Enjoy this Run

[nycwarrior]

Because this kind of post-season comes around once a decade or so.

I think we're on the right track for the first time in a long time. And I think we're on that track because of our current coach and his predecessor who together have given the program a stability not seen since the 70s.

Maybe this isn't news to anyone but me but I was a bit surprised when I actually looked back through the our post-Al post-season record. Our proud program had longer dry spots than I chose to remember.

Like most, I knew off hand that KO rode - Mac, Key, Miller and company over Kentucky and into the Sweet 16 in 1994. Those were my days at MU and they were a blast. At the start of KO's run, the team wasn't great but we had T Smith for a year and it was clear that help was on the way and things were getting better.

And, of course, we all remember the glorious path to New Orleans with DWade and crew in 2003.

And now this year's run.

But, somehow, I'd always imagined that there were more tourney runs between the Al years and now. However when I took a non-exhaustive and unscientific look at the Wiki, it seemed that Hank's 1979 team was the only other MU team to make it to the Sweet 16.

Here are the results:

Hank
1978 - NCAA first round loss
1979 - NCAA 3 Seed, lost to DePaul in Sweet 16
1980 - 10th straight NCAA bid, lose in 1st round
1981 - NIT 1st round loss
1982 - NCAA lost in second round
1983 - NCAA lost in first round

Majerus
1984 - NIT lost in second round
1985 - NIT won 2 and lost to Indiana in 2OT
1986 - NIT 1-1

Dukiet
1987 - NIT first round loss
1988 - No post-season after 10 - 18
1989 - No post season after 13-15

O'Neill
1990 - NIT 15-14
1991 - No post-season 11-18 after Tony Smith
1992 - No post-season 16-13
1993 - NCAA 20 - 8, first round loss to Big Country
1994 - NCAA Sweet 16, Great Midwest Reg Season Champs

Deane
1995 - NIT Runners-up (with 5 KO 1000pt scorers)
1996 - NCAA second round (beat Monmouth, lost to Arkansas)
1997 - NCAA first round loss to Providence after great CUSA championship run
1998 - NIT - won 2 and lost to the GO-FERS
1999 - No Post-season. KO's recruits gone. Bye bye Deane

Crean
2000 - 15-13 - 33-yr-old Tan Tom takes over the Brian Wardle show
2001 - 15-14 - RPI 114
2002 - NCAA - 26-7 Great Alaska wake-up call to 16-0 at home, etc.
2003 - FINAL FOUR
2004 - 19-12 NIT-WIT
2005 - NIT - lost by 14 to Western Michigan, final RPI 89
2006 - NCAA - First season in Big East; round loss to Alabama
2007 - NCAA - First rounds spanking by MSU
2008 - NCAA - Beat Kentucky, lose to Sideshow Bob Twins

Buzz
2009 - NCAA with Big Three squeak by Utah St and Lose to Mizzou
2010 - NCAA heart breaking loss to Huskies in the first round
2011 - Sweet 16 and counting


I just always assumed that, while the late 70s talent pipeline was still strong, we had made a couple more decent runs. But we didn't. Hank took us to the Sweet 16 in '79. And we had a single win in '82. But that was the only NCAA joy between Al and KO.

Everyone knows the Dukiet Era was the darkest of days but, looking back, Majerus' record at MU wasn't what it would later be at Utah.

In the 34 years since that magic year of 1977, this is our fourth Sweet 16.

When I look at the final records it really reminded me of how amazing KO's turn-around was (when I was in school). KO certainly had (and has) his faults but it's hard to argue that we didn't get much, much better during his tenure. I can't help but wonder if a turn-around of that magnitude could have happened without an atypical crop of Wisco talent in Key, Mack and Rob all just happening to be in the same class (the original 3 amigos).

Also made me a grateful for the way Cords and The Tanned One parlayed the Final Four into facilities and Big East membership. Looking  back on the lean years it seems pretty clear that after winning with Al, MU might have believed (as Majerus has said) that it didn't need to keep up with modern facilities and conference affiliations (thus the dark years). The logic being that Al hadn't needed that stuff.

Also made me appreciate what Buzz had been able to do to maintain our post-Three-Amigos status as not only a tournament-going squad but as one that can be dangerous in March.

I know the popular debate is Crean vs Buzz but I can't help but think that, given our history, if it isn't more important to consider how important it is to transition from one period of success to the next. After all, look what happens when we let things slide.

It makes me think that if we can hang onto Buzz and keep this NCAA streak alive that maybe, just maybe, we can reclaim Gonzaga-like consistency.

[Goose]

Great post. Enjoy the run is right!!

[brewcity77]

Agreed, nyc. I'm hoping maybe there's some brew karma in this. I was born, a month later, Marquette won the national championship. I enrolled at Marquette, a year later we went to the Final Four. This year, I got season tickets...come on, Warriors, let's get to Houston!

[reinko]

You take your well-reasoned, positive, data-supported, prose off our message board.  How dare you, write a post where you would actually think a college graduate wrote it.

[MarquetteDano]

Great post and hilarious reference to the "Side Show Bob" Twins.  LOL.

[jsglow]

Great work.  I remember that game against Big Country.  And I think back to my years in school.  The expectation was that we make the NCAA.  We made it 3 out of 4 years under Rivers.  But the program collpased pretty quickly after that.  Of course it is well documented that we haven't done 6 straight NCAAs since that run ended after the 1980 season.

Every reason to think that we'll be even more competitive next year in conference with another trip and some success at the dance expected.

[DCWarriors04]

Personally, I think Buzz will be around for a very long time...and with Buzz will come many great years of consistent MU basketball and trips to the Big Dance.

Let's enjoy this ride because it's going to hopefully be the first of many.

[Jay Bee]

Amazing how times have changed.  Or maybe I was just really deprived. 

Senior year of high school... of course I was following Marquette's season and the game against Big Country was during a school day.  I don't know what the hell I called, but I remember during a break between classes running to a payphone and calling a phone number with a recording that was a sports update.. and listening to the final score and yelling bad words before running to my next class.  An Iphone would have come in handy that day.

[mviale]

Amazing how times have changed.  Or maybe I was just really deprived. 

Senior year of high school... of course I was following Marquette's season and the game against Big Country was during a school day.  I don't know what the hell I called, but I remember during a break between classes running to a payphone and calling a phone number with a recording that was a sports update.. and listening to the final score and yelling bad words before running to my next class.  An Iphone would have come in handy that day.

I remember those pay phones and calling for sports updates...

[HouWarrior]

Well said. Exactly.

With the Packer champ teams, the Bucks NBA, MU's NIt, and 2  Final 4's all occurring in my youth, I had no idea, how rare and special these things are. As a sports fan then, I didnt know I was spoiled rotten. I know that now.

So, When the Rockets won NBA in 94 and 95, I strongly reminded my nephews to remember/cherish  this time,and the parades/rallies  as special, because it may be a while to recur. Last summer, they thanked me for that, 15 years later, as they havent seen any champs here, since.

I really hope for the under 50 posters here that they revel in this week, and that, agaist the odds, MU keeps it going further (1977 and 2011--sounds pretty good!!)

. Just one championship can keep you going a lifetime, just one or two great runs can last you a decade, or more.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Thanks for the post. I was a freshman in 1977 - didn't know how rare that kind of tourney success would be over the decades.

[AlienWarrior]

I agree that we should embrace this run and we know we can compete with ANY team in the country. There are similarities with this and the '77 team, both tough teams that can defend, both lost games at the end of the season, both barely made it in the Tourny. Whitehead was not great but could plug up the middle like Otule. Am I getting carried away?

[ChicosBailBonds]

I remember those pay phones and calling for sports updates...

You used to be able to call on the phone and actually hear the play by play of the game in the 1980's and early 1990's.  Then the crazy internets came along.

[HouWarrior]

I agree that we should embrace this run and we know we can compete with ANY team in the country. There are similarities with this and the '77 team, both tough teams that can defend, both lost games at the end of the season, both barely made it in the Tourny. Whitehead was not great but could plug up the middle like Otule. Am I getting carried away?

Your Whitehead/Otule comparison may hint of hyperbole, as Jerome played in NBA for 11 years, Otule not so much-lol. Doesnt mean we arent all still hoping tho.

[AlienWarrior]

[

[ChicosBailBonds]

Am I getting carried away?

A touch...but enjoy it.  That team had several guys that played in the NBA.  I don't think anyone on this current MU roster is going to the association, but you never know.

[AlienWarrior]

That's right you never know. I was comparing the season similarities more than the individual players.

[ChicosBailBonds]

That's right you never know. I was comparing the season similarities more than the individual players.

That season Al also announced he was leaving MU and it sent the team into a tailspin. 

[mikem91288]

Thanks for posting. I will definitely say this, my fellow students do not realize how big of a deal this is. Our 4th Sweet 16 since that magical run in '77. What a great way for my friends and I to cap off our time at MU. I wish I had the coin to go to Newark this weekend....