By Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel 12-7-12
Marquette point guard Junior Cadougan didn't play last season at Wisconsin, where the Golden Eagles beat the Badgers in their nearly impenetrable fortress.
Cadougan was benched for breaking team rules, one of his two suspensions at Marquette, but to this day he remains silent on the matter.
In describing Cadougan's personal growth and the arc of his career, coach Buzz Williams said, "I absolutely love his story. I love who he is."
His story?
"Oh, he's not going to tell you about that," Williams said later.
Cadougan said it has something to do with leaving his native Toronto to attend Christian Life Center Academy in Houston and play for its powerhouse basketball team - DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers was his teammate - but he remained predictably mum.
"Everything will be revealed one day," Cadougan said with a smile. "Coach Buzz said when I first got here that he and I are going to write a book and that everything would be revealed at the end."
At least you won't have to wait long for Cadougan's blockbuster bio. The clock is ticking on his senior year.
Williams was thinking about that Thursday when the two rode together from campus to the BMO Harris Bradley Center to prepare for the UW game Saturday. "I said, 'Man, you're getting old. You're five months away from graduating and being done,' " Williams said.
"I'll be really sad when he goes, but we've got a long time between now and then and we need him to play better than he's been playing."
Ask Cadougan about his last shot against UW and suddenly he drops the cryptic act.
"I've played one game against Wisconsin, my sophomore season. That was basically my first season. They beat us," he said. "I'm real excited about my last go-around, my last time to play Wisconsin. I'm real excited to play 'em."
As a freshman, Cadougan missed 18 games after rupturing his Achilles tendon. Williams said the injury stunted Cadougan's growth as a basketball player but "changed his growth as a human in understanding how to work and value health and value life."
Cadougan started five games as a sophomore and 40 of 41 since then. A steady floor leader who typically diagnoses problems before Williams addresses the team during timeouts, Cadougan nevertheless has had his ups and downs. There was the Big East tournament game against Louisville when he committed eight turnovers, and both games against Florida in which he was rendered ineffective.
Still, he has helped more often than not and Marquette is fortunate to have an able backup at the point in Derrick Wilson. Cadougan has enjoyed a productive start to his senior year, but like Williams says, he's going to have to be even better if the Golden Eagles are to make anything of this season.
Validation cannot be earned in one game, but a good performance against the principal rival could help Cadougan springboard into the Big East schedule.
As a kid growing up in Ontario, he obviously did not have a sense of the Marquette-Wisconsin intensity.
"I've been watching college basketball since I was 6 years old," Cadougan said. "In Toronto, I had only the basic channels, so I only got to watch it on CBS on Saturdays. I really didn't understand rivalries until I got to high school. I noticed Duke and North Carolina, Michigan State and Michigan and stuff like that.
"When I first committed to Marquette, all I heard was, 'You've got to come here, lead our team and beat Wisconsin.' That was the only game, the only game, knowing you'll have an opportunity to play in the Big East tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But they were just talking about the Marquette-Wisconsin game. So you knew it was a big deal."
In his only game against the Badgers, a 69-64 loss at the Bradley Center two years ago, Cadougan came off the bench for five points and three assists in 23 minutes. He also found just how different this game was to both schools.
"It was way personal," Cadougan said. "You could feel it at the Bradley Center. It's a different atmosphere. People going crazy. That's the best college atmosphere I've ever felt. Now I get to play against Wisconsin again at the Bradley Center. And going to the Kohl Center last year and my troops going in and beating them over there was great."
In some ways, Cadougan has been a survivor. Beyond the injury and the maturity to outgrow suspensions, he was part of a 2009 Marquette recruiting class that left players by the wayside. Erik Williams, Jeronne Maymon, Brett Roseboro and Youssoupha Mbao all washed out.
Why is Cadougan left standing?
"Just having the strong mind-set," he said. "No matter if things go wrong, keep doing the right thing every day. I toughed it out and I'm about to get my college degree."
Where did that inner strength come from?
"Coach Buzz being on my butt every day," Cadougan said, knowing Williams was in earshot.
To that, Williams laughed and shot back the predictable endearing invective.
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