After last season's steady senior trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews walked out the door, not much was expected out of Marquette this season.
And seven games into conference play, the Golden Eagles certainly seemed to be playing down to those expectations.
Marquette went 2-5 to start its Big East season, with four of those five losses coming by two points or less. They had beaten Georgetown. But they also lost to lowly DePaul.
Asked if it felt at the time as if they'd rebound to make the NCAA tournament - as a No. 6 seed, no less - leading scorer and senior leader Lazar Hayward just laughed.
``At that point? No. Not at all,'' Hayward said. ``I had no idea what to think. I couldn't even think this far ahead.''
Yet here they are, preparing for Thursday's game against 11th-seeded Washington in San Jose, Calif.
Marquette won nine of its last 11 regular-season conference games - including a run of three straight overtime road victories in February - then beat St. John's and Villanova in the conference tournament before running out of steam against Georgetown.
The remarkable rebound was particularly sweet for Hayward, who wasn't able to ignore the talk about low expectations for Marquette going into his senior season.
``There were so many people that didn't believe in us,'' Hayward said. ``Reading all of those magazines, seeing NIT by our name, 12th in the league. To be here right now today, you could definitely say it's a blessing.''
Even with the Big East's buzzards circling his team early on, Marquette coach Buzz Williams said he didn't change his approach.
``I'm kind of the same every day with those guys,'' Williams said. ``When we got beat by DePaul at their place, when we got beat by Syracuse and we were 2-5, and everybody counted us for dead, I was the same way with those guys as I was throughout the streak that we've been on to close the season. They anticipate and expect me to be the same, and for the most part, they're right.''
So what changed?
``I wish I could tell you,'' Hayward said. ``I don't know. Really, if I had an answer, I would probably say it was the coaches helping us maintain our focus. To never get down, never lose confidence. And for a lot of the things that we went through, it's very, very hard for a team to do that.''
Instead of giving up, Marquette eventually figured out a winning formula.
Just like last season, they didn't have the size to take on more physical Big East opponents. But unlike last year, they didn't have three steady senior guards to bail them out.
Now they had to rely on quickness and effort, especially on defense, and start hitting 3-pointers.
``I think it was our mentality,'' said guard Darius Johnson-Odom, a junior college transfer. ``Our first seven games, we were playing good teams. And we didn't know where we were as a team as far as how should we be playing and how to beat these teams that are just as good.''
Having figured out how to win close games after losing a bunch of them early on, the Golden Eagles now believe they're well-prepared for the tournament.
``Hopefully, it'll help us,'' Hayward said. ``We were in very, very many close games - and we weren't on the good side of too many of them in the beginning of the year. But we learned how to stop making some of the same mistakes, and our coaches showed us what not to do and how to execute in certain possessions and we've learned.''
With his team relying so heavily on effort and energy, Williams is glad they don't have to face another run of three games in three days, as they did in the Big East tournament. And he hopes they'll be able to apply the lessons they've learned about winning close games in the tournament.
``What we've been through over the last two and a half months, I think it prepares you for this type of setting,'' Williams said. ``It definitely doesn't hurt you. I anticipate that our games will be like that in the NCAA tournament, as are most. It just so happens that we've had a lot of reps at doing that.''
And their confidence is high, something that certainly wasn't the case in January.
``I think we're ready,'' Johnson-Odom said. ``We're prepared for this.''
