Marquette Golden Eagles
2021-2022 Overall Rank: #75
Conference Rank: #8 Big East
After seven years, Marquette has moved on from the Steve Wojciechoski era. They went out and made a big time hire with Shaka Smart, who spent the last six seasons at Texas after making a name for himself at VCU. With the arrival of Coach Smart, the Golden Eagles will have to reload. The good news is without having to wait a year for transfers to become eligible; Marquette will rebuild right away and look to do better than their 13-14 record of 2020-2021.
2020-21 Record: 13-14, 8-11
2020-21 Postseason: None
Coach: Shaka Smart
Coach Record: 0-0 at Marquette, 272-142 overall
Key Departed Players:
Dawson Garcia, Forward, 13.0 ppg
DJ Carton, Guard, 13.0 ppg
Koby McEwen, Guard, 10.2 ppg
Jamal Cain, Forward, 9.6 ppg
Theo John, Forward, 8.0 ppg
Symit Torrence, Guard, 2.4 ppg
Key Returning Players:
Justin Lewis, Freshman, Forward, 7.8 ppg
Greg Elliott, Junior, Guard, 6.2 ppg
Oso Ighodaro, Freshman, Forward, 1.2 ppg
Key New Players:
Cameron Brown, Freshman, Guard
Emarion Ellis, Freshman, Guard
Keevan Itejere, Freshman, Forward
Kam Jones, Freshman, Guard
David Joplin, Freshman, Forward
Tyler Kolek, RS Freshman, Guard, Transfer from George Mason
Kur Kuath, Senior, Forward, Transfer from Oklahoma
Stevie Mitchell, Freshman, Guard
Darryl Morsell, Senior, Guard, Transfer from Maryland
Olivier-Maxence Prosper, RS Freshman, Forward, Transfer from Clemson
Projection:
Justin Lewis and Greg Elliott are the only returning players who saw major minutes last season. Lewis, despite being slowed by an ankle injury, averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in his debut campaign. Elliott has spent three years as a productive shooter off the bench, averaging 6.2 points and hitting 45.5 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Four Division I transfers will make an impact. The most experienced is Darryl Morsell. The 6-5 guard was a four-year starter at Maryland and averaged 9.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season. Tyler Kolek started 18 games at George Mason as a freshman and recorded 10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He will at least be a very good shooter off the bench. Olivier-Maxence Prosper was a four-star recruit last year, but averaged fewer than ten minutes per game during his lone season at Clemson. The big 6-8 guard will look to reignite his collegiate career at Marquette. Kur Kuath will provide some size to the frontcourt. He has spent three seasons at Oklahoma, turning into a part-time starter in 2020-2021. He is a not a huge scoring threat, but will be a presence on the defensive end of the court. Six freshmen will add more options, highlighted by four-star recruits Stevie Mitchell, Emarion Ellis and David Joplin. Overall, this is a young group and that will cause them some problems this year, but Coach Smart has proven that he can get a lot of talented young players.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NIT
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 69.7 (211th in nation, 9th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 69.8 (162, 7)
Field-Goal Percentage: 44.5 (138, 5)
Field-Goal Defense: 41,4 (65, 4)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.6 (238, 9)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 32.3 (246, 8)
Free-Throw Percentage: 73.5 (80, 4)
Rebound Margin: 2.4 (103, 3)
Assists Per Game: 12.3 (225, 9)
Turnovers Per Game: 14.4 (248, 9)
Madness 2021 Men’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#81 Steve Mitchell
#104 Emarion Ellis
#108 David Joplin
