Wade’s star shone brightly as MU reached Final Four
With the sports world on hold, we present a countdown of the 50 greatest moments in Wisconsin sports history over the past 50 years. This is No. 13.
What if Marquis Estill had a better memory?
On the day before Marquette faced the nation’s No. 1 team in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the Kentucky 6-9 big man was quoted in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune saying he didn’t remember Marquette center Robert Jackson playing at Mississippi State. Jackson, a Milwaukee native, had played three years at MSU in the Southeastern Conference, playing Kentucky twice a season.
“I didn’t even know he played for
Mississippi State,” Estill said.
Jackson scored 24 points and 15 rebounds — the latter a personal best — and held Estill to just 10 points and six rebounds. And as impressive as that was, it was merely a subplot to Dwyane Wade’s magnum opus at Marquette. Estill had a frontrow view.
Wade’s triple-double (29 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) helped the Golden Eagles dismantle the best team in the country, 83-69, on March 29, 2003, en route to Marquette’s first Final Four appearance in more than 25 years. Typically mildmannered, Wade mugged for the Marquette-friendly crowd in Minneapolis after throwing down a one-handed dunk over Estill to spot his team a 17point lead with 9:03 to go. Earlier Wade swooped in to block Estill, then streaked down the court for a long pass from Travis Diener and then strutted back the other way after he coerced a goaltending call on Estill.
“I think that just got us going,” Wade said. “I was so pumped after that.”
As you can imagine, Jackson was too.
The Wade Game
It doesn’t seem likely any comment from an opposing player – or any action by an opposing player – could have stopped Wade on that memorable night.
The under-recruited Chicago native had emerged as the Conference USA player of the year, but it’s easy to forget now that his NCAA Tournament performances had been just so-so leading into the second weekend of 2003. He scored 18 points in a first-round loss to Tulsa the year before but passed up a chance at taking a winning shot and missed a putback at the buzzer in a 71-69 upset loss.
In the 2003 season, he wasn’t at his best in losses to Louisville and Alabama-Birmingham, the latter in the Conference USA Tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, with Marquette earning a No. 3 seed, Wade shot 13 of 34 in the first two games and committed nine turnovers.
Diener more than picked up the slack. Diener scored 29 points against Holy Cross on 9 of 14 shooting (5 of 9 from three) in a 72-68 win and then torched Missouri for a team-high 26 points on 8 of 12 shooting in a 101-92 win.
Then came the Sweet 16 game against Pittsburgh, and Wade seemed to undergo an awakening after entering half with just two points and two fouls. He scored 20 points in the second half, including 10 straight, and the Golden Eagles held on for a 77-74 victory. Then came Kentucky. He drained both of his three-pointers. He took a rifled length-of-thecourt pass from Diener in for a reverse dunk that spotted his team a 76-57 lead with 5:06 left, hanging on the rim for just a moment and then extending his finger to the sky. He registered a game-high four blocks. His assists to Jackson included a no-look bounce pass in the lane. He recorded the fifth tripledouble in NCAA Tournament history and first in five years. And with 1:39 to go, he subbed out and waved to the crowd with his memorable stat line in the books, having played 35 minutes.
“I was just trying to give it my all,” Wade said. “I told the guys at halftime, leave your hearts on the court tonight, because that is what it’s going to take to win this game.”
Kentucky had entered the night having won its previous 26 games. That streak ended with a thud.
“I kind of surprised myself because I don’t really like to scream or anything because it takes a lot of energy from you,” Wade said. “To do that in that game – the biggest game of my life – I was just out there having fun. It wasn’t anything I planned, it was just something that happened.”
The other stars
Marquette’s run to the Final Four provided a stage for Diener, Jackson and others.
Freshman Steve Novak, who went on to an 11year NBA career, hit 5 of 8 from three-point range and scored 16 points in 27 minutes against Kentucky. He also stole a pass that played into Wade’s reverse dunk, drew two charges and hit three triples in a 21⁄2-minute span helped break the game open.
“Steve is the best shooter I’ve ever seen,” said Diener. “I mean, he’s 6-10 and can just flat-out shoot the ball.”
After his explosive opening weekend in the tournament, Diener’s scoring was held in check against Pittsburgh, but he continued to be a catalyst. Scott Merritt had 18 points against Missouri and 17 points against Pittsburgh. In his one season at Marquette,
Jackson was the missing piece of the puzzle, and he made 6 of 8 shots for 16 points against Pittsburgh.
Wade, meanwhile, became the school’s alltime single season scoring leader, posting 691 points to bypass Tony Smith (1980).
The moment lives on
Wade scored 19 points against Kansas in the national semifinal, but it wasn’t meant to be as Marquette found itself on the other side of a blowout, a 94-61 loss to the Jayhawks (who went on to lose to Syracuse in the title game).
Wade went on to become the No. 5 pick in the NBA draft by the Miami Heat, and he won three championships over his 16-year NBA career. He retired after the 2018-19 season and will find himself in the Basketball Hall of Fame in due time. He’s a 13-time all-star, and Miami has already retired his No. 3 jersey.