How much does a coaching change affect a team? How much more can three star seniors improve? How does a team that has fallen short of expectations for the past three seasons reach the next level? Where does this team expect to be when the season is over?

These are the questions that first-year head coach Buzz Williams is faced with and these also happen to be exactly the questions that he doesn't want to answer. Not because he can't, not because he is afraid to, but because he doesn't think that is what matters.

"What I'm concerned with on a daily, consumed basis, is my wife and my three children, those 13 players back there and everybody that's involved in our program," Williams said. "In the end it's going to be about them . Am I going to be a hall of fame coach? No. Am I going to write a book? No. What I want to do is work hard today and then wake up and do it again tomorrow."

That mentality might have worked elsewhere, but both the Golden Eagle fans and the returning players have come to expect more. A second round exit might be considered a success to some Division I programs, but not here and certainly not now.

With the team's "Big Three" (Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews) now entering their senior season, nothing, not even a coaching change, is going to lower those lofty expectations.

But after a heartbreaking overtime loss to Stanford in the round of 32 last March, the leaders of this team now think they know what it will take to advance even further into the postseason.

"For us as veteran players on this team, we know what it takes in the tournament," James said of McNeal, Matthews and himself. "For these young guys, we know how to be leaders."

James said that when his tenure at Marquette is up, he wants to be remembered by how far he took his team in the NCAA Tournament. But whatever the measure of success may be, the road to get there won't be easy for these Golden Eagles.

Post play has never been the hallmark of Marquette basketball, but the departure of Ousmane Barro and Trevor Mbakwe still hurts the Golden Eagles. Senior Dwight Burke, who averaged only 11.8 minutes, 2.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game last season, will now likely step into the starting center role.

Depth at the center position is also a potential weakness, as some combination of freshman Chris Otule and sophomore Patrick Hazel will have to spell Burke from time to time.

Another hurdle for the Golden Eagles will be their difficult schedule, especially late in the season when they will play at Notre Dame, at Villanova, at Georgetown, at Louisville and at Pittsburgh.

"The Big East was good to us," Williams said with a hint of sarcasm. "They made sure we played at Pitt, we played at Louisville, played at Notre Dame. We appreciate their kindness. If we're going to compete against the best we might as well compete against the best with everything stacked against us."

A noble stance, but with Marquette picked to finish sixth in the Big East, it all comes back to expectation.

"My goals are simple," McNeal said. "First and foremost is a Big East championship, compete for a Big East title and get this team and this program back to the Final Four."

"I want to win everything," Matthews said. "That's me, I want to win everything. If you can win it, I want it."