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MU's ranking 'nice,' verdict on freshman 'spectacular'
By TODD ROSIAK
trosiak@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 27, 2006

As far as good news goes, Friday couldn't have been much better for the Marquette Golden Eagles

First, they learned they opened at No. 17 in the ESPN / USA Today coaches poll, their highest ranking in the pre-season since 1977-'78.

Later in the day they received the news they'd been waiting six weeks for: that freshman forward Lazar Hayward had been cleared for game competition by the NCAA.

"It went from nice to spectacular," coach Tom Crean said. "A ranking is nice; finding out he was eligible is spectacular."

The 6-foot-6 Hayward, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., and product of Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., had been in limbo since the NCAA began looking into his matriculation into MU near the beginning of the semester.

Hayward had been forced to pay his own way and work on his own until the NCAA cleared him to begin practicing with the Golden Eagles two weeks ago.

He was immediately put back on scholarship and welcomed back into the fold, but understandably wasn't completely comfortable with his situation.

"I don't want to say I was nervous but I already had a mindset of thinking that maybe I couldn't play this year so I wouldn't be set up for disappointment," Hayward said.

But on Friday, just three days after Connecticut freshman Hasheem Thabeet was cleared to participate in games after undergoing a similar investigation, Hayward received the green light.

"I felt like I just won a million dollars," he said.

So did Hayward's teammates, who learned of the news not long after he did.

"The greatest feeling was watching him receive the news. It was just a mosh pit," Crean said. "I'm glad nobody got hurt because it was chaos. We're really proud of him. Now he's just got to continue to do a great job in school and do a great job with his basketball, and he's got a chance to have a very strong impact at Marquette over the years."

Being able to count on Hayward for the season is a huge boost for the Golden Eagles, who were picked by Big East coaches on Wednesday to finish fourth in the 16-team league.

His presence gives MU another live, athletic body, an additional shooter from the perimeter and someone who can also mix it up under the boards because of his strength and 205-pound frame.

If the season were to start today, junior Dan Fitzgerald would be the likely starter at power forward, the spot held for the prior three seasons by Steve Novak.

How long he'll be able to hold off Hayward, though, remains to be seen.

"Starting really isn't a big focus," Hayward said. "For me it's getting a little more conditioning, getting a little bit quicker. Just going out there and working hard every day, basically. As I progress that starting spot should come. But I'm not worried too much about that."

MU, meanwhile, hadn't opened a season ranked this highly since starting third in the Associated Press' poll the season after winning the national title.

The No. 17 ranking marks the first time since the Dec. 12, 2004 poll - when MU was ranked 25th - that the team has appeared in the top 25.

It is also the highest the Golden Eagles have been ranked since the final poll of the 2002-'03 season, when they finished sixth in the coaches' poll after reaching the NCAA Final Four.

The Wisconsin Badgers are ninth in the coaches poll.

"I don't think it's anything you can dwell on one way or the other," said Crean. "But it's really nice the coaches respect the team like that."