ORLANDO -- Playing the Marquette Golden Eagles is like stepping into a beehive. They don't stop swarming. They may not be very good, but they sure can make you look bad.
After losing almost all its key players, Marquette was picked to finish 12th in the Big East Conference -- clearly a rebuilding period -- but their style of play has made them one of the early season surprises in college basketball.
Marquette (6-1) lost its first game Sunday night, 57-56, to Florida State in the championship game of the Old Spice Classic at Disney's Wide World of Sports, but not before running circles around the bigger, stronger, supposedly-superior Seminoles.
"We're very fortunate to get out of here with a victory,'' said Seminoles Coach Leonard Hamilton, who sounded more relieved than victorious. "They create all kinds of problems. We had our hands full. They really make things difficult.''
Marquette led almost the entire game, by as many as 17 points early in the second half, but the Eages wilted slowly down the stretch when they failed to make free throws and couldn't grab the key rebounds.
They already had beaten Xavier and 15th ranked Michigan earlier in the tournament to reach the championship game, forcing a combined 48 turnovers in the three games.
"I don't know if you'd call us a surprise, but I do know that if we're not the hardest working team every night, we don't even have a chance to win,'' said Marquette senior and leading scorer Lazar Hayward.
"We're always at a disadvantage. We're one of the smallest teams in the country, but we try to use that to our advantage.''
A lot of teams talk about using a small lineup at times, but Marquette uses it almost all the time, often going with four guards and a forward together, creating matchup nightmares on both sides.
They embarrassed heavily-favored FSU in the first half when they made 11 steals and totally disrupting everything the Seminoles tried to do on offensive. They were in every passing lane, getting every lose ball and creating havoc all over the floor.
"That's as quick a team as I can recall,'' said Michigan coach John Beilein after his Wolverines were beaten by Marquette in the second round. "They have incredible quickness at all five positions.''
Hayward, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds Sunday, is a 6-6 forward playing center. He is surrounded by guards Darius Johnson-Odom (6-2), David Cubillan (6-0), Dwight Buycks (6-3) and Jimmy Butler (6-6). Their sixth man is Maurice Acker, a 5-8 point guard.
"I don't know if our style of play is distinct,'' said Marquette coach Buzz Williams, now in his second season. "But our roster is in a state of flux. There's no way around that. But our fight gives us a chance.''
Marquette is rebuilding without Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews, all multi-year starters who helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament each of the last four years. Then the Eagles lost prize recruit Junior Cadougan to a ruptured Achilles tendon. Preseason injuries slowed down a few others.
Against teams like Michigan and Florida, State, Marquette played aggressive man-to-man defense, with their hands and feet in constant motion. They shoot quickly, and they force mistakes.
"We want to take the first best shot that we can,'' Williams said. "And we want to force the first bad shot that we can. At the end of it all, our Achilles heel will be rebounding because we're so small, but we'll live with it.''
