Marquette Golden Eagles closed the final chapter on their most depressing season in the last decade. A team projected to win the Big East in its inaugural year with its new members did not come anywhere close to its expectations. If there could be a bright light at the end of the tunnel, Marquette could win their final home game for the seniors against St. John's. but it did not happen as the Golden Eagles lost their second straight game on Saturday. Red Storm swept Marquette beating them in double overtime, 91-90.Confession time... I work a good amount of Saturdays meaning some Marquette games I watched later in the weekend on the DVR. It was the same this week, but my DVR decided to cut it off after 15 minutes of running (Thanks, Time Warner!) meaning I feel wrong about giving you a recap without watching most of the game. Instead of trying to BS my way through a recap, let's look at all of the seniors and what they meant for the team for their duration of their careers.
Chris Otule - One of the most well-liked players in Buzz Williams' tenure. Otule never really broke through on the offensive end, but he did so many good things for Marquette as their big man. Otule is a complete leader on the team, and he will be absolutely missed in the years to come when it comes to leadership. I will forever and ever be interested to see what happened to Otule if he had one knee injury versus multiple injuries throughout his seven-year career at Marquette.
Davante Gardner - BIG SMOOOOVE. Gardner went from one of my favorite players to a favorite with a massive deficiency in his senior year. I guess I never realized how bad a defender Gardner was until his senior year, but it showed in a major way this season. Gardner did have a good career with the team without question when people wondered if he would be able to produce with his height and weight. There is a lot to be said for a player that can just throw up the basketball to the rim, and it somehow goes in more times than not. If he actually gave a shit as a defender, he would be a second round draft pick.
Jamil Wilson - Man. I wish this could be a more positive paragraph, but he never reached his potential in his four years. People expected Wilson to make a step this season, and maybe vault himself into the draft yet that did not happen. Continually, he disappeared from basketball games where he would score 10 points quickly then fade away for the next 10 to 15 minutes. Wilson had a great skill set of power, speed and ability to shoot the basketball. This might be one of the greatest 'What if''s of the Marquette program. Because if Wilson played to his potential, Golden Eagles would have had a greater program at this point.
Jake Thomas - I criticized Thomas for the whole year because of his inconsistent play along with his lack of defense. At the beginning of February, a friend asked me 'Why does he play so much' and I could not provide a reasonable answer. Now, he finished the year pretty strongly with some big games here and there so that's good for him. He redeemed himself from the earlier part of the season. But if Thomas getting an inordinate amount of playing time leads to a Marquette transfer as Rubie Q of Anonymous Eagle and others have hypothesize, that will be a death knelt to anything Thomas did during his time with the team.
Derrick Wilson - Watching UW-Milwaukee play UW-Green Bay, it became clear the two point guards in the game were better than anything Marquette trotted out a daily basis. Who knows if Jordan Aaron or Kiefer Skyes guard would be better than Wilson, but the fact of the matter that I at least gave it some thought speaks volume about the point guard play for Marquette this season from its senior. You would imagine with a senior point guard, there would be some definite leadership and he could put the team on his shoulders when they needed it the most yet that did not happen at all throughout the duration of the season.
These five seniors will always be looked at differently given what happened this season. They would be seen in a different light if they kept the winning tradition alive instead they will be looked at as the ones whom were privileged from the prior success and thought everything came easy which it did not.
Charlie.
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