As our friends at Cracked Sidewalks pointed out, the national signing period opens tomorrow, and we'll soon turn our attention to our little eaglets and our hopes, dreams, and prayers for the season to come.
But before we do that, let's look back at the season that was by recounting the top 10 and bottom 10 moments from the 2009-'10 season. We'll get the bad stuff out of the way today, and we'll move on to happier memories tomorrow.
Grab yourself a sick bag as we roll through the list. Some of these aren't pretty:
10) Junior Cadougan ruptures his Achilles' tendon before the season starts.
Expectations for JC were high coming into his freshman campaign, but those dreams were dashed almost immediately as the young point guard blew his Achilles' tendon during a September practice. Junior's injury checks in at the 10 spot for a couple of reasons: first, because Mo Acker and David Cubillan performed more-than-admirably in Cadougan's stead; and, second, because JC worked his way back and got some run in the last couple months of the season. (Even though the decision to burn his red-shirt was, is, and forever shall be a mistake. But that's a different debate for a different time.)
9) Marquette blows a 17-point, second-half lead to Florida State to lose the championship of the Old Spice Classic.
In a harbinger of things to come, Marquette finishes its impressive, "where did THAT come from?" romp through the Old Spice Classic by gacking away a double-digit second half lead. Florida State was good, and it was our third game in four days, but still: you can't lose a 17-point lead with 15 minutes to go. Like, ever.
8) Marquette loses in overtime to Notre Dame on Senior Day.
The Fighting Irish slogged into town with their new-found Big 11 style of play and rock-fighted (rock-fought?) their way to a 63-60 victory. Losing to the Domers is always a gut punch, but losing on Senior Day after Carleton Scott somehow persuaded a three-pointer to find the bottom of the net at the end of regulation made it all the more painful.
The Melancholy and Infinite Sadness rolls on, after the jump:
7) Marquette follows the run in the Old Spice Classic by dropping a home game to the worst team in the ACC.
Just when you were thinking: "Hey, we might be on to something here!", Marquette brought you back to earth with a 77-73 clunker against North Carolina State at the Bradley Center. Same song, different day: Marquette went into halftime with a comfortable 11-point lead, only to let NC State shoot 71.4% in the second half. Blech.
6) Marquette lets UW-Madison weasel away with a victory at the Kohl Center.
Days after the Badgers lost the right to call themselves "Wisconsin" by dropping a game to UW-Green Bay, UW-Madison pantsed Marquette in the heart of Ho Chi Madison. Yeah, we only lost by 9, but there wasn't a point in that game when you said to yourself: "We've got a chance to steal this one." As much as it hurts to type this, they were just better. Let's move on.
5) Jeronne Maymon and TIMMAY! jump ship and make for the hills (of Tennessee).
We've beaten this topic into the ground, so I don't need to rehash the ugly particulars here. I really just wanted an excuse to write "TIMMAY!" again -- and to point you to this quote. Good luck and God bless, moron.
4) Da'Sean Butler knifes Marquette in the Big East season opener.
In hindsight, this one doesn't hurt quite so much, since Da'Sean Butler made a habit of hitting game-winners for West Virginia all year. But Da'Sean's prayer from the top of the key sure stung at the time, as it robbed Marquette of what would have been a signature win to open the Big East season.
3) Marquette goes punch-for-punch with Villanova twice, only to lose a pair of heartbreakers.
Following the loss in Morgantown, Marquette had two more opportunities to swipe a pelt from a Big East heavy: the Eagles took Villanova and the always-devastatingly-attired Jay Wright down to the wire twice, only to see Dr. Scottie Reynolds and his clinical staff claim victory in each game. Whatever, our uppance finally came in the BEast tourney ... but we'll get to that tomorrow.
2) Marquette fades down the stretch and loses to Washington in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
After successfully navigating the gauntlet (or "gantlet," if you're Todd Rosiak) in the BEast, Marquette was rewarded with a 6-seed in the NCAA tournament and a first-round play date with the Washington Huskies. Tell me if you've heard this one before: big second half lead; frittered away, frittered away, frittered away; loss; sad. You might think this loss ranks too high, since your Golden Eagles weren't expected to make the dance card this year. I retort: there was an Elite Eight berth begging to be claimed this year. That hurts.
1) Marquette loses to the worst team in the Big East, pissing away the game at DePaul.
DePaul has won a single Big East game in the last two years. That's a scarlet letter that we're going to have to wear for quite a while.
So: what did I miss?