Aug. 26, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Darrin Horn joined members of the 2002-03 Marquette men’s basketball squad at the team’s induction into the Marquette University Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2009 last weekend on MU’s campus in Milwaukee, Wis. Horn served as an assistant coach at Marquette under then-head coach Tom Crean from 1999-2003, helping the squad advance to the 2003 Final Four behind the play of standout guard Dwayne Wade.

The 2002-03 men’s basketball squad, comprised of three future NBA players (Wade, Travis Diener and Steve Novak) earned the 2003 Conference USA regular-season championship before making the program’s third NCAA Final Four. The team finished the season with a 27-6 overall record, including a 14-2 mark in Conference USA action. The squad earned a No. 9 ranking in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll and a No. 6 ranking in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

During that season, the team defeated the eventual conference champions of the Big Ten (Wisconsin), ACC (Wake Forest), BIG EAST (Pittsburgh) and SEC (Kentucky). In the NCAA Midwest Regional, Marquette defeated No. 2-seeded Pittsburgh before knocking off No. 1-overall seed Kentucky in the regional final.

With its induction, the 2002-03 men’s basketball squad joins the 1969-70 men’s basketball team, 1973-74 men’s basketball team, 1976-77 men’s basketball team and the 1982 women’s cross country team as the only non-individual members within the Marquette Hall of Fame.