Lucas: Rivalry with Marquette always colorful and historic
December 09, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
A century of basketball offers no end of great basketball, characters
 |
||
|
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin assistant Howard Moore smirked when asked what he remembered the most about the in-state rivalry with Marquette from his perspective as a former Badger player in the early '90s.
"Kevin O'Neill," he said.
Kevin O'Neill?
"He'd say things that would get Coach Steve Yoder and Coach Stu Jackson fired up."
Not only did O'Neill have the penchant for getting under the skin of opposing coaches — like Yoder and Jackson — but he loved riling up fan bases, including his own alums and supporters.
O'Neill was one of the more colorful characters — as in the color blue matching his language — in the series between Wisconsin and Marquette. He was an "expletive-deleted" waiting to happen.
In the late '80s, the Marquette program had reached a dead end with the piano-playing Bob Dukiet, who tickled the ivories as an entertainer but nobody's fancy as a head coach.
The school responded by hiring O'Neill, an aggressive, fiery Arizona assistant who had been mentored by the venerable Lute Olson.
At the time, O'Neill was the perfect fit to revive Marquette even though he had no previous head coaching experience at the college level.
During his five seasons, he posted an 86-62 record, which included marks of 20-8 and 24-9 and two NCAA appearances his final two years.
After taking Marquette to the Sweet 16 in 1994, O'Neill bolted for Tennessee, where, at 37, he became the youngest coach in the Southeastern Conference.
As a parting gift, he threw just about everyone under the Greyhound. He claimed a bunch of former MU players tried to undermine his program. But he didn't stop there.
O'Neill suggested that the state of Wisconsin was not very basketball savvy or sophisticated. He didn't much care for the rivalry between the Badgers and the Golden Eagles, either.
"I don't know if it's so important," he once said, "to be the best in the state."
You can understand why he would say that. At Marquette, he went 1-5 against the UW. O'Neill cared so little for the rivalry, he drew two technicals and was tossed from the 1990 game in Madison.
"Obviously it was for bragging rights in the state," countered Moore who played for Yoder, Jackson and Stan Van Gundy. "And to have those rights for at least a year was always important.
"The state of Wisconsin at that time was different than it is today. Green Bay was really good with Coach Dick Bennett. And you had Coach Bo Ryan's championship teams in Platteville.
"Everyone in the state was kind of vying for that top billing. We weren't winning as much then as we are now, so it was important to win that rivalry game."
Saturday marks the 100-year anniversary of the Wisconsin-Marquette rivalry. It's been a fun century
— Wisconsin Basketball (@Badgermbb) December 7, 2017
Moore was on Wisconsin teams that beat Marquette in 1991, 1992 and 1994; an historic meeting since it marked the first time that both schools were ranked going into the game.
The highly anticipated low-post dual between Rashard Griffith and Jim McIlvaine really never materialized because they got into early foul trouble. They finished with 13 points apiece.
Griffith, who has returned to the UW to get his degree, and McIlvaine, the color analyst on the Marquette radio network, will be at the Kohl Center for Saturday's renewal of the 100-year rivalry.
Moore is not planning on giving the younger players a history lesson.
"We'll just tell them what they need to know about now," he said. "They're aware of the rivalry, they're aware of the importance of a game like this. And, then, there's the timing of this game.
"It's important because it's the next game and next home game. After what happened when we were home the last time (an ugly loss to Ohio State), you don't want that type of performance again."
Note To Quote
O'Neill is the answer to a Kohl Center trivia question. Who was the opposing coach during the KC's opening on Jan. 17, 1998? None other than O'Neill who was coaching Northwestern. During his postgame press conference, O'Neill insisted that everyone in attendance was wearing a red, plaid shirt. "I had one of our managers do a count and there were 13,412 (red, plaid shirts) in there today. Several women had them on, too," O'Neill swore. After the Badgers waxed the Wildcats, 56-33, O'Neill really did swear. "They kicked our (bleep)," he said.
Raining 3s
In a 95-69 rout of Chicago State (Nov. 29), Marquette set a school-record with 18 three-pointers. Markus Howard was 11-of-15 from beyond the arc. He had 33 points. Andrew Rowsey had 26 points on the strength of six triples (6-of-12). As a team, the Golden Eagles are shooting .382 on 3s. They have 76 more takes (267 to 191) and 38 more makes (102 to 64) than their opponents. By comparison, the UW is shooting .330 (64-of-189) from the arc in the same number of games (9).
Saturday's game between @BadgerMBB and @MarquetteMBB will mark the 100th anniversary of the in-state rivalry. There have been many memorable moments, including the first game played in 1917 which ended in controversy:
— Fox Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) December 7, 2017
Big 3
The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by Howard (22.4 ppg), a 5-foot-11, 175-pound sophomore from Chandler, Arizona; Rowsey (21.6 ppg), a 5-11, 180-pound senior from Lexington, Virginia (a transfer from UNC Asheville); and Sam Hauser (12.9 ppg), a 6-8, 225-pound sophomore from Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Nobody else is averaging more than six points. Howard has made the most 3s (36-87, .414) followed by Rowsey (31-78, .397) and Hauser (23-52, .442). Combined, they have 90 of the team's 102 triples.
Did You Know?
Markus Howard is the younger brother of Central Arkansas senior guard Jordan Howard, who's averaging 23.8 ppg. In total 3-point FGM, Jordan is No. 2 in the nation and Markus is No. 4. Their dad, Chuck Howard, was a former Big Ten running back at Indiana.
Quote To Note
On the challenge of defending Marquette's Big 3, Moore said, "We have to get back in transition which is a part of what we do. At the same time, we have to cover them in the half-court as well, because they move the ball and they run good stuff and they know how to get those guys shots. You may take two of them away and the third guy is open. We have to be sharp."
Cutthroat
After what coach Greg Gard described as a "lifeless" effort against Ohio State in the Big Ten opener, the Badgers opened their Sunday night practice at Penn State with an old-fashioned game of Cutthroat. Three teams of five players. Moore initiated each possession from the top of the key.
"I thought it was needed to get this team juiced up again — to get our guys refocused," Moore said of the drill. "It was something to get these guys thinking about defense the way we've played. We needed some energy, we needed some intensity. And that drill always brings it."
The only way a team could score was with a defensive stop.
"It forced us to come out and compete and play hard," said sophomore D'Mitrik Trice. "There were a couple of elbows thrown and hard push-offs. It just brought that mentality of physicality."
Added freshman Nate Reuvers, "Coach wanted us locked in and ready to go (for Penn State). And it got really competitive with a lot of people fouling and hacking. That's just what we needed."
At the end of the practice, the 45-year-old Moore attempted to dunk. He had pulled it off the year before at Maui. With all the players clapping and encouraging him, he came up short.
"Didn't have the legs today," he sighed. "Too many cookies."
50th Anniversary MU-UW Flashback
Back in the day when they were playing twice a year …
In the 1967 Milwaukee Classic, the Badgers were the defending champs and drew LSU in their semifinal game. The Tigers were paced by a skinny, but flamboyant sophomore guard.
Pete Maravich had floppy hair and socks and led the nation with a 47-point scoring average. Wisconsin was able to "hold" Maravich to 42 and escaped with a 96-94 victory.
In the Classic finals, the Badgers rallied for a 70-62 win by making eight free throws in the last 32 seconds to offset George Thompson who had 27 points for Marquette.
Thompson was the MVP of the Classic. Joining him on the all-tourney team were Maravich, Florida States' Dave Cowens, Marquette's Jim Burke and Wisconsin's Joe Franklin.
For historical perspective, during that same December weekend in '67, the NCAA was studying the feasibility of a playoff to determine a national champion in football.
Michigan State's Duffy Daugherty was a leading proponent of a playoff.
But the Big Ten, as a whole, voted against it.
