The 2018-19 college basketball season is quickly approaching, and thus, we turn our attention to previewing the upcoming Marquette Golden Eagles men’s basketball season.

As was the case last year, we’ve got a stacked up list of questions about the 2017-18 campaign, and each of the 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:

What will be Marquette’s three best wins on Selection Sunday?

Road wins are better than neutral wins, which are in turn better than home wins, when you adjust for opponent. Beating Kansas would still be better than beating DePaul at WinTrust Arena, for example.

Ben Snider:

Villanova at home, Louisville on a neutral court, Buffalo at home. I still think they beat Wisconsin and Kansas State, but I just don’t think they will be seen as particularly good wins at the end of the year. With that being said, Wisconsin should extend Greg Gard’s contract to 2057.

Broadway Brown:

Nova at home, Louisville on a neutral court and Indiana in Bloomington. I think Indiana will be sneaky good this year, especially with Romeo Langford and then I think Chris Mack will get Louisville back to what they used to be I think.

Connor Lagore:

*looks around*

*takes a deep breath*

*smiles slowly*

Kansas.

Brewtown Andy:

Well, I’m on record with a game-by-game prediction over on Paint Touches, so I may as well go with what I said there.

At Indiana, home against Providence, home against Villanova.

For the record: I don’t believe in Kansas State, Wisconsin, or St. John’s this year, thus they were knocked down the list in terms of quality of victory.

Besay:

“Annnnd Marquette SHOCKS #1 Kansas!!!” Then I woke up from my dream. As long as they go 1-1 in the difficult portion of the Preseason NIT (I’m not really counting Bethune-Cookman...) that will be a success. At Indiana will be their first big win, unless they somehow end up playing and beating Tennessee in the second game of the Preseason NIT. But that’s unlikely. The Hoosiers will be a top 25 team by the end of the year by my “expert” prediction. Then a victory against ‘Nova at the Fiserv Forum will be their best win since I fully expect the Wildcats to be in the top 10 at the end of the year. Near the end of the schedule I believe they’ll edge Providence in Rhode Island and because it’s near the end of the season, and on the road, AND the Friars will be a Tournament team that will be their third best win.

Sam Newberry:

In no particular order:

1. Kansas State at home

2. Indiana on the road

3. Wisconsin at home

I think the only games that can challenge this are (well duh) Kansas and one of Tennessee and Louisville, and maybe getting a whacky sweep of a team like Providence or Butler in the Big East.

Patrick Leary:

In the new Fiserv Forum, this team will make its hay at home and it will over-perform there. Kansas State is a team relying on a pretty significant year-to-year jump given expectations, and Bruce Weber isn’t a good coach, so there’s one. There’s legitimate question as to how good Wisconsin actually is, but as of now that’s a solid home win, and that’s two. Then I’ll go Big East focused for my third pick, and since they should win most of their home games in the conference, I’ll pick a road game. I like them to beat St. John’s at Carnesecca Arena on New Year’s Day.

Pistol Brad:

Villanova at home, Providence on the road, and Indiana on the road.

Marquette isn’t losing on the first National Marquette Day in the Fiserv Forum, even against Nova, 88-81 book it.

Providence has plenty of talent this year between Alpha Diallo, Makai Ashton-Langford, and Emmitt Holt, however, Marquette has plenty of talent as well and I think our ability to play different lineups will allow us to prevail at Providence with a final score of 78-76.

Romeo Langford is really good, and he is also really young. Langford goes for 26 against Marquette but struggles on defense and turns the ball over five times en route to an 82-68 Marquette win.