http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/33951764.html
It should be a season of milestones for the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Dominic James is set to become the program's all-time leading scorer. Jerel McNeal likely will finish somewhere right behind James on the school's scoring list and set the steals record to boot. Wesley Matthews should wind up checking in around the top 15.
Yet as impressive as all that will be, there's really only one number that means much of anything to the trio these days: one, as in the number of NCAA tournament victories they've experienced.
While they've been at the heart of MU's basketball resurgence since the Golden Eagles' post-Final Four lull, they've nevertheless been unable, despite their many talents, to carry their team past the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Needless to say, James, McNeal and Matthews would trade all those statistics for one final, meaningful shot at March Madness. And while that's obviously not an option, making the absolute most out of their senior seasons in 2008-'09 certainly is.
"Obviously the highlight of our careers was coming in as freshmen, with the new conference, no expectations and getting a lot accomplished," James said recently. "We never sit down and discuss our individual accomplishments - ever. We just want to win. We've never been selfish players, worrying about ourselves.
"We just wanted to win and we know our legacy's going to depend on that, how deep we can get in the tournament."
The trio surpassed everyone's expectations in 2005-'06, leading the Golden Eagles to a fourth-place finish in the Big East. After losing to Alabama in the first round in San Diego, the belief was it was only the beginning. But 2006-'07 was closed by an embarrassing first-round loss to Michigan State in which the Golden Eagles were held scoreless for nearly the first 10 minutes.
The three finally helped MU break through this past March with a 74-66 victory over Kentucky in Anaheim, Calif. But then, just two days later, they were handed arguably their most bitter defeat to date when Brook Lopez's baseline prayer with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime was answered, allowing Stanford to escape with an 82-81 victory.
And just like that the Sweet 16, mere moments from reality, was ripped away.
"I've always been a winner. Whatever sport I was playing, whatever venue it was, whatever level," Matthews said. "Over the last three years we have one NCAA tournament victory. Yeah, we were one shot away from the Sweet 16. That's just glaring to me - all the success that we've had, and we have just one win to show for it.
"I want everything. I finished my high-school career on top, and that's how I want to go out here."
Getting to that point, however, will present all three with the biggest challenge they've faced yet. Because while they already have three years' experience dealing with a size disparity, MU's recent roster imbalance will be its most severe this season.
The Golden Eagles feature just three players standing 6 feet 7 inches or taller who could be considered true post players. And the most experienced of those, senior Dwight Burke, averaged 2.5 points and 2.9 rebounds last year - not great news for a team that plays in one of the most physical conferences in the country.
But true to form, none of the three will make excuses. Once again they'll take accountability, try to fill in the gaps and hope that coach Buzz Williams' method of speeding up the pace of play to maximize the number of possessions in the game will be enough to overcome the likes of Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, Louisville's Earl Clark and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody.
"Being undersized in most situations, everybody's going to have to step up and do a little bit more," said McNeal. "The bigs that we do have are going to have to play beyond what they're capable of playing in some situations.
"We can get caught up in the hype and the matchup problems that it creates for us, but at the same time it's a disadvantage for the other teams, too. At the end of the day they're going to have to keep up with us."
Will it all add up to that elusive post-season success? The next 4 ½ months or so will provide the answer.
"We're still on the road and trying to reach our goals," McNeal said. "It's easy for guys to sit around and talk about winning big, but once you get to this level you realize how difficult it actually is to make some of those dreams and goals come true."
Any one elese notice in the paper that the chart next to this article had McMorrow on the roster and not listed as a redshirt
that's because he's technically a transfer and is sitting out because of that.