Marquette Golden Eagles
Overall Rank: #37
Conference Rank: #3 Big East
Year one of the Coach Megan Duffy era went quite well for Marquette. The Golden Eagles finished 24-8 overall and second in the Big East with a 13-5 mark. With six players back who were part of the eight player regular rotation, this should be an experienced team who will battle at the top of the conference standings. However, with Connecticut now joining DePaul, Marquette has two tough teams to deal with in conference play.
2019-20 Record: 24-8, 13-5
Coach: Megan Duffy
Coach Record: 24-8 at Marquette, 62-28 overall
Key Departed Players (starters in bold)
Isabelle Spingola, Guard, 10.5 ppg
Altia Anderson, Forward, 7.5 ppg
Key Returning Players (starters in bold)
Selena Lott, Senior, Guard, 15.5 ppg
Lauren Van Kleunen, Senior, Forward, 11.9 ppg
Camryn Taylor, Sophomore, Forward, 9.3 ppg
Jordan King, Sophomore, Guard, 8.1 ppg
Chloe Marotta, Junior, Forward, 4.5 ppg
Nirel Lougbo, Sophomore, Guard, 1.5 ppg
Claire Kaifes, Sophomore, Guard, 1.0 ppg
Taylor Valladay, Sophomore, Guard, 0.7 ppg
Key New Players
Julianna Okosun, Freshman, Forward
Rose Nkumu, Freshman, Guard
Antwainette Walker, Sophomore, Guard, Transfer from Little Rock
Danyel Middleton, Freshman, Guard
Liza Karlen, Freshman, Forward
Projection:
Selena Lott will again lead the backcourt after averaging 15.5 points and 5.6 assists during her junior season. She is a great leader on the floor and a very dangerous outside shooter. The outside shooting is where Marquette could take a step back though now that Isabelle Spingola is gone. She hit 38.9 percent of her 193 attempts from three. Sophomore Jordan King will look to step into that role, but she hit just 27.2 percent of her three-pointers as a freshman. In the frontcourt Lauren Van Kleunen and Camryn Taylor are back to lead the way. Van Kleunen averaged 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds, while Taylor added 9.3 points and 3.8 rebounds. Chloe Marotta was a key piece in the frontcourt as well. She may not do a lot of scoring, but Marotta is tough on the glass. The Golden Eagles were one of the best rebounding teams in the nation last year and that could be difficult to replicate this year. Spingola was surprisingly effective on the glass for a guard and departed forward Altia Anderson was the best rebounder on the team. A drop off on in the rebounding department and a lack of outside shooters could cause some problems for Marquette, but not enough for them to drop out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 69.0 (94th in nation, 4th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 61.0 (93, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 45.4 (16, 1)
Field-Goal Defense: 37.6 (68, 3)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.0 (252, 10)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 34.0 (65, 5)
Free-Throw Percentage: 69.7 (172, 7)
Rebound Margin: 10.7 (4, 1)
Assists Per Game: 18.1 (10, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 17.1 (245, 10)
