Scout team does the unheralded job of getting Marquette ready to play

The Marquette men's basketball team has some mentally demanding tasks this week.

First, the Golden Eagles (13-6, 4-3 Big East) have to decide how best to defend Xavier star forward Trevon Bluiett on Wednesday. Then they have to turn around and try to solve top-ranked Villanova's highly efficient offense on Sunday.

That means this is a big week for MU's scout team, the unsung collection of a transfer forward, walk-on players and assistant coaches who get the Golden Eagles prepped for every game.

“There’s so many facets to a successful program," MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "Obviously, the guys who play the most and play the biggest roles get a lot of the glory. But when you dig deeper, you know how important a scout team is to try to simulate all the different teams you’re going to be playing."

Wojciechowski divides scouting assignments among his three assistants: Stan Johnson, Brett Nelson and Chris Carrawell.

The assistants then break down the core principles of MU opponents and teach them to junior forward Ed Morrow, a transfer from Nebraska who is sitting out this season, and walk-on guards Mike Lelito and Cam Marotta. 

"Every team, regardless on if they run a million sets or they run a few, there are those that show up a lot in every game. And there's stuff you have to be ready for," Johnson said. "So when you're doing a scout that's the first thing you have to figure out is what plays are their bread-and-butter that they really score off."

Studying different teams' tendencies amounts to a crash course in high-level Xs and Os for the players. 

"The day of practice that we're going to start running some plays against the guys, we'll get together like an hour or two before practice. We'll go through their plays and make sure we all have them down on offense," Marotta said. "And if they have have anything special on defense, like St. John's presses a lot. But it's mostly offense."

Marotta, a 5-foot-10 junior, is in his third season of getting the Golden Eagles ready to play.

"He's the ultimate scout-team guy," Johnson said. "Because, regardless of who you're playing, he is able to get those plays down and then he's able to get into character of who he is going to be."

Lelito, a 6-4 guard from Mt. Prospect, Ill., is in his first season with the team. He was a four-year player at John Hersey High School and participated in club basketball last season before attending a walk-on tryout run by Nelson in September.

"The thing that stood out about Mike is when we started going five-on-five, it seemed like he had a pretty good feel of how to play," Nelson said. "It seemed like he understood the spacing. And then the fact that he could shoot and has pretty good size."

Lelito, who dabbles in music production in his spare time, was given a week with the team to decide if walking on was really for him. 

“Just the total energy of the program," Lelito said about what sold him on joining the team. "Right away I could feel just from the first practice that this was something I wanted to be a part of.”

So with Lelito, Marotta and Morrow, that still leaves the scout team short of bodies to go up against MU's nine-man rotation.

No matter, Johnson and Nelson are still willing to get out on the court.

The 38-year-old Johnson played on the only NCAA Tournament team in Southern Utah's history in 2000-'01. He finished his collegiate career at Bemidji State by averaging 13.5 points as a senior.

Nelson, 37, made 274 three-pointers at Florida from 1999-2003. He played a key role as a freshman as the Gators advanced to the NCAA championship game in 1999-2000.

It creates an interesting dynamic when you mix competitive situations and, yes, some trash talk into the coach-player relationship.

"You find out very quickly you can't play anymore," Johnson said. "But you know you can talk, so sometimes you resort to that. But it's fun. It's nice to be able to get in there and compete against your guys.

"I'll tell you what, it gives you a better understanding of how good they really are. It gives you a better understanding of how hard they're trying. Sometimes when you're on the sideline and you coach them, it's a whole different feel than when you go up against them."

Johnson and Nelson also aren't shy about getting some shots up.

“If they’re going to be in the scout, they’re going to get a lot of offensive touches," Marotta joked.

Nelson will cop to that. But it's all for a common cause.

"My mind's moving at one speed and my body's moving at another," Nelson said. "It's good to get out there and compete. At the end of the day, it's like I said about Mike and Cam and Ed. Our job is prepare our team.

"If that means being on the scout team and giving our guys the best look of another team's best player, Stan and I will get in there and mix it up and try to get our guys prepared."