New York Times-At Marquette, Grit Trumps Stars

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March 24, 2011
Marquette's Formula: Grit Trumps Star Power
By MARK VIERA
NEWARK — Buzz Williams and the Jukes are an unlikely act to ascend the stage in the second week of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Marquette was the last of a record 11 teams from the Big East to make the N.C.A.A. tournament field of 68. Then, as all but one of their conference counterparts fell, the Golden Eagles continued to advance in the East Region, perhaps the most top-heavy and tradition-rich quadrant of the bracket. And now they are in the Round of 16 for the first time since 2003.

Led by a quirky coach in Williams and five junior college transfers he affectionately calls the Jukes, 11th-seeded Marquette is the outlier here alongside blue-chip programs like Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio State, the top overall seed.

"I think all of us being from juco, it makes us work harder," said the swingman Jimmy Butler, who played at Tyler Junior College in Texas. "It was a notch in our belt going to juco, a bump in the road. But it got us to the place where we want to be."

As they prepared to face North Carolina on Friday, the Golden Eagles find themselves in the unlikely position of having to prop up the Big East, supposedly the nation's top conference, after its dreadful opening week. Connecticut is the league's other remaining team.

Still, despite making its sixth straight tournament trip, Marquette lacks the sustained history of the blue bloods remaining in its region. It has one national title, which came against Dean Smith's Tar Heels in 1977. Its only other Final Four appearance since then came eight years ago, thanks largely to a talented guard named Dwyane Wade.

In their third season under the tough-minded Williams, the Golden Eagles have reached this point with a different identity, one that compensates for star power with grit.

"I'm not very good on this side of the railroad tracks," Williams said. "But I get along pretty well with the people on the other side. That's kind of the collection of guys that we have. I'm very similar to those guys we have. I'm just an older version."

Marquette's top four scorers — guard Darius Johnson-Odom, forward Jae Crowder, guard Dwight Buycks and Butler — all started at junior or community colleges. The fifth transfer is forward Joseph Fulce. None have forgotten where they came from. Buycks said he remembered playing one-on-one games with a teammate at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, until the gymnasium's security guard called the coach to ask if Buycks should be sent home. Crowder remembered eating McDonald's for pregame meals while at Howard College in Big Spring, Tex.

"This isn't your normal path to the Sweet 16," Tyler Junior College's Mike Marquis, who coached Butler and Fulce, said in a telephone interview. "But what a rewarding path. They had to go through the long bus trips and things and learn to adapt."

Williams is a fiery 38-year-old with a shaved head and a penchant for quoting philosophers and chewing tobacco.

Like some of his players, Williams came from humble beginnings, having been a student assistant at Navarro College in Corsicana, Tex., from 1990 to 1992. The junior college transfers have a kinship with Williams because of his route to Marquette.

"Unless you've been there, you really don't know what it's like to be on the juco level," Crowder said. "When you have a coach who can relate to that, you put your all into that. That's why we go out and fight every night."

And so Buzz Williams and the Jukes, who are not yet ready for their curtain call, are improbably still hoping for a spot in the biggest gig of them all: the Final Four.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/sports/ncaabasketball/25williams.html?_r=1&sq=Marquette&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=print