Marquette alumni had been awfully pleased with their college on Sunday after the Golden Eagles punched their ticket to the Candy 16 of the 2024 NCAA Event.
This contains its most well-known basketball alum: Dwyane Wade.
“Let’sssssssss Goooooo!! One other one! Candy Sixteen right here comes the 🦅 🦅” Wade posted on X (Twitter) and Instagram Sunday afternoon following the Golden Eagles’ 81-77 victory over Colorado within the second spherical of March Insanity.
Wade led Marquette to its final Closing 4 look in 2003 earlier than turning into a three-time NBA champion with the Miami Warmth and Corridor of Famer.
Wade has had an up-close take a look at Shaka Good’s workforce a couple of occasions this yr, together with when he watched them attain the championship recreation of the Maui Invitational early within the season.
FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA match brackets, scores, schedules, groups and extra.
Marquette will play NC State within the Candy 16 on Friday evening from Dallas.
Wade wasn’t the one former participant from that Closing 4 workforce to react to the Golden Eagles’ exhilarating victory.
Two sophomore starters on that squad — Travis Diener and Todd Townsend — additionally expressed their pleasure for the workforce.
Diener, whose shining second on that 2003 workforce got here within the second spherical of the NCAA Event when he had a game-high 26 factors in a 101-92 extra time win over Missouri, wrote: “These younger boys play for one another with ardour and spirit! The tradition that Shaka and his workers have put in in such a brief interval is unbelievable. And it doesn’t damage to have one of the best level guard within the nation! We’re Marquette!”
Diener, in fact, was referring to Tyler Kolek, the two-time All-American who has had two glowing performances within the Golden Eagles’ first two NCAA Event video games. He has posted double-doubles for factors and assists in each rounds and got here up with a number of clutch performs on Sunday in serving to Marquette snap an 11-year Candy 16 drought.
REVIEW:Highlights from Marquette’s win over Colorado in second spherical of NCAA Event
What stood out to Townsend was the fervour through which Good and Kolek spoke throughout his post-game interview: “That win for Marquette…watching the submit recreation interview…You’ll be able to inform it means a lot extra for that workforce and workers. They’re so related. They love one another. It’s actually onerous to construct that sort of tradition in school athletics however it may be completed.”
Right here is that on-court interview: