Marquette vs Seton Hall Basketball Recap

Marquette 84, Seton Hall 83 (OT)

This is insane. This is nuts. This is off the hook.

This is the 2010 Big East basketball season.

This is the Big East bubble.

This... is Marquette basketball.

Back in early November, before another college hoops campaign began, the road for the Marquette Golden Eagles figured to be long and arduous one. Without stalwarts Dominic James and Wesley Matthews, coach Buzz Williams had a depleted lineup on his hands. No longer gifted with three first-rate scorers who could spread the floor and wreak havoc against opposing defenses, MU had to grind in order to win. Basketball observers expected difficulty for this club, but no one could have predicted exactly how this winter would ultimately unfold.

Sunday afternoon in Newark, N.J., the latest chapter of a mesmerizing narrative played out at the Prudential Center, as the men of Marquette took on the Seton Hall Pirates. With their NCAA Tournament ticket not yet punched, and a lower-division Big East opponent waiting to knock them off, the Golden Eagles had to figure out a way to win a third consecutive road game. Otherwise, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee would have found fresh reason to downgrade Buzz's Boys in a crowded Big East bubble race. With Louisville, Connecticut, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame all vying for an at-large NCAA invite, Marquette couldn't afford to lose ground.

At the end of 45 minutes - and not 40 - the cardiac kids from Milwaukee managed to move one step closer to their ultimate goal, in a scenario that's too preposterous for words.

Marquette pushed back Coach Bobby Gonzalez's Pirates, basically by hanging on. Both teams played racehorse basketball in the latter stages of regulation, pushing the ball upcourt even after made baskets and generally getting open looks at the goal. MU's Lazar Hayward broke a 67-all tie with a layup at the 33-second mark of regulation, but Seton Hall's Eugene Harvey hit two foul shots just four second later - off one of those secondary fast breaks - to re-tie the score at 69. When Hayward missed an open 19-foot jumper from the top of the key at the final horn, Marquette had entered the rarest of realms. The Eagles - believe it or not - were forced to play their third straight overtime game, a feat that defies the laws of college basketball physics.

The only challenge left, of course, was for Marquette to win once more. After all, the Golden Eagles came out on top in their previous two extra-distance outings. Could the wonderboys from the state of Wisconsin - victors over Cincinnati last Sunday, and stoppers against St. John's this past Wednesday - go into another enemy lair and live to tell about it yet again?

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Yes. Yes they could... but not without the drama that has characterized a season in which Marquette has played 13 - count 'em! - Games decided by five points or fewer.

Just when the Golden Eagles - leading 82-77 - seemed home free inside the final half-minute of overtime, disaster struck. Seton Hall's Jeremy Hazell hit a 3-pointer and was fouled by MU's Darius Johnson-Odom with 25 seconds left. The made free throw produced a 4-point play that trimmed MU's lead to one. The Eagles could only split 2 of 4 foul shots in the final 21 seconds, but because Hazell fired blanks on two triples (the second one came with MU leading, 84-81, and was put back for a meaningless deuce with one second remaining), the three-game, three-overtime, three-roadie, three-victory tour was completed by a crew that has sent blood pressure levels - and pleasure levels - soaring in one of America's foremost beer-making cities.

They're tipping back many cold ones in Milwaukee tonight. Marquette - a winner of three straight road overtime games - has earned such a salute. The Golden Eagles might also be on the verge of tucking away a precious NCAA Tournament ticket as well.

By Matt Zemek
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

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