rate. It's time for us to do something new."
I am getting so excited for this season to begin!!!!!
GO MARQUETTE
More from the Trib:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-17-marquette-basketballoct17,0,1288096.story
Marquette coach Buzz Williams goes by own clock
Marquette coach works by the minute
By Shannon Ryan | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 17, 2008
MILWAUKEE — Buzz Williams' schedule is promptly irregular.
Marquette players quizzically glanced at each other when their new coach instructed them to show up for "boot camp" at 6:13 a.m. one day and 5:58 a.m. another. Study halls can start at 8:12 p.m. or 8:13 p.m. or 7:55 p.m.
Williams' accessories do not include a watch, but his internal alarm is more accurate than the world clock.
"He'll say, 'Give me three minutes,' and you think, 'OK, three minutes means 15 for a normal college basketball coach,' " senior guard Jerel McNeal said. "But we've timed him, and he's usually right on the money with it."
Timing could not be more significant to the Golden Eagles this season.
They return all three of their faces-of-the-program senior guards, all four-year starters.
McNeal, a top defender, Dominic James, a former Big East rookie of the year, and Wesley Matthews, a dependable cog, have their sights set on conference and national championships.
They were seconds away from advancing to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 before Stanford's Brook Lopez made a lean-in shot to end their season in a second-round tournament game last March.
Tom Crean, the coach who recruited them, left Marquette for Indiana, and the proven veterans must learn to work under the unproven coach.
Williams was an assistant under Crean last season and before that had just one year of head-coaching experience at New Orleans. Players admire his blue-collar ascent through the coaching ranks and call him "relatable."
"It hasn't been much of an adjustment," James said. "He's aware of the [type of] players we are. ... He's a coach who trusts his guys."
Williams is as unique as his practice times.
He knew Thursday was his 191st day on the job.
Monthly, he takes home what has become known as "love letter boxes" filled with notes from young coaches who know how persistent Williams was writing Division I coaches looking for a break. He answers every one.
As he speaks in his Texas twang, he sips on iced tea.
He tested players in the early "boot camp" sessions, which led up to the first official practices. Their last boot camp came at 8:09 a.m. Tuesday, Williams said.
McNeal considered it a success because no one vomited. He heard players did that in New Orleans.
No one was late either. How could they be after hearing the tale of a tardy New Orleans point guard who was forced to run nearly a marathon on game day?
There is a rationale for his penchant for punctuality.
"Every minute in a game counts," Williams said. "Every minute in our life counts."
While Williams has inherited a team full of talented guards, the Eagles are devoid of a true big man. They lost 6-foot-10-inch center Ousmane Barro and 6-9 forward Dan Fitzgerald to graduation and 6-7 forward Trevor Mbawke to an unexpected transfer.
Marquette's most experienced post players are 6-8 Dwight Burke and 6-6 Lazar Hayward.
Don't be surprised to see five guards on the floor.
"Is that the right way to play?" Williams said. "It's the right way for this team