Marquette Basketball: Keys to Golden Eagles' 2012 NCAA Tournament Run

The Marquette Golden Eagles have officially locked up their seventh consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament, on the strength of a 25-6 regular season and 14-4 Big East regular season. They also made a run to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. 

In the Big Dance, Marquette is a No. 3 seed in the West Region.

Still, the season's goals have not been achieved at Marquette. They have not made it past the Sweet 16 since 2003, which was Dwyane Wade's last year on campus. 

While the Big East always produces a tough grind, making the Golden Eagles battle tested, none of that matters now. 

All that matters now is surviving every game. This is what you need to know about how that will (or won't) happen. 

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Darius Johnson-Odom

The task of the senior guard is simple: Shoot the ball. He was the team's leading scorer during the regular season and will need to be very close if not better to the 18 points a game that he put up during that run. 

The Golden Eagles have only two players that averaged double-digit scoring during the regular season. They have a lot of other role players, but outside of Johnson-Odom, really lack that star to depend on, especially in the backcourt, so the leading scorer needs to be on top of his game. 

Guard play tends to dominate the NCAA Tournament. If Johnson-Odom has a good run, the sky is the limit for the Golden Eagles. If he has a down game, don't be surprised to see an early exit. 

Jae Crowder

Crowder is the second leading scorer, bringing in nearly 18 a game, but his value is also on the boards. The Golden Eagles can afford a down scoring night from Crowder, but he needs to bring it in a big way in the paint. 

That is far more important to the Golden Eagles. This was the 113th best rebounding team in the country during the regular season. They are a Top 30 scoring team so the rest of the Golden Eagles can pick up Crowder's slack on a bad scoring day, but the same is not true if he's unable to grab a lot of rebounds. 

Jamil Wilson

The Golden Eagles need very much the same kind of contribution from Wilson that they will need from Crowder. The points are nice, but somewhere between 5-10 a game will be more than enough from Wilson.

What they will need from him is a better rebounding total than the roughly four a game he's snagged to this point. That will allow Crowder to stay rested, getting some needed bench time. It would also take some of the emphasis off of the star. 

If Wilson can snag an extra couple of boards a game and help limit the opposition's chances, they will be in great position in the paint. Their backcourt is one of the best in the country. If the frontcourt plays even average in the paint, this is a tough team to beat. 

Push the Pace

If Marquette allows other team to dictate the pace, or if it becomes a half-court game, the Golden Eagles are going to struggle a lot more than they should. 

This is a team that has dictated the pace a lot more than the other way around (look at their record). But in games like the Feb. 29 contest against Cincinnati, the Golden Eagles played on their heels. As a result, they were defeated, quite soundly 72-61. The same thing happened when they lost to Notre Dame earlier in February. 

But if the guards like Johnson-Odom control the action, Marquette has the team to make a strong run, well beyond the Sweet 16. 

Look for this to vary from game-to-game. Marquette's offense is at it's best in transition, but that relies a lot on getting rebounds, and having an opposing team missing their shots. 

If they are facing a team that shoots a lot from the outside, look for the Golden Eagles to put extra attention in the paint. Following that logic, they can bring in some guys to get rebounds and make the outlet passes to the guards. 

Against teams that play more on the inside and shoot at a higher percentage, look for Marquette to play more on the outside. That will do two things:

One is that the guards would at least theoretically block the perimeter, keeping guards getting into the paint for easy layups. 

The other thing that would happen there is that by bringing in extra speed player, Marquette will be able to get on the run faster after a made basket. 

A team that plays an offense best in transition needs to make defensive adjustments based on their opponent. Their is no set strategy to really depend on. 

The Golden Eagles could find themselves matched up against the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans if they advance far enough, but they're also looking at a potential rendezvous with the second-seeded Missouri Tigers in the Sweet 16.

Missouri is a very dangerous team. The Tigers can put the ball in the basket as well as any team in the country, and they're heading into the tournament fresh off a winning run in the Big 12 tournament.

Neither Marquette nor Missouri is a great defensive team, but Missouri is the better offensive team between the two. If Marquette and Missouri meet up, the Golden Eagles will meet their match offensively.

Marquette is a dangerous team, and it should be considered a dark-horse threat to make a deep run through the NCAA Tournament.

The trouble is that the Golden Eagles have been placed in a very tough bracket. That potential matchup with Missouri in the Sweet 16 is a deal-breaker, and that's where Marquette will bow out of the NCAA Tournament.

Marquette will be back, though. Marquette is always back come March.