Young Marquette gears up for Big East play

MILWAUKEE – As a freshman, Marquette guard Todd Mayo has yet to experience the rigors and challenges of Big East Conference basketball.

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t heard about it.

“That’s all I’ve been hearing about all year, that the Big East is different than the teams we play out of conference,” Mayo said. “The freshmen that came in, I think we’ll be ready. We just have to buy in to what Coach is teaching.

“I think the big thing for the freshmen that came in this year is we’re playing against a top team in the country and that’s Marquette. We play against them every day in practice. That’s what helps us get better.”

One player who has been filling in the younger Golden Eagles about what to expect in the Big East is senior Jae Crowder.

“It’s always tough,” Crowder said. “A lot of guys can do a lot of different things on a given night, so I’m trying to stress to the younger guys that it’s the same league as last year. It’s a tough league and we have to bring it every night.”

Coming off their worst performance of the season in Thursday’s 17-point pounding at the hands of Vanderbilt, the Golden Eagles (11-2) will open their Big East schedule against Villanova (7-6, 0-1) at noon today at the Bradley Center.

The Wildcats, picked to finish eighth in the Big East preseason coaches poll, are coming off an 83-69 loss at West Virginia on Wednesday.

Undefeated Syracuse, the top-ranked team in the country, has been the class of the Big East so far, but the league was well-represented in last week’s Associated Press poll. Louisville, which fell from the unbeaten ranks in a loss to Georgetown on Wednesday and lost to Kentucky on Saturday, was No. 4; Connecticut was No. 9; the hard-charging Hoyas had risen to No. 12; and Marquette was No. 14. Pittsburgh was No. 22 but lost to Notre Dame last week.

To Marquette coach Buzz Williams, though, it’s not just the bevy of rated teams that makes the Big East so formidable.

“I think what ends up happening in our league is teams that supposedly aren’t any good are really good,” he said. “And the teams that are supposedly really good… when you get on Big East vs. Big East, it’s all level. It’s all even. I think that happens in any league. You look at the next two weeks of our lives (including the Vanderbilt game) and we will learn a lot about ourselves.”

Villanova is led by junior guard Maalik Wayns, who is averaging 17.6 points per game, and junior center Mouphtaou Yarou, who is averaging 12.9 points and 8.5 rebounds. The Wildcats are giving up 67.3 points per game; only DePaul (70.3) is yielding more among Big East teams.

But Marquette has some issues of its own to resolve after its meltdown against Vandy.

“If we just do the things we do in practice every day, we’ll be fine,” Crowder said. “We’ll be able to compete on the road and at home with anybody in the country. If we get away from what we do (we struggle). When guys realize that when we do what we do every day, we’ll be fine.”