He got his wish.
In a near-full U.S. Cellular Arena Saturday, the Marquette student body and fans welcomed back their 2003 Conference USA regular season champion men’s basketball team and the WNIT qualifying women’s basketball team at Marquette Madness.
The doors opened at 9 p.m, with students and fans storming down the hallways of the U.S. Cellular arena to grab their free Marquette Madness T-shirts. Both the men’s and women’s team were able to sign autographs as the fans entered before the festivities began at 10 p.m. The crowd was entertained with special events such as “Who wants to make a deal” and “Marquette Idol,” where students were able to win prizes emceed by Michael Knight, morning show host on Milwaukee radio station KISS-FM (103.7).
The women’s team was introduced first. New freshmen Danielle Kamm, Christina Quaye and Jasmine McCullough were greeted with open arms by the crowd.
Coach Terri Mitchell made a promise to the crowd that they would not be disappointed in their team. “Do you believe?” is what she asked the sea of yellow and blue shirts. The crowd shouted back in reassurance that they would be there to make Mitchell’s hope of “making the new Al McGuire Center the hardest place to play in women’s basketball.”
Special guest, CBS and ESPN voice Bill Raftery, came out to talk to the crowd moments before the men’s team was introduced. Marching out to “We Ready” by rap artist Archie, the men’s team stepped out on to the court where they stripped off their warm-ups to reveal gold-glittered white tank tops. The 2002-2003 members were presented with their Conference USA championship rings in the presence of former Marquette greats like Jim McIlvaine, Marc Marotta, Bo Ellis, Brian Wardle and former coach Hank Raymond, athletic director Bill Cords and Father Robert A. Wild.
After the 2003-2004 squad was introduced, the crowd stood on their feet when Crean walked onto the floor to speak. Crean showed off the championship ring to the entire crowd, telling them the team could not have won the regular season without their support. In return for their support, Crean awarded the fans with a sixth man trophy and a ring symbolizing their commitment to the team.
A highlight of the evening, just before the dunk contest was under way, Dwyane Wade recorded a short speech from Miami to be shown at Marquette Madness. He told the crowd he wished he could be there and that on behalf of his family, he loved everyone.
Wade, who won the dunk contest his freshman and sophomore year, passed the crown onto junior Todd Townsend who won the competition last year and again this year. Townsend, who did a tomahawk dunk on his first attempt, was tied with senior Scott Merritt who did a one-handed 360-degree dunk.
Townsend pulled from his bag of tricks a behind-the back-toss over his head which he caught in mid-air for the one-handed slam in the second round that won over the judges and caused judge Bo Ellis to get out of his seat to run over and high-five Townsend. Merritt, with the pressure on, was successful with his trick, stuffing his right forearm elbow-deep in the rim and hanging by it, which many have tried but have failed, a la Vince carter. The dunk was not enough, however, and Townsend was named the 2003 slam dunk champ.