2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
3/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2002
GAME: No. 12 Tulsa (26-6) vs. No. 5 Marquette (26-6).
REGIONAL: East, First Round.
TIME: Thursday, 2:55 p.m. EST.
SITE: Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis.
Tulsa may have been the last at-large team selected to the NCAA tournament but it often stays around far longer than expected. The Golden Hurricane hope to continue that trend over the next 19 days as they open the NCAA tournament against Marquette.
First-year coach John Phillips had to sweat out a bid for his 12th-seeded Golden Hurricane, who lost Saturday to Hawaii for the third time this season, this time in the Western Athletic Conference title game. But Tulsa, which also lost to Arkansas, Fresno State and Kansas by a combined 13 points, sneaked into the field of 65.
"It doesn't matter as long as we are in," Phillips said. "You know once they throw that ball up and start the tournament everybody has the same opportunity to win. You see it every year where that first ballgame there is a lot of upsets."
It seems once the Golden Hurricane enter any type of postseason tournament, they are stubborn. Four starters on this team were around for Tulsa's stunning run to the 2000 South Region final as a 7 seed. In addition, the Golden Hurricane won the NIT title last year and reached the "Sweet 16" in 1994 and 1995 as a 12 and 6 seed, respectively. This is Tulsa's seventh NCAA tournament appearance in the past nine years.
"It didn't matter what number came up next to our school's name," said senior guard Greg Harrington, who is averaging 12.8 points and a team-high 5.4 assists. "I know each game could possibly be our last, so we're just going to go out and have as much fun as possible and enjoy these times."
Marquette is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1997, and the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles were ranked 12th in the final Top 25 poll. Coach Tom Crean's team finished second to Cincinnati in the American Division of Conference USA and then lost to the Bearcats 77-63 in the tournament championship game Saturday.
Marquette's success this season has been due in large part to Dwyane Wade. The 6-foot-3 guard, who sat out last season as a partial qualifier, led the Golden Eagles with 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
While not one player on Marquette's roster has NCAA tournament experience, Crean is well-versed after serving as an assistant under Tom Izzo at Michigan State, which reached the Final Four in 1999, the year before he took the Marquette job.
"These guys have never gotten ahead of themselves. We won't look ahead to anything else," Crean said. "We will take it as a two-game tournament process, we did that at Michigan State, I think that is the way you do this. You don't try to look ahead to see who is in the other brackets. It is all uncharted waters for these guys."
The teams have not met since Tulsa recorded a 67-51 victory at Marquette on Dec. 5, 1998.
The winner of this game will meet the winner of the Kentucky-Valparaiso game in the second round Saturday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Tulsa - F Charlie Davis (8.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg), F Kevin Johnson (14.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), G Dante Swanson (12.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg), G Antonio Reed (10.7 ppg, 4.3 apg), G Harrington (12.8 ppg, 5.4 apg). Marquette - F Oluoma Nnamaka (7.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg), F Odartey Blankson (8.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg), C Scott Merritt (6.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg), G Cordell Henry (15.1 ppg, 3.3 apg), G Wade (17.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Tulsa - At-large bid, Western Athletic Conference. Marquette - At-large bid, Conference USA.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Tulsa - 10-12, 13 years. Marquette - 28-22, 22 years.
