They have separated themselves from every Tom, Dick and Tulane in the 14-team league, each toting 12-1 records into the Shoemaker Center. Marquette is a fat 23-3, winner of a dozen straight and owner of a Top 10 ranking (last time it finished the year in the Top 10: 1979). Cincinnati is a fatter 24-2 and ranked fourth, clearly playing with a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed at stake.

Winner comes close to putting a hammerlock on the title -- either another trophy in the Cincy case or a welcome to the new world order.

"I think it's a great source of pride with our guys," Bearcats coach Bob Huggins said of the title streak. "I don't think any of our guys want to be remembered as the first group that didn't win the league. Eventually that's going to happen. ... But you don't want to be the first one hanging on the wall that didn't win."

Cincinnati brings the league's lock Player of the Year into this one, guard Steve Logan. Marquette counters with probable Newcomer of the Year Dwyane Wade.

Cincinnati complements Logan with fellow perimeter players Leonard Stokes and Immanuel McElroy. Marquette teams Wade in the backcourt with spindly-but-resourceful point guard Cordell Henry, pound-for-pound the toughest guy in the conference.

Cincinnati loves freshman forward Jason Maxiell, an explosive interior player who reminds some in the Bearcat camp of a young Kenyon Martin. Marquette is high on freshman guard Travis Diener, who some believe could be Dan Dickau on training wheels.

Cincinnati is led by Smilin' Bob Huggins, the league Coach of the Year. Unless the honor goes to Marquette's Tom Crean, who in three seasons has resurrected the legacy of Al McGuire at the Jesuit school just a few blocks from downtown in Laverne & Shirley's city.

"We're gonna party like it's 1977!" read the sign held up in the Marquette student section last Saturday during the Golden Eagles' 75-63 victory over Louisville. It was a clever reference to the school's one and only national championship, won in McGuire's last game as coach.

Hey, '70s bellbottoms are back in. Why not Marquette, too?

That was just one of the signs that proliferated during the ABC telecast in front of a sold-out Bradley Center crowd of nearly 19,000, the largest attendance ever to see a college basketball game in the state of Wisconsin. It was testament to the spectacular work Crean has done remodeling what had become a staid, irrelevant and athletically bereft program.

"Crean-Vitale in 2004" was another sign. And in a tribute to the creative abilities of our youth, a creative new twist was put on the clichéd sign playing off the televising network's call letters. With sincere apologies to Abraham Maslow, this one spelled out the hierarchy of student needs on the Marquette campus:

"Alcohol"

"Booty"

"Crean"

	“	I don't think any of our guys want to be remembered as the first group that didn't win the league. Eventually that's going to happen. ... But you don't want to be the first one hanging on the wall that didn't win. ”
		— Bob Huggins, Cincinnati head coach

The bespectacled 35-year-old former assistant to Ralph Willard and Tom Izzo bided his time through two NIT seasons and now is seeing the payoff for relentless recruiting, solid fundamental coaching and exhausting preparation. (Marquette has approximately 140 set plays and will use several dozen in a single game. Thorough preparation for the Eagles can take the better part of a lifetime.)

Crean and his team have made a believer out of the one C-USA coach wearing a national championship ring, Louisville's Rick Pitino.

"I think Marquette's terrific," Pitino said after losing both games to the Eagles this year. "They're fundamentally sound. They don't beat themselves. That's why I like this team so much.

"They're going to be outstanding come tournament time. It's a fun team, fun team to watch. They're unselfish, have great chemistry and they understand their roles. I'm a great fan of theirs."

One aspect of the Eagles that Pitino can appreciate: They've been upset-proof this season. Pitino's best Kentucky teams almost never lost to an inferior opponent; this Marquette bunch has lost on three road games to likely NCAA Tournament teams (Wisconsin, Wake Forest and Charlotte). It has run the table otherwise, including wins over Indiana, Gonzaga and, oh yeah, the Bearcats.

Crean has achieved the elusive coaching goal of keeping his team grounded despite its exploits. Marquette hasn't needed the occasional comeuppance to keep it humble.

"I don't think we have the kind of team that can let up," Crean said. "We can't say, 'Let's catch a blow for a minute on defense.'

"They have not beaten themselves. They've been able to stay focused on where they're at. ... No one's walking around at practice or in the locker room thinking they've arrived."

Arrival could come Friday night. Then again, it could be back to business at usual for Conference USA.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com