Marquette has one of the top ten college basketball teams in the country. Unfortunately, outside of the tightly-knit university community, it seems as if few have noticed.

Oh, the Bradley Center will sell out for Georgetown or Cincinnati and fans around town will begin to opine on how far Buzz and the boys can go in the NCAA Tournament, but when it comes right down to it, it seems Milwaukee by and large has ignored what has become a great story.

"No one cares until the brackets come out," Milwaukee's Rob Stevens, 35, says. "Has been and always will be." Stevens was born just one week after Marquette won their only NCAA Championship, and has seen the team struggle over the years in March ever since, save for 2003's Final Four run and last year's improbable appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.

"Agreed. I'll be pumped for tournament only," says Milwaukee resident Ian Tozer, 25.

"I'm waiting for the tournament," says Milwaukee's Scott Nelson.

But, there are some fans that have been salivating at the chance to see if what they have witnessed this season is for real or it is a fluke.

"Definitely excited!" says Grafton's Scott Wilterdink, 40. "Ever since Gardner went down and Buzz started pressing and trapping more, the team has been exciting to watch. They will be a force to reckon with in the tourney."

I loved watching them get the No. 2 seed in the (Big East) conference tourney," Chris Carter, 24, of Hales Corners says. "Now they need to makeit to the championship game and explode through March."

"Marquette is officially one of those teams that will choke at any time, but nobody wants to face," Stevens continued.

Of course that is true of almost any team in the upcoming NCAA's and that is part of the universal appeal of the tournament itself. But with the Big East losing traditional basketball stalwarts Pittsburgh and Syracuse in two years, the time may be at hand for a new hoops powerhouse to emerge.

At 25-6, the Golden Eagles had to endure some ups and downs early to put themselves in position to nab a high-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, perhaps as high as No. 3, the same seeding the school had nine years ago.

Not to make everything a comparison of this year's Marquette squad to 2003's, but just as in that fabled year of Marquette basketball lore, the Final Four will be held in New Orleans. Of course, Hurricane Katrina postponed an earlier opportunity for the Crescent City to host college basketball's ultimate celebration, but in a twist of irony, it may have provided the impetus to Marquette's return to prominence.

Buzz Williams was an assistant at Texas A&M when Katrina devastated the Gulf region. As the University of New Orleans began to rebuild, they named the then-34 year old assistant to Billy Gillespie to head up the Privateers program. However, according to Fox Sports, Williams left after just one season because he was, according to an unnamed source, "frustrated because of financial limitations and other obstacles at the program in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

So off to Marquette Williams went, first as an assistant to Tom Crean, and then as head coach when Crean left for Indiana one year later.

And while the elevation of such an unknown was panned by many when it happened, it is hard to think of where Marquette's basketball program would be without him.

But even as Williams has stepped up even Crean's frantic recruiting pace, he was doing so by reaching into what he knew best, western and Midwestern junior colleges.

First it was Jimmy Butler, then teammate Joseph Fulce from Tyler (Texas) Junior College. Dwight Buyks was a product of Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College before donning Marquette blue and gold; Darius Johnson-Odom, who was overlooked by all of the major programs in his native North Carolina, was plucked by Williams out of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, and fellow senior Jae Crowder, arguably the best player MU has had since Dwayne Wade, was found at Howard (Texas) Junior College.

Crowder has been the heart and soul of the Marquette program this year. His physical play, aggressive rebounding, and accurate outside touch has captured the attention of NBA scouts who have seen what Williams has done with players like Butler, Wesley Matthews, and Lazar Hayward. Once all of these players got a chance to show NBA teams what they can do and how well-disciplined and conditioned they are, it helped open the door for other Buzz Williams coached players.

And yet, around town there just doesn't seem to be much of a buzz (no pun intended) about how the Golden Eagles will fare after Selection Sunday.

Of course, Milwaukee used to be a basketball town back in the 1970s when the Bucks were winning their only NBA Championship (and made another appearance in the NBA Finals) and Marquette was one of the dominant teams in college hoops.

But as time marched on, Milwaukee as a basketball city began to erode.

The Bucks have mostly struggled on the court during the Herb Kohl stewardship of the team that began in 1985; Marquette ran through a string of less than mediocre coaches in Bob Dukiet and Mike Deane before Crean elevated the Golden Eagles back into prominence when he was hired in 1999.

But that prominence was short-lived. After Wade left following the 2003 Final Four, Marquette went five more years before winning another NCAA Tournament game.

It is ironic that the Bucks ebbs and flows nearly mirror Marquette's. They both dominated in the 1970s, were still good in the 80s, but not nearly as good as they were the previous decade. In the 1990s there were flashes of brilliance but mostly disappointments; in the early 2000s both teams came within one win of the championship bracket only to regress.

This year might be different.

Marquette is as good as almost any team in the country, despite playing in the still-difficult Big East. Yes, U-Conn, Villanova, Pittsburgh, and Louisville are all having uncharacteristically bad years (for their standards), but it is still a quality conference.

Over the years, Marquette has become accustomed to being undersized. But when Chris Otule and Davante Gardner went down with knee injures, it would have been easy to just cut your losses and treat every game as a learning experience. But what happened instead was a team that rallied around each other, even with no one over 6-7 healthy on the roster.

The ball started moving just a little bit faster. The "in-your-jockstrap" defense we have seen in spurts in the past became the modus operandi in the present. Marquette plays exactly how you would want your hometown team to, but now it is a matter of spreading that enthusiasm beyond the Marquette community and into the Milwaukee community.

It is possible, of course, that only winning in the postseason might do the trick. After all, with the advent of the conference tournaments, no regular season in sports has been relegated less meaningful than that of college basketball.

In most conferences, all schools are allowed to participate in their own tournament. But even as unlikely as it might be for a last-place team to run the table, it is possible. And if that team goes on the run that U-Conn did last year, you, too could wind up in the Final Four.

Just ask Butler the last two years; VCU last season; and George Mason in 2006, anything can happen if you just get hot enough at the right time.

Last year was a tremendous run for Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. Knocking off quality tournament-tested teams like Xavier and Syracuse was no easy task. But Marquette needs to build on that. Last year was fun, but it is in the rear-view mirror.

Moreover, for fans, Marquette is everything you want your team to be. They work extremely hard in practice, they have a focused and determined coach leading them, they have at least one potential NBA star in Crowder, and they just got Gardner back to fortify their front court.

Look, I get it. Hopping on the bandwagon is fun. Late arrivals never had to gnash their teeth over every nuance of every single game. Late arrivals get to bask in the victories without having to have suffered through any of the defeats. As you read these words right now you are thinking of at least one (and probably more) bandwagon fans for whatever the team may be.

Right now, the Marquette fan truck still has lots of room. Come on in...no one bites. For the record, I don't know why the bandwagon is still relatively empty, but I know it will get crowded sooner rather than later.

It might not be unwise to jump on while you can.