I wanted to start by saying thank you for having me as a student blogger for the last month of this school year. I look forward to writing some thought provoking—yet fun—posts. That being said, I wanted to start with a short post of thanks and congratulations to a certain group of individuals that might not be directly related to “the law,” but still deserve some recognition for their achievements this year. Cheers to you, Coach Buzz Williams and the Marquette men’s basketball team. Wooohoo! What a season.
Now, I understand as law students that not everyone loves basketball or even Marquette for that matter. Everyone has their own interests and fun activities outside the reading and outlining we do daily (ahh, “weekly” sounds more accurate for myself). Additionally, I know everyone went to excellent undergraduate schools and most of you have strong ties to their sports programs. That being said, give credit where credit is due. As Marquette Law Students we still function as members of the Marquette student body, and therefore, should be proud of what the men’s basketball team did this season.
Prior to the start of this season, there was a lot of doubt. It was going to be the last season of the “Big East” conference and members of the Milwaukee community were itching for a great year. The papers and critics were not hopeful about the season, however, saying Marquette would not contend with the power-house teams in our conference. Consequently, we were predicted to finish 7th in the Big East conference and were most likely not going to be picked to participate in the NCAA Tournament, in which invited teams compete for the coveted National Championship. Sadness hit both the Milwaukee community and the Marquette Golden Eagle faithful as the team was faced with the difficult position: “lose like we are supposed to, or play hard and win?”
Blah blah blah….critics will be critical. Boy did we show them, huh? I believe last Thursday I was watching our 3rd seeded Golden Eagles pound the 5th best team in the country, the 2nd seeded Miami Hurricanes, on national television. It appears the critics were slightly mistaken—maybe they would have more promising careers as weathermen? The list of accomplishments this season was outstanding. Topping the list was our shared regular season Big East Conference Title and making the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament (meaning we finished the year as a top 8 team in the country). Pretty impressive for a group of guys predicted to finish 7th in just their conference alone.
Again, no matter how you feel about basketball, sports, or Marquette, we should all be proud to wear the Blue and Gold. Cheers to you, Coach Buzz Williams, the team, and all those at Marquette University who made this season such a success.