As I sat waiting for my 6:30 a.m. Sunday flight to take off from Washington, D.C., the pilot’s voice came over the intercom with a message for his cabin of mostly returning Golden Eagles supporters.
“To all of the Marquette fans, there are 285 other teams out there that would’ve loved to get as far as you guys did. You had a great year.”
Even though I was operating on less than two hours of sleep and feeling like I had to vomit, I couldn’t help thinking how right the captain of Air Tran flight 273 was.
In November, when the Tribune published the “Golden Eagle” issue previewing the upcoming basketball season, our six sports writers predicted how the men’s team would do. All of us thought Marquette would make the NCAA Tournament, but not many of us held ambitions for this team beyond that. I picked Marquette to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, but not based on the team’s talent. I simply trusted Buzz Williams to take any sort of team that made the tourney into the second weekend.
In December, as I was boarding a flight to Calfornia, the team was on the verge of defeat at the hands of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I left my phone on after the stewardess asked me to turn it off, just so I could see confirmation of the horrific loss.
Even the Big East season, regular season championship and all, proved daunting at times. Throw in the Big East Tournament loss to Notre Dame, and Marquette looked doomed for an early NCAA Tournament exit.
And for most of the Davidson game, it appeared that premonition would hold true. I sat in the jPad with my head in my hands, refusing to believe that Marquette would actually succumb to a No. 14 seed.
But then, whatever magic that helped this team continually defy expectation, from earning a share of the regular season title after getting picked seventh to grabbing a No. 3 seed when most experts had them generously as a No. 5, kicked in again. The worst three-point shooting team in the entire tournament made three straight triples, and Vander Blue, Marquette’s emerging star, laid in the game-winning score.
That magic kicked in again last Saturday, as the Golden Eagles held off the best tournament program in recent memory and defeated Butler by the skin of their teeth. The magic continued as they obliterated a consensus top-five team in Miami.
Even though the magic ran out against the dreaded Syracuse 2-3 zone, the 2012-13 Marquette men’s basketball team not only exceeded expectations but rendered them irrelevant. I would never have personally experienced the first five minutes of the Marquette-Syracuse game, the most intense, heart-pounding sports action I have witnessed live, without the unexpected success of this team.
Moments like that make us as fans and journalists realize just how many other teams wish they could have what we have.