Marquette men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams isn’t sure if his team is worthy of the No. 6 seed it was given by the NCAA tournament committee.
What he does sound sure of is that a No. 6 seed shouldn’t have to travel halfway across the country to face a No. 11 seed that’s a short flight from home.
“Jim Shaw (an assistant coach at the University of Washington) is probably already in his hotel room by now,” Williams said Sunday night, about 41/2 hours after he found out that his Golden Eagles would be playing UW in San Jose, Calif.
During a Sunday night conference call with Seattle-area reporters, Williams fitted his Marquette team in the role of underdog and continually made joking comments about the site of a game that’s being played in the NCAA tournament’s East Region.
“I definitely don’t think it’s an advantage,” he said of having to fly from Milwaukee to the Bay Area to face the Huskies. “… San Jose’s in Northern California, right? I just wanted to make sure it was as close to Washington as possible.”
Williams went on to tell reporters that he was “just joking with you guys” and added that he’s not going to complain about the site of Thursday’s opening-round game of the NCAA tournament.
“I haven’t earned enough equity in our business to do any sort of politicking,” he said. “We’re just thankful to be in the tournament.”
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