MILWAUKEE – A banner hangs in the rafters at the BMO Harris Bradley Center that proudly displays Marquette University's trips to the postseason.
It not only shows the school's proud tradition but serves as an easy reminder of Marquette's seven consecutive NCAA Tournament bids. If the Golden Eagles are going to make it eight straight, they are going to have to pick up their play following a nonconference schedule that left a lot to be desired.
After the Golden Eagles narrowly escaped Saturday against North Carolina Central, Marquette's players were peppered with a simple question: Is this team ready for a grueling Big East schedule that begins Tuesday against Connecticut? They insisted they are.
"Sometimes we play down to our competition," forward Juan Anderson said. "I feel like defensively we get a lot of stops, we do turn it over too much, but I think when Big East starts we will kind of adjust and buckle down."
Posed the same question, Vander Blue echoed Anderson's thoughts.
"Juan probably said it best," Blue said. "We sort of do play to the level of our competition. We've showed we can play with the teams as good as Butler, and then we go and lose in Green Bay. We just have to make sure we trigger our energy and we don't rely on our offense to dictate our defense. We have to throw the first punch, and I think come Tuesday night we will be ready."
There's probably no better way to sum up Marquette's nonconference season than the way the players did. The Golden Eagles did play to their competition, with the exception of a blowout loss at Florida. Marquette lost on a miraculous buzzer-beating shot to No. 18 Butler, beat Wisconsin and LSU and took care of business against lesser but still major-conference teams such as Mississippi State and Southern California.
But against clearly inferior teams from small conferences, Marquette often let opponents stick around into the second half before its talent took over – most of the time. The Golden Eagles couldn't flip the switch in an upset loss to UW-Green Bay. Nonconference wins are more about the quality of play than just the final score.
One giant issue has been consistency. There's talent on the roster, but players critical to the team's success haven't played to their potential. Jamil Wilson and Trent Lockett were expected to pick up some of the scoring load but haven't.
"You can say that we have a lot of pieces, and in some ways we do," Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. "That can be a good thing if you know what those pieces are going to bring every day. It can be a bad thing if you don't know what those pieces are going to bring because it ends up like scrambled eggs."
Ready or not, Marquette's Big East schedule starts with quite a challenge. Following Connecticut on Tuesday, the Golden Eagles will host No. 15 Georgetown on Saturday before traveling to No. 24 Pittsburgh a week later.
First up are the Huskies, a team in transition. Kevin Ollie is in his first season as coach following Jim Calhoun's retirement after 26 seasons at the helm. Connecticut has exceeded expectations in the nonconference part of its schedule, notching an upset win over Michigan State and dropping games against only New Mexico and North Carolina State.
Guard play is certainly Connecticut's strength, as the Huskies' top three scorers play in the backcourt. Shabazz Napier leads the team at 16.5 points per game, while point guard Ryan Boatright averages 15.8 per game and freshman Omar Calhoun adds 11.2. Inside, the Huskies are have seen drastic improvement in super-talented 6-foot-8 sophomore DeAndre Daniels.
"I think they are extremely fast," Williams said. "Like really, really, really, really fast. (They) pressure you defensively, (they put ) pressure on you offensively with speed. We'll have our hands full because we can't turn it into a track meet because we'll lose. We have to handle their speed and we have to make them guard us inside."
Marquette will have to overcome the challenge of playing without its head coach. Williams is suspended for Tuesday's game due to school-imposed sanctions for violations committed by former assistant coach Scott Monarch.
Monarch gave team-issued apparel and transportation to a recruit and then was "found to have been untruthful with department administrators on multiple occasions" and was later dismissed. Marquette athletic director Larry Williams found no evidence that Buzz Williams knew of the violations but issued the suspension because Buzz Williams has a "duty to monitor the compliance of his staff."
Buzz Williams' suspension is actually 48 hours and began Monday. He spent all of Sunday with the team preparing for the game because as of Monday, he can't have any contact with the team or staff or be in the arena for the game.
"My concentration is on our kids, I love them," Buzz Williams said. "I've never missed two consecutive days of work since I've been employed here. I completely trust our staff, I completely trust our kids. For 48 hours I can't do anything, on the phone, nothing, zero. I guess I can watch the game (on TV)."
When asked, Williams wouldn't reveal who the acting head coach would be. Assistant coach Jerry Wainwright is the only coach on staff with head coaching experience, and Brad Autry has been on staff the longest.
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