Williams finding balance in preparation for Davidson

After Buzz Williams found out Davidson would be Marquette’s first opponent in the NCAA Tournament, his team had 72 hours to prepare for the Wildcats. He noted how much time he would spend running, watching film, and conducting practice with his team.

Finding the balance for all that at this time of the year, and throughout the regular season as well, is not easy. Most of the talk among fans is about what Davidson does well and how they can beat the Golden Eagles.

No one is really talking about what the Golden Eagles have to do to beat Davidson.

Everyone knows Jake Cohen and De’Mon Brooks are all-conference players, and Nik Cochran is a talented point guard. Most Marquette fans know by now how the Wildcats score and what has led them to the nation’s longest winning streak.

Williams called finding the right balance between preparing for his team’s opponent and prepping his own team for victory a delicate situation on Tuesday afternoon. He said during the regular season, especially in Big East play, balancing the time is just as difficult because of the short amount of time in between games.

“We have to take one day off per week, so there’s six days, and two of them you’re playing, so there’s four days,” Williams said. “So how are you going to spend those four days?”

As usual, Williams was able to draw upon a useful comparison to help everyone understand how he looks at trying to find the right balance. The fifth-year head coach said balancing the time his team has to prepare is like investing money.

“You have to continue to invest in Junior Cadougan,” Williams said. “Junior Cadougan has been in the NCAA Tournament every year. You can’t give all your money to your opponent. You do have to pay, but you better make sure you take care of your kids because as much as you guys and our fans think it’s about today, today was created because of what we did a year ago. Today was created because of what we did two years ago.”

At this point in his coaching career, Williams is starting to see some of that investment in his players pay off.

“It should be the rule of 72 in investment,” Williams said. “Every seven years your investment has to double.”

Five years into his tenure at Marquette, it sounds like Williams has found the right balance. He was able to rattle off statistics about Cohen, Brooks, and Cochran, identifying each of them by their number, as usual.

Chris Otule said the team had two great practices on Monday and Tuesday before departing to Lexington for their game against Davidson. He and Williams sounded like they had a firm grasp on Davidson’s strengths and style. As long as Marquette knows what it has to do well on Thursday, they should be plenty prepared for their opening game in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.