Marquette Has Reached Out To Pitt Transfer Marcus Carr

With the Marquette men’s basketball season officially behind us, that means we’ve moved into Transfer Season. The first mention of Marquette’s interest in a player leaving another school comes to us from Rivals’ Corey Evans, who says that MU has reached out to Pittsburgh freshman Marcus Carr.

Carr is listed by the Panthers at 6’1” and 185 pounds. Hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by way of Montverde Academy in Florida, he averaged 10 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in Kevin Stallings’ slow-paced system. His shooting numbers are fine, connecting on 44% of his twos and 33% of his threes, but Carr’s value to his future team comes via his passing. He posted the 33rd best assist rate in the country this season according to KenPom, which is 1) really good, 2) amazingly good for a freshman, and 3) questionably good for a team that went 8-24 and lost their final 19 games of the season. It’s good that he had the helper on 34% of Pitt’s baskets while he was on the floor, but what does that mean when the team was not good in the slightest? His turnover rate was on the high end at just under 24%, but you’d have to figure that it would improve after a redshirt season and with a better team situation.

Carr was a borderline top 150 prospect coming out of Montverde, according to 247 Sports, so this isn’t really a case of a kid coming out of nowhere to achieve as a freshman. While he’s slightly undersized, he still has two listed inches on Markus Howard, who would be a senior when Carr would become eligible.

The question becomes whether or not Marquette wants to spend a roster spot on a guard that can’t help the team immediately. Carr will almost assuredly sit out the 2018-19 season, and MU’s roster weakness for next season is clearly in the backcourt, as Ed Morrow and Ike Eke finishing their redshirt seasons would provide a lot of extra size on the interior. As of right now, head coach Steve Wojciechowski has just one roster spot available next year. Here’s how the scholarship situation for Marquette projects going forward.