MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES

No. 10 seed Marquette will face South Carolina in East Regional

Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Marquette players celebrate the announcmement of an NCAA bif on Sunday at the Marquette Annex.

The wait is over for the Marquette men's basketball team. The Golden Eagles are going dancing again.

After three straight years of missing the postseason and three days of cautiously optimistic hand-wringing, Marquette didn't have to wait long on Sunday evening to learn its fate for this year's NCAA Tournament. In fact, it took less than 10 minutes into CBS' bracket reveal show for the Golden Eagles to burst into celebration upon hearing they had earned the No. 10 seed in the East Regional and will face No. 7 South Carolina (22-10) at approximately 8:50 p.m. on Friday in Greenville, S.C.

"Coming out of high school you think that the NCAA Tournament is a given every single year for a high major program and you quickly learn that it's all about hard work," senior Luke Fischer said. "The past couple years have been real tough for us and this year it's all paid off. We couldn't be more excited and more happy to be where we are. ... This is where we want to be every year. This is what our goal is all the time. We hope that this continues and is a trend for the future."

Outside of graduate transfer Katin Reinhardt, who came to Marquette after stints at UNLV and USC and became the second player ever to make the NCAA Tournament with three different teams, this marks the first time for the rest of Marquette's players. It's also the Golden Eagles' first NCAA Tournament trip in three seasons under head coach Steve Wojciechowski.

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As emotionally charged as things got, with Fischer bellowing louder than any of his teammates when Marquette's name flashed across the screen, Wojciechowski proudly grinning ear to ear and high-fives and hugs spreading rapidly around the room, no one was more visibly affected than senior Jajuan Johnson.

Johnson, the only senior who has spent his whole collegiate career at Marquette, sat stone-faced at the head of the team's table in the minutes leading up to the selection show and his demeanor didn't change until the Golden Eagles learned of their inclusion in the bracket. That's when relief and intense joy hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him stuck in his seat while everyone else leaped with excitement.

Over the next few minutes, tears rolled down his face, prompting multiple people to stop by and offer him support as he sat in his chair overcome with emotion.

"It just took me back to when I first got on campus and all the stuff I went through since I've been here," Johnson said. "It means so much, especially with the last couple years and how it's been going for us. I feel like it is a big accomplishment, at least for me and the guys that have been here, to bring the team back to where it was at first. ...

"I think this is as sweet as it can get. ... Making it my final year, it couldn't be better."

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The Golden Eagles' inclusion in this year's 68-team field is not only representative of the success of this season's team, but also the rebuilding effort that began shortly after Marquette's Elite Eight run in 2013.

Changes that touched all aspects of the program began in December 2013 when Larry Williams resigned from his post as athletic director. Just over three months later, head coach Buzz Williams, fresh off guiding the Golden Eagles to the worst record (17-15) of his six-year tenure, left the program to take the same position at Virginia Tech.

Buzz Williams' departure opened the door for Wojciechowski, a 15-year assistant coach at Duke, who took the reins at Marquette on April 1, 2014. Later that fall, Bill Scholl, who had previously served as the athletic director at Ball State, was named Marquette's athletic director.

There were numerous transfers out of the program and only eight scholarship players on the roster in 2014-'15, leading to a 13-19 record that marked the program's first sub-.500 season since 1998-'99. Then came a highly rated recruiting class in 2015-'16 that reinvigorated the program and helped the Golden Eagles to a 20-13 record, but failed to make the postseason entirely.

This season, Wojciechowski built his team into one of the best, most efficient offenses in the country. The Golden Eagles poured in points all season, ultimately leading the country in three-point percentage (43.0%) and finishing in the top 10 in effective field-goal percentage (6th) and free-throw percentage (7th). It's something Marquette will need to lean on against South Carolina, which boasts one of the best defenses in the country, a high-pressure scheme that forces opponents into turnovers on 24.5% of their possessions.

Marquette's offensive reinvention led to a 19-12 record that proved to be enough for a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"I think we continue to make progress," Wojciechowski said. "Like everyone, you always want things to happen sooner than maybe it's capable of being done, but I think our team has made progress each year."

Now that Marquette is back in the NCAA Tournament after years of rebuilding, the Golden Eagles face the new challenge of finding a way to advance in the bracket. There's an extra wrinkle to that challenge as Greenville is just over 100 miles from South Carolina's campus.

"It's a big accomplishment for the Marquette program, but now we get back to work tomorrow and we start preparing for South Carolina," Reinhardt said. "I'm excited to get to work."

Marquette's opponent:

(7) South Carolina Gamecocks

Location: Columbia.

Record: 22-10, 12-6. Bid: SEC at-large.

Last appearance: 2004, lost to Memphis in first round.

Coach: Frank Martin (6-4 in four appearances).

Overview: The uglier the game, the more likely it is the Gamecocks will thrive. Despite a lack of traditional size and just 41.6% shooting as a team, the Gamecocks have taken on Martin’s hard-nosed personality, finishing fifth nationally in turnovers forced per game (17.4) and second in three-point field goal defense (29.2%).

Projected starters: G PJ Dozier, 6-6, So. (13.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.9 apg); G Duane Notice, 6-2, Sr. (10.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.3 apg); G Sindarius Thornwell, 6-5, Sr. (21.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.9 apg); F Maik Kotsar, 6-10, Fr. (6.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg); F Chris Silva, 6-9, So. (9.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.3 bpg).