During the season, Crowder made occasional vague references to his goals but recently he spoke more specifically about what it was that he wanted to accomplish.
"I wanted all my numbers offensively and defensively to improve," said Crowder. "If not a lot, at least a little bit. That shows improvement and that shows all your work is paying off. I wanted to do that.
"And, of course, I wanted to win the Big East title and try to win the national championship here at Marquette and get further than we did last year."
Notice there was no mention of winning the Big East player of the year award. Crowder, who will lead the Golden Eagles into the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, outdid himself on that one.
Crowder's numbers did improve significantly on his way to joining teammate Darius Johnson-Odom on the all-Big East first team. Last season, Crowder averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in 27.6 minutes per game; this season he pushed those numbers up to 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in 32.7 minutes.
But those aren't the statistics that give him the most satisfaction.
In establishing himself as one of the more versatile players in the league, he tied for the Big East lead in steals (2.4 per game) and also averaged 2.1 assists and one block per game. Last season, Crowder averaged 1.3 steals, 1.6 assists and less than one block per game.
"I like the stats that people really don't talk about such as blocks and steals and assists and things like that," said Crowder. "Everyone talks about rebounds and scoring. But there's a lot more to basketball, I think, than just rebounding and scoring so I take pride in that (other) stuff.
"I take pride in taking charges and getting on the floor for loose balls. That shows a different kind of player than your normal player and I think that separates you from the pack.
"The crazy part is I put all these goals on myself and I'm meeting them. When I set mine, I knew I was capable of meeting them but that it would take a lot out of me. So I'm very surprised that I'm meeting those goals that I set out."
For the last three days, the Golden Eagles have worked on fine-tuning their game - and it definitely needed some work after the loss to Louisville in the Big East tournament - but now they can turn their attention to a scouting report on a specific opponent.
It'll be a quick turnaround for the opposition, which will have Crowder high on its list of concerns.
Being the Big East player of the year, Crowder will be one of the higher-profile players in the tournament, but he seems fine with that.
"It'll be a lot of hype but it's part of the NCAA Tournament," he said. "It's always something. They're going to find something, so you just have to block it out and at the end of the day know that you're just playing basketball, the game you've been playing all your life.
"Of course there's pressure, but at the same time it's pressure that I brought on myself. It's good pressure though. Not anything bad. You just want to go out there and prove that you deserve what you get.
"We want to redeem ourselves (after the Louisville loss). We know we didn't play our best basketball so the only chance we have is our next opponent."
When they lost in the Big East tournament, the Golden Eagles still had the NCAA Tournament to look forward to, but Crowder and roommate Johnson-Odom have run out of tomorrows. They are only too aware that one more defeat means they will hang up the Marquette jersey for good.
"For me, this is it," said Crowder. "You have to give it all you've got and leave it out there.
"I feel we're in a great position to make some noise."
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