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:

Where does Marquette finish in the Big East standings?

If you want to think about this purely in terms of actual standings or just in terms of Big East tournament seeding, either way works.

Sam Newberry:

I’m torn on this question. Nova’s freshman class might struggle and there isn’t a true “star” clearly defined in their returning players, although any one of Saddiq Bey, Jermaine Samuels, and Collin Gillespie can fill that role if they develop. I’m not at all on the Seton Hall hype train; there’s literally nothing that suggests that the team who needed Myles Powell to go ballistic just to get to the tournament and added nothing to a team that got hammered by Wofford in the first round has improved. I’m always way too high on Providence, but the return of Emmitt Holt and the addition of Luwane Pipkins are bright spots. Georgetown is an enigma, as I have no idea if the sophomores they have wilI let them take the next step. Creighton is gonna outshoot everyone but literally has a scarecrow to play as their big man, so I have no idea. I think the easiest team to predict success for is Xavier, because they return everyone that was a key cog in their end of season run, and they have two legit stars in Paul Scruggs and Naji Marshall in addition to great veterans in Tyrique Jones and Quentin Goodin. [Editor’s Note: He didn’t actually give us an answer, did he?]

Ben Snider:

Tied for third with Seton Hall and Creighton, but they’ll get the 5 seed as a result of a tiebreaker that gives higher seeds to teams with lower undergraduate enrollment or something.

Pistol Brad:

Marquette will finish fifth in the Big East this year. The league is stronger than last year (KenPom projects the conference as the second best in the country, up from fifth) and I just don’t see Marquette being consistent enough to finish near the top of the conference. I wish I was on the post-Hauser hype train thinking the offense will be just as good as last year but I can’t say I buy it. I am quite worried guys like Sacar Anim, Koby McEwen, and our bigs won’t be able to get things going in the paint without the Hausers on the perimeter drawing defenders. Markus Howard will get his and carry us to some big wins but I just don’t see him being able to do it night in and night out to carry us to a top end finish. I would love to be wrong.

Patrick Leary:

Marquette finishes third this year, but in the end it feels more satisfying than having two bites at the apple to win the thing before collapsing completely.

Besay:

I’ll stick them in 3rd place behind Villanova and Seton Hall. As much as I hate (sorry, that’s a strong word...strongly dislike) Seton Hall, I’m not confident enough in the Marquette offense right now to to put them in the top two. Where does the offense come from aside from Markus Howard?

Does Seton Hall have questions...of course! Villanova? You betcha. I just have more concerns about the Golden Eagles right now than I do about ‘Nova or The Hall.

The middle of the Big East will be a variation of Xavier, Providence, Creighton, Georgetown not exactly in that order, while Butler, St. John’s and DePaul will round out the bottom-dwellers.

Brewtown Andy:

I turned in my official game-by-game prediction to Paint Touches for the AE representation, so there’s no point in hiding from it: First place in the Big East with a record of 13-5.

This is more of a complete lack of faith in everyone else in the conference than praise of Marquette for the record. I know there’s reasons to believe that the league is better or stronger than last year, but, uh, when I look around the conference, all I see are question marks pretty much as far as the eye can see. That’s how you get the Golden Eagles winning it, and that’s also how you get them winning it with five losses and only ending up as a #4 seed in the NCAA tournament, too.