Best 4 years to be a student fanatic?

[ringout]

I got to the ticket office the first day, and it was good enough (thank God) for the lady in the athletic department, and I got tickets.

Marge the ticket czar. 

[burger]

Although the ending sucked, I'm grateful I got to experience a year of C-USA basketball with Trav before joining the Big East.  The atmosphere of MU bball completely changed our soph year with the introduction of the 3 amigos and BE notoriety.

Yeap.....Plus passing the cheerleaders thru the student section.....and 18 year drinking age......

Times have changed.....

[Dr. Blackheart]

Oh Dimes, I hear ya on the Dukiet Years.  I am just simply amazed how fervent you Dukieters are today about MU hoops.  That is a testament in itself.  I think the one highlight for you was the opening of the BC.  Dark years in many ways for MU during that time. 

I actually think my tiebreaker to attend MU for school was because of hoops action.  At reunions even today, everyone talks MU hoops.

[StillAWarrior]

Well it wasn't mine: 1987 - 1991.

I'll second that.

[tower912]

Oh Dimes, I hear ya on the Dukiet Years.  I am just simply amazed how fervent you Dukieters are today about MU hoops.  That is a testament in itself.  I think the one highlight for you was the opening of the BC.  Dark years in many ways for MU during that time. 

I actually think my tiebreaker to attend MU for school was because of hoops action.  At reunions even today, everyone talks MU hoops.

The 77 team plus Doc Rivers ND beating half court shot moved MU up my list.   The campus visit sealed it.    I was there 84-88, what most would consider the nadir of modern MU hoops, and never missed a home game.    My hoops passion runs deep.   

[Mufflers]

It has to be a student from 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76, and 1976/77.  Two final four runs and a National Championship.

More recently, I'd say a student from 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, and 2005/06.  While your sophomore and junior years would have completly sucked, you would have seen a final four with Wade and the three amigos leading Marquette to a 4th place finish in the Big East.

You're right about 2002-2006.  I'm from that class.  To that point in our lives, Marquette hadn't gotten past the Sweet Sixteen, which made the Final Four all the more sweet (which is why I also think UWM getting to the Sweet 16 may have been even more rewarding for their students than our Final Four run to our students).

It was amazing being a freshman starting in 2002 because the Final Four caused even otherwise casual fans from that class to be close followers, not only then but to this day.

Add to that the gratification of joining the Big East, and it was a great time to be a student.

[Marqevans]

1970-1974
NIT Champs 1970, NCAA Finals 1974, in between: top ten ranking including #1, Nation's longest home court winning steak, SI Cover.
Dean the Dream, Goose, Allie, Chones, Hugh the Enforcer McMahon, George Sugar Fazier, Marcus Washington, the Black Swan, Larry McNeil, Bo, Luke and there are others. Oh yeah, Al, Hank and Rick, too. Dignified Warrior mascot.
The old arena was sold out all the time. Dime beers at the Gym and a free bus ride to the game.  
If you wanted to catch the pros the Bucks won the NBA in 71 and were close all those other years including a great finals in 74 with the Celtics. Oscar, Kareem, Jonny Mac, Bobby D & Co.
Those were the days fellas.    

Same here 1970-1974! Who can forget the game where Lucas hit the winning shot at the buzzer over Wisconsin and AL got up on the scorers desk. We walked outside to find a huge amount of snow had fallen and knew there was no school the next day! Oh and you left out "Spider" Mills!

[DoggyDaddy]

and Dave Delsman and Craig (the one and only 7ft guy in the AL era) Butrym.
Hey they used to say a prayer before tip off: "God our heavenly Father..." that alone psyched teams like Wisconsin. Yes, I remember the shot from Luke, it was during the finals of the Old Milwaukee Classic.     

[boyonthedock]

I'm going to have to vote for the recent era since every game is on tv and online now. You get to actually enjoy every victory.

[Ari Gold]

05-09 were good years. Not the best but certainly a good time to be an MU fan. 05-06 was such a surprise. Beating UConn at home in our first BE games.. First year of the Buzz tenure... downside was the early exits from the tournament.

[T-Bone]

90-94.  Wouldn't trade them.  Sweet 16, ridiculous student section seats.  Had a great time at all the games.  MCC conference kind of sucked, Great MidWest was kind of exciting at the time, nothing to be excited about now. 
Going from 11-18 to 24-9 might be one of the bigger turnarounds in a 4 year span.

[real chili 83]

Marquette had an 81 game home court winning streak. It ended the season before my freshman year -- 72-73. ND's Dwight Clay hit a last second jump shot to beat the Warriors, 71-69.

Dwight Clay was also the one who hit the big shot at South Bend to end UCLA's streak.  Was at that game with my dad.

[real chili 83]

My years were 79 - 83.  Had tons of fun.  Here's some of the highlights for me:
Dean Marquardt's post accident game against ND.  Big break out.

Hank Raymonds coming over to the basement of Schroeder to tell us about a recruit from Chicago who could take off from the FT line and dunk...he later went on to coach an NBA championship team.

THE tomahawk dunk.

Doc's half court shot to beat ND.

Watching Sam Worthen play point guard.

Getting a forearm shiver from Terrell Sclundt at the rec center after trying to block his shot.


The anti gravity man.

Showing up in Hank's office without an appointment to ask him about sports agents for a class project, and Hank spending 30 minutes with me.

Going to ND senior year and watching the Warriors stomp the livin' piss out of them.

[jsglow]

Same here 1970-1974! Who can forget the game where Lucas hit the winning shot at the buzzer over Wisconsin and AL got up on the scorers desk.

The best part of that famous scene was watching the father of the Badger player flip Coach Al off.  I can't seem to recall his name at the moment but that has to be one of the greatest MU photos of all time.

[ringout]

The best part of that famous scene was watching the father of the Badger player flip Coach Al off.  I can't seem to recall his name at the moment but that has to be one of the greatest MU photos of all time.

Glenn Hughes.  Father of Kim and Kerry Hughes. Pretty good players, both played in the NBA, one longer than the other (can't remember which).  Fabulous picture.

[romey]

The best part of that famous scene was watching the father of the Badger player flip Coach Al off.  I can't seem to recall his name at the moment but that has to be one of the greatest MU photos of all time.

It was Kim and Kerry Hughes' dad.

[jsglow]

Glenn Hughes.  Father of Kim and Kerry Hughes. Pretty good players, both played in the NBA, one longer than the other (can't remember which).  Fabulous picture.

Yes...... the Hughes twins.  Freakin' awesome.  I wonder if Mr. Hughes is still alive? If so, we should invite him to the BC and have Assistant AD McInerny give him some kind of award!  Put the pic up on the jumbotron.  

[real chili 83]

Yes...... the Hughes twins.  Freakin' awesome.  I wonder if Mr. Hughes is still alive? If so, we should invite him to the BC and have Assistant AD McInerny give him some kind of award!  Put the pic up on the jumbotron.  

Was that game at the MECCA?

[romey]

No, Milwaukee Arena

[jsglow]

Yep.  Well before they came up with the MECCA name.

Not to digress but I loved the Milwaukee Classic.  Back in the day my folks weren't season ticket holders but a friend and colleague of my dad was and always gave us access to the Classic tickets.  I was young at the time but feel blessed to have seen all of the 70s greats play.

[NCAARules]

Ugh. Not me.

96/97-99/00.

But before I get into those years, I want to say that the student-athletes on these teams were, as far as I experienced, quality people. Names like Cliff, Wardle, Mueller, West. I wish they would have had more success.


96/97 – Maine. Won C-USA tourney: four games in four days. Then had the Deane debacle against Providence and Austin Croshere from ¾ court. Overall Record: 22-9
97/98 – Opened the season with a win at UW@Probation, then a 24-point whuppin’ against Notre Dame. That’s pretty much as good as it would get. Started the season off 10-0. Went 10-11 the rest of the way en route to a NIT Third round loss @ Minnesota.
98/99 – 14-15. Last year of Deane.
99/00 – 15-14. NIT one and done.

Four year record: 72-49.
1 C-USA tournament championship
1 NCAA Appearance (loss)
2 NIT Appearances (2-2 overall)
1 Year with no postseason.

[MUrugger]

Back to that game against Bucky and the Hughes twins at the Mecca.  Mo hits the turnaround J at the buzzer and the place exploded.  (3 votes for Maurice Lucas as MU's all time Fav???--that sure speaks to the board's followers--I wonder why--there should be more older guys?)  

Thing was as the Arena emptied there was a major snow storm going on.  Bars were crazy...in part with the anticipation of school being called off.  If memory serves it was a school night--and school eventually was called off.

At least I never went.  Yeah, that was just one highlight of my time on the Hilltop, '72-76, though I dated a girl a year my junior and was up there for all/most of the '77 championship hysteria.  Including VICTORY and the triumphant march down wisconsin ave to the lake.  Why to the the lake?  We weren't sure about that once we got there either.

Another memory of that era; I'll bet there is not one of us who doesn't think the '76 team should have beaten the undefeated Quinn Buckner-Kent Benson-Scott May-Bobby Wilkerson National Champion Hoosiers.  The score says 65-56.  It was a lot closer than that.

And no, we were WARRIORS then, never Hilltoppers.

[MUrugger]

Marquette was ranked #2 in the country before that loss to the eventual champs in the tourney, had won 23 straight and finished the season 27-2.

That team might be a third place finisher to the two Finals teams that played in the four year period between'73-74 and '76-'77.  Those were the days.

[strotty]

I won't write a lengthy post on why "my" 2008-2011 teams were the best in MU history, but any student who got to cheer for Lazar Hayward was a lucky one. I haven't been a fan long enough to know for certain, but you'd be hard pressed to find a more likable player to root for, interact with and watch play his heart out every minute of every game than Hayward.

[Lazer Sound]

I was 06-10, four great years of MU basketball, but after reading through all of these posts (which is great) I just keep coming back to how heartbreaking the NCAA tourney losses were after each season.  I know that I can't complain because 4 straight years in the tournament is awesome, but look at this list:

06-07 - I'll never forget when CBS switched away from the Marquette/Michigan State game.  That hurt.
07-08 - Lasting image has got to be Ousmane on the bench as Lopez and Stanford break our hearts in OT. 
08-09 - My namesake Lazar steps over the inbound line against Mizzou after we make the furious comeback from down 17.  They changed the free throw rule after what happened with Kim English in that game.
09-10 - When Pondexter hits the shot for Washington that knocks us out I was numb. 

All of those happened while I was in school and each year all I ever really wanted was to see us get into the sweet sixteen.  My first year out it happened. 

So I would have to make the argument for the most recent class of grads, 11, being third on the list behind anyone who saw the team win a national title, or saw Dwade lead us to the final four.  I know we have had some other monster years, but the BE this past 7 years has been sensational.  Going out with an MU win over Syracuse to get to the sweet 16?  That is pretty awesome.