Marquette Puts Its Dreams On Line In Semifinal Round
If the script had been written in Hollywood, Marquette would have been in the NCAA Final Four and William Gates would be the star.
Instead, the player whose life was chronicled in the acclaimed documentary “Hoop Dreams” is Marquette’s sixth man, and the Golden Eagles meet Penn State tonight in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
Coming off the bench, Gates has been an integral part in Marquette’s 11th trip to the NIT, which the team won in 1970.
Gates, who fathered a child when he was in high school, took off last year for financial, academic and personal reasons and now is finishing his last year of eligibility. He will receive his degree in December.
“I asked him to come back,” Marquette coach Mike Deane said. “He has not been a distraction to the team, even with all the publicity.”
Marquette is 20-11, while Penn State is 20-10. In the other semifinal at Madison Square Garden, it will be Virginia Tech (23-10) against Canisius (21-12). The championship and consolation games will be played Wednesday night.
Marquette’s leading scorer is Roney Eford, a 6-foot-6 junior forward who averages 13.3 points. The team’s 6-11 center, Amal McCaskill, averages 10 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Penn State, in its sixth NIT, is built around 6-10 senior center John Amaechi, a graduate student from England who averages 16 points and 10.2 rebounds.
“When we went into the Big Ten two years ago, everybody said we’d be one of the weakest teams,” Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill said. “They said we wouldn’t be competitive and it would take a long time to rebuild. I’m just happy it’s happened a lot faster than I expected. It’s all a credit to the kids.
“Closing out the season on a run like this makes it that much better. We’re a lot more competitive than people thought we were going to be going into the new conference.”
Virginia Tech, in its seventh NIT, has equaled a school record for victories set in 1982-83. Coach Bill Foster gives much of the credit to leading scorer Ace Custis, who averages 16 points and 10.7 rebounds.
Virginia Tech has been a nineman team most of season, and Foster has dressed as few as seven because of medical problems.
Coach John Beilein has Canisius in its fifth NIT.
xxxx NIT Tonight’s semifinal matchups at the National Invitation Tournament Marquette vs. Penn State Virginia Tech vs. Canisius