Few would ever expect Marquette men's basketball coach Buzz Williams to have the longest hair on the team.

His very name suggests the impossibility of the proposition. But such was the case as the first year coach prepared to board a bus for the airport Wednesday, with exactly six days worth of thin growth covering his head (he only buzzes on game days).

The rest of the Golden Eagles, however, fresh off of one last practice in the Al McGuire Center — and sporting freshly shaven heads — prepared for the departure, domes glistening with sweat.

"We always try to do something different for the NCAA Tournament," senior guard Wesley Matthews said. "And a couple of guys were like, 'Why not go bald?' Why not? It'll grow back."

The styles, many of which were the work of teammate Jerel McNeal, worked better for some than others. Dominic James, who now considers himself an assistant coach, did not participate. A few even tried to hide under baseball caps or sweatshirt hoods. But despite the apparent embarrassment, the message was clear: After all that the Golden Eagles have been through in the past few weeks, they are still a team.

Evidenced by a four-game losing streak, Marquette looked lost when senior guard Dominic James went down with an injury.

The team got away from what it did best while McNeal and Matthews took James' missing production solely upon themselves.

"I think initially they were trying to completely make up for the loss of Dominic," Williams said. "When they got to trying to do what Dominic was, we lost what Wes and (Jerel) were. We can't lose Wes, (Jerel) and Dominic.

"We need to all take one step toward what Dominic gave us. I think that every game they better understood that."

It may sound quite simple, but consider that James has been running the Marquette offense for every game since his freshman year and it is actually quite astounding.

In a rout of St. John's in the first round of the Big East Championship, the Golden Eagles were able to regain much of their confidence and swagger. Maurice Acker began to show he is capable of facilitating the Marquette offense, and Matthews and McNeal went back to being Matthews and McNeal.

While Marquette strayed away from this against Villanova at times, the team proved it can still play with a top-tier opponent.

Down by as much as 17 in the first half, the Golden Eagles used aggressiveness in the second half, getting to the basket (14-of-16 from the free throw line), which led to open looks outside (8-of-13 from 3-point range).

"We're all right," Matthews said. "We're all right. I swear, if you guys would have came to our practice you would have never thought that we lost five out of our last six. I swear, you guys would think that we were the Big East Champions and we just came back from New York with another title."

Utah State might seem like the typical forgetful mid-major, squeezing into the tournament by claiming its conference championship, but the Aggies are not a team to be overlooked. They are ranked just one slot behind the Golden Eagles in the ESPN/USA Today Poll at No. 25 and rank first in the nation in offensive field goal percentage at 49.8 percent.

For the Golden Eagles, however, nothing — not shaven heads or fallen stars — could surprise them at this point in the season. And no team, game or moment of this tournament will be taken for granted.

"This feeling never gets old," McNeal said. "It only comes around once a year. You know that you have a chance to compete for a national championship, but at the same time, one bad night, you could be done."