Let's start by acknowledging that there are still sports to be played by Marquette athletes this year. Members of the track and field team will compete in the Big East Championships this weekend, and the team has meets into late May.

Senior golfer Mike Van Sickle will likely play for Marquette when the NCAA Tournament field is set, and intramural athletes know there are still a few championship t-shirts left for the taking.

But rogue track meets aside, the sports scene on Marquette's campus is just about done for this school year. And that means it's time for the Tribune to select its top 10 sports stories of 2008-'09.

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Some of the stories are positive; some are not. But each story was important, so without further delay let's get to No. 1…

1. The Mike Van Sickle show

Those who doubt that golf is really an individual sport need look no further than Van Sickle's 2008-'09 season. Coming off a Big East Tournament win in the spring of 2008, the Golden Eagles failed to win a single tournament after taking home three titles in 2007-'08.

Van Sickle, however, had no trouble finding the winner's circle. He led all Division I golfers this season with five wins, nearly doubling his school-record career total to 11. His crowning achievement was a fall stretch in which he won four of six tournaments — including three straight. The senior also leads the NCAA in scoring average (69.67), birdies (160), eagles (eight), sub-par strokes per round (5.33) and par-4 scoring (3.94). Is that enough?

Sure, he missed out on a Big East title this season (finishing tied for second), but let's be honest this year it was more notable when Van Sickle lost a tournament than when he won.

2. Wait, who's playing tomorrow?

Marquette senior guard Dominic James' near-miraculous return from a broken foot during the NCAA Tournament is the runaway winner of this year's "text from a friend that you didn't believe" award.

In case you missed it or, you know, don't have a text plan, James suffered a broken foot in a game against Connecticut on February 25. Initial estimates said he'd need eight weeks to recover, spelling the end of his basketball-playing career at Marquette.

Or so we thought. Late in the night before Marquette's game against Missouri in round two of the NCAA Tournament, word came that James would be on the court to finish his career with his Golden Eagle teammates — just 22 days after suffering his injury. His performance was mostly ceremonial. James played 17 minutes with one assist, one turnover and three fouls as Marquette lost, 83-79.

Still, the move allowed James, one of the more celebrated basketball players in Marquette history, to end his season in uniform. And speaking of James, that brings us to our No. 3 sports moment…

3. Farewell, 'Big Three'

Really, is there any other spot for graduating Marquette guards Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and James than spot No. 3? These guys have been lumped together since the day they stepped on Marquette's campus and were most often referred to as the Golden Eagles' "Big Three."

There isn't really a bad place to start. One could talk about the trio's longevity — McNeal played in a school-record 130 games, James played in 129 and Matthews 127. One could talk about the group's scoring prowess — McNeal is first in Marquette history with 1,985 career points, James sits third with 1,749 points and Matthews is eighth with 1,673 points.

Maybe the stat that matters most is wins — the "Big Three" earned 94 of them, good for sixth place on Marquette's all-time list. The group never advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but it made the field of 64 all four years while leaving a mark on the university itself.

"It's a big hit," junior forward Lazar Hayward said of witnessing the end of the careers of James, McNeal and Matthews. "I've grown to have so much love for those guys, like they were one of my brothers."

4. Setting the records straight

The 2008-'09 season saw Marquette's two all-time scoring records fall — Abbie Willenborg's nine-year women's basketball mark (1,818 points) and George Thompson's 40-year men's basketball record (1,773 points).

The culprits? McNeal and Marquette senior guard Krystal Ellis. Ellis finished her Marquette career with 1,940 points. McNeal tallied the most points in Marquette history, scoring 1,985.

It could be quite some time until two Marquette athletes stick around long enough to break these scoring records, but it looks like sophomore guard Angel Robinson might have a shot at Ellis' mark.

"I know that I'm not just a scorer," said Robinson, who has 858 career points. "I'm going to knock down the shots when it counts."

5. 'It was a special day'

That's just about all Marquette guard Erin Monfre could say when she dropped 21 points during the Golden Eagles' 79-59 win over West Virginia. It wasn't just the points — a career high — or the seven made 3-pointers — which tied an Al McGuire Center record — it was the timing.

Monfre, whose mother died in January of 2008 after a long bout with breast cancer, experienced her career game as Marquette supported the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "Pink Zone" initiative for breast cancer awareness. The Golden Eagles were wearing pink, and Monfre couldn't miss.

"There's no real explanation other than it was a special day, and you get that extra help from up above, and there's nothing you can do," said Monfre, who started just six games since the 2006-'07 season. "Obviously (my mom) is helping me, looking down on me, and I did what I could with that."

What Monfre "did" was a career-defining performance.

6. Six wins and counting

Why put the Marquette men's soccer team at spot No. 6? Because six is the number of wins the Golden Eagles have after three years under coach Louis Bennett.

During the 2008 season the Golden Eagles racked up three wins, which was more than they had in 2007 (two) or 2006 (one) but was still far from impressive. Marquette was outscored 21-12 on the year, and the Golden Eagles were shut out on 10 occasions.

But hey, maybe Bennett is about to turn this thing around. Marquette had a solid spring, and after a 5-4 penalty kick win over Illinois-Chicago, freshman Calum Mallace was talking a big game: "I think all fall we knew that we could hang with the big teams," he said. "But it is nice to show them that we feel we are just as strong if not stronger than them. We are the better team."

7. The birth of bad Buzz jokes

When Buzz Williams became the Marquette men's basketball coach in April of 2008, few people knew what to think of the head-shaving Texan who enjoyed sweet tea and kept a running count of the number of days he was employed by Marquette.

The hiring sparked more "Marquette creates a Buzz" headlines than you could shake a stick at, but there was no mocking the results of Willliams' first season at the helm — a 25-10 record, including a 16-2 mark at home and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But the best part about Williams was his propensity for saying things he probably shouldn't — remember "I've stopped practice more times as it relates to (sophomore forward) Pat Hazel's mistakes, maybe, than the rest of the team combined"? — and his habit of listing obscure statistics that had every media member at the NCAA Tournament convinced he was a Rainman-like figure.

8. Any silver lining?

There weren't many positives to take from the women's basketball team's 2008-'09 campaign, which saw the Golden Eagles follow up a WNIT Championship by finishing 17-16, losing to No. 16-seed Cincinnati in the first round of the Big East Tournament and heading back to the WNIT.

Even the play of Ellis — 12.3 points per game, 2.5 assists per game — was less than encouraging as the Marquette star fought the lingering effects of a knee injury. It was all pretty much a big disappointment from start to finish.

But if there was a silver lining, it was the emergence of Robinson — 13.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg — as the team's best player and freshman forward Jessica Pachko — 8.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg — as a legitimate low-post threat. Here's guessing that the Golden Eagles wouldn't mind if those two helped break Marquette's recent WNIT streak.

9. The name is Bond, Bond Syhmansky

Women's volleyball coach Pati Rolf left the Golden Eagles in the midst of a disappointing 11-18 campaign, and her replacement, Bond Shymansky, rivaled men's basketball coach Buzz Williams for most distinct name on campus.

The Golden Eagles struggled under Shymansky during the spring season — going 5-7 while trying to implement a new playing style — but a host of new recruits will try and change that next year.

Plus, Rolf hadn't orchestrated a winning year since 2006, so it can't get any worse, right?

10. Mike Van who?

Don't you just love symmetry? Just like No. 1, our No. 10 story comes from the golf course, where redshirt freshman Matt Haase fired a 64 on the final day of the Big East Championships to help Marquette secure a second-place finish.

Haase's 8-under round set a Big East Championship record and gave him the second-lowest round in Marquette history. He also managed to climb into a tie for fifth place.

As Van Sickle graduates, it's nice to see someone else step up for the Golden Eagles. And no, that doesn't mean we're gift wrapping the No. 1 spot on next year's top 10 list for Haase. Don't worry.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to let us know who makes your top 10.