1979 Marquette Basketball: A Sweet 16 Run

Marquette basketball had grown accustomed to being a national contender by 1979. Over the last decade, the Warriors were consistently one of college basketball’s marquee teams. That included a Final Four season in 1974 and a national championship in 1977. And while 1978, the first year after the retirement of legendary head coach Al McGuire had ended in disappointment, MU spent that season near the top of the polls. The 1979 Marquette basketball season was another good one under second-year coach Hank Raymonds, very much in the mold of what Warriors fans had become accustomed to.

A SKILLED TRIO

A senior frontcourt led the way. Benard Toone, the 6’7” forward, averaged 18 points/7 rebounds and 6’9” center Odell Ball averaged an 11/6 line. The backcourt was anchored by junior Sam Worthen, who was good for 12 points and 7 assists per night. Marquette wasn’t deep, but with this core trio, they were well-balanced and opened the season ranked #18 in the polls.

EARLY PROMISE, LINGERING DOUBTS

The Warriors took advantage of a soft early schedule to start 9-1. But that one loss was a bad one, a 13-point defeat to subpar Wisconsin. The cumulative win total was enough to move Marquette up to #13 in the rankings, but there were still a lot of questions when the Warriors hosted #2 Notre Dame in mid-January.

Toone scored 18 points against the Irish, but he fouled out with four minutes to play. Marquette hung in there but ultimately lost 65-60. There was no shame in the defeat—but nor were there any definitive answers about what the Warriors were.

Three more wins over non-descript opponents created another opportunity. Marquette traveled to face seventh-ranked Duke on a Sunday afternoon showcase. McGuire, now a national TV commentator, was in the house for the NBC broadcast.

Toone came out firing and hit 7 of 10 shots in the first half, helping the Warriors keep pace with a Blue Devil team that shot 63 percent. Marquette trailed 41-36 at the break. They had a chance. But they couldn’t get over the top, losing 69-64. The Warriors had played well enough that they actually moved from #13 to #12 when the next polls came out.

But as the calendar pivoted to February, Marquette had to win a notable game. Moreover, while the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1979, they still only took 40 teams. The Warriors were in no position to even assume an NCAA bid.

BREAKTHROUGH

After wins over mediocre Creighton and St. Louis, Marquette hosted NCAA-bound Detroit. The Warriors dropped a one-point heartbreaker. That was the context as they got set to host fifth-ranked Louisville.

Marquette finally got the breakthrough they were looking for, and it came with surprising ease. Ball had a big day, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Toone crashed the boards with nine rebounds of his own. Worthen capably ran the show, dishing out seven assists. The Warriors coasted to a 71-55 win. The pollsters noticed. Marquette was up to #9 in the next edition of the rankings.

WINDY CITY HEARTBREAKER

Two more wins moved Marquette to 17-4. They went to Chicago to face archrival DePaul, who was #20 in the polls. In a hard-fought game, the Warriors clung to a 60-59 lead, and they had the ball with 0:32 left. This was an era with no shot clock and no three-point line. Marquette needed to simply hit some free throws and go home.

But they couldn’t get the ball inbounds and were whistled for a five-second violation. DePaul missed a shot in the closing seconds. But the Warriors could not secure the defensive rebound. A putback at the buzzer handed them a 61-60 loss. In the moment, it was a heartbreaker. In retrospect, it looks oddly foreshadowing.

POISED FOR THE TOURNAMENT

Marquette closed out the season by beating mediocre teams from South Carolina and Air Force and then dropping an 86-83 decision on the road to a pretty good UNLV squad. The Warriors finished the season at 19-6. This was the first year that the NCAA Tournament bracket would be formally seeded. When the pairings came out Marquette was #3 in the West—on a direct collision course with DePaul, who was the 2-seed in the same region.

BLASTING PACIFIC

In a bracket with just 10 teams per regional, Marquette was seeded straight into the Round of 32. They were slated to play 6-seed Pacific on Saturday afternoon in Tucson. The Tigers had started the season with seven straight losses before recovering to win the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) and get its NCAA bid. They had a pair of 15pgg scorers in senior point guard Terrance Carney and sophomore center Ron Cornelius. And for the first half of this NCAA Tournament game, they hung with right Marquette, trailing only 28-22 at the half.

With memories of a late collapse in this same round against Miami-Ohio a year earlier, lingering, the Warriors didn’t want to mess around. They came out after intermission and took the game over. Worthen and Toone each scored 18 points, combined to hit 13-for-21 from the floor, and did the bulk of that damage after the half. Marquette shot 57 percent and held Pacific to 43 percent. The Warriors forced 18 turnovers and committed only 11. MU scored 19 points at the free throw line to six for Pacific. The rout was on, and it ended 73-48.

DePaul held serve in their Round of 32 game, so the two Midwest Catholic independents were set to play in the Sweet 16 in Provo.

DÉJÀ VU WITH DEPAUL

Marquette started the game strong and took an early lead before the Blue Demons responded and moved ahead 31-28 by the half. After intermission, the Warriors appeared to seize control. They moved out to a 48-40 lead as the clock moved under the ten-minute mark. Toone was having a huge night, scoring 26 points, and grabbing seven rebounds.

The problem is that Toone was the only one having a good night. No one else scored in double figures. Worthen struggled to a 4-for-10 night, and Ball was a non-factor. Marquette couldn’t execute down the stretch. The game went to the final minute, just as the regular season battle with DePaul had. But it ended the same way, as the Warriors dropped a 62-56 decision.

A LONG SLIDE BEGINS

The landscape of college basketball was changing and in ways that weren’t favorable to independents from the Midwest. While it would take a few years for the impact to hit Notre Dame and DePaul, Marquette began to suffer.

They continued to be a good team under Raymonds, but 1979 marked the temporary end of the Warriors as a national contender. They didn’t get back to the Sweet 16 until 1994. And it wasn’t until 2003, a year the program made the Final Four with Dwayne Wade, that Marquette was seeded as high as the 3-line.