The Marquette Golden Eagles will kick off their 2014-15 season on Friday night when they host Tennessee-Martin. It is expected to be a season of transition for the Golden Eagles; Steve Wojciechowski is now at the helm. It appears that Marquette has pulled off a bit of a coup drawing the now former Duke assistant coach to Milwaukee.
He already appears to have won over the students, faculty and boosters of the university, and has already secured a terrific recruiting class coming in for the 2015-16 season, but now all focus must turn to the upcoming season. Unfortunately, it will be a a very tall task for Marquette to return to the heights of their 2012-13 season.
Losing former head coach Buzz Williams came as a big shock to all involved with the program last spring, and it is a tall task for Wojciechowski to return the program to where they were in March of 2013. Williams had created a program built on recruiting junior college transfers and recruits other schools wouldn't touch, and they were always the fittest team on the court. This team peaked in 2013, when they lost a close game to Syracuse in the Elite Eight.
Last season, they regressed. Marquette looked a shadow of the team who had won a share of the Big East Conference and went to the Elite Eight the season before. The team relied greatly on Todd Mayo and Davante Gardner, but without those two scorers it is hard to discern where the scoring will come from this year's team.
A large part of the burden will likely fall to BYU transfer Matt Carlino, who poured in eight points in the scrimmage victory last Saturday over Wisconsin Lutheran College. In his time at BYU, Carlino averaged nearly 13 points per game. In addition to Carlino, much is expected of forward Deonte Burton. Burton impressed last season with his strength, physicality and ability to get to and score at the rim.
He played 22 minutes in last weekend's scrimmage scoring 17 points and shooting over 50% from the field. Granted, they were playing against D-III opponents, but strength is always needed in the Big East. Marquette have only one bonafide inside scorer in Indiana transfer Luke Fischer, but he won't become eligible until December 14th. Therefore, it wouldn't be shocking to see Burton playing as a combo 3/4, sometimes lining up down on the blocks while on other occasions moving out to the wing. Burton's speed and strength could be a real asset against slower big men should he manage to pull them away from the basket.
Given the lack of big men, expect the Golden Eagles to be very reliant on the three-point shot. Freshman Sandy Cohen III went 3-3 from deep in the scrimmage, and although we still don't know a lot about the freshman, if he can replace former sharpshooter Jake Thomas it would be a great addition. While Thomas was a very hot/cold player, when he was on he gave Marquette an added dimension. They desperately need that added dimension this season, and anyone who could provide that will see massive amounts of playing time.
Last season, freshman point guard John Dawson showed flashes of promise when on the court, but he played only 13 minutes without scoring in the scrimmage against Wisconsin Lutheran. Dawson didn't play much until late in the 2013-14 season, but he stepped up in the overtime victory at Georgetown, shooting 4-7 with 12 points. He was also important in the overtime victory over DePaul and helped to keep Marquette in games in their overtime loss to Providence and the loss to Villanova.
Dawson's playing time will likely be limited; he is unlikely to play a lot at point guard where senior and captain Derrick Wilson will play the role of floor general. Wilson doesn't score a lot of points, but is one of the top shutdown defenders in the conference. Dawson will also likely find himself behind Carlino and redshirt freshman Duane Wilson in the pecking order at shooting guard.
Duane Wilson was forced into the redshirt last season after a preseason leg injury, but he entered Marquette as a highly touted prospect. He was a four-star recruit, and starred at Dominican High School alongside Diamond Stone, a high school senior and number 6 recruit in the nation according to ESPN. Wilson and Stone led Dominican to a State title in Wilson's senior season, and much is expected of him as a scorer. While in high school, he was occasionally accused of being selfish while on offense, but shot 7-9 with 18 points in the scrimmage against Wisconsin Lutheran.
Another player that Dawson may find himself in the pecking order behind is sophomore JaJuan Johnson. Johnson played a lot in the early stages of the 2013-14 campaign, scoring in double digits against Grambling State, Cal-State Fullerton, IUPUI, Ball State and Samford in addition to scoring nine points against Arizona State. His playing time drastically fell off during the conference season, and he didn't play in 10 of their 18 conference games. However, Johnson could again pack a scoring punch for a team without scorers. It will all depend if he plays and if he can score like he did in non-conference play last term.
The Golden Eagles will be a very young team this season, and will rely on senior leadership from team captains Derrick Wilson and Juan Anderson. Wilson will provide little offensively, and in his time at Marquette Anderson has not provided much either. However, he may need to play the role of scorer on this team, and looked to do so in the scrimmage when he scored 27 points on 11-16 shooting.
At times in the past, Anderson has looked more like an athlete than a basketball player. Standing at 6'6" with long arms, he is a solid rebounder and can defend anything from a small forward down very well, but may not be able to cut it playing in the front court in the Big East. He will look to follow in the footsteps of former undersized big men and Marquette greats Jimmy Butler and Jae Crowder. It will be very interesting to see if Anderson can step up and be the player this team needs him to be.
One more player we have yet to speak about is junior Steve Taylor Jr., who played sparingly last season but looked very impressive as a freshman. Due to the ineligibilty of Fischer, Taylor will be the tallest player on the team at 6'7" for the first month of the season. Taylor will need to use all of his athleticism in the early going when Marquette will face Wisconsin and likely Michigan State without a true big man. Taylor is quick, and a terrific rebounder. Especially as a freshman, he showed unique ability to find the soft spot in a zone defense. That quality will likely not be an asset until after Fischer is eligible given that Taylor will likely have to play at center, but it will be important once conference play rolls around.
In addition to Duane Wilson, Fischer is still a bit of an unknown quantity. He starred at Germantown High School, and led them to a State championship and was heavily recruited while there. He eventually chose Indiana, but transferred back to Marquette just a few months into his time under Tom Crean. Much is expected of the young player, but we will have to wait a month to see what he can do.
Even though the season has yet to start, we can already chart games that will likely make-or-break this season. Not much is expected of the trip to Orlando at Thanksgiving which will likely see a match-up with Michigan State. Given that the team will still be in a settling in period and will not yet have Fischer, it would be a surprise to see Marquette leave Disney World with three victories. However, they should have a chance to score a signature victory on December 6th when they host Wisconsin.
The Badgers come in off a Final Four berth, and the number 3 ranked team in the nation return four starters in addition to three crucial role players. Given that the Golden Eagles will have no players within five inches of Wooden Award candidate Frank Kaminsky in terms of height, a loss there would not be a surprise. However, the crowd is always crazy at the Bradley Center for Marquette-Wisconsin games and anything can happen while on home court.
Where Marquette can truly hope to pull off some big victories is in conference play. Although only picked to finish in a tie for seventh in the preseason conference coaches poll, home games against Creighton on January 14th, Georgetown on January 24th, Butler on January 31st, and Villanova on February 21st will provide upset opportunities. The Golden Eagles will find it difficult to score any big road wins, and will likely not be expecting to win more than nine or ten conference games.
When looking at the players and schedule Marquette have, they ought to be charting a 20-win season and a .500 or just over .500 record in conference and an NCAA Tournament Berth. It will all depend on how well the players play, and whether they can step up in big games.
VAVEL USA's Prediction: Record of 20-12 (10-8 Conference), Semifinals of Big East Conference Tournament. Marquette will be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, but will just miss out on a play-in game due to the weakness of the Big East this season. They will be a high seed in the NIT, and make a deep run.