Kevin O'Neill coached at Marquette from 1989-1994. At Marquette, O’Neill had an 86-62 record. He earned Great Midwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994 as his teams led the nation in defensive field goal percentage. His 1994 team was the Great Midwest Conference champion and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

While the head coach at Marquette in 1994, O'Neill's team set a then-NCAA record for field goal percentage defense. Opponents shot just .358 against O'Neill's defense.

During the 1994 NCAA Tournament, the bracket appeared to be stacked against Marquette.

The sixth-seeded Warriors would have to beat both Kentucky and Duke just to reach the Elite Eight. Marquette coach Kevin O’Neill would have to outwit legendary college coaches Rick Pitino and Mike Krzyzewski in back-to-back games.

O'Neill's team may have been overmatched. But it wasn't overwhelmed.

In the second round, Marquette topped third-seeded Kentucky 75-63. While the win was certainly important to fans and alumni back in Milwaukee who hadn’t seen the Sweet 16 since 1979, O'Neill convinced his players it was just another game.

After beating the Wildcats, the Warriors only were 20 minutes away from successfully slaying college basketball’s terrifying twosome when they found themselves ahead of Duke 26-25 at halftime.

“We were ahead at the half,” O’Neill said. “But Grant Hill had a great second half. Still, I was really proud of our effort, what we did. They just had a little too much for us.”

Thanks to 16 second-half points from Hill, the Blue Devils dispatched Marquette 59-49. While he was pleased with his team’s performance, O'Neill wasn’t happy with the result. “We were disappointed,” O'Neill said. “We thought we could win the national title. Nobody else did.”

“They were both great teams with great traditions,” said O'Neill. “We played exceptionally well against them both.”

Seniors Damon Key, Jim McIlvaine and Robb Logtermann, three crucial components of Marquette’s tournament run, didn’t start their careers competing with teams the caliber of Kentucky and Duke. They began competing against their own fans.

“Our group of seniors that year was my first recruiting class at Marquette,” O'Neill said. “They all came in and went through a very tough 11-18 season where they were booed on their home court on several occasions.”

• Three All-Americans
• Three Future NBA Players
• Nine 1,000+ point scorers
• Seven 500+ rebounders
• Marquette's All-Time Leader in Blocked Shots
• Marquette's All-Time Leader in Assists
• Marquette's All-Time Leader in Field Goal Percentage (min. 500 att)