Marquette Golden Eagles

2023-24 Result: 27-10 (14-6 Big East), Sweet 16 Appearance

Key Additions

Damarius Owens

Royce Parham

Key Losses

Oso Ighodaro

Tyler Kolek

Marquette’s roster does not have much coming in this year, with the only key additions being freshmen Damarius Owens and Royce Parham, who don’t figure to play significant roles this season with what the Golden Eagles have coming back. The losses of Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek will be massive for the overall upside of one of the country’s best teams last season. Losing Kolek, who was the conductor of the team, will be greatly missed, along with the steadiness on both ends from Ighodaro. But don’t count the Golden Eagles out just yet. That is exactly where Shaka smart thrives. He loves being an underdog, just as he was with those teams at Virginia Commonwealth. Marquette has plenty returning in Kam Jones, David Joplin, Stevie Mitchell, among others, to still compete with the very best in the Big East.

Marquette was already a sub-par rebounding team, so losing Ighodaro will likely knock them down even more in that area. He was their leading rebounder last season, and with Ben Gold stepping in, he is not much of a rebounding force to catapult the Golden Eagles on the glass. If Smart’s squad were to reach its ceiling on the defensive end, Kam Jones and David Joplin would need to be much more involved on the defensive glass. Without Ighodaro, they are also lacking the same rim protection that they had last season, as Gold is not that either. Marquette should be active defensively at the guard positions with Mitchell and Chase Ross pestering opponents. With Smart at the helm, his fire, energy, and ability to coach at that end will earn them some defensive brownie points, but do not expect this defense to be very good due to the lack of rebounding and rim protection.

Offensively, Marquette has been one of the top teams in the Big East for a few years now. They play an up tempo style with lots of guards and the ability to space the floor, drive gaps, and hit open threes. Their offense might take a hit this season without Kolek running the show, since he was such a masterful orchestrator, but they do have their leading scorer back in Kam Jones. One thing that this team will have that last year’s team did not have is a big man that can shoot it. Ighodaro was a great cutter, driver, and offensive rebounder for Marquette, but he was not a three-point shooter. Ben Gold will be starting in his place this season, which will bode well for the guard heavy Eagles. Gold will be able to space out the floor, dragging his man out of the paint, leaving little rim protection for their opponent and space for Kam Jones and company to operate. He shot the three at nearly 36% last season, so if the big man wants to stay put in the paint, I think they will happily let Ben Gold fire up wide open threes. Marquette will thrive in transition and from beyond the arc, but making sure that the ball doesn’t stick without their offensive leader in Kolek will be the challenge. They will likely have times where their ball movement is lacking and the offense goes stagnant, which will inevitably lead to poor shot selection. Marquette will still remain one of the top offensive teams in the Big East, but they may have some growing pains without Kolek running the show.

Marquette will be down compared to the last couple of seasons, but still good enough to finish in the top four of the Big East with one of the best players in the conference in Kam Jones leading the team. Shaka Smart’s coaching ability will need to shine through this season if they want to reach their ceiling because this will not be a great defensive team. The Golden Eagles will revert back to the second tier of Big East teams in 2024, but will likely still be good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament as a middle of the pack seed.