Anonymous Eagle - The 2022-23 Marquette Men’s Basketball Season Preview!Your home for coverage of Wisconsin's elite college athletics.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46843/anon-fave.png2022-11-06T19:30:00-06:00http://www.anonymouseagle.com/rss/stream/231782582022-11-06T19:30:00-06:002022-11-06T19:30:00-06:00Get To Know A Marquette Basketball Opponent: Radford
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<img alt="Radford v Villanova" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UJmxQJ0lNzy2pnkQ31PZ6Bt9I5A=/0x282:2752x2117/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71593905/932574944.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Dressed to play basketball like a good Scotsman. | Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Golden Eagles open up the year with a team from the Big South Conference</p> <p id="PZkbb5"><strong>Name: </strong>Radford University</p>
<p id="1wBm4y"><strong>Marquette is a French Jesuit explorer. What’s a Radford?</strong> Hang on, you’re getting ahead of the outline.</p>
<p id="JJvNOB"><strong>Location:</strong> Radford, Virginia, which is in Western Virginia, a little bit west of Roanoke.</p>
<p id="PKTKPd"><strong>Wait, it’s that simple?</strong> Well, mostly. There’s a long strange history to untangle, so…..</p>
<p id="6bArNz"><strong>Founded:</strong> 1910 as State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford. “Normal School” is old-timey language for “teachers college,” which means that Radford got its start preparing new teachers in the manner that the state of Virginia preferred.</p>
<p id="5HnUiy"><strong>You mentioned a long history?</strong> Yes, I did. State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford is a very unwieldy name and SNISWR is a terrible acronym as well, but it lasted for 14 years. That’s when the name changed to State Teachers College at Radford, and STCR is a little better. Virginia smooshed STCR together with <a href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/">Virginia Tech</a> in 1943 as part of a consolidation program and allowing Radford to be the women’s campus for the very heavily male VaTech campus in Blacksburg. This lasted less than 20 years before the state spun Radford off as its own campus again as Radford College, and they were elevated to university status in 1979, just seven years after men were admitted for the first time.</p>
<p id="YdbNpM"><strong>Can I ask where Radford the city got its name? </strong> Dr. John B. Radford, who was apparently just a very well known doctor and guy in general in the area of Lovely Mount, where he lived from 1836 til his death in 1872. People in that area of Virginia started calling it Radford after his passing due to his influence, and eventually it stuck. It didn’t actually become an incorporated city until 1892 anyway, so there you go. </p>
<p id="Z5iGYV"><strong>Enrollment:</strong> <a href="https://ir.radford.edu/electronic-fact-book/chart.php?chart=EN121a">6,008 undergraduates this fall</a>, along with 1,710 graduate students for a total of 7,718.</p>
<p id="fKVYOc"><strong>Campus Traditions:</strong> We like highlighting unique local customs when we talk about these non-conference opponents. We don’t know much about these schools because we don’t see them very often like we do with the Big East foes. The very first thing I got when I plugged in a Google search to learn about interesting and fun things at Radford is literally a page on their school website titled <a href="https://www.radford.edu/content/traditions/home.html">TRADITIONS WEEK</a>. They have a whole damn <em>week</em> of festivities on their campus, which was in early April last year. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li id="re5kr4">First Year Field Day to celebrate the freshmen wrapping up their first year</li>
<li id="wFq8Nd">Halfway There for the sophomores, which apparently includes issuing challenge coins to everyone</li>
<li id="MBVvOw">Junior Twilight, which is kind of what it sounds like and comes with a customized key chain</li>
<li id="oxUHs5">Senior Signing, which also includes some kind of gift and has all the attendant things that you would think that you would need for seniors as they get close to graduation</li>
<li id="RrqXW0">Spring Fling, which sounds like a block party type of deal, but at night.</li>
</ul>
<p id="ZfGxQB">This sounds neat. I like the idea of a whole week of parties on campus focused around each of the classes.</p>
<p id="lGLTp1"><strong>Nickname:</strong> Highlanders</p>
<p id="BfLlQE"><strong>Why “Highlanders”?</strong> Apparently because of <a href="https://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/about/history.html">“the Scottish heritage of Southwest Virginia.”</a> This is the first I’m hearing about this, but also I don’t live in Virginia. I did find something called <a href="https://www.vascottishgames.org/">“Virginia Scottish Games”</a> which has been going for nearly 50 years, but it’s also held in northern Virginia up near Washington, D.C.</p>
<p id="3F8NVh"><strong>Notable Alumni:</strong> As you would guess with a school that was a teachers college for the first several decades of its existence, they do not have a gigantic depth of alumni who have risen to national prominence. Jayma Mays portrayed Emma Pillsbury on Glee; Marty Smith is an ESPN personality; Frank Beamer was the long time head coach for Virginia Tech football, and that’s about it for names that a lot of people would recognize.</p>
<p id="nDvxye"><strong>Last Season:</strong> 11-18, 7-9 Big South</p>
<p id="rhB5lc"><strong>Final 2021-22 </strong><a href="http://KenPom.com"><strong>KenPom.com</strong></a><strong> Ranking:</strong> #283</p>
<p id="p5BcEz"><strong>Final 2021-22 T-Rank Ranking:</strong> #274</p>
<p id="fj22ZU"><strong>Preseason 2022-23 </strong><a href="http://KenPom.com"><strong>KenPom.com</strong></a><strong> Ranking:</strong> #294</p>
<p id="JlW2ir"><strong>Preseason 2022-23 T-Rank Ranking:</strong> #299</p>
<p id="osR6JG"><strong>Returning Stats Leaders</strong></p>
<p id="DEyONh"><strong>Points: </strong>Josiah Jeffers, 10.0 ppg<br><strong>Rebounds:</strong> Shaquan Jules, 4.6 rpg<br><strong>Assists: </strong>Josiah Jeffers, 2.6 apg</p>
<p id="Obqlqg"><strong>Bigs?</strong> Radford has a trio of guys measuring 6’10” in height, and none of the three were on the roster a year ago. Souleymane Koureissi (210 lbs.) and Madiaw Niang (230 lbs.) are both grad transfers from Richmond and Florida Atlantic respectively, while D’Auntray Pierce (200 lbs.) was at Western Wyoming Community College last year. For whatever it’s worth, Niang is the only one who played in Radford’s 114-54 exhibition victory over Mary Baldwin. He had six points, six rebounds, and five assists in 15 minutes off the bench. At 6’8 and 185 pounds, freshman David Vidor is Tall Man not Big Man, but he had a bucket and a rebound in nine minutes in the exhibition.</p>
<p id="ZhTLqA"><strong>Shooters?</strong> The Highlanders were one of the worst long range shooting teams in the country last year, connecting on less than 30% of their attempts. Josiah Jeffers is the only guy coming back from last season that connected on — and this is not a joke — more than 13% of his three-pointers. Jeffers went 21-for-68 a year ago, and that’s only 30.9%. Generally speaking, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> will be just fine if no one hits more than 30% of their threes against them, no matter who the opponent is.</p>
<p id="Gju9kK">With that said, Radford did shoot 12-for-22 from long distance in their exhibition game. Generally speaking, 54.5% is good. Only two guys who attempted a three ended up not making one, and they were both 0-for-1. Ibu Yamazaki’s 3-for-7 (43%) performance went down as the “worst” performance by a Highlander in that game, as everyone else shot 50% or better. Yamazaki is a 6’7” freshman who played for Japan’s U19 World Cup team in 2021, so he can probably play a little bit. We’ll have to wait and see how much fellow freshmen Kenyon Giles (3-for-4) and Hunter Castleberry (1-for-1) actually play once the rubber meets the road, as neither of them started for the Highlanders.</p>
<p id="ABovBF">Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (2-for-3) was at Pitt for four seasons before now, but only really played last season when he hit 38% of his threes. Bryan Antoine started and played 16 minutes, but still went 2-for-3 in his stretch on the floor.</p>
<p id="ff62E7"><strong>Wait, did you just say Bryan Antoine?</strong> Y’all remember Bryan Antoine? The highly touted but oft-injured <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a> player? Yeah, at some point he decided that he just needed a completely clean start and so he left the Wildcats and now he’s at Radford. If he started the exhibition game, I presume he’s on track to start on Monday night at Fiserv Forum. I don’t know how much help Antoine will be on the scouting report since last season was Shaka Smart’s first campaign at Marquette.</p>
<p id="2ikq6X"><strong>Head Coach: </strong>Darris Nichols, entering his second season as Radford’s top man. This is his first head coaching job, but he has a Big East connection in his past. Nichols played at West Virginia, crossing over between John Beilein and Bob Huggins during his tenure.</p>
<p id="YMa5mx"><strong>What To Watch For:</strong> It’s only been one season in charge for Darris Nichols as a head coach, so it’s a little risky to claim to see any trends. However, if Radford continues to look to play at the same pace that they did last year, Monday night is going to be a tremendous clash of styles. Radford was ranked #326 in tempo last season per <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a>, and, uh, Marquette’s going to try to play nearly 10 possessions per game faster than they did last year. </p>
<p id="M6JpZv">The other thing to keep an eye on is Radford’s dedication to rebounding. Last year, KenPom ranked them at #151 on the offensive glass and #80 on the defensive glass. Marquette’s rebounding was an absolute disaster on both ends of the floor a year ago, although it’s worth debating whether or not the offensive rebounding was by choice in order to focus on getting back on defense. If the Highlanders continue to have that focus on the glass, then they could cause problems for the Golden Eagles if MU hasn’t picked up the pace in that regard.</p>
<p id="MPIerg">Radford was also pretty good at forcing turnovers last season. Over 20% of their defensive possessions ended with them taking it away, and that ranked #76 in the country last year per KenPom. MU was pretty solid at maintaining control of the ball a year ago, but we have to admit that Tyler Kolek was prone to losing it a little more than Marquette fans would like to see. It’s possible that Radford’s defensive stylings could be a problem for the Golden Eagles if they focus in a turnover direction again.</p>
<p id="QG5lVt"><strong>All-Time Series:</strong> This is the first ever meeting between Marquette and Radford.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/11/6/23440332/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-game-preview-radford-highlandersBrewtown Andy2022-11-06T13:30:00-06:002022-11-06T13:30:00-06:00Big East What To Watch: Week 1
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<img alt="NCAA BASKETBALL: MAR 29 Div I Women’s Championship - Third Round - South Dakota State v Oregon" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4agR-CcCGXRXCCW1KO2JR4Lws5w=/0x0:3831x2554/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71592809/1135175870.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>A ranked South Dakota State team is the biggest opponent on the schedule this week in the Big East. | Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>WELCOME BACK TO COLLEGE BASKETBALL, EVERYONE! </p> <p id="ZSZl2a">We’re changing things up for the Big East What To Watch this season!</p>
<p id="pmIyOw">In the past, we’ve given you notable highlights for the week ahead as governed by the Associated Press poll timing of Monday through Sunday. Those highlights have always included at least one women’s basketball game as part of the rundown. We’ll still be doing that part of the thing, but now we’ll give you the full women’s basketball schedule at the bottom of the page right along with the full men’s basketball schedule! It’s shaping up to be a very interesting league on the women’s side this season with four teams coming off NCAA tournament bids and two more teams coming off Sweet 16 runs in the WNIT. On top of that, <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a> has perhaps never been more vulnerable in the last several years after the season ending losses of both Paige Bueckers and Ice Brady.</p>
<p id="Y3YN0u">Get in on the ground floor is what I’m saying.</p>
<p id="HCo3nR"><strong>VERY BIG PROGRAMMING REMINDER:</strong> None of the eight men’s basketball games on Monday will be broadcast in their entirety on any television network. FS1 is taking all eight, giving them staggered start times, and doing whiparound coverage all night long. It’ll be like NFL Red Zone with Casey Jacobsen and Bill Raftery running things from the studio. If you want to watch any particular game — say, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a>/Radford — you have to go through either <a href="http://FoxSports.com">FoxSports.com</a> or the Fox Sports app.</p>
<p id="U0a8YJ">Onwards to the highlights of the week.....</p>
<p id="wV4EFS"><strong>Monday, November 7: St. John’s Red Storm vs Merrimack Warriors (5:45pm Central, FS1 Whiparound coverage) —</strong> The Red Storm start off Mike Anderson’s fourth season in charge with a team projected to win the NEC. Well, okay, Merrimack is projected by <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a> to tie with Wagner atop the league standings at 10-6. <a href="https://northeastconference.org/news/2022/10/1/MBB_PreseasonMBBPoll_2223.aspx">In the league’s preseason poll</a>, the Warriors picked up six of the nine first place votes, besting Sacred Heart in second place with two votes for the top spot. It’s actually kind of a sneaky good scheduling move, as KP plots Merrimack in at #291 to start the season. On one hand: Heavily favored. On the other hand: Playing a team that’s coming into the year with getting to the NCAA tournament on their minds.</p>
<p id="ePdH79"><strong>Monday, November 7: #21 Creighton Bluejays at #23 South Dakota State Jackrabbits (7pm Central, </strong><a href="http://GoJacks.com"><strong>GoJacks.com</strong></a><strong>) —</strong> This is the best game of the week on either side of the league. Heck, this is actually the best basketball game in the country on Opening Day, as the Bluejays and the Jackrabbits are the only ranked teams opening up against another ranked team, men’s or women’s. Only downside? You’re going to have to hand SDSU a couple of bucks in order to stream this game. Emma Ronsiek and Creighton are coming off the program’s first ever Sweet 16 <em>AND</em> Elite Eight a year ago, while South Dakota State won the WNIT last season. This game is of particular note to Marquette fans, as there’s a chance that the Golden Eagles could see the Jackrabbits in the Battle 4 Atlantis.</p>
<p id="yqWQWy"><strong>Tuesday, November 8: Providence Friars vs Rider Broncs (5:30pm Central, FS1) —</strong> Hey, I thought the reason we were starting the season on Monday is so that everyone in the country would have the day off on Tuesday so all of their athletes could go vote? I thought that was a whole thing? Why are Providence and Georgetown playing today, not to mention the other eight games going on across the country? Also: Rider is the toughest team that Providence elected to play in their non-conference schedule, so this presents an interesting opening night challenge for the Big East’s reigning regular season champs as they figure out how to deal with losing all five guys from last season’s most used starting lineup.</p>
<p id="950k8z"><strong>Thursday, November 10: #21 Creighton Bluejays at RV South Dakota Coyotes (7pm Central, </strong><a href="http://GoYotes.com"><strong>GoYotes.com</strong></a><strong>) —</strong> If it was clear that Jim Flanery’s Bluejays had the biggest opening night test in the entire country by playing a ranked team on the road, then they <em>easily</em> have the toughest first two games of the season. On their way back to Omaha, they’ll stop in Vermillion for a contest against a Coyotes squad that’s earning votes in the preseason AP poll. I want to be clear about something: This isn’t Flan losing his mind after bringing back most of his Elite Eight roster. These are both return bouts from home dates at D.J. Sokol Arena a year ago, and Creighton will just be knocking them out on the same road trip. I presume they’ll just be staying up in South Dakota, at least. Does it make sense to play in Brookings on Monday, come home, and then go back to Vermillion for Thursday night? Feels like it doesn’t. Then again, it is only a two hour bus ride to Vermillion from Omaha.</p>
<p id="i7aAnz"><strong>Friday, November 11: #16 </strong><a href="https://www.vuhoops.com"><strong>Villanova Wildcats</strong></a><strong> at Temple Owls (6pm Central, ESPNU) —</strong> Congrats to the Wildcats for signing up for the only road game of the opening week of the season in the league, not to mention what is easily the toughest game of the week in the league! They will open at home against La Salle on Monday before playing “on the road” 20 miles away against the Owls. Temple projects as a middle of the road team in the American this season, but Villanova is only favored by six points per <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a> and will be without super freshman Cam Whitmore (hand injury, out for now) and Justin Moore (still out following tearing his Achilles in the NCAA tournament).</p>
<p id="FD2fGy"><strong>Friday, November 11: RV Villanova Wildcats at #24 Princeton Tigers (6pm Central, ESPN+) —</strong> We’re not done with the league’s women’s teams throwing themselves into the fire to start the year, nor with Nova’s teams doing the same! Not only are the Wildcats and Big East Preseason Player of the Year Maddy Siegrist playing their first seven games on the road this season, but for this second game of the year, they’ll be tangling with the nationally ranked Tigers. Princeton went 25-5 last year and upset #6 seed Kentucky in the NCAA tournament and were tied with #3 seed Indiana with 30 seconds left before bowing out to the Hoosiers in the second round.</p>
<p id="8QrwbU"><strong>Friday, November 11: RV </strong><a href="https://www.bannersontheparkway.com"><strong>Xavier Musketeers</strong></a><strong> vs Montana Grizzlies (7pm Central, FS2) —</strong> Sean Miller’s second game in charge in Cincinnati will involve hosting a team projected as a co-favorite in the Big Sky Conference. Both the Grizzlies and their cross-state rivals Montana State are aimed at a 12-6 record in league play according to <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a>, and KP’s math has Montana as a top 200 team in the country this season. The Musketeers are heavily favored, but <a href="https://goxavier.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2022-23/kentucky-wesleyan-exh-/boxscore/10687">if they goof off for 36 minutes like they did in their exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan</a>, they can’t expect the Grizzlies to let them close the game on a 15-0 run to win by double digits.</p>
<p id="5Kg9hV">Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week!</p>
<div id="WEVqjV"><div data-anthem-component="table:11595173"></div></div>
<p id="qpF0mS">And here’s the full women’s basketball schedule!</p>
<div id="VQQXX1"><div data-anthem-component="table:11602912"></div></div>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/marquette-basketball/2022/11/6/23432433/big-east-mens-womens-college-basketball-schedule-creighton-south-dakota-state-villanova-templeBrewtown Andy2022-11-04T10:15:00-05:002022-11-04T10:15:00-05:00Men’s Basketball Player Preview: #11 Tyler Kolek
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<img alt="NCAA Basketball: Marquette at Connecticut" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L8bkng86i1RGEny8ztLmjVjBFlk=/100x0:5212x3408/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71584638/usa_today_17642879.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Yep, the Rhode Island native is the returning leader in minutes per game. What’s his ceiling for this season?</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to wrap up our series with MU’s returning starting point guard and the returning guy with the highest average minutes from last season……..</p>
<h1 id="0DvSBc">Tyler Kolek</h1>
<h2 id="VknvtP">Junior - #11 - Guard - 6’3” - 190 pounds - Cumberland, Rhode Island</h2>
<p id="ke7bJe">No one expected what we got from Tyler Kolek last season. No one, that is, except for the Marquette coaching staff. We thought we were getting a guy that was maybe a little overlooked while getting recruited to George Mason as he had earned Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year honors the year before. A guy who could probably step right in and contribute as a shooting option at the very least, and if he could do a little ballhandling, then neat, all the better.</p>
<p id="PB8uIF">What we got was the Big East’s leader in assists per game along with KenPom.com’s #25 assist rate at the national level. We got a guy who has a weirdly preternatural ability to not just hit the open man but hit the open man in exactly the right way for the open man to let his shot rip. As the season went along, it was obviously and rapidly apparent that Marquette’s offense was just not the same without Kolek on the floor. It just <em>felt</em> better with him out there, even <a href="https://hoop-explorer.com/OnOffAnalyzer?autoOffQuery=true&baseQuery=&gender=Men&maxRank=400&minRank=0&offQuery=NOT%20%28%22Kolek%2C%20Tyler%22%20%29&onQuery=%22Kolek%2C%20Tyler%22%20&team=Marquette&year=2021%2F22&">if Hoop Explorer says that it was kind of about the same</a>.</p>
<p id="uOeLLr">Maybe that’s because the defense was better with Kolek on the floor. Maybe getting a few more stops made the offense a little bit more charged up, and that’s why the feel was different. Maybe it was Kolek’s attitude, sometimes bubbling underneath the surface, sometimes bubbling over the top, that made things a little bit more lively. In any case, Kolek brings something special to the floor for the Golden Eagles, and we’re going to need to see a lot of it this year.</p>
<h3 id="KVKnp1">Reasonable Expectations</h3>
<p id="I8d1Yi">Tyler Kolek led the Big East in assists per game last season at 5.9 per game. He and Posh Alexander from St. John’s were the only two guys to clear 4.5 helpers a night, and both guys were well north of five. That’s overall. In just league competition, it’s Kolek at #1 and Alexander at #2, but this time it’s Jared Bynum coming in at 4.9 per contest and Kadary Richmond was right behind Bynum at 4.7 per game.</p>
<p id="u4mWw5">This is a very long way around to say that while it’s reasonable to think that Kolek can lead the league in assists per game again, it’s also logical to think that maybe one of those other three guys figure out a way to clip past him. It’s not just that they weren’t that far off from beating him out for the assists title last season, it’s that Kolek’s role on the team does have to change evvvvvvver so slightly.</p>
<p id="VHQ8HN">Kolek has to start shooting it more. Not a lot more, not doubling his 7.0 attempts per game or anything like that. Marquette does not have a clear cut obvious guy to carry the scoring charge this season. Maybe someone takes that role, but for now, when we’re setting expectations, we have to say that Kolek has to do a little bit more scoring to help everything move along. </p>
<p id="dymaaj">It’s not just to help Marquette’s offense, it’s to make him a bigger threat. If teams have to start respecting his drive to the bucket and his long range jumper, that pass/shoot/drive threat that you want from a point guard gets even more dangerous for Kolek. Last year, Kolek shot under 40% on two-point attempts, which is bad. He has to find his touch and start putting layups and floaters through the rim. He also looked like had completely lost his three-point accuracy after connecting on 36% at George Mason. Kolek missed his first eight three-point attempts last season and started off the year 3-for-15. Bad! He would eventually recover and shoot 33% against Big East foes, and that’s all I’m asking for this year. Be a credible threat both behind the arc and going to the rim. Make teams take your shot seriously, which helps you get a chance to drive it more, and now they don’t know what you’re doing. A credible drive leads to a collapsing defense, and now there’s lots of open guys to pass to, and hooooboy, look at those assists pile up.</p>
<p id="RPZq0Q">The actual stats he puts up aren’t that important, but the process as to how he gets there does matter very much.</p>
<h3 id="hiuTDT">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="iO2q2G">Shaka Smart said the goal for Kolek is to go from leading the Big East in assists to leading the country in assists. That’s not something that Kolek wants to do, that’s something the coaching staff wants to generate for him. A little bit of an increase in pace of play for the Golden Eagles will help, of course. More possessions = more shot attempts = more assisted baskets. If the offense gets a little bit more efficient along with that speed — the Golden Eagles were only #64 in the country in efficiency per <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a> last season — then that helps find more assists, too.</p>
<p id="0Eg12B">It’s not that crazy, by the way. <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/individual/140">Kolek finished tied with Morehead State’s Ta’lon Cooper for the seventh most assists per game last season</a> and both guys were just 0.1 assists short of tying Florida Gulf Coast’s Tavian Dunn-Martin for sixth place. He was in the running to a certain extent a year ago.</p>
<p id="kRT08D">I say a certain extent because if the chart shakes out with the same numbers that it did last season, Kolek is going to have to manage to carve out at least two more assists per game. Saint Louis’ Yuri Collins led the country at 7.9 assists per game last season. That’s exactly two assists per game more than Kolek had, so he’s going to need to close that gap.</p>
<p id="1qyKSV">But again: The coaching staff wants to engineer the offense to get him there. That goes a long way towards making it happen.</p>
<h3 id="MwnBDo">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="3JpQNH">Tyler Kolek plays with an incredible edge. He’s an incredibly mean basketball player, and I mean that in a “tough minded” kind of way, not in a “is dirty” kind of way, 100% complimentary here. However, it’s called an “edge” for a reason: Sometimes you fall off of it.</p>
<p id="2EBrwA">Sometimes Kolek is playing right on the edge and it’s awesome. When he’s singing along to Country Roads as the Golden Eagles close out West Virginia: Awesome. When he’s MFing his head coach because dammit, he knows when he needs to score and and when to lay off, don’t tell him what to do, see, look, there’s a couple of buckets for you: Awesome.</p>
<p id="G6bXeI">When his teammates are pulling him away from student sections on the road? Maybe not so awesome. When he gets so wound up in his head that Shaka Smart has to put him on the bench and send one of the assistants over to tell him that he needs to sit there and take some deep breaths and get it back together because he’s useless to the team in his current state? Also maybe not so awesome.</p>
<p id="KV9WQm">If he can harness his energy, harness that edge to make it a weapon against the opponent, and do it all the time, then the sky’s the limit for Kolek in a Marquette uniform. If he can’t manage his behavior and funnel his attitude, and it starts causing dysfunction in the team, in a year when maaaaaybe the margins are a little too small for the Golden Eagles? Hoooo, could be ugly.</p>
<p id="Y51VqR">Oh, and he has to stop turning the ball over. I get that he’s the point guard and he’s going to have the ball more than anyone else and that’s going to lead to a few more turnovers than lots of other people. Sometimes that “I throw the perfect passes” thing means he reads it ever so slightly wrong or maybe the intended teammate isn’t actually looking at Kolek and the pass goes into the 7th row. The fact of the matter is that, rounding to the nearest whole number, a full 25% of possessions assigned to Kolek as usage last season went as a turnover. That number stayed pretty static, even if you’re looking at Big East play or top 100 opponents or whatever kind of split stat you want to look at. These turnovers are part of the reason why Kolek had a below average Offensive Rating per KenPom when the season was over. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that if he just cuts his turnovers by one-fifth, that’s going to be a lot more possessions that end in a Marquette shot, and if that shot is generated by a Kolek pass, then it’s probably going in more often than not. Big win all around if you ask me.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/11/4/23414215/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-tyler-kolekBrewtown Andy2022-11-03T10:15:00-05:002022-11-03T10:15:00-05:002022-23 Player Preview: #12 Olivier-Maxence Prosper
<figure>
<img alt="NCAA Basketball: Marquette at Seton Hall" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bwSxIgBn6BzSpm-BQynmgU7aKn4=/0x172:1817x1383/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71579745/usa_today_17569694.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Everyone’s favorite Canadian Golden Eagle had a perfectly nice first season in Milwaukee. What’s next?</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the guy who might be the most physically gifted player on the roster and has a shot at the biggest upside of the season.......</p>
<h1 id="h5zIUi">Olivier-Maxence Prosper</h1>
<h2 id="L29nmx">Junior - #12 - Forward - 6’8” - 230 pounds - Montreal, Quebec</h2>
<p id="SZn7fr">We saw one of the better “I am figuring this out” campaigns from O-Max last season. You can go back and read his season review to get the rundown of exactly what happened from section to section of the season, but the fact of the matter is that he started out not good and turned into pretty good in the back half of the season. If the Prosper that we saw from December 21st, the game where Shaka Smart restored him to the starting lineup, onwards is indicative of the Prosper that we see for the majority of this season, I think we’re all going to feel pretty great about it. </p>
<p id="cpo5JZ">In the final 20 games of the year, Prosper averaged 7.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. He shot 36.6% from long range, which is exactly what you love to see from a 6’8” dude since that wrecks havoc with how opposing teams have to defend him. He also chipped in a steal and an assist per game while shooting better than 51% from the field overall. </p>
<p id="FGc41F">Now, looking back at it again, we do have to point out that O-Max’s shooting numbers are a liiiiiiitle bit inflated by Marquette’s Big East and NCAA tournament games. The French Canadian shot 9-for-16 from the field overall and a very silly 6-for-11 from behind the three-point line. Maybe he can keep 56% from the field going in 2022-23.... but he ain’t shooting 55% from behind the arc for 30 games. I mean, I would like to see him do it, but let’s not cross our fingers either, y’know?</p>
<h3 id="CFffMJ">Reasonable Expectation</h3>
<p id="Jg13kK">The answer to what to expect from Prosper this season comes down to what you think his role on the team is going to be. We talked about it a little bit in the Kam Jones preview, as I think Jones is set up to be a massive scoring star for the Golden Eagles this season. The fact of the matter is that <em>someone</em> has to start scoring for Marquette with Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell, last year’s only two double-digit averages, no longer around. </p>
<p id="0cWD25">I think it’s not wrong to think that Prosper could be that guy. O-Max has probably the most exciting collection of physical attributes and talents on the team. Between his size, his strength, his agility, his ballhandling, it’s easy to draw a straight line from “Marquette needs a top end scorer” to “O-Max could be the top scorer that Marquette needs.” <a href="https://www.barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Marquette">T-Rank is right there</a>, projecting him as the leading scorer at 13.6 points per game this season while playing about 30 minutes a night. 4.6 rebounds as well, along with 1.5 assists per game is the underlying statistical stuff there. </p>
<p id="PsA2U6">I’m not 100% sold on O-Max as a big time scorer, but this projection has Marquette playing ultra-fast, nearly a possession and a half faster per game on average. If you want to subscribe to an idea that Prosper will end up being the leading scorer by average on a team that’s not 100% quite dominated by any single scorer, I can get behind that idea pretty easily.</p>
<h3 id="6Ndxst">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="BaZLnY">My biggest question mark in my head as to why O-Max might not be the tippity top scoring threat on this team probably has more to do with what he’s capable of doing on both ends of the floor. I think it’s possible that the Golden Eagles’ coaching staff turns him loose on defense as well as on offense. However, maybe that defensive effort means that he doesn’t live up to his nickname. Get it? He’s not going to be O-Max?</p>
<p id="M8IfoE">Yeah, it’s not that funny, but I refuse to apologize.</p>
<p id="4qRLvg">But think about this: O-Max is the bulkiest dude on the team, outweighing David Joplin and Ben Gold by 10 pounds and clearing both of Marquette’s two most likely center options — Oso Ighodaro and Keeyan Itejere — by 15 pounds each. Is there a world where Shaka Smart elects to play some “small ball” with Prosper at the 5 just because his physical talents and measurements give the team the best matchups against the bigger centers that MU will face this year? Remember, watching Ighodaro tangle with the Adama Sanogos and Ryan Kalkbrenners of the world is one of the things to worry about for his season. What if the solution is rolling 10 or 15 minutes a game at center over to Prosper? It’s wild to think about, but Marquette could, in theory, pop out a lineup that can shoot it, 1 through 5, and they would be playing an incredibly mobile guy at the 5 who would swallow up opposing guards with his wingspan on switches as well as be able to be physically imposing.</p>
<p id="HlzsEv">Maybe it’s not going to be the version of getting excited that makes you jump out of your seat every time he does something, but I think O-Max’s most notable contribution to this team can (should?) be on the defensive end of the floor. Maybe in that “small ball” situation I described, maybe just playing a normal forward position. He has the tools to be a problem for whoever he is guarding, and if Marquette isn’t going to have a notably dominant scorer and they’re going to get by with whoever’s hot on a given night, then they’re going to have to be strong on defense on every single possession. If O-Max is causing the kind of dysfunction that a guy of his abilities is capable of, then I think Marquette’s going to be scary good at coming up with stops.</p>
<h3 id="BohAm2">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="VTjGnM">I don’t even know if there’s a real downside for him this season. What’s the worst case scenario in a world where he’s available for every game this season? He just repeats last year’s 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds with an assist and a steal per game as well? That would probably be disappointing from a player development perspective, but if he’s doing that while making an impact on defense and Marquette’s winning, are you really going to care all that much?</p>
<p id="mfbREj">If Prosper figured out how to excel for Shaka Smart in the later stages of last season, and I think it’s clear he did, I don’t see any way he doesn’t clear that very low bar of a worst case scenario. </p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/11/3/23414212/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-olivier-maxence-prosperBrewtown Andy2022-11-02T10:15:00-05:002022-11-02T10:15:00-05:002022-23 MBB Player Preview: #1 Kam Jones
<figure>
<img alt="St. John’s v Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iCBhYS-6_5StXuKPWv_I7QXynjw=/0x214:2672x1995/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71575008/1394601967.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Is it Kam Jones Time in Milwaukee?</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about one of the guys who could make the biggest possible jump for the Golden Eagles this season……</p>
<h1 id="JCNFFF">Kam Jones</h1>
<h2 id="BaA6o8">Sophomore - #1 - Guard - 6’4” - 195 pounds - Memphis, Tennessee</h2>
<p id="LlhVdn">Kam Jones had what is, by any estimation, a fantastic freshman season in 2021-22. He missed just one of Marquette’s 32 games, started seven times, and averaged 7.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while shooting 39% from long range. All of this for a guy who came out of high school ranked as the #165 prospect in the country in the 247 Sports Composite. Even better, he was a guy who was recruited to Marquette by the previous coaching staff because one of the assistants knew his high school coach from way back when. Jones elected to stick with MU even after that assistant took his first ever head coaching job <em>AND</em> after the administration pulled the trigger on changing the head coach as well. No one would have faulted Jones if he decided on a different path, and no one would have been surprised if Shaka Smart’s game plan wouldn’t have been a good fit for Jones either.</p>
<p id="hsNVb1">Instead, things worked out wonderfully for his freshman year, and now the table is set for Jones to take off in Year 2.</p>
<h3 id="MBvYwI">Reasonable Expectations</h3>
<p id="cy0H2a">That table setting is where we get into trouble with figuring out what’s reasonable for Jones as a sophomore. With Darryl Morsell’s lone year at Marquette completed, it would seem like Jones is the logical man to step into the job as the starting backcourt parter to Tyler Kolek. After all, last year, when Jones started for seven games, he was actually replacing Olivier-Maxence Prosper in the lineup and playing <em>with</em> Morsell for five games. Just slide Jones into Morsell’s spot next to Prosper, and off we go, right?</p>
<p id="1WUXla">With that in mind, you could easily argue that Jones should get the stat bump that goes along with being a starter and playing another 10-ish minutes a game: 11 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists a night. That’s right about in line with <a href="https://www.barttorvik.com/rosters23.php?team=Marquette">what T-Rank projects</a>: 10.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists while playing just under 27 minutes a night.</p>
<p id="wuDtdt">Here’s the thing, though: Someone on this team has to score. Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell are both gone now, and they combined for 30.2 of MU’s 74.0 points per game last season. Believe it or not, Jones’ 7.4 points per game were the third best scoring average on the roster a year ago, and yes, that makes him the best returning scorer on the squad now. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to instantly become the leading scorer on the team this season.... but he’s obviously a leading candidate.</p>
<p id="UmtegB">T-Rank projects him at #3 on the team behind Prosper at 13.6 points and Kolek at 11.9 per game. I don’t know if I agree with all of this, particularly since that would mean more than doubling O-Max’s production from a year ago and nearly doubling Kolek’s. Possible, sure, but I feel like both of those guys have different roles to play on this team than “big scoring guy.” </p>
<p id="bxxiIP">Kam Jones, based on the kind of instinctive confidence he showed with the ball in his hands a year ago, feels very much like he can be “big scoring guy.” Maybe that’s not leading the team, maybe that’s being one of a trio of guys north of 10 points a game. Put it another way: Is there another guy on the roster that you could see going off for 30 points in a game this season?</p>
<h3 id="0O1pGk">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="T5UYsp">Without looking it up, can you tell me how many free throws Kam Jones shot last year, both overall and in Marquette’s 19 Big East games?</p>
<p id="9GGG1h">To point you in the right direction, I’ll pass along some facts.</p>
<ul>
<li id="1101mi">Jones attempted 195 total field goals last season, but 143 of them were three-point attempts. In Big East play, those numbers are 106 total attempts and 81 long range attempts.</li>
<li id="gw5T6a">
<a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a>’s Eric Dixon ranked #480 in the country in free throw rate at 32.4%, which means that his number of free throw attempts was 32.4% of his field goal attempts. With that in mind, anything north of 30% would be very good, and anything north of 25% would be a quality contributor in that department.</li>
<li id="JUYXRn">30% of Jones’ 195 overall attempts would be 59, and 25% would be 49. In league play, that’s 32 and 26.</li>
</ul>
<p id="58hO1Y">Okay, got a pair of numbers in your head?</p>
<p id="ejEIek">Here we go!</p>
<p id="EPOuHV">Kam Jones shot 18 total free throws all season long and not a single solitary one of them came in Marquette’s 19 Big East games. Goose egg. In fact, the last free throw he attempted all of last year came against <a href="https://www.bringonthecats.com">Kansas State</a> on December 8th. Yep, that’s right, no free throws attempted against either Creighton or North Carolina in either of MU’s two postseason games for a grand total of 22 straight games to end the season without a single free throw attempted.</p>
<p id="9SJDsC">This is my point: Jones finished last season ranked #15 amongst Big East players in league action in KenPom’s Offensive Rating metric at 113.3. He was one of the 15 most efficient players in the league..... and he didn’t attempt a single free throw. Not a single point scored while the clock was stopped, not even an attempt to do so.</p>
<p id="ynhuGM">What’s his efficiency ceiling if he just adds a few free throw attempts per game to his repertoire? Heck, what’s <em>Marquette’s</em> ceiling if Jones adds free throws to his bag of tricks? The Golden Eagles were one of the worst teams in the country at getting to the line last season, ranking #292 in the country in that department and dead last in the Big East in league play. There were only nine high major teams — 10 if you count Saint Mary’s? — that were worse at this than Marquette. Justin Lewis led the team at 3.7 attempts per game in 2021-22. How much better can Marquette be if Jones is getting to the line just four times a game?</p>
<h3 id="iKmwwt">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="swZM2I">How comfortable are you with Kam Jones turning the ball over?</p>
<p id="5q93DI">Last year, Jones was actually one of the most surehanded players in the country, posting a turnover rate of 12.5% per KenPom. That ranked him #281 in the country, and even when that number elevated to 13.1% in Big East play, that had him at #16 in the league. Part of this is because Jones’ role on the squad last year was “if we throw it to you, it’s because you are open and thus you should shoot it immediately.” That’s how you end up with 73% of your attempts coming from behind the arc.</p>
<p id="MIit6X">If Jones is going to be a multi-dimensional scorer for the Golden Eagles this season — namely, is he going to be handling it a lot more because he’s going to be driving it a lot more — how many more turnovers will be the result? It’s going to be more than the less than one per game he had a year ago, that’s almost a guarantee if he’s going to be starting and playing at least 20-25 minutes a game if not more than that. It may come down to a rate issue. The turnovers are definitely going up, but if Jones starts shooting it — and making it, by the way — a lot more, that’s going to balance out in terms of what percentage of his usage goes towards turnovers.</p>
<p id="8kUZUf">The other notable issue is what if Jones is a fantastic sparkplug third/bench option, but not a reliable every night scoring option? A giant jump in turnovers might be a sign that this is the case, by the way. Marquette has options, so I don’t think Jones not rising to the challenge of being a scoring leader would be a team problem for sure. It might not be a role that fits him though, and if he starts trying to force it to happen, that could lead to a lot of ugliness.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/11/2/23414209/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-kam-jonesBrewtown Andy2022-11-01T10:15:00-05:002022-11-01T10:15:00-05:00MBB Player Preview: #13 Oso Ighodaro
<figure>
<img alt="NCAA Basketball: Butler at Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JqWmUL2cKFbPXGgclJ5K4S8JU1U=/0x0:4911x3274/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71570282/usa_today_17823103.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And now, we discuss perhaps the most intriguing part of the Golden Eagles’ returning core.</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about Marquette’s presumptive starting center......</p>
<h1 id="C26PbW">Oso Ighodaro</h1>
<h2 id="19EzFS">Junior - #13 - Forward - 6’9” - 215 pounds - Chandler, Arizona</h2>
<p id="aWxbBg">After not playing all that much as a freshman before suffering a season ending injury, Oso Ighodaro had a big sophomore campaign. He was a lot more than Kur Kuath’s backup, even though Ighodaro came off the bench in every single game. He averaged more than 18 minutes a night and actually played more than half the game on nine occasions in MU’s 32 game season. 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and just short of a block per game are great numbers for that much playing time. Think of it this way: If you extrapolate that out to 30 minutes a game, it’s 9.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists (yes, that’s right), and 1.5 blocks a night. </p>
<p id="kR7Kiz">While Marquette didn’t ask him to do all that much on the offensive end, he still did everything he could do with strong performances. Ighodaro finished up <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a> play as the most efficient offensive player in the entire conference, with a <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a> offensive rating of 129.3. He was a top 500 offensive rebounder in terms of rate, and his 5.0% block rate ranked in the top 200 in the country.</p>
<p id="R3Itq6">You could not have asked more from him, particularly since he was one of just three returning players to the roster a year ago. Now, heading into 2022-23, he’s the projected starter at center, one of four guys who appear to be clear cut options to start, and one of six guys with a rotation job coming back. This figures to be a big season for Ighodaro, both in terms of the opportunities that are going to be provided to him as well as the responsibilities that he is going to have to carry for this team.</p>
<h3 id="y3mZce">Reasonable Expectations</h3>
<p id="xh6MpR"><a href="https://www.barttorvik.com/rosters23.php?team=Marquette">Let’s start with the T-Rank projection</a>, shall we? I think this provides us with a lot of ground to stand on, much less cover. 66% of minutes played, which is 26.4 minutes per game. 7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, offensive rating of 117.</p>
<p id="JMZLuW">I honestly think this is Ighodaro’s worst case scenario, or at least his worst case scenario if Marquette has a successful season. If MU is contending for an NCAA tournament spot and Ighodaro is putting up numbers worse than this, something incredibly weird is going on, most likely in the category of “someone on the team has suddenly turned into an NBA lottery pick” type of thing. That would be fine by me, but I don’t think that’s likely, either.</p>
<p id="KkNsGJ">Ighodaro’s the starting center, or the 5, or the big, or whatever name you want to attach to it. I think he’s going to be great this year, and we’ll get to exactly what that means in a second, but here we’re talking about what’s reasonable to expect from him. Part of this is “I presume Marquette is going to be a good basketball team and thus this is what they will need from him if they are going to actually reach that level.” </p>
<p id="Qjxlqu">So, that raises the question: Who’s playing the other 14 minutes a game in the middle if it’s not Ighodaro? Redshirt freshman Keeyan Itejere? True freshman Ben Gold, who does stand 6’11”? Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who is an inch shorter than Ighodaro but somehow 15 pounds heavier at 230? NAIA grad transfer Zach Wrightsil who played a small ball 5 at Loyola-New Orleans, but is only 6’7” and 215 pounds?</p>
<p id="K0SlK2">None of these seem like fantastic options for all of Ighodaro’s bench minutes, and there are going to have to be bench minutes. Fouls are going to catch him at some point, probably many points, and he’s going to have to take a breather here and there, especially in Shaka Smart’s high tempo style. But for now, those are the options behind Ighodaro heading into the season. The reasonable expectation for him are, somewhat unfortunately, for Ighodaro to carry an awful lot of the playing time load. I presume he’ll get stat bumps that go along with whatever extra minutes he’s playing north of 26 minutes a night.</p>
<p id="xt0W41">And hey, y’know what? This is a preview, I get to hedge my bets. If one of those options turns into a really solid option, one along the lines of the better than very solid option behind Kuath that Ighodaro was a year ago? Then yeah, maybe that takes some (a lot?) of the pressure to perform off Ighodaro. That would be a good thing overall for the team, I think, but for the time being, I think we need expect to see a lot of Ighodaro. Not necessarily “carrying the team” a lot, just literal minutes played.</p>
<h3 id="uxQkTM">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="pUJHRh">I’m just going to put this here.</p>
<div id="zAACIn">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/EricWiechman12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EricWiechman12</a> for pointing it out, but this no-look pass from Oso is LOL worthy. I had to slow it down and watch it a few times. <br><br>Shaka's been screaming for months now, but the country has no idea what's coming from the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mubb?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mubb</a> big man. <a href="https://t.co/RVgf69CR1U">pic.twitter.com/RVgf69CR1U</a></p>— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaintTouches/status/1586085576037617664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="XoW7xP">LOOK WHERE HE STARTS. HE’S BEHIND THE ARC. MARQUETTE’S CENTER JUST TOOK HIS MAN TO THE LANE OFF THE DRIBBLE AND THEN THREW A NO LOOK BOUNCE PASS TO A BASELINE CUTTER FOR A DUNK. WHAT EVEN IS THAT? WHAT IS THE ACTUAL CEILING HERE?</p>
<p id="tPfH3J">You know what the wild part about that is? If you slow it down, it certainly looks like Ighodaro’s drive to the middle drew Kam Jones off the wing to collapse on him.... which was letting David Joplin wander around behind the arc. It seems like Chase Ross was available for the dunk because Stevie Mitchell lost him on the baseline, but if that wasn’t available, it’s definitely possible that Joplin was sitting wide open for a triple as well. He had PASSING OPTIONS available to him on a drive. AS THE CENTER.</p>
<p id="Txl31q">Think about this, too: Ighodaro felt confident making that pass to a guy that he’s only been playing with for a couple of months. Also: Ighodaro felt confident to make the drive into the middle in the first place.</p>
<p id="2Ya1pY"><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/5/14820806/michael-jordan-saying-the-ceiling-is-the-roof-actually-makes-sense-tar-heels">As Michael Jordan once said, “The ceiling is the roof.”</a></p>
<h3 id="ayx8JQ">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="nYNJc3">He’s listed at 215 pounds, the exact same weight he was at a year ago. I’m not saying Ighodaro isn’t stronger than he was last year at this time, I’m saying that there is not an increase in bulk for MU’s expected starting center. Here’s why that’s a possible problem:</p>
<p id="xMGGvO">Adama Sanogo: 6’9”, 245 pounds<br>Ryan Kalkbrenner: 7’1”, 260 pounds<br>Jack Nunge: 7’1”, 245 pounds</p>
<p id="SwX0SV">See it now? That’s six games of Marquette’s Big East schedule right there, and I haven’t gotten into Eric Dixon (255 lbs.) or even Tyrese Samuel (235 lbs.) yet, or Zach Edey (290 lbs.) and Flo Thamba (250 lbs.) in the non-conference portion of the schedule. That is a lot of gigantic dudes that Ighodaro is going to have to defend constantly all year long. Now, the good news is that Shaka Smart is a defensive minded coach, so I’m sure the plan is not “well, have fun out there, Oso, we’re all depending on you.” He’s going to get help to defend these guys, no matter what.</p>
<p id="cclp7T">But banging around with guys outweighing you by at least 20 pounds on the very low end on a nightly basis is an awful way to go through life. It is going to take a toll on Ighodaro, no matter what else happens. How much of a toll is it going to take? How much of his offensive efficiency is it going to sap? How effective is Ighodaro going to be when he has to be the primary guy tangling on the interior all season long?</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/11/1/23414208/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-oso-ighodaroBrewtown Andy2022-10-31T10:15:00-05:002022-10-31T10:15:00-05:00Marquette Player Preview: #4 Stevie Mitchell
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<img alt="Syndication: Journal Sentinel" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j8diPYMpJDMcCFipk1AUYNQ1Zmc=/656x0:3013x1571/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71565696/usa_today_17841631.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>How big of a role is possible for Stevie Mitchell in 2022-23? | Mark Hoffman / USA TODAY NETWORK</figcaption>
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<p>The sophomore guard carved out a spot for himself in the rotation last year, can he expand on it this year?</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about everybody’s favorite Pennsylvanian on the roster.....</p>
<h1 id="5slZGg">Stevie Mitchell</h1>
<h2 id="4psCrN">Sophomore - #4 - Guard - 6’2” - 195 pounds - Reading, Pennsylvania</h2>
<p id="SQ3V5J">We gave Stevie Mitchell a 7 for a season grade after his freshman season last year. That’s a nice middle of the road but still positive review for his first year of collegiate basketball. He did maybe a little bit better than expected for a freshman but wasn’t “OH MY GOD” shock the world amazing. Nothing wrong with that, of course, you’re not going to get a lot of those types of guys.</p>
<p id="G2lxOK">Mitchell appeared in all 32 games a year ago, playing a bench role in every single contest after electing to stick with the Golden Eagles even though he signed to play for Steve Wojciechowski and Shaka Smart was actually in charge. 10.8 minutes per game is a nice relief role, and he averaged 2.8 points along with 1.4 rebounds and just under an assist per game and 0.7 steals an outing as well. In Big East play, those minutes fell a little bit to 8.6 per game. His scoring dropped off a little bit to 1.9 points in MU’s 19 league contests, but the rebounding stayed the same and the steals actually ticked up ever so slightly.</p>
<p id="Xk0qQj">The steals wandering up just a little bit is probably the biggest indicator of what Mitchell figured out as the season went along: He did not need to worry about scoring on last year’s squad, but he could get himself minutes every single game by hustling for every single minute that he was on the floor. Use that hustle to become a massive defensive pest, and that’s how you work your way into Shaka Smart and his staff trusting you to give Darryl Morsell or Tyler Kolek a break.</p>
<p id="3lDgFF">One of those guys is gone now, as Morsell was always only going to be at Marquette for a year. There’s space in the rotation for more minutes to go somewhere, so the question is whether Mitchell can do more for the Golden Eagles this season.</p>
<h3 id="TjTaRb">Reasonable Expectations</h3>
<p id="OqcvIE">I think it’s a safe bet that Mitchell is going to be able to replicate last year’s numbers without even trying all that much. His worst case scenario is “defensive pest off the bench.” What we don’t know for certain is exactly what kind of rotation Shaka Smart is going to use for the Golden Eagles this season. If it’s a two-guard option, then that probably has Mitchell coming off the bench in relief of Tyler Kolek and most likely behind Kam Jones as the starting shooting guard. That’s fine, there’s a lot of playing time to vacuum up there.</p>
<p id="wa9MSl">What if MU goes to a three-guard rotation to make use of the players they have? Is Mitchell actually a starter in that situation, with freshmen Sean Jones and Chase Ross providing the backup pop off the bench to the trio of Kolek, Jones, and Mitchell? </p>
<p id="KmVhGU"><a href="https://www.barttorvik.com/rosters23.php?team=Marquette">T-Rank certainly seems to think that this kind of a minutes distribution is possible</a>. The standard projection gives Mitchell just over 21 minutes a game while averaging 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists a game. I will happily sign up for those kinds of numbers right now. However, that’s a projection that expects Emarion Ellis to play, and his recovery from stress fracture surgery means he’s not likely to be ready to go until after the first of the year at the earliest. Double However, <a href="https://barttorvik.com/rostercast.php?run=1&team=Marquette&player=-Emarion%20Ellis%3BMarquette">filtering Ellis out of the roster</a> doesn’t actually seem to affect Mitchell’s projection, which seems really wild. I suspect this is a “this is how computers think” as opposed to a “I watched Mitchell play as a freshman but not Ellis, so who are we kidding here?” situation.</p>
<h3 id="Bk8jsa">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="aPMCL7">I think it’s safe to say that Mitchell has the basics of what Shaka Smart wants from him on every single possession down. We can nitpick about the game-to-game scheme of things and whether or not Mitchell is a good matchup against particular players if you want, but the ideas of what is going to get Mitchell playing time this year are pretty much set. Mitchell is going to get told to go lock up the best guard on the opposing team over and over again this season, and he’s probably going to do a hell of a job.</p>
<p id="rS1Boc">Here’s the thing: Mitchell’s not a goof on the offensive end. He shot 52.0% on two-point buckets last season and 35% from long distance. These are perfectly acceptable numbers bordering on being kind of damn good. If he can turn himself into an offensive threat on every single possession that he plays, that’s going to pay dividends for the rest of MU’s offense. I’m not going to expect Mitchell to lead the team in scoring in any single game, but can he be the guy who has a 6-0 or 7-0 burst on his own that makes the other head coach call timeout to break up the run because his team keeps losing Mitchell? Yeah! Mitchell only attempted 20 three-pointers in 32 games last year, and only 10 in MU’s 19 Big East contests. Crank that up to at least one per game, and double his two-point attempts from last year’s 1.6 a night? That’s starting to look like a very scary dude who’s making a big impact on both ends of the court for a Marquette team that’s rocketing towards a second straight NCAA tournament.</p>
<p id="2uLjHV">Oh, and by the way? Mitchell shot 40% from long range in Big East play last year. In MU’s last three regular season games? 4-for-6. That’s not replicable, sure, but it’s definitely a sign that he’s comfortable knocking down the open corner three in big games when his teammates kick it out to him.</p>
<h3 id="kgCOvR">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="gpovZt">Stevie Mitchell’s ballhandling was an absolute disaster at the start of last season. Two turnovers in 15 minutes against Illinois, four in 12 minutes against St. Bonaventure, three in 20 minutes against Jackson State, two against <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a> on December 21st in just one minute of play. That’s 11 of the 21 he committed all season long, all in the first 13 games!</p>
<p id="sjUohK">As you can tell, things ironed out from there, and in league games, Mitchell’s turnover rate was a perfectly acceptable 16.2% according to <a href="http://KenPom.com">KenPom.com</a>. So here’s the thing that we have to wonder about: Did he get it under control because the coaching staff started putting Mitchell into positions where he wasn’t at as much risk of turning it over or did Mitchell just catch on to the speed and physicality of high major Division 1 hoops? </p>
<p id="aPF2Qb">If it’s the second one, then hooray, no one has to worry about anything. If it’s the first one, then that makes us pause and ask what happens when his role expands this season? Mitchell’s almost always going to be a primary or primary-ish ballhandler when he’s on the court, that’s what happens when you’re a 6’2” guard. There are going to be turnovers just because he’s going to be handling the ball more than a lot of his teammates. Can he be the highly efficient guy that we saw in Big East play? Or are we going to see the problems that popped up against MU’s toughest opponents? It’s heavily weighted by those Illinois/Bonnies/UConn turnovers, but Mitchell’s turnover rate against what KenPom calls top 100 opponents was 30.6%. That’s really bad! That’s “actually maybe you can’t be out there” type of bad. </p>
<p id="bjHAJz">One other thing to worry about, and maybe because of MU’s offensive style, it won’t matter too much. Mitchell was not a good free throw shooter last year, connecting on just 56% of his 25 attempts. One of Marquette’s biggest flaws as a team last year was just getting to the line, ranking #292 in the country per KenPom. That has to increase this season, and if Mitchell ends up struggling from the line, it makes you curious as to whether or not that will discourage him from taking it to the rack at all. He was pretty good at getting there last year, falling just behind Oso Ighodaro and Greg Elliott in the team lead in Free Throw to Field Goal ratio. If he’s worried about making the freebies when he gets there, is that going to stop him from making use of his ability to get there?</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/10/31/23414200/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-stevie-mitchellBrewtown Andy2022-10-28T10:15:00-05:002022-10-28T10:15:00-05:002022-23 MBB Player Preview: #23 David Joplin
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<img alt="NCAA Basketball: UCLA at Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3hg6ZeuQncsoMfIIVphdPGxBB0s=/470x0:5103x3089/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71554833/usa_today_17342089.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally we get around to talking about a guy that we saw play for Marquette last season.</p> <p id="xACiJc">The 2022-23 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. We’ll be going through the roster one by one: First MU’s three freshmen in last name alphabetical order, then the lone transfer on the squad, moving on to the guy coming of a redshirt freshman year, and then finally the returning active players from last season, going in order of average minutes per game last season from lowest to highest.</p>
<p id="tMy1Va">We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:</p>
<ul>
<li id="KVxIEV">Reasonable Expectations</li>
<li id="UBWKYN">Why You Should Get Excited</li>
<li id="sPWg5O">Potential Pitfalls</li>
</ul>
<p id="UNur41">With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the lone Wisconsinite that we’re writing a preview for this year.....</p>
<h1 id="gRhNQm">David Joplin</h1>
<h2 id="6mVcCx">Sophomore - #23 - Forward - 6’7” - 220 pounds - Milwaukee, Wisconsin</h2>
<p id="tZaQPd">Here’s the good news about David Joplin’s freshman year at Marquette: He played in every game! That can be hard for some freshmen to accomplish, and starting with eight minutes out of the gate against SIU Edwardsville, he got off the bench for each and every contest all year long.</p>
<p id="igqbIt">Here’s the bad news about David Joplin’s freshman year at Marquette: He averaged just 6.9 minutes per game and cleared 10 or more minutes just nine times. After the December 4th matchup against Wisconsin, his fourth straight game with at least 11 minutes played, Joplin would not play at least 10 minutes in back-to-back contests until MU’s last two games of the season. </p>
<p id="1V1RqV">There’s a silver lining to the bad news, though. Marquette head coach Shaka Smart was very open and honest about Joplin’s playing time as the season went along. Item #1 limiting him? The coaching staff wasn’t comfortable with the level of defensive intensity that they were getting from Joplin, at least not in comparison with what they were getting from other components of the roster. Item #2 limiting Joplin is said components, as Smart pointed out that minutes for Joplin were going to pretty much come exclusively at the expense of taking Justin Lewis off the floor. Given how Lewis was playing all year long, it’s hard to criticize the coaching staff for turning to the Milwaukee native and saying “hey, look, it’s not you, it’s him.”</p>
<p id="LlT8hf">One of those impediments to Joplin’s playing time is gone now, as Lewis elected to pursue a professional career after the 2021-22 season ended. The other one? Well, it remains to be seen how the coaches feel about Joplin’s ability to defend the way that they need him to defend.</p>
<h3 id="KPclts">Reasonable Expectations</h3>
<p id="MI7sfj">Last year, Shaka Smart loved to point out how great Joplin was at scoring from all over the floor in practice. That is potentially great news for Joplin’s playing time this season. The Golden Eagles have lost their top two scorers from last season in Lewis and Darryl Morsell as well as the #4 guy on the list, which was Greg Elliott. Kam Jones is the only returning MU player who averaged more than seven points a game last season.... and he averaged 7.4 a night. </p>
<p id="tYCHhK">In other words, <em>someone</em> has to score for this team this season. If the coaching staff is enamored with Joplin’s ability to put it through the net in practice, it stands to reason that’s going to get him some serious minutes this season. The removal of Lewis in front of Joplin on the depth chart can’t exactly be slowing down those chances, either. </p>
<p id="g1VnMB">With that said, <a href="https://barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Marquette">the T-Rank algorithm isn’t enamored of Joplin’s potential this season</a>. For whatever reason, the algorithm is picturing him pretty much doing the exact same thing as last year in terms of minutes and points and rebounds. <a href="https://barttorvik.com/rostercast.php?run=1&team=Marquette&player=-Emarion%20Ellis%3BMarquette">Shaking the tree to remove Emarion Ellis and his stress fracture recovery from the playing time picture</a> does boost Joplin up to about 12 minutes a game, roughly twice what he did last year.</p>
<p id="qs1hT1">I’m a little bit more bullish on what he can accomplish than the algorithm projects. Depending on how rotations shake out, I could see Joplin splitting time with Zach Wrightsil to cover the minutes left behind by Lewis’ departure. I don’t know if I want to quite assign “20 minutes a night and all that entails” to him as a reasonable expectation, though. Let’s call it 15 minutes on average, and thus seven points, three rebounds, and an assist? Feels like a good sophomore year number here.</p>
<h3 id="qpKVfg">Why You Should Get Excited</h3>
<p id="Md7CPd">No one had a greener light to shoot it last season than David Joplin. He played 222 total minutes and attempted 88 field goals, 59 of which were behind the arc. It is 100% clear that the coaching staff trusted Joplin to fire away from the moment that he checked into a game. It, uh, just didn’t go that well. Inside the arc, sure, yes, hard to beat 59% unless you’re a seven-footer. Outside? Blech. No one wants to see Joplin connect on just 29% of his three-point attempts ever again, and the less said about only hitting 24% against Big East teams, the better.</p>
<p id="cSTy7r">But they were letting him shoot it over and over and over again for a reason. I said it earlier, Shaka Smart loved to bring up that Joplin was the leading scorer on the team in practice. Clearly he’s draining shots from everywhere if that’s the case. If he can translate that from the Kasten practice gym at the McGuire Center to Fiserv Forum.... I don’t want to go so far as to say All-Big East performer, but Most Improved Player? That’s an easy candidacy if Joplin’s shots are going down.</p>
<p id="kvk4Zj">If he can make use of his size — Joplin’s the fifth tallest guy on the team at 6’7” and the second heaviest behind only Olivier-Maxence Prosper — to create mismatches to drag big guys outside and pound smaller guys inside and zip past slower guys for easy buckets? Hooooooboy, the possibilities are tantalizing, and you should probably go gather up as much David Joplin stock as you can acquire, post-haste.</p>
<h3 id="46A9Kl">Potential Pitfalls</h3>
<p id="SoD7ve">He has to defend. Maybe that might mean trying to slow down <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a>’s Adama Sanogo for a possession or three. Maybe that means chasing around Xavier’s Zach Freemantle. I honestly and legitimately believe that Joplin has the biggest upside of anyone on this roster, at least as defined as “can make the biggest jump from last year to this year”.... but he has to prove that he can be a nightmare for opposing offenses to go against. I don’t want to say that he wasn’t showing it last year, because his minutes were going to be limited by Justin Lewis merely being Justin Lewis. But the message has been sent loud and clear and out in public: Joplin has to defend as hard as he possibly can if he wants to play. </p>
<p id="vmTzHU">He also has to hit his shots. It’s one thing if you miss a shot if you’re going to play two minutes here and three minutes there in a game to let Justin Lewis catch his breath on the bench. If you’re playing five, six, seven minutes at a stretch and 12, 15, 17 total in a game and shooting 28.8% from long distance, that’s a one-way trip to “Maybe you shouldn’t be playing” town. Marquette is going to have other and better options on offense if that’s the case. Maybe Joplin’s problem last year was just that he only got to shoot once or twice and never got into a rhythm. Maybe playing longer stretches will let him find his happy place behind the arc. But if his first 59 collegiate attempts are proof of concept, it’s probably not going to be a great sophomore year for him.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/10/28/23407007/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-basketball-player-preview-david-joplinBrewtown Andy