Marquette had a chance to get to New York City tonight to play in the NIT Semifinals next week with a win against Penn State. It could step up a juicy matchup with former rival Louisville next week. That didn’t happen as Marquette fell to Penn State, 85-80, where the Golden Eagles could not really recover from an early deficit. With Marquette’s injuries, it was probably a good thing they did not have to play one or two more games this season. Getting an additional three games definitely helped with some of the younger players though.

Why did Sam Hauser play?
Right after the game, Marquette revealed that Hauser will be out for the next four to five months meaning he will be sidelined until July or August. It’s sad to see Hauser lose a whole summer of development, but the more important thing is he will be back to full strength by the start of the season. I’m unsure why Marquette kept playing him 30 plus minutes if they knew he was hurt throughout this whole tournament. I get Hauser wanted to be out there, but I would have been fine if the Golden Eagles put him on ice.

An ode to Andrew Rowsey
There is no scorer that scored more points than Andrew Rowsey this season. He finished ahead of Dwyane Wade, and it’s a really incredible feat. There are so many great Marquette names, and Rowsey scored the most points. At times, Rowsey was a terribly frustrating player, but he had a great swagger to him that carried Marquette at some points of the season. The attitude he brought to the court was infectious, and Marquette players fed off of it. I’m sure he’ll end up playing somewhere professionally.

Time is now for Wojo
After four years of rebuilding this Marquette program, Steve Wojciechowski has to win next winter. He will be on one of the hotter seats of next season. Marquette is loaded next season bringing everyone back but Andrew Rowsey plus adding Joey Hauser, who is a dynamite freshman. Marquette probably needs to add a grad transfer point guard as Markus Howard would be much better served as a wing.

Next up
We’ll see the Golden Eagles again in November.