Some persective from the Majerus/Dukiet years

[Da 'Lanche]

The only year we really had a chance at the tournament was when we had Walter Downing, Tom Copa, Kerry Trotter, Mandy Johnson and Pops Sims was a freshman.  We had a decent year and almost beat #1 North Carolina at home.   That was the only year in my tenure at MU that Marquette had a legitimate shot at the NCAA tournament and most pundits felt we got screwed that year by not getting in.   The rest, well, it was dismal and we celebrated a close NIT loss at Indiana.

My point and perspective is this.....to see the program come to this point....a not too distant final 4, joining the best hoops conference in the nation and being more than respectful, having top recruits looking and some signing at MU...and 6 straight NCAA tournament appearances (albeit some soul crushing losses), hell, I feel like ignoring all the negativity and just be thankful our program is where it is at.   That is not bowing to lower expectations....just an appreciation for where we have been and where we are (which is NOT the likes of a DePaul, Bradley, or Loyola which were all pretty good competitors in my day).

Go MU!

[tower912]

We were there at the same time.   Rod Grosse jumping center and then going out at the first dead ball never to return.   Watching us finish that NIT game with only 4 players after everybody else fouled out.  Worrying about beating Fordham and Niagara.  Faculty saying that maybe we should drop out of D1.   I still believe that UNC game was the turning point in that program for the deathspiral of the next 5 years.   

[ChicosBailBonds]

As Hank Raymonds said...."he's created a monster".  Expectations change with success.  Good or bad, that's the reality.  I had Dukiet and KO.  Terrible years.  When I worked there, Deane and Crean....NIT and NCAAs.

You get used to winning and that's why years like this where we are inconsistent, becomes frustrating at times. 

Last year, by contrast, was an enjoyable team to watch for most of the season.  This team is enjoyable, but infinitely more frustrating because they have more talent.

[Goose]

My years at MU as well. Great strides have been made and huge efforts moving forward to keep us at this level. I agree the UNC loss was start of the big downturn.

[The Lens]

I'm lucky, I went to school during KO and Deane, so we had 3 NCAAs and the one non NCAA year we were an NIT Runner Up.  Having grown up a MU fan though, I know that we went something like 25 years without 3 consecutive NCAA appearances so I will take 6 in a row, and not say one word, except for thanks.

Once you're in, anything can happen

[Norm]

Yes, as someone who attend MU for the last two years of Dukiet and the first two of O'Neill, I will take the 11 seed and enjoy watching the game on Friday. MU has come far since the days when Anthony Candelino played the point.

[Da 'Lanche]

Anthony Candelino and Joe Nethen getting it on in a bench-clearing brawl with Northwestern.   Both should have been playing at UW-Parkside.

N.D. also beat us all 4 years (both home and away) that I was at MU....at that time nobody really cared about UW.

Bring on the tourney...we are officially 0-0.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Hey! The goal was to make the NCAAs. We did it. I think we surprise Xavier with our defensive ferocity and jump out to a lead. I just hope we hold on to it.

[TJ]

Hey! The goal was to make the NCAAs. We did it. I think we surprise Xavier with our defensive ferocity and jump out to a lead. I just hope we hold on to it.

We never do.   

[Goose]

Murobrob---Parkside would have turned those guys down. Will say there era was entertaining if nothing else.

[Muhoops85]

Look at it this way, since MU has joined the Big East, they have made the tournament every year.  Can UCONN say that? Can Syracuse say that? Georgetown, Louisville? (Actually I really don't know, too lazy   to look it up)   

[caltruda]

I'm glad someone put this up.

I came in for years 2 through 5 of the KO era, so I essentially saw the reboot of the program, remembering the pain of watching Aamot and Anglavar trying to bring the ball up against a full-court press, the jokes of McIlvaine wearing a helmet during a practice and wondering why a team with three top-100 freshmen were 11-18 their freshman year and so on and so forth.

I remember them sneaking into the tourney as a 12 seed as a junior and watching in Indianapolis what a good team does when Oklahoma State pulled away. I remember sitting in St. Petersburg the next year with a giggle asking one of my friends, "So how do we get to Knoxville?" (Granted, this was after Kentucky probably gave me my first gray hairs at 21 trying to rally from 18 down in the second half).

Making the tournament means that since I stepped onto campus in the fall of 1990, Marquette has made 13 appearances. That means it's been in the NCAA tournament more than it's been out.

As maddening as this team has been to watch at times (and I'll admit, I went to the West Virginia game on New Year's and all but mentally buried them at one point in the second half when someone didn't dive for a loose ball and it led to a WVU basket), it also became a team that may have allowed this program another "turn the corner" moment.

Everyone can parse out an 11th-place finish in the most brutal conference in the history of mankind as they wish, but one of the things I take out of this is that a flawed, yet reloading team was still good enough to make the NCAA tournament. That says something to the talent levels of players Buzz Williams has brought and is bringing in. It says something to the fact Buzz Williams' philosophy through three years appears to be taking hold and that he is still progressing as a coach to a place he will be more comfortable.

Like I said, the team has flaws. I don't think I saw a contested 3-pointer defensively all three games in New York. There are times the offense stagnates. You see stretches of brilliance followed by stretches where you pull your hair out (Luckily, I don't have any left to pull out  ). You see the younger players starting to "get it" for longer and longer period of times and their play exceeds the potential of what they could bring.

I see this program trending upwards in the sense that we are reloading every year to compete every year as opposed to reloading to a point. While I don't think Tom Crean did the latter, I also think thus far Buzz has proven himself better at the former despite some of the same transfer issues Crean endured, whether each did by their own hand or outside forces.

[drbob]

you guys make me feel spoiled.  I was there from 1968 to 1975 , the prime of the McGuire years . Was not there for the 77 championship, but saw alot of great teams and players and of course the coaching antics of McGuire.

[CTWarrior]

I was there from 1968 to 1975

John Blutarsky plan?

I was there 79-83, the Hank Raymonds years when we started trending in the wrong direction.  3 NCAA tournaments (1 win) and one NIT (0 wins) in my 4 years. 

[alexius23]

In retrospect...those were pretty dark days. People behind the scenes were afraid of losing Rick Majerus to another school. I strongly believe that pressure was applieds to Hank Raymonds to retire a year or two earlier than he had plannned. I respect Majerus skills as a coach and having a great basketball mind. However, it became clear quickly he just wasn't ready yet for the MU job.
He really needed the Ball State experience before going to a top program.
Dukiet...I still shudder. The powers that be tried to find a second Al McGuire & got a midgrade piano player instead.
Kevin O'Neil may have been a short tempered man with the language skills of a drunk teamster but he did save MU from DII or much worse.
Deane he had his positive points but he was willing to shoot for the NIT as a the yearly goal.
Crean & his lucky find of D Wade....gave MU its "cred" back.
Williams...has his issuies but he & MU just might be a very good fit for each other. Until he proves otherwise I am going to stick with him.

[Blackhat]

In retrospect...those were pretty dark days. People behind the scenes were afraid of losing Rick Majerus to another school. I strongly believe that pressure was applieds to Hank Raymonds to retire a year or two earlier than he had plannned. I respect Majerus skills as a coach and having a great basketball mind. However, it became clear quickly he just wasn't ready yet for the MU job.
He really needed the Ball State experience before going to a top program.
Dukiet...I still shudder. The powers that be tried to find a second Al McGuire & got a midgrade piano player instead.
Kevin O'Neil may have been a short tempered man with the language skills of a drunk teamster but he did save MU from DII or much worse.
Deane he had his positive points but he was willing to shoot for the NIT as a the yearly goal.
Crean & his lucky find of D Wade....gave MU its "cred" back.
Williams...has his issuies but he & MU just might be a very good fit for each other. Until he proves otherwise I am going to stick with him.

Thanks for that history lesson...most informed post I've read in awhile.

[MUMac]

In retrospect...those were pretty dark days. People behind the scenes were afraid of losing Rick Majerus to another school. I strongly believe that pressure was applieds to Hank Raymonds to retire a year or two earlier than he had plannned. I respect Majerus skills as a coach and having a great basketball mind. However, it became clear quickly he just wasn't ready yet for the MU job.

It was fairly out in the open when he was flirting with the UW job back then.  That was the big pressure for Hank to step down and hand it over to Rick.  They made the announcement shortly after he met with Madison.

Rick admitted he was too close of a friend as an assistant coach and struggled being the head man and disciplinarian.  People felt he might have been the best basketball mind on Al's staff and a great recruiter.

[mileskishnish72]

Six NCAA's in a row isn't too shabby. Hell, I was there when Al was in his priime, and one year it was the NIT. But that was Al.

[Goose]

Hank did not retire early in my opinion. Rick was ready for big time job, unfortunately it was elsewhere. He was a different guy his few years as MU HC and what we saw later was the real Rick. I think MU would have been better served going out of the family when Hank retired. We are falling quicker than many wanted to admit during Hank years and needed a change.

[TedBaxter]

We were turned down by Mike Newell in 1986 when they looked for a replacement for Majerus and settled on Dukiet.  I knew things were bad when I went to a media day in the late 80's and there was very little coverage from the media. 

The top recruit and only recruit that fall was there with his parents and ended up committing that weekend and he simply wasn't a high major prospect and Marquette wasn't a high major school at that time and the coach was out of his league entirely.  Just 10 years earlier MU was on top of the college basketball world, so think twice when you criticize because it can turn around in an instant.

[Freeport Warrior]

I lived the Rod Gross/Dukiet years. You know times were lean when one of your basketball highlights was moving from the MECCA to the Bradley Center. Looking back though, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was psyched to play Depaul and Dayton. Our campus was a total pit -- unsafe, worn down and grimy -- but is was OUR pit. We didn't know the difference and we didn't care. The holy grail was ND at home -- we used to get to the 'Lanch at 6am for pre-game. Yesterday, today -- there's an ebb and flow to MU basketball history and I'm enjoying the wave of NCAA appearances. I pretty confident we're going to lose Buzz soon, and that's ok too. We're f'n Warriors. No player, no coach, no team is bigger than the program. These are golden years, I suggest everyone enjoy them.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

The Avalanche should have gone to the Smithsonian

[Maryland Warrior]

Really enjoyed this stream.  Historical Perspective is the last thing one expects to find on a fan site.
Thanks

[Goose]

CTWarrior---I was there from 81-89. Luckily my wife was daughter of Dean or I still would be there!!!

[The Maestro]

I was at Marquette for Hank's last two years and Majerus' first two. We were still getting some high level recruits - Kerry Trotter was a McDonald's All-American - and we still had a lofty place in the hoops world - 2nd high winning percentage the previous ten season behind UCLA - so it was a unique time in Marquette's hoops history.

However, my fondest MU hoops memory will be when we beat Louisville at their place the latter part of the 83-84 season. Louisville was ranked and we ended a fairly long home-court winning streak of theirs. Right when the game ended, my roommate and I were so excited we decided we were going to call Hank at his house - he was listed in the phone book. So we called and talked to Hank for about 5 minutes. He was very gracious and pretty excited too and told us we should meet the team bus at the Old Gym when they got back to town - we didn't. So, even though we were just starting to enter the dark times, we still had some highlights I'll cherish for a long, long time.