The Marquette Golden Eagles are about to start yet another NCAA Tournament campaign, their fourth consecutive appearance under head coach Shaka Smart. Before Smart and the Eagles headed to Cleveland for their Round of 64 matchup with the New Mexico Lobos, the head coach spoke to members of the media.
From discussing his appreciation for the fans to previewing his team's upcoming matchup, Smart covered all of the bases, including sharing a bit about an unusual tradition that his team partakes in.
"In the media timeouts, because they're so long, I have the players take about the first half of those and there's always one of the players who takes the head coach's seat," Smart said. "[He] takes the lead in terms of talking about what's coming next and what we just did."
Specifically, the Marquette head coach was talking about senior guard Cameron "Cam" Brown who is a pivotal part of the Golden Eagles' program, despite not being a starter.
"This is the first time that the guy who is in that seat the most is someone who doesn't even play very much, a walk-on in Cam Brown," Smart said. "
The Golden Eagles finished the regular season with a 22-9 overall record and made an appearance in the Big East conference semifinals, where they lost to future No. 2-seed St John's. In the NCAA Tournament, Marquette earned a No. 7 seed and will face the No. 10 Lobos on Friday, March 21.
The First Round game between Marquette and New Mexico is scheduled to tip off at 7:25 p.m. ET on Friday and will be broadcast on TBS.