It looks like it'll be Team 3 again Saturday By Tom Enlund of the Journal Sentinel

"I just think he's a really fat guy that can score the ball." Buzz Williams on Davante Gardner at the Mid-Season Blue and Gold Banquet.

Coach Buzz Williams indicated Thursday that it probably would be Golden Eagles Team No. 3 that would take the court Saturday afternoon against Cincinnati at the Bradley Center.

That would be the team that plays without both injured post players, Chris Otule and Davante Gardner.

"We’ve had three different teams," said Williams. "You have to coach three different teams. You coach a team that had a full roster for seven games. Then you coach a team for the next 15 games that only has one post player. Then Saturday will be our fourth game with no post players."

Does that mean Gardner will not play Saturday?

"I don’t know if Davante is a post player," said Williams. "I just think he’s a really fat guy that can score the ball. How he progresses between now and Saturday will determine whether he plays." 

"There’s a slim chance (he will play)."

"Injuries are a part of any sport but when you have to adjust to those injuries all at one spot, on both ends of the floor that’s really hard to do. I think it says a lot about our guys that we are 20-5."

Otule played the first seven games before being lost for the season early against Washington in the opening minutes of the eighth game. Marquette won all of its first seven games.

Marquette then played its next 15 games with Gardner but without Otule and went 11-4.

Playing without both Otule and Gardner, the Golden Eagles have won two of their last three games.

What has been a season of adjustment for Marquette will continue even when Gardner is able to return.

"When is he going to be able to come back?" said Williams. "And then what are the adjustments going to be once he comes back?"

"We’ll see. It may screw us up. We’re 2-1 without him. That’s 67%. That’s (about) the same winning clip we had with him. So we’ll see. It may mess us up."

And so it appears that at least for the immediate future,  6-6 Jae Crowder and 6-7 Jamil Wilson will continue to do most of the heavy lifting at the "big" positions for Marquette. Crowder and Wilson both played 39 minutes in Monday's victory at DePaul.

Playing short-handed is taking its toll on the entire team.

"It puts an incredible amount of strain on everybody," said Williams. "It doesn’t just put strain on Jae and Jamil, it puts an incredible amount of strain on everybody."