The 2019-20 college basketball season is quickly approaching, and thus, we turn our attention to previewing the upcoming Marquette Golden Eagles men’s basketball season.

To that end, we’ve got a stacked up list of questions about the 2019-20 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:

Who will be Marquette’s 2019-20 second leading scorer?

Barring the world’s weirdest season, Markus Howard is going to lead this team in scoring. Coming in behind him? Well, that’s a fascinating discussion. Sam Hauser (14.9 points/game) and Joey Hauser (9.7 per game) are gone now, making Sacar Anim (8.3 per game) the best non-Howard returning scorer. But will he be the one to jump into the fray as the most reliable second option?

Ben Snider:

I don’t 100% believe this, but Theo John playing second fiddle in scoring a real possibility that should at least be addressed. He was about as automatic in the paint as you can get (60%), so his skills are polished enough to be worked through. Working through foul troubles and turnovers will be his mountains to climb if he wants to reach that level, though.

Sam Newberry:

I think it’s hard, unless you’re Ben, to say this will be anyone but Koby McEwen, so Koby.

Broadway Brown:

The easy answer here is the second highest returning scorer right? I got a feeling most people wont say him though. Sacar Anim is probably the most sure thing on this team in the sense that he’s the easiest to prognosticate for this year. He’s gonna play lockdown D and get to the hole, whether his drives turn into points or assists remains to be seen, but for the most part, he’s a pretty sure thing. Taking anything from Sunday’s secret scrimmage seems pretty dumb but he did get 14 shots up in that game, and if he can continue to shoot 39% from 3 like he did last year, I’d tab him to finish second on the team in scoring.

Pistol Brad:

I’m going with Koby McEwen here. Aside from Howard, he will have the ball in his hands the most and as we’ve seen from his play at Utah State, he is wired to score. McEwen can get buckets at all three levels and has previously done a good job getting to the line where he has shot a respectable 72%. I doubt he puts up the 15 points per game he averaged at Utah State but I would not be surprised to see him average around 12 points per game. It is possible Sacar Anim takes another leap on offense and eclipses McEwen, however, I doubt that happens considering the defensive load Anim will be tasked to carry night in and night out. A dark horse candidate here would be Theo John who has flashed some nice post moves in the last two seasons. Scoring the (second) most points requires actually staying on the court so Theo will have to work on his fouling issues if he wishes obtain the illustrious position of second leading scorer.

Besay:

I think Brendan Bailey will be the leading scorer aside from Markus Howard. The departure of the Hauser brothers leaves a void that will be somewhat filled by the much improved Bailey. He showed spurts of offensive potential at times last season with confident shooting from three, and he went 8-for-19 from long range down the stretch. Even though he didn’t always connect, he would let it fly when given the chance. His athleticism will also give him the ability to find creative ways to score. He will expand his offense to not just shoot the jumper but also slash to the rim and score at the hoop. Bailey will be a much improved shooter this season and be Marquette’s second leading scorer.

Patrick Leary:

This is very tough! Bart Torvik quite clearly projects Koby McEwen over Brendan Bailey and Sacar Anim, the other two logical considerations. However, concerns about McEwen’s inefficiency and how that could impact his usage are real, and he did nothing in Sunday’s scrimmage to assuage them. Since Anim and Bailey have other major elements to their game, I’m going to stick with McEwen, but I don’t love the pick.

Brewtown Andy:

What if this Marquette season is an adventure in finding a reliable night-in, night-out secondary option behind Markus Howard? What if, because no one is a proven reliable option right now, that no one steps forward to be that reliable option?

What if, in that case, Marquette’s #2 scoring option by way of average ends up being Jayce Johnson? The grad transfer from Utah averaged just 7.1 points per game last season, and that was a career best. However, he did shoot nearly 60% from the field and was one of the 30 most effective offensive rebounders in the country a year ago. While his minutes for the Utes have never been very high, he’s been a consistent 13 points per 40 minutes player in college.

If Steve Wojciechowski is dedicated to the two big men system he keeps talking about, that’s likely to mean that Johnson will get as many minutes as he can stay on the floor to play this year. If he boosts his minutes from the 22 per game he averaged last year and continues to shoot that well and vacuum up rebounds on the offensive glass that well, that seems like a recipe for 10+ points a night. Maybe that’s enough to be the second best guy on this team.