March 3, 2006

MILWAUKEE -

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The Marquette men's basketball team hosts Providence on Saturday, March 4 at the Bradley Center at 1 p.m. in the final regular season game of the year. Seniors Joe Chapman, Chris Grimm and Steve Novak will be honored at a post-game ceremony.

The following story appears in the game program for Saturday's game.

Novak said he came to Marquette because, "There was no program I was interested in that was going to work as hard to win a national championship as quickly as Marquette." Quickly was an understatement. In his freshman season, along with fellow freshmen Joe Chapman and Chris Grimm, not only did Marquette make a post-season run advancing to the Final Four, but they came within one game of playing for the coveted national crown.

"Our last four years have been very exciting," said Novak. "I think our first year we were thrown into the mix and didn't `t know what to expect. Then playing with Dwyane (Wade), Travis (Diener), Rob (Jackson) and those guys taught us a lot the first year."

Along with all of the team accomplishments that year which included Conference USA Regular season championship, the highest ever national ranking during the Tom Crean era, and an appearance in the Final Four, that season's freshmen made their impact in more ways one would think.

Novak early on became known as a sharpshooter as he set Conference USA's three-point field goal season records both overall and in the league his rookie season. For his performance, he was named to the league's All-Freshman Team and was named C-USA's Sixth Man of the Year. He helped MU to the National Semifinals after nailing 14 three pointers over the five tournament games en route to New Orleans and earned more individual honors as he was an NCAA Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team selection.

"At the time, I don't even think we realized what we were getting into ," Novak said about playing in the Final Four his freshman season. "It was a team accomplishment, but for me I will always look back on it and be so proud to say we were in the Final Four. I think making it to that point and winning is what makes you remember things and what makes a year special. "

Chapman and Grimm were other valuable reserves for the Golden Eagles that season. Grimm played in 27 games that season, including four of five in MU's post-season run. Chapman played in all 33 games that season and came up big for the Golden Eagles in their first two NCAA Tournament games against Holy Cross and Missouri making all four of his shots from long range. He scored six points in both games and added five rebounds against Holy Cross in a performance he deems one his most memorable.

"That was my biggest moment," Chapman said. "Making it to the tourney our freshman year and making big shots against Holy Cross in the first round to help the team get over the hump."

After not going returning to the NCAA Tournament consecutive seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05, Marquette focused on rebuilding as they were about to become a member of one of the deepest college basketball conferences in Division I Athletics.

"Our freshman year was really more of a learning year for us, and then I think our next two years were probably mediocre. They were not as good as we wanted them to be and now I think that this year we are on the right track and working toward going out the right way," Novak said.

This season, the Golden Eagles embarked on a challenge in which their critics expressed their doubts. Marquette moved to the BIG EAST Conference and many expressed the team's ability to be competitive, including the league's coaches which picked them 12th in the preseason poll.

Marquette may have extinguished many doubts after then second ranked Connecticut came to Milwaukee. Thanks to a career performance from Novak along with solid play from others, the Golden Eagles stunned the Huskies, 94-79.

"Beating Connecticut was a team win. We came out and we believed that we could do it," Novak said. "There's no question that Marquette doesn't beat UConn if we don't have five great starters and a couple of guys of the bench that were able to do what they did."

Although much of the hype surrounding this season has been over the young talent of MU's freshmen -- Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal -- the leadership of the seniors is to be attributed for their successes. These seniors have led by the example set before them notably from standout point guard and now NBA player, Travis Diener.

"You learn a ton from guys when they leave, but I think there is one guy who since he has been gone, has had the most impact and that is Travis," explained Novak. "He was our floor leader, our point guard, coach's right hand man. He was a guy who knew what it took to win. He was always straight up with all of the guys on the team and you always knew where you stood with him."

While the other two looked up to Diener for the way he led on the court, depending on the position different players helped instill in Grimm what Marquette basketball is all about.

"Guys like Scott Merritt, my roommate, taught me what Marquette basketball was about my first two years here," Grimm said. "He and I would get in and watch film. He and Terry Sanders would take me to the gym and shoot with me. They gave me my introduction to Marquette basketball. I respect them a lot."

Consistency on the court from Novak and Chapman along with the hard-nose defense of Grimm has almost flown under the radar compared to athleticism of the freshmen, but regardless they are the current teachers of the sytle of Marquette basketball.

"These guys as freshmen are a lot better basketball players than the three of us were," Novak said. "No question about it they are more talented. I think they are probably more mature than the three of us were coming in, and I think they had to grow up quicker and had to be quicker learners than we were. We weren't called upon like they are this year."

This season is different than the last two. Marquette is on the verge of its first NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons since its magical voyage to the Final Four in 2003. But before the "big dance," the Golden Eagles will travel to New York City for the BIG EAST Conference Championships, arguably the toughest and deepest conference tournament in the nation. It is a tournament Marquette was picked to be the last team in as they were picked to finish a distant 12th in the conference as predicted by preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Proving the critics and the skeptics wrong was something the Golden Eagles take pride in because they are underdogs.

As of the present the Marquette is in position for a first round bye, given to the top four teams. That is a testament as to how hard they work and the belief in themselves that they could do it. Before defeating UConn, the Golden Eagles took a trip to Alaska for the Great Alaskan Shootout, the same tournament Marquette won in 2001. The Golden Eagles came out on top a second time and knocked off the 2005 NIT Champion South Carolina in overtime in the championship game.

"After we lost the Blue and Gold people jumped off our bandwagon and doubted us even more," added Grimm. "But we came back on a national stage and said hey, `we are Marquette, we are here and we are in the BIG EAST'. When we got our BIG EAST opportunity we took it, played UConn and beat them too. I think Alaska sort of set the stage for the rest of the season and let people know who we are."

Chapman, Grimm and Novak want to end their careers at Marquette the same way they started them their freshman season -- as one of the 65 teams in the NCAA Tournament.

"We want to go out on top knowing that we did everything we could. I know the past two years, I have kind of regretted what had happened and the way the team had finished," explained Grimm. "This year I feel we are on track to end our careers the way we would like to, with maximum effort and nothing to regret."

After they are gone no matter how the season ends, no doubt they will be missed, not only by their teammates, but by the whole Marquette family as well, because this Marquette family runs deep.

"You can't replace the camaraderie and togetherness you have with this team. I think the best part about it is that you have guys who some are like you and some aren't, but you find a way to get around it, work together and achieve goals. It real is a family who you do everything, everyday," Novak said. "You can't help but miss that as soon as you leave it and how important it is. I think now you realize how special it is but you won't really know how special it is or was until you leave."

This spring, Chapman, Grimm and Novak will finish their degrees and are on track to graduate in May. All three say they want to continue to play basketball at some level. Whether continuing to play basketball is in each of their futures remains to be seen, but one thing is certain; basketball will be apart of them no matter where life takes them on and off the court.

"It is hard to say," Novak said about the future. "All of people who go to school spend this time looking for jobs with in their field. But I think for us, we want to continue to play no matter where it is, but there is so much ahead of us that is still to be determined where or what that may be."

So in the end no matter where they end up, Marquette says thank you. Thank you for the incredible ride to the Final Four, thank you for what you have done this season and the credibility you have given Marquette as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. But most importantly thank you for letting us watch you grow and mature not only as athletes, but as human beings. You will be missed but you will not be forgotten.

"I think it is hard to take away just one thing from here because you learn so much in four years here, both on and off the court," Grimm said. "One thing I would take away is the importance of being close and being together with who ever you are working with. To understand that and to have the family type atmosphere like I feel we have with this year's team or what we had with that Final Four team is something that not many people get. College basketball isn't easy. It is hard, it is hard to be the best and just keep on working hard and keep the competitive spirit and bring it every day. If you can bring it every day than the program will reach the height it can get to."