Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Concludes 2000-01 Basketball Season
3/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 12, 2001
For The Record - The 2000-01 season came to an end for Marquette last week at the C-USA Tournament in Louisville. The Golden Eagles, the No. 5 seed in the tourney, topped Tulane, 72-67, in an opening-round match-up before being edged, 71-64, by No. 4 seed Memphis in the quarterfinals. The team ended the year with an overall record of 15-14 and finished C-USA action with a 9-7 slate, good for third place in the American Division. MU's nine conference triumphs represented the most victories in league play since 1997 when that team posted a 9-5 mark.
Included in the team's victory total were sweeps of American Division foes, Cincinnati, DePaul and Saint Louis along with home wins against South Florida and Tulane and a triumph at Memphis. The sweep against the UC was the first time a league member had registered a regular-season sweep of the Bearcats and the team's overtime win at the Shoemaker Center (Feb. 18) was just the second league setback at home in 42 games for Cincinnati.
Head Coach Tom Crean - Tom Crean completed his second season as the head coach of the Marquette program and has manufactured an overall record of 30-28, 17-15 in C-USA regular-season contests. This year's third-place showing in the American Division surpassed the expectations of a fifth-place preseason prediction by the majority of basketball publications as well as the league's preseason poll.
Marquette Faces Formidable Schedule in 2000-01 -- Marquette faced one of the most challenging schedules in the history of the program in 2000-01, playing 12 opponents that participated in postseason play last year including two Final Four teams (Wisconsin and North Carolina).
Through games played Mar. 11, MU had played a total of seven teams that won 20 games (four non-conference, three league), while four other non-league opponents had captured 17 or more triumphs. The Golden Eagles played six teams this year that advanced to the NCAA Tournament (two conference, four non-conference) and five that gained entry to the NIT (two conference, three non-conference).
Here is a look at MU's 2000-01 non-league foes and their records through Mar. 11.
S. Alabama 23-9% Ark.-LR 17-11UMASS 15-15 Xavier 21-7*Centenary 8-19 W. Carolina 6-25CS-Northridge 22-9* Wisconsin 18-10*Minnesota 17-13% Dayton 19-12% N. Carolina 25-6**Denotes 2001 NCAA Tournament Team
% Denotes 2001 NIT Team
Marquette Trio Earns Conference USA Honors - Three Marquette players were selected to various Conference USA all-star teams. Leading the way was senior Brian Wardle who became the first Golden Eagle to bring home first-team honors. The 6-foot-5 Wardle finished third among league point producers in conference games with a 19.8 points per game average and also ranked prominently in several other categories including free throw percentage (6th, .839), three-point field goals per game (4th, 2.50 tpg), three-point field goal percentage (8th, .388).
Junior Cordell Henry earned third-team honors after averaging 14.5 points, good for 11th place in the conference, and 5.06 assists per game (No. 3 in the league). In addition, Henry, who scored in double figures in 11 league outings, held down the No. 2 spot in assist/turnover ratio (+1.98).
Odartey Blankson rounded out the Golden Eagle honorees by landing a spot on the All-Freshman Team. The 6-foot-7 Blankson started all 16 conference games and averaged a team-high 5.4 rebounds per effort.
More On Wardle - Brian Wardle closed out his career as Marquette's No. 3 all-time leading scorer with 1,690 points behind only Butch Lee (1,735 points, 1974-78) and George Thompson (1,773 points, 1966-69). Wardle's point production is good for the No. 2 position on C-USA's all-time scoring ladder behind Charlotte's DeMarco Johnson (1,763 points, 1996-98). Wardle, who notched double-digit scoring in 27 of 29 games this year, finished the campaign with 544 points, good for 10th place on the school's seasonal chart, and sixth on the list for MU seniors. Other career categories that Wardle ranked included field goals (8th, 571), three-point field goals (5th, 197), thee-point field goal attempts (4th, 553), three-point field goal percentage (10th, 35.6%), free throws (10th, 351) and free throw percentage (t-5th 81.1%).
Wardle and Henry Solid Tandem - The duo of Brian Wardle and Cordell Henry proved to be a potent scoring tandem with the pair averaging 31.7 points per game and connecting on 95 of the team's 140 field goals. Either Wardle or Henry led the team in scoring the last nine games of the season while either one or the other figured as the team's top point man on 26 occasions. The last game where neither one stood as the team's leading scorer was the Wisconsin game (Dec. 23) when Oluoma Nnamaka tallied 11 points.
Marquette Shows Improvement in Free Throw Shooting - After ranking 10th and 9th in overall and league play, respectively, in free throw shooting last year, Marquette stands as the No. 1 team in C-USA in overall throw shooting (.711) through Mar. 11, while it's mark of 74.5% in league action was good for the top spot. The Golden Eagles shot 70 percent or better from the charity stripe in 16 games in 2000-01, up from 10 games last season.
Quick Stats -- In Marquette's 15 wins, it held a 35.7-28.1 per-game edge in rebounding (+7.6) ... In the squad's 14 losses, the Golden Eagles were outrebounded by a 35.2-32.4 margin ... MU turned the ball over more than its foes in 17 games and stood 7-10 in those contests, 5-4 when registering fewer miscues ... Marquette outshot 18 of its 29 opponents from the floor and was 13-5 in those games ... In its 15 victories, MU enjoyed a 69.2-59.9 scoring advantage and shot 45.9 percent (349 of-761) from the floor while limiting the opposition to 40.5 percent (327-of-807) ... In the 14 setbacks, MU was outscored by a 71.3-61.7 margin ... Marquette attempted more free throws than its opponents in 13 games and stood 11-2 in those contests, 18-2 during Crean's tenure as head coach.
MU Seniors Bid Farewell - In addition to Wardle, three other seniors saw their final collegiate action in the Memphis game. John Mueller (Cedarburg), Greg Clausen (Dixon, Ill.) and Brian Barone (College Station, Tex.) joined Wardle as members of this year's senior class. Mueller played in 102 games, 62 as a starter, while Clausen appeared in 106 games, 15 in a starting capacity. Barone, who started out his college career with a two-year stint at Texas A&M, played in 58 games during his Marquette career.
Blankson Makes His Mark As A Frosh - Odartey Blankson, a starter in 28 of the squad's 29 games, concluded the year as the team's top rebounder with a 5.5 per-game average, the first freshman to lead Marquette in that category since Trevor Powell (1987-88). The 6-foot-7 Blankson finished with a flurry, either leading or sharing for the team high in boards in the last six games of the year, averaging 7.2 caroms per game in that stretch. Blankson, whose 110 defensive rebounds paced all Marquette players, ended the season as the team leader in rebounds on 12 occasions.
Marquette Attendance Up From `99-00 - Marquette ended the 2000-01 season with an average of 11,194 fans per home game, an increase from 9,971 from the previous season. Marquette averaged 13,305 per game for C-USA home contests, No. 3 in the league, and averaged over 16,000 for the final two conference home dates.
Marquette Leads C-USA In Nailbiters -- Golden Eagles played a league-high 16 games that were decided by six or fewer points including six of the last nine. The Golden Eagles kept their home fans on the edge of their seats with nine of the last 13 home contests being decided by six or fewer points. Close games have become a part of Marquette's routine during the Coach Crean era with 27 of his 58 games being decided by six or fewer points. This year, MU finished 9-7 in such games while posting a 13-14 record during Crean's tenure.
Marquette Steps Up The Offense - After ranking 12th among C-USA squads in scoring for league games last year (59.0 ppg), the Golden Eagles finished sixth in that category this year with a 69.0 points per game effort. MU reached or surpassed the 70-point plateau in eight conference games this year vs. one occasion from the 1999-2000 season. Including non-league outings, Marquette finished with a record of 8-2 in games when scoring 70 or more points.
