Marquette basketball honors 1973-74 national runner-up team

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(FOX6 News Milwaukee)

MILWAUKEE - Just before the calendar turned from February to March, Marquette turned the clock back to honor one of the best teams in school history.

The 1973-74 Warriors went 26-5 and made it all the way to the national championship game before losing to North Carolina State.

"It's just wonderful to see Lloyd, Bo, Butch and Rick Campbell, Jerry and the gang and Dave Delsman," said Earl Tatum. "This is special, man."

"It's tremendous to have everybody back together, because at our age now, we're in the fourth quarter of our life and we all just trying to make it to the end of the game and possibly to overtime," said Bo Ellis.

"Other than having my kids, this was the greatest four years of my life spent right here," said Lloyd Walton. "I couldn't be anywhere else and be any happier than I was last night at our dinner and today watching these kids play."

The kids today are Golden Eagles and they are soaring again this season.

Current coach Shaka Smart is big on connectedness and Xavier coach Sean Miller says opponents are not only facing a talented group, they are playing a program when they meet Marquette

The players on the 1973-74 squad were teammates 50 years ago. They're still teammates.

"I like this, you know that we still remember each other, and we give a hug when we see each other on the street," Tatum said.

"We've been close, now it's 50 years," Walton said. "We went through ups and downs. We supported each other and to our extended families, our mothers, our fathers, our brothers and sisters. And that hasn't stopped since we left Marquette."

The eight players on hand from the 73-74 squad to be honored at Fiserv Forum know that they did something special, even if they came up just short of winning it all.

"What was your takeaway from all that success, but one win shy of the ultimate," asked Tim Van Vooren.

"Well, I'll tell you this in this way," said Walton. "I didn't watch that game. It took 33 years for me to actually watch the game. But I learned a lot from that. Obviously, you got to go out and compete every day in life in general. It doesn't mean you're going to win everything, but you've given everything you need to compete and be successful. I think I've taken that through my life, and that's why I've had a great deal of success."

Marquette finished second place in the country in 1974 and then won the national championship in 1977.

Ellis was on both of those teams. He's the only MU player in history to make the Final Four on two different occasions.