The First Ever Anonymous Eagle Mailbag: The Marquette Basketball Roster, Recruiting, Jesuits, And More

Sooooo.... the offseason, huh?

I mean, I guess it’s not officially the offseason quite yet. Marquette track & field has four athletes going to the West Regional coming up this weekend, but that is it for Marquette sports until August when soccer and volleyball start back up.

Thus, the first ever Anonymous Eagle Mailbag! We opened up the mailbag on Twitter (@AnonymousEagle) and on Facebook (Facebook.com/AnonymousEagle) and there was a lot of responses right away! We’ve got enough to justify a whole post already, so let’s dig in, shall we?

From @go_marquette: Who will be the most impactful newcomer and why?

Well, a tip of the hat to you, sir, for offering me a sweet and easy out on this one. The answer’s Harry Froling, who has been on scholarship since January but won’t actually step on the court for Marquette until mid-December. Thus: newcomer. TA-DA!

There’s a couple reasons at work here. First, Froling has completely transformed his body since arriving in Milwaukee. Marquette’s website lists the Aussie at 6’11” and 260 pounds. On his recent appearance on Evan Daniels’ podcast, head coach Steve Wojciechowski said that Froling has lost 40 - FORTY, FOUR-ZERO - pounds. So there’s that. Second, Froling spent the last stretch of the season in a walking boot to let a stress fracture heal. According to Marquette Wire’s Andrew Goldstein, who wrote this stellar feature on Froling and his family while studying abroad Down Under, the fracture had been there since February of 2016. Not 2017. 2016.

So he’s healthy for the first time in over a year and he’s in what is probably the best shape of his life. Tack on the fact that he averaged 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13 minutes per game against KenPom top 100 foes for SMU while out of shape and hurt, and you can see the potential here.

Oh, and he shot 3-of-10 on three-pointers for the Mustangs. If that is even remotely close to a real thing that the near seven-footer can do on a regular basis......

From the aforementioned Andrew Goldstein:

It’s the one on the right.

If it’s the one on the left, how would the dog wear a shirt? The shirt would barely fit on his “torso” there, while he would clearly have “torso” space for a shirt in the right hand example.

From @FatherMarquette: Who is your fav Jesuit asking for a friend

You’re my favorite Jesuit that’s on Twitter, but my actual favorite Jesuit is St. Ignatius of Loyola. I mean, it feels wrong to answer someone else and just ignore the guy who founded the order in the first place.

From @Snewb22: Roster is starting to look a bit crowded for minutes, especially in 2018. How do you think that breaks down going forward?

I actually don’t think it’s that crowded. Check out the stats from this past season. No one averaged more than 26.5 minutes per game and one of the two guys who started every single Big East game averaged less than 23 minutes per game in those 18 contests. The takeaway here is that it seems like Wojo is open to playing the guys who are executing his game plan the best, and that might change from game to game.

In addition to Wojo’s flexibility — remember, he flat out ejected three guys from the starting lineup in mid-February this past season — Marquette has to replace over 2,800 minutes out of the 6,425 total played last season. It’s nearly 44% of the total minutes between the four guys who aren’t coming back next season, so there’s an awful lot of space for current guys to soak up space as well as for the new guys coming in to make a name for themselves.

From @Illisconsin: What does it take for someone to be a “swell guy?”

They have to be alive in 1957.

From Tony on Facebook: What is the most likely outcome of the 2018-19 roster? It seems a few high profile players are interested in attending, but with only one (I think) scholarship available. Is [Joey] Hauser the guy if he wants it? Would someone like [Sacar] Anim get released from his scholarship for an upgrade like with what Wojo did to Wally [Ellenson]? I am excited for this season, but I see the following season as a real opportunity to make a run.

First things first, we’ll turn to the handy-dandy scholarship table to confirm that Tony is correct in his calculation about one current available scholarship in 2018-19.

Between Quentin Grimes (#16 according to #247), Joey Hauser (#29), and Race Thompson (#72), all of whom the Marquette staff has been out to see since the season ended, there is in fact a lot of high end irons in the fire. There’s also Jeenathan Williams (#148), who says MU is telling him that he’s their #1 target for the Class of 2018. My gut instinct is that Tony’s right: If Joey Hauser wants the spot, it’s his. Between being a higher ranked recruit than older brother Sam, a guy who just led MU in minutes played as a freshman, and being the top ranked recruit in the state of Wisconsin, I think you can’t go wrong with that move.

My gut instinct is also that Wojo and his staff are preparing for Joey to go elsewhere. Whether that’s because they believe he will or if they’re merely covering their bases, I have no idea. However, you’re not going to hit on every single prospect, so Wojo and his staff have to go after a lot of guys, even with just one spot open. Besides hedging your bets, having active relationships with a lot of guys can pay off down the road when unexpected things happen, like, for example, Traci Carter and Sandy Cohen essentially just disappearing in the middle of the night.

With that said, I don’t know where that surprise would come from. Matt Heldt, Markus Howard, and Sam Hauser can all essentially be penciled into the starting lineup until further notice. Sacar Anim already sat out one redshirt year instead of transferring, so I don’t know why he’d burn a year of eligibility to go now. Haanif Cheatham seems dedicated to improving from a sophomore slump, and Harry Froling and Ed Morrow both already transferred once each.

Past that, the only thing that could open up a scholarship is one of the 2017 freshmen not working out or Brendan Bailey opting out of his scholarship following his Mormon mission. It’ll be a cold day in hell before you catch me hoping any of that happens.

Besides, think of it this way: If Marquette ends up going to battle in 2018-19 with only the above guys listed, that’s still a really good team with some very experienced players. Adding a Joey Hauser type of talent is really just a cherry on top of that sundae.

Last one!

From @MarquetteToday: What’s your fav #mubb gif?

Oh, this is easy.

SBNation.com

But this is probably a close second.

Do you have a question for the Anonymous Eagle Mailbag? It can be about Marquette hoops, any other Marquette sports, or whatever strikes your fancy at the moment. Tweet it to us (@AnonymousEagle) or email it to us (anon.eagle@gmail.com). The more the merrier, and we’ll see if we can turn this into a weekly thing.