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LOCATION: Milwaukee, WI
CONFERENCE: Conference USA (American)
LAST SEASON: 14-15 (.483)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 6-10 (6th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Golden Eagles
COLORS: Blue & Gold
HOMECOURT: Bradley Center (19,150)
COACH: Tom Crean (Central Michigan '89)
record at school First year
career record First year
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ASSISTANTS: Tim Buckley (Bemidji State '86)
Dwayne Stephens (Michigan State '93)
Darrin Horn (Western Kentucky '95)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 21-23-22-20-14
RPI (last 5 years) 58-22-56-62-133
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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If it weren't for the fact that Marquette is almost bereft of high-major athletic talent, there would have been no reason to hire Tom Crean to coach the Golden Eagles. Now that he's got his first head job in a great city, an attractive league and at a historically successful program, he's got to coach these fellows. Individually, there is nothing especially wrong with the primary players on the Marquette roster. Any number of them could be an important contributor for any number of NCAA Tournament-level teams. Gathered all on one squad, though, there's one distinct problem with them. They're too doggoned slow. With the exception of point guard Cordell Henry, a 5-9, 160-pound sophomore, and center John Mueller, a 6-11, 232-pound junior, every player likely to make the rotation is slower than the average for his position. And those two are weaker than the average. There is size, and some skill, but there is precious little speed among the Golden Eagles. It is a blessing for Crean that he comes to Marquette from Michigan State, which first emphasized rebounding and defense and relied upon hustle, intelligence and a great point guard to promote its running game. So it's not like he's coming in from TCU to coach these Clydesdales. The players are equipped to play the style Crean is planning to implement. They'll just play it a little slower than is ideal. "It comes down to what you emphasize," Crean said. "Can the intensity level and all of that turn up, give you a chance to succeed? There's nothing right now that we can say, 'OK, we can hang our hats on this.' Defense and rebounding have to become staples, because I don't think success will come before they come.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B- BENCH/DEPTH C
FRONTCOURT C- INTANGIBLES C
It should be a curious sort of transitional year for Tom Crean and the Golden Eagles, and yet his arrival has generated an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm among the fans of Marquette basketball. He is young, attractive, energetic and proven as one of the game's top recruiters. It's not certain whether fans believe that will add up to greater accomplishment than has been achieved in the last half-dozen years, or whether they believe Crean is the sort of person they need to keep that going into the future. "I'm sure there's going to be a certain amount of change," said Crean. "With that, you've got to stay with your plan, not let things knock you off course. If we can do that, we've got a chance to keep seeing success as we go." So what is success for this team? Survival, first. The division is brutal, and Crean is having to coach a team of players who may or may not make a successful transition to his style and who unquestionably lack the athletic ability to cover for any failure in that regard. Crean's primary goal when it comes to the team's fans is for them "to get a chance to see what the future will be like." That probably won't happen, because the present suggests a last-place division finish, and Crean does not seem inclined to repeat that too often in the future. |
"I think the biggest thing, when you're trying to establish your program, out of the gate you want to establish a style of play. But inside of that, it's the work ethic, the energy level and intensity level that have to be extremely high all the time." Ordinarily, when a new coach is hired to take over for someone who was dismissed, there is room for improvement in recruiting and implementation of strategy. That's another catch that came with taking this job. It hasn't been that bad at Marquette in the 1990s. There have been four NCAA Tournament trips, a Great Midwest Conference regular-season championship and a Conference USA Tournament title and one trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. Until last year's sub-.500 season, Marquette was one of a handful of teams riding a streak of winning 20 or more games in six consecutive seasons. Crean can strive to be as effective in planning and game management as former coach Mike Deane, but it would be difficult to expect any first-year coach to reach that level of proficiency. Deane, who now will coach Lamar, runs a game as well as any coach in Division I. It wasn't for nothing that he averaged 20 victories in his five seasons with the Golden Eagles. It wasn't an accident that he managed at least one victory over Conference USA power Cincinnati in each of his five years. Crean also did not recruit any of the 12 scholarship players on the Marquette roster. Although he was hired in April before the spring signing period, he had only one scholarship available and ultimately decided it would be best to pocket that, because no one who was available was likely to make a difference. He made instant inroad with some talented members of the current prep senior class, but none of them will be playing for Marquette this winter. The starters will be much the same as last year, minus 6-6 wing/forward Mike Bargen, who averaged 10.8 points and shot .416 from the floor. He could be inconsistent, and when he was bad, Marquette usually was. In his place, Crean will use 6-7, 213-pound sophomore Oluoma Nnamaka, who averaged 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds and shot .425 from the floor his first season. Nnamaka, who has played with the Swedish national team, is not a dynamic athlete, but he has shown flashes of extraordinary skill. He alternated between power forward and small forward as a freshman, but there are few other options for Crean on the wing. Nnamaka improved greatly as his season progressed. He produced seven double-figure scoring efforts in the final 13 games, after doing it only once in the first 12. Nnamaka should defend his position adequately for someone who does not have great speed. The problem is his lack of perimeter shooting ability. He was seven of 24 from three-point range, and his .587 free-throw shooting suggests there's not much of a touch here. When Nnamaka is not playing, Crean will probably have to use 6-5 junior shooting guard Brian Wardle in that spot. Wardle led Marquette in scoring last year with 12.3 points per game and shot .356 from three-point range. He had an excellent sophomore season but should be shooting the ball more consistently. Wardle is prone to some dreadful streaks, like the one that occurred last January when he was five for 20 over a seven-game span. He recovered from that by hitting 11 of 17 in his next four games. A team in this circumstance, with so little on which it can rely, has to be able to rely on a proven, veteran shooting guard more often. One thing that might help would be if Wardle were to become less reliant on his three-point game. A perfect example was his performance against UNC Charlotte last February, when he scored 36 points and got only six of those on threes. The rest came on free throws (16) and two-point baskets (14). Complementing Wardle at shooting guard, and occasionally freeing him to play small forward, is 6-2 senior John Cliff. He never really has been completely comfortable as a substitute. His minutes are unpredictable, and thus his production is, too. Cliff can be an astounding shooter and hit .385 from three-point range in averaging 9.5 points last season. He scored 37 against Memphis, which was part of a string of nine games in which he reached double figures seven times. One of the keys in that period: Only once did Cliff play fewer than 25 minutes. Although Cliff is not a great defender, he could take some minutes from Wardle if Wardle does not increase his accuracy as a shooter. Sophomore David Diggs, 6-4, averaged 4.0 points in eight minutes a game and shot .456 from the field. He is a capable enough shooter and intelligent enough that he could also force himself into the rotation, but Diggs is weaker athletically and less experienced than the two players in front of him. The other element of the perimeter game may be the key to avoiding sixth place in the American Division, though. That would be Henry, who averaged 7.2 points and 3.2 assists but shot just .332 from the floor. There were times when it seemed he was not even on the floor for the Golden Eagles, which is stunning when one considers how phenomenally quick Henry is. "Whether he's good or bad, you've got to know he's out there," Crean said. "At the point of attack, offense or defense, he's got to be the one that sets that up. His defense has got to pick up, because I think he can be an extremely good defender. He's never going to be the strongest, biggest guy on the floor, but he's got to have that wiry strength so he can get into the lane and do things." The approach Crean brings from Michigan State should be ideal for Henry in the sense that it can make any team a running team so long as players release at the first opportunity, run their lanes and benefit from a deft point guard. Henry should be able to lead those breaks. "Without a doubt. He's a game-breaker with his speed," Crean said. "The thing for him is to get the complete game, to not only push the ball but to run a halfcourt offense. Not only does he have to run an offense, he has to create offense for himself and others." Henry's backup at the point is a veteran. Transfer Brian Barone, from Texas A&M, is a 6-0 junior who averaged 3.2 points and 4.8 assists and fashioned a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio playing for his father in his final season as coach of the Aggies. Barone lacked the athleticism, though, to be an effective full-time player in the Big 12. He shot only .306 from the field, and his scoring numbers were dreadful for a 30-minute player. If he's going to play high-major ball, it probably should be as a backup. Crean will be glad to have him, because that means there is less need to play 6-5 senior Bart Miller, who averaged 1.1 points and 1.4 rebounds and passed for 28 assists as Henry's backup last season. The Golden Eagles also have walk-on guard Pat Duffy, a 6-0 sophomore who averaged 0.4 points and 0.3 rebounds in 12 games. There never was a shortage of big bodies at Marquette while Deane was coach, and this team also is huge. Mueller is one of two 6-11 centers on the roster, along with junior Greg Clausen. "I'm not used to having two big guys like that," Crean said. "Right now, we've got to find a way to make the two of them weapons. I would hope to use them in combination for 40 minutes, and not just to take up space. Because of their size, athleticism and build, they're capable of doing more." A year ago, they were far from that. Clausen played 14 minutes a game, averaging 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting only .452 from the floor. Mueller played 12 minutes, averaged 1.9 points and 3.2 rebounds and shot .319 from the floor. Clausen, at 265 pounds, is big and powerful but has not used that strength to his advantage. He had only one double-figure rebounding game last season. His footwork is not what it needs to be, and he does not play as if he understands what a big man ought to do. He rarely uses his body to his advantage. Only once last season did Clausen manage more than six rebounds in a game. He is light on his feet, though, and runs well although he will be out of action until late November because of a sprain of his left medial collateral ligament and a slight meniscus tear, which required surgery. His only double-figure scoring game out of 28 came in the home victory over Cincinnati. He was three for four from the floor for 10 points and also grabbed four rebounds in 25 minutes. "That's a sign he can go against the best," Crean said. "They have to be committed to rebounding, to holding their spot in post defense, defending on the perimeter when they have to and running the floor. And we've got to get them a couple of moves they can feel comfortable with." That was a staple of the Michigan State program: Individual improvement. It helped 6-10 A.J. Granger progress from 1.2 points and one missed three-point shot as a freshman to 2.6 points and five for 19 three-point shooting as a sophomore to 6.6 points and 23 for 45 three-point shooting as a senior. That is what Crean can do for the Golden Eagles now. He is trying to work some late-career magic with 6-8, 235-pound senior John Polonowski, a player with significant skills but suspect work habits who consistently let down Deane. Polonowski averaged 3.0 points and 1.6 rebounds last season. He scored 21 points in the second game, a victory over Morgan State in which he was 10-of-12 from the field, then gradually drifted back out of the rotation. He is an excellent mid-range shooter with great hands and feet, but he's never been in the kind of condition necessary for him to succeed in C-USA. Crean thinks he sees a spark in Polonowski, based on his off-season workouts. "No one has ever questioned his abilities, his skill level," Crean said. "The other questions are the ones we have to take care of: his ability to play hard, to play for an extended time, to handle adversity. We're certainly going into the year hoping he can help us." The other two power forwards also are unproven, although they've had less time to prove it. Freshman Krunti Hester of Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis, is 6-6, 240 and averaged 13.8 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 62 percent from the field. Jon Harris, a 6-7, 213-pound sophomore, was not ready to play inside as a freshman and struggled with the size of his opponents. In 11 minutes a game, he produced 2.1 points and 2.4 rebounds and shot .379 from the field. If Harris can play more emphatically and add some strength, he is skilled enough to be a contributing player on a quality team. Any one of those three or all of them have a chance to establish a hold on the power-forward job, which would make it less necessary for Marquette to move Nnamaka back and play with a smaller group.
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