MILWAUKEE — Earlier this season, when the Marquette Golden Eagles went into the always-hostile Kohl Center to face a top-10 Wisconsin team missing one of their key players, coach Buzz Williams made a prophetic statement.
"The only way you can grow up is when people are standing dead on top of your neck and you have to figure out a way to breathe," Williams said after his team, playing without suspended point guard Junior Cadougan, beat the Badgers. "That's life. That's not basketball. That's just a microcosm of life. It's not going to be easy, and so what's the best way to grow up? The best way to grow up is to have someone hit you in the mouth and see if you can respond."
Look out, college basketball. Entering the Big East tournament as the No. 2 seed after beating 11th-ranked Georgetown, 83-69, Saturday, these Golden Eagles are all grown up.
Throughout the Big East season, Marquette found ways to compensate for injuries to key players like centers Chris Otule and Davante Gardner. The Golden Eagles had to claw back from early deficits. They had to find ways to recover after tough losses. They had to endure disciplinary suspensions.
And each and every time, they answered the call.
After dropping two of their first three league contests, the now eighth-ranked Golden Eagles won seven consecutive games at one point and finished the regular season with a 14-4 mark in Big East play, their best conference record since joining in 2005.
As is their routine, the Golden Eagles relied heavily Saturday on their seniors, forward Jae Crowder and guard Darius Johnson-Odom. Playing in their final game at the Bradley Center, the duo combined for 43 points and 17 rebounds, setting the pace for their teammates and keeping the Hoyas on their heels for much of the game.
That's the formula. And it's worked in almost every game. So well that even opponents are impressed.
"You have to give them credit," Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said. "They've overcome a lot of obstacles this year with the injuries they've had and they found a way to fight through it and keep plugging along.
"That's a credit to (coach Buzz Williams) and those kids."
The only thing keeping Marquette from a possible No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament is a lack of victories against Top 25 teams — it has just three, against Wisconsin, Georgetown and Louisville. But it can add to that total this week at the conference tournament in New York.
Fortunately for Marquette, a few days of much-needed rest awaits. The victory Saturday clinched a double-bye in the conference tournament. The Golden Eagles won't return to action until the quarterfinals Thursday night.
And for those who have paid attention to Marquette this season, it shouldn't be tough to figure out that it will use that time wisely.
"We're focused on winning the Big East championship now," Johnson-Odom said. "We've got some momentum going into New York. That Cincinnati loss (on Wednesday night), we'd rather get that out of the way than lose in New York."
They're undersized. They're relatively unknown. They don't have the blue-chip talent that dominates the rosters of most of the nation's upper-echelon teams.
But despite all that, the Golden Eagles are well-coached and pretty darn good.
And unfortunately for the rest of the Big East and whomever might stand in their way in the NCAA tournament, it looks like they're peaking at just the right time. After making it all the way to the Sweet 16 last year, a return trip seems well within reach.
