Marquette, Xavier are looking to get back on track
Teams want to avoid starting 1-4 in Big East
No college basketball coach is going to admit that a matchup in midJanuary is a must-win game.
Both Marquette and Xavier have 14 conference battles remaining, including Wednesday night's 7 p.m. meeting at Fiserv Forum. There is plenty of time for the teams to fix their respective issues.
But the reality for the Golden Eagles (11-5, 1-3 Big East) and the Musketeers (12-5, 1-3) is that a 1-4 start to conference play will make for a daunting, uphill climb the rest of the way.
“All we've talked about is (going) game to game,” MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski said after a 6955 loss to Seton Hall on Saturday. “You got to respond.
“You got to respond when good things happen. You got to respond when you hit adversity. It's just that simple.”
The start of conference play has been rough for the Golden Eagles. They have lost tough road games at Creighton and Seton Hall, but also suffered a defeat at home against Providence in overtime despite
Spring that serves grades 6-12.
Joseph sees the mission of the school aligned with his own. While Carmen Northwest goes about, as the Milwaukee Public School's website says, “graduating critical thinkers and self-directed learners” Joseph, as so many coaches in this city do, continues to go about the business of helping prepare youngsters for challenges of young adulthood.
In the process, he might just add to a growing trend in the city.
This isn't the MPS many of you grew up with. The sports landscape is a little different. Reagan has a couple of the better football and baseball programs in the City. Languages has developed into one of the district's stronger girls basketball programs. Golda Meir's boys hoops program has won two straight titles in the City's Blue Division. These are schools that we heard little if anything about as high schools 20 years ago.
Carmen, which was established in 2013, fits that mold.
“The sixth-12th grade model was a perfect fit for me because I feel the city has a dire need of a feeder situation,” Joseph said. “If we do it the right way if start them off from the sixth grade and they're playing under our system, listening to our voices, playing under our care, it will make it easy when they come (into high school).”
During the school day, Joseph serves as Carmen's Dean of Students. As the varsity head coach, he is also charged with running the junior varsity and middle school programs.
In practice and in games, he coaches with an energy and enthusiasm that is clear if you've watched him pace the sideline during a game. He brings that same energy to what he considers his mission work.
“When I think of passion, I think of things out of basketball that I can utilize in sport to teach and encourage kids to be successful in life,” Joseph said. “I
know if I can teach someone to hold weak-side defense, I can teach somebody to prepare their mind to get a good score on the ACT or prepare their mind to (prepare their college application) … I'm just passionate about results.”
The early returns at Carmen Northwest are promising on the court
Led by seniors DaShaun Hill, Amato Lukojo and Hussein Abdallah, Carmen entered play Tuesday with a 6-3 record to equal the most wins in program history. A member of the City Conference Blue Division since its inception in 2016, the team's 3-0 start in the division leaves it one win away from equaling its most successful season in the league.
It is a modest start that might one day yield a huge return. In the meanwhile, Joseph will try to bring the same energy to his new job as he did to his former one.
“I'm still growing,” he said. “I thought I knew it all when I raised up a gold ball to represent the city. At that time I was like ‘I did it'.
“But this is mission work for me. I had other work to do. I just didn't know it wasn't going to be a Destiny. I'm always lighting that fire to get youth to understand that if you display a simple level of passion, if you bring energy to whatever you do in life the results will be at the end.”