Marquette’s seniors miss out on NCAA redemption
NEW YORK – College basketball fans are trying to wrap their minds around a March without the NCAA Tournament.
For athletes in their last year of eligibility, they have to grapple with their college careers coming to a stunning and abrupt end after the NCAA canceled winter and spring championships in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus.
That means Markus Howard, one of Marquette’s all-time great men’s basketball players, will never wear the school’s uniform again.
It also means Sacar Anim, who built himself into a key player over his five years at MU, won't get a final chance to play on the national stage.
And Jayce Johnson, who transferred to MU for his final season in search of team success after three years at Utah, will never get to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“No. 1, you never want to put somebody's health at risk for a game or sporting event,” MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said Thursday. “Intellectually that's an argument that's easy to understand.
“However, for Markus and Sacar, those guys were having the opportunity to play in their third NCAA Tournament in four years. Jayce Johnson, he would have had the opportunity to play in his first NCAA Tournament in college.”
Anim misses a chance to top the 1,000-point mark. He ends with 962, an impressive number considering he scored just 19 as a little-used freshman in the 2015-16 season.
Johnson's lone season at MU got off to a slow start with a sprained knee that caused him to miss the first two games. But the 7-foot graduate transfer became a key player once healthy. He finished the season with four straight games with 10 or more rebounds, becoming the first MU player to do that since Henry Ellenson in the 2015-16 season.
Howard's name is etched all over MU's record book. He broke Jerel McNeal's program scoring record in the first game this season and finishes with 2,761 points in 128 games at MU.
Howard also has the season record for points with 851 in the 2018-19 season. He would have had the chance to top that, sitting at 806 points this season with at least two postseason games getting wiped out. Howard averaged a NCAAbest 27.8 points per game this season.
Howard's 21.6 career scoring average at MU is the best in school history, topping George Thompson's 20.4. Howard has the top five scoring performances at MU, including three games with 50 or more points. He also has school records for most made three-pointers (434) and free throws (599).
Howard came back for his senior season for a chance at team success.
“At this point, when you're a senior, your last go-round, all that really matters is how you finish, how you win,” Howard said during the team's media day in October.
The 5-foot-11 guard will never get the chance to add a signature NCAA Tournament performance to his legacy. The Golden Eagles were 0-2 in the tournament during Howard's time, with blowout losses to Murray State last season and South Carolina in 2016-17.
Now MU fans will ponder if Howard could have put up one of his scoring binges if there had been a NCAA Tournament in his final season.
“It's heartbreaking,” Wojciechowski said. “But it happened so quickly that I'm not sure any of us have completely processed it.
“It's sad, it's disappointing, even though you understand the rationale behind it.”