Long before the Rutgers women's basketball team made an inspired run to the NCAA tournament title game last spring, long before Don Imus made his horrendously insensitive on-air remarks about the squad, the Scarlet Knights were a pathetic 5-5 squad heading into conference play with seemingly fading postseason hopes.
Rutgers lost four of its first six games en route to being simultaneously mocked and written off for the rest of the season. The Scarlet Knights entered 2007 with a .500 record, and it seemed certain that one of the Big East's traditional powerhouses was actually mired in rebuilding year.
Of course, Rutgers proceeded to prove everyone wrong.
With that in mind, take a look at this year's Marquette women's basketball squad. It returns junior guard Krystal Ellis, a preseason All-Big East selection, and little else in terms of notoriety.
Who else on the team would generate recognition among Big East women's basketball fans? Svetlana Kovalenko? Kelly Lam? Marissa Thrower? Heck, half the Golden Eagles' roster is made up of freshmen.
Big East coaches predicted in a preseason poll that Marquette would finish eighth in the conference this season. It would appear mediocrity is in store for the Golden Eagles over the coming months.
With early season match-ups against Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas and Northwestern, Marquette very well could enter conference play with a handful of defeats.
And despite all that, I would recommend one thing to Marquette women's basketball fans everywhere: Don't panic.
I was one of those idiots last year who decried Rutgers' pitiful early season play. The Scarlet Knights are a joke, I said. No way that team will matter come March.
Now, I'm not saying the Golden Eagles will make a run to the NCAA tournament championship game. I'm not even saying the team will make it out of the first round.
All I'm saying is that teams are hard to read in November and December. Remember last year when the men's basketball team beat Duke in the CBE Classic? Marquette fans went nuts over that one because, well, it was Duke, and everyone wants to beat a program of such high esteem.
The problem was that once March rolled around, that win was not all that impressive. Duke had an average year and ended up falling to Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
So, if and when the Marquette women's team struggles in the next six weeks or so, remain calm. There are a few reasons to cling to hope.
First, the Golden Eagles are led by Terri Mitchell, the reigning Big East Coach of the Year. In Mitchell's 11 years at the helm, Marquette has earned nine postseason berths, six of which into the NCAA tournament.
Second, youth is not always a signal of imminent demise. Freshman guard Angel Robinson was the 2007 Minnesota Miss Basketball. Paige Fiedorowicz was a first team all-state selection in Illinois last year. Jasmine Collins led her high school to consecutive state championships in Michigan.
These players have played in big games before, which won't completely negate the shock of playing against Division I opponents, but it should help ease the transition.
And finally, the holdovers from last year's squad not named Krystal Ellis will provide more than warm bodies on the court.
Kovalenko brings a spark to the floor that energizes the rest of her teammates. Thrower possesses the skill to affect the game from block and out at the perimeter.
The play may be sloppy at the start, and the lineup may change routinely during the next few weeks. That won't be surprising.
What will surprise is if the Golden Eagles have not found some answers by the beginning of February. Whatever you do, don't write this team off before the New Year.
Not even I am dumb enough to make the same mistake two years in a row.