The Marquette Golden Eagles won the BIG East regular season and tournament last season. Marquette finished with a 29-7 overall record and a 17-3 record in BIG East Conference play. They were a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament last March, but they flamed out in the second round against seventh-seeded Michigan State Spartans.
We will see what another season of Marquette brings for head coach Shaka Smart. The season will begin for them on Monday, November 6, against the Northern Illinois Huskies, and that college basketball game will be played at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Game time for that date has yet to be announced.
Marquette will have some very interesting games out of conference before they begin conference play this season. Those five interesting games will be at Illinois on November 14, vs. UCLA at Maui on November 20, Kansas or Chaminade at Maui on November 21, at Wisconsin on December 2, vs. Texas on December 6, and vs. Notre Dame on December 9.
It will be interesting to see how the Marquette Golden Eagles will fair this season in the BIG East Conference. Heading into the 2023-2024 season, The Athletic has them ranked as the second-best team in college basketball. Only the Kansas Jayhawks out of the BIG12 Conference is ranked ahead of them in the college basketball preseason rankings.
CJ Moore and Sam Vecenie wrote about the Marquette Golden Eagles in The Athletic:
“Marquette, not your national champ UCONN Huskies, swept both the regular season and the regular season and postseason titles in the Big East. Shaka Smart returns four starters and only loses Olivier-Maxence Prosper from his rotation. Prosper was a great glue guy for the Golden Eagles, but the offense might actually be better with Big East Sixth Man of the Year David Joplin sliding into the starting lineup. This should be the best offense in college hoops.”
Marquette Golden Eagles Potential Lineup For the 2023-2024 Season
The potential starting five for Marquette entering the 2023-2024 season will be Oso Ighodaro at center, David Joplin at wing, Kam Jones at guard, Stevie Mitchell at guard, and Tyler Kolek at guard. Some of the key guys off the bench for Shaka Smart will be Chase Ross at wing, Sean Jones at guard, Ben Gold at forward, and Tre Norman at guard.
Kolek played in 36 games last season for the Golden Eagles. He averaged 12.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 7.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG. Tyler Kolek also shot 47.1% from the field, 80.2% from the free throw line, and 39.8% from three-point land.
Joplin played in 36 games last season for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He averaged 9.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 0.8 APG, and 0.6 SPG. David Joplin shot 42.0% from the field, 81.3% from the free throw line, and 39.9% from three-point land.
This will be another deep team this season and a potential dangerous team when March rolls out. The BIG East Conference from the get go won’t be easy and they will have to play well once again.
CJ Moore and Sam Vecenie added:
“Roster continuity matters in college hoops, and Marquette is one of the few programs that really has it, thanks in part to Smart’s decision to stay out of the portal the last two cycles and build from within. We pretty much know what to expect from this team, but one wildcard is the shooting of Oso Ighodaro. The playmaking center, who might be the most underrated player in the country, has not attempted a 3-pointer in college, but he’s working on his jumper this summer. If he’s actually a threat, then good luck guarding all the DHOs and ball-screen action’s he involved in.”
The Marquette Golden Eagles are ready to make another run at the BIG East and maybe a national title in Glendale, Arizona, where the Final Four will be this season. Marquette will also have challengers like the UCONN Huskies, the Villanova Wildcats, the Xavier Musketeers, the Creighton Blue Jays, and the Providence Friars in the Big East Conference as well.
