Say what you will about preseason rankings and all-conference teams. Some believe they are a legitimate look at how a season may unfold. Others think they’re not worth the paper they’re scribbled on.
And some may just feel the need to use a perceived snub as fuel for a special season.
Marquette could fall into that last category because saying the preseason BIG EAST coaches’ poll missed the boat on the Golden Eagles might be something of a monumental understatement. Marquette, which was coming off a 19-win season and a tie for fifth place in the conference, did not receive a whole lot of love back in October when the Golden Eagles were picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams. All conference teams? Nary an Eagle on the first team. Ditto for the second team. And not even a sniff among the Honorable Mentions.
So fuel for a special season? Well, yes and no, according to Marquette’s Tyler Kolek.
“Preseason stuff doesn’t really mean much,” Kolek said. “They’re just looking at previous players (who left the program), guys that we have returning and guys that we have coming in. But from the very first practice in the summer, we had the belief in ourselves and we just had to instill that in our program every day. People outside of this program, they’re not down there with us every day, they’re not in the workouts. So how would they have known? We just like to go out there and play each game like it’s our last and be desperate and play like we were picked ninth. We don’t want to play like we’re in first place in the league. We want to play like we still have stuff to prove.”
And that mindset has been working just fine, thank you, for a Golden Eagles team that is currently 17-5 overall and a sterling 9-2 in the BIG EAST. That last number has Marquette in a three-way tie with Xavier and Providence for first place in the conference.
Not a bad position to be in for a program that lost studs Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell from last year’s team.
So is Marquette’s season something of a surprise to Kolek and his mates?
“We knew what we had right from the beginning. We definitely kind of had to define new roles as a lot of guys were kind of stepping into new positions. Like Kam (Jones) has done a great job and he didn’t start last year and now he’s our leading scorer. And Oso (Ighodaro) didn’t start last year and he’s come in and done a great job. Three of our five starters are new to the starting lineup and a lot of our role players are just coming into their own and stepping into new roles. So we knew what we had but it’s obvious no one else did just because those guys didn’t play as much last year and didn’t have as big of a role. But (this year) when they got the opportunity, they kind of took hold of it and ran with it.”
Jones leads five players as double-figure scorers for Marquette with his 16.0 points a game average. He’s followed by Olivier-Maxence Prosper (14.0), Ighodaro (12.1), Kolek (10.8) and David Joplin (10.5).
Kolek, who led the BIG EAST in assists last season, is at it again this year, averaging a league-best 8.0 assists which is also third best in the nation. So how much fun is it for Marquette’s quarterback to play his Patrick Mahomes role night in and night out with this group?
“It’s always fun out there,” Kolek said. “Just having the camaraderie with the coaches and teammates and kind of being the quarterback, being a leader, it’s really been good this year. We have five different guys in double figures and I think seven or eight different guys have led us in scoring, so it’s hard to game plan for that. Last year everyone knew Justin and Darryl were going to carry the scoring load and everyone else would contribute what they could. But this year it’s whoever got the hot hand or whoever is playing good, that’s who we go to. Teams kind of have to pick their poison and just kind of decide what they want to give us because you have to give us something.”
Kolek, who transferred to Marquette from George Mason after his freshman year, posted 188 assists last season. But with nine games remaining in the regular season, and with 175 assists already logged, this season, Kolek is primed to smash last year’s totals. Big deal or no?
“It just comes along with running the team. To get an assist the other guys have to make shots so it’s more in their hands and I’m grateful to them for (helping) make that (assist) number,” Kolek said. “I wouldn’t be anywhere without that. We like to say, ‘You are who you are through other people.’ So for me my numbers are where they are because my teammates are making shots and they’re making great plays after I give them the ball in the spots that they like to be in.”
The Golden Eagles have won eight of their last nine games as they get set to host Villanova Wednesday night (FS1, 8:30 p.m. ET) and Butler (FS1, 2:30 p.m.) on Saturday afternoon. So does it look to be a race down to the wire for the BIG EAST regular-season title?
“Obviously we know what’s going on around the league but we only want to focus on what’s ahead,” said Kolek, who fell a single rebound shy of posting a triple-double in Marquette’s victory over DePaul last Saturday. “We got Villanova on Wednesday and we got Butler on Saturday and that’s our week. That’s kind of all we’re worried about, kind of taking it game by game because if you look too far ahead you start to slip up and that’s definitely not what we want to do. We really want to focus in and lock in on what we have to do in the moment.”
And what about that Villanova team that just saw the return of Justin Moore from injury this past Sunday?
“They are a storied program with a great culture and a lot of those guys are there from that Final Four team from last year including (Justin Moore),” Kolek said. “He was a really important piece for them. And I’m happy for him coming back. You never want to root for anybody to get hurt. So he’s back and that definitely changes them. He’s an all-conference type of player and that will definitely boost their confidence.”
Since joining the BIG EAST in 2005-06, Marquette has only won a share of the conference regular-season title once, that coming in 2013 when they finished in a three-way tie with Georgetown and Louisville. There is still a little over a month to play in the regular season so lots could still happen, but what would winning the championship outright mean to Kolek and the Golden Eagles?
“Winning the BIG EAST doesn’t come around every day or every year. You’ve got to work for that,” Kolek said. “You’ve got to earn it. Marquette has won it only one time. It would definitely be special for everybody in our program and everyone around the program who supports us. We want them to be proud of us and we want to be proud of ourselves but that starts with the game on Wednesday and the game on Saturday and going from there. We’re just trying to take it game by game and see where it takes us. We’re right in the thick of things in the BIG EAST so we just keep our heads down and focus on what’s important and we can do special things.”
Marquette is currently ranked No. 14 in the country, the highest of the three ranked BIG EAST teams. It’s the Eagles’ highest ranking since they were No. 10 on February 15, 2019.
“Not bad. Not bad at all,” Kolek said.
And if the good times keep rolling in Milwaukee, if this out-of-nowhere Golden Eagles gang keeps reminding people they missed the boat on this team, then maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a Marquette name or two or three among BIG EAST honorees come postseason award time.
“Time will only tell with that,” Kolek said. “We don’t like to look at what other people are saying about us. Clearly in the coaches’ poll in the beginning of the year they weren’t talking about us. If they didn’t think of us much then we don’t really want them to think of us much now. We’ve just kept our heads down and really worked and grinded to get to where we are.”