The Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team (formerly the Marquette Hilltoppers and Marquette Warriors) represents

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

Division I

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

and competes in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. The team plays its home games at Fiserv Forum in downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. Marquette has made 34 NCAA tournament appearances, including 23 round of 32 appearances, 16 sweet sixteens, 7 elite eights, and 3 final fours. They were the national runner-up 1 time and have won 1 national championship. Marquette first joined a conference in 1989, winning 4 conference regular season championships and 1 conference tournament championship. Marquette has had 3 national coaches of the year, 4 conference coaches of the year, 1

national player of the year National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, 9 consensus all-americans, 4 conference players of the year, and 16 all-conference first team selections. Marquette has also had 3

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

and 4 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees. Additionally, 39 Marquette players have gone on to play in the NBA combining for 7 NBA championships, 25 NBA all-star selections, and 11

all-NBA The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sele ...

selections.

History

McGuire era

Al McGuire became the head coach in 1964 and brought the program to national prominence, earning an NIT Championship in 1970 and a Final Four appearance in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

against the North Carolina State Wolfpack, where McGuire became the first coach ejected from a championship McGuire coached with assistants Hank Raymonds and Rick Majerus, who would each have their own stints as head of the program following his departure. In his final season as a collegiate head coach, McGuire led Marquette to its only NCAA basketball championship in 1977. Led by Alfred "Butch" Lee, Maurice "Bo" Ellis and Jerome Whitehead, the team beat UNC Charlotte in the national semifinals after Whitehead received a full-court pass and subsequently made a last-second shot. Two days later, Marquette defeated

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the stat ...

for the title. The team set a record with seven losses going into the NCAA tournament, the most losses up to that time for a team that would win the NCAA Championship.

Crean era

Tom Crean took over the program on March 30, 1999. According to Crean, "Once Marquette became available, that's where my sights were. I had unbelievable respect for the tradition and the name. When I thought of Marquette, I thought of a true basketball school and to me that had a lot to do with it." Crean immediately made a number of changes at Marquette, creating a new team image by increasing the significance of the team's media day and instituting a "Midnight Madness" event commonly held by schools on the night teams are allowed to begin practice. Crean's first recruiting class was considered by experts to be among the top twenty in the country, Marquette's first in a long time. In his nine years with Marquette, Crean's teams earned five NCAA tournament bids, one more than the previous four Marquette coaches had in the 16 years prior to his arrival. During his tenure there Crean recruited, developed and coached a number of skilled players that made significant contributions in both the NCAA and NBA, including

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA cham ...

, Dominic James, Steve Novak, Wesley Matthews, and Travis Diener. Over his final seven seasons at Marquette, Crean compiled an aggregate record of 160–68 (.702). The 2002–03 season was one of the best in Marquette history. The team made a Final Four appearance for the first time since winning the NCAA Championship in 1977. Crean has referred to the team's run as "one of the greatest four or five days of my life." Later that year, Marquette accepted an offer to leave Conference USA for the

after the 2004–2005 season. Big East commissioner

Mike Tranghese Michael Tranghese (born 1943) is the former commissioner of the Big East Conference and helped create the conference as founder Dave Gavitt's right-hand man in 1979. Tranghese retired as commissioner in the spring of 2009, with John Marinatto suc ...

cited his friendship with Crean as contributing to the invitation, saying, "That, to me, was one of the great appeals, to get Tommy as well as Marquette into the league."

Williams era

After Crean departed for the head job at Indiana, Buzz Williams was hired as the new head coach for the 2008–09 season, leading Marquette to a 25–10 record in and a second round loss to the Missouri Tigers in the

2009 NCAA tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...

. He coached Marquette to a 22–12 record in the 2009–10 season, which ended with a close loss to the 11th-seeded

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac ...

in the First Round of the 2010 NCAA tournament. During the 2010–11 campaign, Williams led the Golden Eagles back to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. His team went 22–15 including a 9–9

record. They lost in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big East men's basketball tournament to Louisville. Marquette received an at-large bid in the 2011 NCAA tournament. There they defeated Xavier in the second round (formerly the First Round) and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

in the Third Round to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, they were defeated by No. 7-ranked and No. 2-seeded

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. Wiliams' 2012 team returned to the NCAA tournament after finishing second in the Big East regular season, finishing 14–4 in conference play. As a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, they defeated BYU and

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

to advance to their second straight Sweet Sixteen. There, they lost to No. 7-seeded

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. After winning a share of the Big East Men's regular season championship, Marquette received an at-large bid in the 2013 NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed. There, they earned come-from-behind victories over

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

in the Second Round and

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...

in the Third Round. In the Sweet Sixteen, the school's third straight under Williams, they defeated ACC regular season and conference champion

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

to earn a trip to Williams's first Elite Eight, where they lost to

. The 2013–14 season was Williams' worst at Marquette, finishing 17–15 with a loss to Xavier in the Big East tournament.

Wojciechowski era

On April 1, 2014,

Steve Wojciechowski Steven Michael Wojciechowski (born August 11, 1976), also known as Wojo, is an American basketball coach and former player who was the head coach at Marquette University for seven seasons. He previously played and coached under head coach Mike K ...

was hired as the new Marquette head basketball coach, replacing Buzz Williams, who left for

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. On March 19, 2021 it was announced that Marquette had fired Wojciechowski after seven seasons.

Smart era

On March 26, 2021,

hired

Shaka Smart Shaka Dingani Smart (born April 8, 1977) is an American men's college basketball coach. He is the current head men's basketball coach at Marquette University. Early life and playing career Smart grew up in Oregon, Wisconsin. In high school, Sm ...

to replace Wojciechowski as the Golden Eagles' head coach.

Postseason results

NCAA tournament

Marquette has appeared in the NCAA tournament 34 times. Their combined record is 41–35. They were National Champions in 1977. Jamil Wilson

NIT

Marquette has appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York Cit ...

16 times. Their combined record is 23–15. In 1970, Marquette was ranked 8th and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The NCAA slotted Marquette into the Midwest regional rather than the closer Mideast regional. Al McGuire was so displeased about this that Marquette actually turned down the NCAA bid and chose to instead play in the NIT, which they won. Marquette is the only university to spurn an NCAA tournament invite. The NCAA later instituted a rule which forbade an NCAA Division I men's basketball team from spurning an NCAA bid for an NIT bid. An antitrust case by the NIT ensued over this issue, and the NCAA settled out of court.

NCIT

Marquette appeared in the last National Catholic Invitational Tournament in 1952 and won the NCIT championship.

Coaches

Awards and honors

Coaching

National Coach of the Year *

Eddie Hickey Edgar S. Hickey (December 20, 1902 – December 5, 1980) was an American basketball and football coach. He coached basketball at his alma mater of Creighton University (1935–1943, 1946–1947), St. Louis University (1947–1958) and Marquette U ...

(1959) * Al McGuire (1971, 1974) Great Midwest Conference Coach of the Year * Kevin O'Neill (1993, 1994) Conference USA Coach of the Year * Tom Crean (2002, 2003)

Individual

National Player of the Year National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

* Butch Lee (1978) Consensus All-America First Team * Dean Meminger (

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

) * Jim Chones ( 1972) * Butch Lee (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

) *

(

) *

Markus Howard Markus Anthony Howard (born March 3, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles, where he was a two-time All-A ...

( 2020) Consensus All-America Second Team *

Earl Tatum William Earl Tatum (born July 26, 1953) is a retired American professional basketball player from Mount Vernon, New York. He was a 6'4½" (194 cm) 185 lb (84 kg) guard who played high school basketball at Mount Vernon, where he was ...

( 1976) * Butch Lee ( 1977) *

Sam Worthen Samuel Lee Worthen (born January 17, 1958) is an American former NBA player who currently is touring as the coach of the Washington Generals, the team that perennially loses to the Harlem Globetrotters. He was well known for his play at the R ...

(

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

) *

(

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

) Great Midwest Conference Player of the Year *

Jim McIlvaine James Michael McIlvaine (born July 30, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Washington Bullets, Seattle SuperSonics, and New Jersey Nets. The 7-fo ...

(1994) Conference USA Player of the Year *

(2003) Big East Conference Player of the Year * Jae Crowder (

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

) *

(

) All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference First Team * Tony Smith (1990) All-Great Midwest Conference First Team *Ron Curry (1993) *

(1994) All-Conference USA First Team * Brian Wardle (2001) *

(2002, 2003) * Travis Diener (2004, 2005) All-Big East Conference First Team * Steve Novak (2006) * Dominic James (2007) * Jerel McNeal (

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

) * Jae Crowder (

) * Darius Johnson-Odom (

) *

Henry Ellenson Henry John Ellenson (born January 13, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Club Joventut Badalona of the Liga ACB. He played one season of college basketball for Marquette, before being drafted 18th overall by the Pistons in ...

(

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

) *

(

, 2020) *Justin Lewis (2022)

Retired numbers

;Notes

Hall of Fame inductees

* Tex Winter (Contributor) *

(Coach) * Al McGuire (Coach) National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame * Tex Winter (Coach) *

(Coach) * Al McGuire (Coach) * Rick Majerus (Coach)

All-time career leaders

Lists are accurate through the 2019–20 season.

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Players in the NBA

Current

All-time

Players in international leagues

Niv Berkowitz Niv Berkowitz ( he, ניב ברקוביץ; born April 25, 1986) is an Israeli professional basketball player for Hapoel Haifa of the Israeli National League. He is the son of former basketball player Miki Berkowitz. Early years Berkowitz was bor ...

(born 1986), Israeli basketball player in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball c ...

* Joseph Chartouny, Lebanese Basketball League * Sandy Cohen (born 1995), American-Israeli basketball player in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, ...

*Jayce Johnson (born 1997), basketball player in the Liga Națională *

Saski Baskonia Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D., commonly known as Saski Baskonia (), also known as Cazoo Baskonia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the ...

Jamil Wilson Jamil Wilson (born November 21, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for Club Nacional de Football of the Uruguayan Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol (LUB). He played college basketball for the University of Oregon and Marquette Univer ...

(born 1990), basketball player for

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's lead ...

in the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquette Golden Eagles Men's Basketball