Marquette Shooting for NCAA Bid

Rick Majerus, in his third year as head basketball coach at Marquette, carries a heavy burden.

No, not his bulky frame, which is sometimes the source of jokes. But the Marquette basketball tradition: the Warriors haven’t had a losing season since 1964-65, when Marquette finished 8-18 in Al McGuire’s first year.

And it isn’t getting any easier, with parity running rampant in college sports. Marquette fans, however, talk not about equality of talent but of 20-victory seasons, which have become the norm under McGuire, Hank Raymonds and now Majerus, the 37-year-old assistant-turned-head coach.

“It’s unbelievable, the amount of pressure,” the balding Majerus said recently after a preseason practice at the old school gym on the inner city campus. “People are thinking 22, 23 wins. I heard someone say 25.

“If we win 25, I won’t be here next year,” said Majerus, who has no desire to leave. He went to school at Marquette and started as an assistant in 1972 under McGuire.

But he correctly observes a 25-victory season would make him a hot coaching prospect.

In Majerus’ first year, the Warriors finished 17-13. Last season, they finished strong and went to the National Invitation Tournament, ending up with a 20-11 mark after a double-overtime loss to Indiana.

When they open the season Nov. 26 hosting Prairie View A&M;, the Warriors will be without the exciting backcourt tandem of Mandy Johnson and Robert Hall, but return a strong veteran nucleus that includes 6-foot-6 senior forward Kerry Trotter, the team’s leading scorer (12.4 per game) and rebounder (6.2) in 1984-85.

“He’s got to be a leader,” Majerus said. “He’s probably going to be one of our leading scorers. We expect him to rebound. We’re real pleased with him.”

There’s reason for the Marquette faithful to be optimistic. Expect another strong defensive squad that will attempt to run a little more, Majerus said.

“We have questions in the backcourt ... (but) we’re playing really hard,” he said. “It’s the personality of the kids. They’re a hungry team, in their own way a confident team.”

Translation: hustle from those competing for what Majerus likes to call his “starting eight.” In addition to Trotter, the scrappy bunch includes: pivotmen Tom Copa, a 6-10 junior, and Walter Downing, a 6-9 senior; guards Michael “Pops” Sims, a 6-foot sophomore, Benny Moore, a 6-4 senior, and Kevin Johnson, a 6-1 junior college transfer in his first season with the Warriors; and forwards David Boone, a 6-6 transfer in his initial Warrior season, and two 6-7 sophomores, Tony Reeder and Pat Foley.

Majerus has been around major college basketball long enough to know that a coach’s expectations ought to be lowered, not raised.

“We’ll be better than last year, but we might not win as many games. We have a nice nucleus. Unfortunately, everbody else does too,” he said.

“We’ve got a tough schedule,” he said, ticking off such notables as North Carolina, Notre Dame, De Paul and Dayton, the latter three being the major Midwestern independents that compete with Marquette in round-robin style.

“Those six are tough games,” Majerus said. “Just killers.”

Coach, how about a number?

“We’d like to win 20. Our goal is to get an NCAA bid. That’s our one goal. I don’t care if we win 16, just so we’re in the NCAA.”

But to get into the National Collegiate Athletic Association postseason action, the Warriors will need to cut down on turnovers, win more games in the early part of the season and capture the close games.

“Part of it is coaching, and some of it is foul shooting,” Majerus said, offering an explanation for misses by his young men at the foul line. “College kids, who have girl friends and pimples.”