The 2017-18 college basketball season is quickly approaching, and thus, we turn our attention to previewing the upcoming Marquette men’s basketball season.

As you may have noticed, we’ve got a few new voices here on the site since the school year started. We’re going to take advantage of that and do something new for the season preview. We’ve got a stacked up list of questions about the 2017-18 campaign, and each of the new contributors to AE are going to take a crack at answering them. There will be a new question every weekday afternoon between now and the start of the season, so be sure to stop back every day to find the new one.

Onwards, then, to the question of the day:

Who will lead Marquette in scoring this season?

For context purposes, Markus Howard (13.2 points per game), Andrew Rowsey (11.6), and Sam Hauser (8.8) are Marquette’s three leading returning scorers from last season.

Ben Snider: I’ll go with the obvious answer of Markus Howard. He was a more efficient shooter than Andrew Rowsey with higher usage. As long as he can keep himself in the game by limiting foul issues, he should lead the team there. I also think his driving ability is a bit underrated. The field goal percentage at the rim was not there (56.4% was last on the team), but almost every single one of those shots were off the dribble. Only 9.4% of the shots he made at the rim came as a result of an assist, by far the least on the team (Duane Wilson was second at 20.7%). For a guy his size going down the lane with shot blockers seeing him coming, you’d think way more shots would get blocked. He’s a special player on offense.

Pistol Brad: Markus Howard will lead the team in scoring this year. As much as I tried to convince myself that Sam Hauser could surpass him by developing a post game and creating his own shot, it just won't happen. Howard is too prolific in his offense and should take a step forward in every aspect of his game, sans 3-point percentage because that would be damn near impossible. Howard led the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game only playing 22 minutes per game. If Howard can stay out of foul trouble, he should play upwards of 30 minutes per game and if my iPhone calculator is correct, that means he would average 18 points per game if he put up the exact same numbers over 30 minutes instead of 22. However, With Jajuan Johnson and Katin Reinhardt gone, Howard should see a pretty hefty increase in his offensive workload, especially from 3. Therefore, I think it would be reasonable for Howard to average around 20 points per game. This would not only be good enough to top Marquette, but probably put him in the contention for a Big East scoring title. Andrew Rowsey could possibly challenge him for the scoring title at Marquette, but I just don't see Rowsey taking a huge leap from his junior to his senior year. I'd guess Rowsey takes some of JJJ and Katin's shots and ends up scoring around 15 points per game with great efficiency numbers (and a couple lefty and-1 threes to boot).

NHammertime: I think this one comes down to your presumable starting backcourt: Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey. Last year, Howard slightly edged out Rowsey in the scoring department 13.2 ppg/11.6 ppg. Both guys should see an uptick in minutes this year, and there are also more shots available with the departures of Katin Reinhart and Jajuan Johnson. Howard and Rowsey are both extremely talented three-point shooters, and they both capitalize big time from the charity stripe. This is a tough one, but I am going to lean towards Rowsey. He has shown for 3 years, albeit two against Big South competition, that he can score the ball at a proficient rate. In his senior season, he will be given the opportunity to play more and take more shots, which just might get him to averaging the 20 ppg he did at UNC-Asheville.

Besay: With so much young talent, I think Markus Howard won’t need to be as lethal as he was last year from three point-range. He’s still going to be the man the Golden Eagles look to when they need a basket and I see Howard being a better all-around shooter this year with a much improved mid-range game.

CLagore: I feel like Markus Howard is the obvious answer, so I'm gonna go a different direction and go with Sam Hauser. I think it's fairly unrealistic to expect Howard to keep up his ridiculous 3-point percentage, and with Katin Reinhardt and Jajuan Johnson gone, I think Hauser's usage rate goes up as he absorbs the role of "not a big man but also not a very small guard" type of scorer. He only took 2.1 2-point attempts last year, and I think that goes up pretty significantly. It's certainly a wild-card pick, but I'm all in on Hauser this year.

Broadway Brown: Markus Howard will lead the team in scoring. This team is going to live and die by the three ball and if the three ball falls for Howard, he will definitely be the leading scorer. With 13.2 points per game last year Howard will likely up those numbers to about 15 or 16 points per game.