1981 Marquette Basketball: Still Fighting, Clearly Fading
Marquette basketball came into the 1981 season on a run of ten straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and in an era when March Madness was considerably more restrictive than it is today. But 1980 had shown some warning signs, as they slipped to the bubble and were blown out in the first round. In 1981, the warning came to fruition, as the Warriors missed the field.
LEE, WILSON & A FRESHMAN NAMED DOC
It’s not as though Marquette was a bad team. At a time when the NCAA only took 48 teams to its tournament, the Warriors were still competitive. That started with senior leader Oliver Lee, a 6’7” forward who averaged 18 points/7 rebounds per game. Michael Wilson was starting to come into his own at point guard, and the junior averaged 12 points/4 rebounds/4 assists.
This duo was augmented by an incoming freshman who would go on to a significant basketball career, both in college and in the pros, and as a player and coach—a freshman named Glenn “Doc” Rivers, his nickname already in tow, came to Milwaukee and averaged 14 points/4 assists per game in the two-guard spot.
CRACKS SHOWING
Expectations were tempered when the season began and Marquette was unranked. After opening with a win over Stanford, the Warriors had their first real chance to change perception when they hosted Illinois, a team that eventually got a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The game started well enough and Marquette led 45-34 at the half, with Lee and Rivers on their way to combining for 30 points. But there were problems up front. The Warriors were pounded on the boards, getting outrebounded 45-27 and they ultimately dropped a 69-68 heartbreaker.
Marquette bounced back by going on the road and beating a 19-win Minnesota team 92-84, the highlight of a 4-1 start. But a trip to Hawaii for a holiday tournament opened with a disaster. The Warriors lost by a point to Texas Rio-Grande Valley. MU won their next two to salvage the trip, including over 20-win Louisiana Tech, but at 6-2, the warning signs of 1980 were already flashing.
The first game of the new calendar year, at home against Southern Miss, turned the warning signs into a full-scale fire alarm. The Golden Eagles were on their way to a 20-win season and one of them came at the MECCA in Milwaukee, where Marquette played their home games. A decisive 84-72 loss left head coach Hank Raymonds looking for answers. And the biggest test yet was right around the corner.
A SIGNATURE MOMENT
Notre Dame was ranked #5 in the country. At a time when basketball by the Midwest Catholic independents was at its peak, the games between Marquette, Notre Dame, and DePaul were always hotly anticipated and this Saturday afternoon at the MECAA was no exception.
The Warriors met the moment. A tough game was tied 52-52 in the closing seconds. MU had possession just over midcourt. The ball came inbounds to Rivers on the left side, who pivoted and threw a 30-foot heave towards the hoop. It banked in. Marquette had a 54-52 upset and some signs of hope.
They followed that up with two more wins, including a 76-66 win at NCAA Tournament-bound Creighton five days later. The Warriors weren’t in the polls, but they were 9-3 and had some momentum.
FALTERING ON THE ROAD
A home loss to a respectable South Carolina squad broke the positive vibes and sent Marquette on a five-game road trip. It began in Dayton on January 24. Facing another opponent that was pretty good, but not ultimately NCAA Tournament-worthy, the Warriors played poor defense and allowed the Flyers to shoot 63 percent from the floor. Four different players fouled out. Marquette lost 85-73.
The road trip included going to Wake Forest, an eventual 4-seed and suffering an 83-60 beatdown. By the time the Warriors started playing home games again in early February, they were 12-6 and again needed to shift momentum. The good news is that some opportunities were on the table.
MISSED CHANCES
Easy wins over Detroit and Xavier set up a Valentine’s Day home date with Louisville. The Cardinals were the defending national champions and were the third opponent bound for the 4-line in this year’s NCAA field to appear on the Marquette schedule.
The game was never close. Louisville built a 14-point lead by halftime and sent Marquette to a 79-60 loss. The Warriors would have to wait until next Saturday, when they were slated to visit to #3 DePaul, to get a chance at a statement win.
But in between there was a game at Charlotte. Four years earlier, Marquette had beaten the 49ers in an epic Final Four game, en route to a national title in Al McGuire’s final season. This edition of Charlotte basketball wasn’t any good, but the Warriors got caught in the “sandwich” spot, between Louisville and DePaul. And MU dropped a 61-58 decision.
At 14-9, Marquette was now in trouble regardless of what happened with DePaul, but certainly any hopes at a last push to keep the NCAA Tournament streak alive depended on getting an upset in Chicago.
The Warriors played competitive basketball, and were tied 59-59 in the second half. But the Blue Demon tandem of future NBA forwards, Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings were too much to handle and Marquette fell 78-71.
A soft schedule enabled Marquette to grab four more wins, although they still managed to lose to another non-NCAA Tournament team in Florida State. With a final record of 18-10, the Warriors settled for an NIT bid.
THE ENDING
Marquette was paired up with Syracuse. The Orangemen, led by a young coach named Jim Boeheim, had also seen a long NCAA Tournament streak come to an end. The matchup was also a glimpse into the future. Syracuse was in its first year playing in the state-of-the-art Carrier Dome. They were a part of a new conference called the Big East—in fact the league was so young that Syracuse winning the conference tournament didn’t yet qualify them for an automatic bid. But it was that founding of the Big East that was making it harder for programs like Marquette to recruit in this part of the country. In that regard, this pairing was an ominous foreshadowing, much of which could be understood in the moment.
The Warriors fell behind early and trailed by 13 in the first half. They didn’t give up. Lee scored 20 points and Rivers poured in 28, including a jumper with just under two minutes to play that closed the gap to 76-74. But the Orange pulled back away and won 88-81.
Marquette wasn’t done. They would make two more NCAA Tournaments under Raymonds before he retired. But they were pretty clearly tumbling from the once-lofty perch they enjoyed in the McGuire era.