Marquette University Athletics
Game day is here
11/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sure, it will be sad to leave Conference USA for the Big East, since Marquette is the only C-USA school to go to the Final Four as a member. But that will be easy compared to letting go of this year's seniors: Travis Diener, Todd Townsend and Marcus Jackson.
"When you look at two guys in Travis and Todd that have 72 wins in their first three years - that's the most around here since 1978 - that's incredible," said Coach Tom Crean. "They provide a lot of stability and they've been through a lot. They've gone to the Final Four and they've seen it all. We need them to be great teachers and leaders."
Crean can't believe this is the last year he gets to coach his star point guard.
"There's days when it seems like he just got here," Crean said. "But then there's days when it seems there should be a statue out there for him. He's been such a part of things around here. When he came here, we won 11 more games his freshman year than the year before. Certainly Mr. Wade had something to do with that, but so did Mr. Diener. To me that's a huge, huge stat and one that we're excited about. Now we want his senior year to be the best."
"It's gone by so quick," agreed Diener. "I know I've got just one year left to try to make an even more special mark on this program. I want to go out with a bang and I think it's going to be a great year for us. To make it to the Final Four was unbelievable. I could never have imagined that. But now we've been there and we're kind of getting greedy and we want to go back. I want the fans to remember this team for a long, long time."
Despite being just 6-1 and 175 pounds, Diener led MU in scoring, assists, 3-pointers, 3-point percentage, steals, free throws made and minutes last season. He suffered a severe ankle injury in the final game, which only served as motivation all summer. Since it has completely healed, he knows he will be the focal point of every opponent's scouting report, something that doesn't faze him in the least.
"I don't let other people or other teams put pressure on me," said Diener. "I just do whatever Coach Crean and the team needs me to do to win. We've got enough good players on this team that I don't have to score the amount of points I did last year for us to win. I don't mind just running the team and passing the ball."
Diener is such a fierce competitor that he never wants to come out of a game, but he knows the team will be in good hands.
"I don't have to play 40 minutes a game," he said. "If I play one minute and we win, that's all that matters."
Diener is honored to be mentioned as a preseason candidate for All-America and the John Wooden and Bob Cousy awards, but not for selfish reasons.
"It means a lot to me because I think it's a reflection of our team's success, my coaching staff and my teammates," he said. "They believe in me and have helped me improve so much since I've been here. I could never have imagined that my name would be up there with the best in the country."
While Diener is a local product from Fond du Lac, the other two seniors hail from Illinois.
Junior-college transfer Marcus Jackson is from Peoria. The aggressive defender will provide inside depth as he tutors the team's three big newcomers, a role played so well by last year's graduating class: Scott Merritt and Terry Sanders.
Todd Townsend will forever be remembered for sinking three 3-pointers to beat Wisconsin and then four more against his hometown team DePaul, on the way to the Final Four two years ago.
"It seems it was just the other day I came here as a freshman learning from people like Jon Harris, Oluoma Nnamaka, Cordell Henry and David Diggs," he said. "My confidence is up and I think I'll be on the floor a lot this year, which is great because I'll be playing with the smartest point guard in America."
Juniors Steve Novak and Joe Chapman will have new roles this season, along with Chris Grimm, who will be a prominent force in the frontcourt.
The 6-10 Novak will move to the power forward spot, after primarily being known as the best tall long-range bomber in the nation, which was showcased by a career-high 30 points (on 8 3's) at Louisville last season on ESPN.
"I've been working on a lot of ball-handling things and my defense,"
Novak said. "My goal ever since I've come to college is to become a complete player and every year I've been able to add dimensions to my game. I have to be a leader because the younger guys look up to me. There's no question Travis is our leader, but no game will be won or lost by one guy." Chapman is excited about his move from off-guard to small forward.
"I'm playing the '3' this year, which is where I played in high school, so I know all about it," he said. "I think the switch will make the team a lot better."
Grimm is a fan favorite with his all-out hustle and bruising style. He scored a career-high 8 points in last year's NIT first-round victory over Toledo. The way last year ended for him carried over to the off-season.
"When we rated our defenders this spring and this fall Chris Grimm was at or near the top," said Crean. "That's a big plus. When you have a player that's 6-10 _ he doesn't have extremely long arms, but he has extremely good feet _ with a great intensity and tenacity about him, don't be surprised when you see him guarding perimeter people on the floor. We're anticipating Chris to be a lot better and continue to improve throughout the season."
Transfers Mike Kinsella and Dan Fitzgerald join Dameon Mason in the sophomore class.
After Novak's heroics at Louisville last season, then-freshman Mason grew up before the eyes of a national-TV audience against the Cardinals on Senior Day at the Bradley Center on a play he dreamed about as a child.
He hit a jumper with eight-tenths of a second on the clock to tie the game, despite getting clobbered by a defender. After being iced by a Louisville timeout, he calmly sank the game-winning free throw before the student section swarmed the court.
"I wanted to make a big play like you think about when you're younger," Mason said after the game. "You think, man, zero seconds left, going to the free throw line, you know, big shot. You think about it all the time."
Mason will switch with Chapman this season, moving to the off-guard spot.
Kinsella is a 7-footer from Minneapolis Tech who will be eligible to play this season. Fitzgerald is also from Minnesota, but will have to sit out this season after leaving Tulane.
The other newcomers are freshmen Ryan Amoroso, another Minnesota product, and Ousmane Barro, who is from Senegal and was a foreign-exchange student in Chicago last year.
"The new guys are like European players," Chapman said. "They can bang down low, but then they can step outside and shoot."
"There are no issues this year," Crean said about the new players. "They understand their place in the chain of command. They're rookies, but they have a chance to be very, very productive players here for a long period of time."
Before taking one last journey through Conference USA, MU's great fans will be treated to some outstanding match-ups on Al McGuire Court.
"I love having such an unbelievable home schedule my senior year," Diener said. "There are some great teams in the BCA Classic (which includes 12 games over three days), and then to play Wisconsin, Arizona and Nebraska back-to-back-to-back is going to be tough, challenging and fun."
"We want to give ourselves a great challenge and I hope we have sellouts inside of that," Crean said. "We want to schedule games that get people excited and prepare us for our league this year as we look forward to our new league next year."
The players are poised to build on the squad that won 19 games and advanced to the third round of the NIT a year ago.
"The most important thing you can do is create your own expectations as a team," Crean said. "Some teams win 20 or 21 games and they want to canonize them and bring that team back every year for a reunion. You get 19 wins and people are disappointed. I can live with that. The expectations of the program are high and we want them to be high. I thought last year there were times when we actually overachieved. We'll be the better for it."
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