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| Saturday, November 3 Team preview: Marquette Golden Eagles ESPN.com |
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Marquette basketball has been a workmanlike undertaking for years, performed by earnest young men making the most of modest athletic ability. That is about to change. Tom Crean's third Golden Eagles team will be the school's most athletic production in quite some time. Crean has steadily upgraded the quickness and leaping ability in his program, to the point where he might not have to rely as heavily on clock-bleeding set plays and a patient, set-piece tempo to win games. With point guards Cordell Henry and freshman Travis Diener, wingmen Dwayne Wade and Odartey Blankson, power forward Oluoma Nnamaka and big man Scott Merritt, Marquette should have the bodies to run and jump with the rest of the league. Throw in senior strongman Jon Harris for some trademark Marquette muscle and some other important role players, and the Eagles might make a run at their first NCAA bid since 1997. The question is how quickly and effectively this team blends together its savvy veterans and precocious younger players. "Every team takes steps," Crean said. "How many steps you need inside of year, now one knows. And I don't know with this group. All I know si that they've got a great attitude, they give a great effort, they try to learn, they want to do the right thing, and there's some athleticism in the bodies." The most important body is also the smallest. The 5-10, 160-pound Henry averaged an exhausting 34 minutes per game last year and had the ball in his hands much of the time. He's good off the dribble, but Crean would like to see his fearless senior point guard take another step forward in decision-making and defense. Last year the ball ran almost exclusively through the hands of Henry and Brian Wardle, a savvy jump shooter who departed as the No. 3 scorer in school history. Wardle's take-charge mentality will be missed, but perhaps not as much as you think. This year Marquette should have additional scoring options and other players capable of taking their men off the dribble. What we like: Combine some missing athletic spice with the already-present toughness and tenacity, and it could be the recipe for a breakthrough. What we don't like: It's unclear exactly how the roles will sort out, and even with the talent upgrade Marquette still might be searching for consistently productive post play. The bottom line: The potential is there for a three-team donneybrook behind Cincinnati in the American Division, between Charlotte, Marquette and Louisville. The Golden Eagles could help their postseason chances by picking up some wins in the Great Alaska Shootout, against Dayton or in late-December games at Wisconsin and Wake Forest.
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