“When I married my wife, she was homely. But she looks better everyday. Always count your blessings.” When I said this last Saturday I wasn’t really talking about my wife. I was talking about Marquette’s shooting woes. I suggest you always look on the bright side. My wife agrees.
I remember when the players practiced and then shot free throws before they could shower. You’d sit on the bleachers and this guy would hit five and miss and sit down and this guy would hit a few and sit down. Some guys would say, “Just miss so we can get out of here.” Steve Novak and Travis Diener both hit over 100 in a row. Back in the day when players couldn’t get into the gym during the summer they tied rope around their waists and pulled cars across the parking lot.
I tell my friends that Mr Logo NBA isn’t really Jerry West. It is in fact Travis Diener. They laugh at me, but I don’t care, at all.
MILWAUKEE - Travis Diener understands there have long been skeptics.
As a freshman at Fond du Lac High School, he played on the varsity basketball team. Was it because his uncle was coach, or because he was good enough? All of, he remembers, 5-foot-8 and maybe 140, 145 pounds, he helped the Cardinals make it to the state tournament in Madison.
Between his junior and senior years in high school, Diener helped the AAU team on which he played win three national tournaments, earning MVP honors in all three. As a prep senior, he was a unanimous all-state selection and a Parade Magazine fourth team all-American.
As a sophomore at Marquette, the scrawny Diener - he had grown to all of 6-1 and 165 pounds - took over at point guard for coach Tom Crean's team, replacing the graduated Cordell Henry. Dwyane Wade was the brightest star. Could Diener be in charge of the solar system? Unless you were in another galaxy, you know how much Diener contributed to Marquette's run to the Final Four.
What Travis said about Steve Novak:
Steve is a year younger than me, so I got to play three years with him. Steve’s ability to shoot the ball was beneficial for me and our team just because the spacing and he made me look good because, if you passed it to him it was usually going in, so it made me look good as a point guard. You love to play with guys that can really shoot the ball as a point guard. He was such a great shooter and everybody would always be telling him what you need to work on other things. He did that, but he never lost focus on his greatest skill and that was shooting the ball and he’s always in the gym, I mean countless hours. He would always be drilling that, you know, being on the gun shooting and I’ll never forget, he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve played with.
