1976 Marquette Basketball: A Near-Perfect Run

Al McGuire successfully integrated several new players into the Marquette lineup in 1975 while keeping the Warriors on the national landscape. In 1976, that growth continued. Marquette was again a nationally elite team. In fact, this team came very close to perfection and was only blocked from the Final Four by a team that actually was perfect.

SENIOR LEADERS AND RISING STARS

Earl Tatum and Lloyd Walton were the senior leaders. Tatum was the star of the show, a 6’5” swingman who averaged 18 points/7 rebounds per game. Walton was the quarterback of the offense, a double-digit scorer who also handed out six assists a night. Bo Ellis was entering his third year as a starter, and the junior posted a 12 points/9 rebounds average.

Two sophomores who had gotten substantial playing time in ’75 got bigger roles this year. Butch Lee became a double-digit scorer in the backcourt and 6’10” Jerome Whitehead was a reliable rebounder in the low post. Marquette opened the season with high expectations, ranked #4 in the country.

THE RISE TO #2

The early part of the schedule was a little quiet. The Warriors played one respectable opponent, on the road at Minnesota, and one pretty good in Miami-Ohio. MU settled for a split, losing 77-73 up in the Twin Cities and blowing out the Redskins. Marquette retained local pride by beating Wisconsin twice, once a regularly scheduled game and then again in the Milwaukee Classic, the post-Christmas holiday tournament. A win over South Carolina got some momentum going. The Warriors were 7-1 when they went to DePaul in mid-January.

Facing a key rival who would make the NCAA Tournament, Tatum dominated, going off for 21 points/15 rebounds. Before January was out, Marquette would be up to #2 nationally, chasing only undefeated Indiana in the polls.

ROAD WIN AT DETROIT

The Warriors rolled through a four-game homestand, knocking off respectable opponents in Pitt and Xaiver. That was followed by a tough 76-72 win over a Creighton team headed for 19 wins. A victory over lowly Fordham concluded the time at home and sent Marquette on the road for four straight.

The first three trips were easy enough—wins over bad teams in Georga Tech, Loyola-Illinois and Manhattan. It set up a battle with Detroit on February 7. The Titans were on their way to a 19-win season, although in this era of just 32 teams in the NCAA Tournament, they would not make the Dance. But a head coach named Dick Vitale had Detroit playing well.

Marquette trailed most of the way but finally pulled even at 66-66. They got the ball back with 1:29 to go. McGuire called for the slowdown, and the Warriors held it for the last shot. Walton would take it. He pulled up from 15 feet. Drilled it. The Warriors escaped Vitale and the Motor City with a 68-66 win. They were 16-1 and still ranked #2 in the nation.

MANAGING THE GAUNTLET

McGuire’s team got a week off to recuperate for a visit from 18^th-ranked Virginia Tech. MU only led by four with a four minutes to go, but they got a quick six-point burst to get some space and close the deal on a 68-61 win.

A Tulane team that would win the old Metro Conference regular season title was next to arrive in Milwaukee, and the Warriors posted a 75-63 win. Two nights later, Marquette hosted DePaul for the rematch with their Catholic rival. Tatum knocked down 16 points, and the Warriors built up a 13-point lead. The Blue Demons fought back and got into the game, but Marquette gradually pulled back away and put the finishing touches on a 64-53 triumph.

The Warriors were surging. The wins over Virginia Tech, Tulane, and DePaul, all solid teams, had come in a span of six days. And there was no rest in sight. After taking a couple of days off, Marquette traveled to Louisville. After making the Final Four in 1975, the Cardinals were battling for an NCAA bid.

MU fell behind 13-5 early before Butch Lee got hot. Scoring 12 of his 17 points in the first half, Lee put Marquette up 30-27 at the half. The second half was Tatum Time. Earl finished with 23 points, carving up the Cardinal defense with deep corner jumpers, the kind that would be three-pointers in today’s game.

The Warriors were still #2 in the country and finally had a week to rest up. But the schedule gauntlet would only get tougher. Marquette was going to South Bend on the final day of February to play seventh-ranked Notre Dame.

SOUTH BEND SHOWDOWN

McGuire’s defense was stifling in the first half, using a box-and-one on the great Irish scorer, Adrian Dantley. Marquette led 34-24 at intermission. After the Warriors briefly extended their lead to 14 points, Notre Dame came roaring back. The lead was cut to 74-73 as we came down the stretch.

Marquette was getting balanced scoring—Lee, Walton and Tatum combined to score 51 points. The crucial play was a loose ball that came with MU holding that one-point lead. Players hit the floor in a mad scramble. It was the Warriors who came up with it. When Lee followed with a driving layup, Marquette had what was then a two-possession lead and Notre Dame was forced to foul. The Warriors sealed a hard-fought 81-75 win at the line.

Marquette still had some unfinished business. They blew out Xavier and then closed the year by beating South Carolina 82-66, a result that may have cost the 18-win Gamecocks and Frank McGuire an NCAA bid.

The Warriors finished the season at 23-1. They were ready for the NCAA Tournament, placed in the Mideast Regional (the forerunner of today’s South bracket) and sent to Dayton for the  Round of 32.

A HEAVYWEIGHT MIDEAST

Marquette faced Western Kentucky, and the aggressive Warrior defense forced the Hilltoppers into twenty turnovers. The Warriors also hit the glass, with a 38-27 rebounding average. They were in control throughout. Ellis led the rebounding effort with 14 boards. Lee and Tatum carried the offense, combining to score 39 points. The Warriors led 36-29 at the half and pulled away to win 79-60.

The Warriors were on their way to Baton Rouge for the regionals. But this was a very different era of NCAA Tournament play than our own. There was no seeding, and teams were bracketed geographically as closely as possible. What this meant was that Indiana, undefeated and still ranked #1 in the country was also in the Mideast Regional. So were Alabama and Western Michigan, both of whom were ranked in the national top 10.

The 1976 Mideast Regional was one of the powerhouse brackets of all-time, one that would never be replicated under today’s balanced seeding format. That was Marquette’s reward for their spectacular regular season.

OUTLASTING WESTERN MICHIGAN

Marquette was paired up with Western Michigan in the Sweet 16, and the game was offensively sluggish, as both teams shot under 50 percent. The Warriors clung to a 28-25 lead at the half. What Marquette was doing particularly well was rebounding the basketball. Tatum led the way with eight boards, while Whitehead and Ellis added seven apiece. That keyed a 38-26 edge on the glass.

The Warriors and Broncos were producing their offense in different ways. MU was balanced. Lee’s 16 points were the team-high, and four players went for double-digits. By contrast, Western Michigan got big games from Tom Cutter and Jeff Tyson, who combined to score 39 points. But there was a big dropoff after that.

While each team was doing it in a different way, it got them to more or less the same place—a game that was virtually dead even with two minutes to play, Marquette holding a 58-57 lead. Ellis wasn’t one of the MU players who had a double-digit scoring night, but he hit this game’s biggest basket and gave the Warriors a three-point lead. They got a defensive stop and were able to seal a 62-57 win.

Marquette came oh-so-close to getting a huge bracket break. While playing Alabama, with SEC Player of the Year Leon Douglas at center would have been no picnic, it would have been better than dealing with Indiana. The Crimson Tide led the undefeated Hoosiers by five late in the second half, before Indiana got some big shots from Scott May and survived.

In our own day, this Indiana-Marquette matchup would have had to wait until the Final Four. But in the world of 1976, the #1 and #2 teams in the country were playing in a regional final.

THE POWERHOUSE CLASH

Indiana had a future #1 overall draft pick, Kent Benson, manning the post at center. The Hoosiers, with a size advantage, went to Benson early and often. He scored 12 points in the first half, and Marquette fell behind 30-19. But Marquette had gotten IU’s other star, Scott May, into foul trouble. May missed much of the first half with three fouls. And the Warriors used a 10-0 spurt to get back into the game and close to 36-35 by intermission.

Marquette fell behind 51-41 in the early part of the second half. With ten minutes to go, Indiana head coach Bob Knight went to a delay game, trying to pull the Warriors out of their zone. The gambit failed. Indiana went cold. The Warriors rallied and closed to within 55-52.

Tatum was having a big day, hitting 10 of 15 shots and scoring 22 points. But the senior leader wasn’t getting enough help. No one else was in double figures. Ellis only got six shots. Whitehead struggled to a 3-for-10 afternoon. And Lee was forced into a rough 4-for-18 outing. By contrast, Indiana shot 57 percent from the floor. And they hit their free throws when it counted. A competitive game ended as a 65-56 win for Indiana.

HEARTBREAK AND REFLECTION FOR AL

McGuire took the loss hard, and—just like after the NCAA title game two years earlier—took the blame himself. He had drawn two technical and faulted himself for becoming too emotional in postseason play. He publicly voiced doubts about his own ability to coach in the clutch, even suggesting that in the future he was going to let his staff coach the team during the NCAA Tournament.

Al wouldn’t follow through on that extreme thought. And he wouldn’t have long to wait for some vindication of his postseason skills. His crowning moment was just a year away.