The Marquette Golden Eagles lost to the North Carolina State Wolfpack 67-58 on Friday night in the Sweet 16. Marquette season ended with a 27-10 record and they have a lot to be proud of. The Golden Eagles will not be bringing back Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro back.
Those two players will be missed in the Marquette basketball program big time. They will be tough to replace and knew what it meant to be a part of the Marquette Golden Eagles. Head coach Shaka Smart had a deep enough team this year that they will still be able to compete next season in the Big East Conference and should still be a viable team for the NCAA Tournament.
It still has been over 20 years since they last went to a Final Four. Kam Jones is expected to return for his senior season unless he decides to declare for the NBA Draft. At the moment, Jones will be one of the five starters for next season. The other projected starters for next season on the Golden Eagles at the moment will be Chase Ross, Stevie Mitchell, Ben Gold, and David Joplin.
Jones was the team’s leading scorer this season with averaging 17.2 PPG and David Joplin averaged 10.8 PPG this season for the Marquette Golden Eagles. Chase Ross is a potential candidate to have a breakout season next season for Marquette.
The Bench Play Will Have To Be Figured Out During Training Camp For the Marquette Golden Eagles
There is no doubt that the Marquette Golden Eagles will have talent on its bench again next season, but head coach Shaka Smart is going to have to figure out who to put in the rotation. Sean Jones is a candidate to be one of the key players off the bench next season and played in 16 games before his season ended due to injury.
Tre Norman as a freshman saw valuable minutes toward the end of the season and has a chance to make a name for himself on the Marquette Golden Eagles next season. Zaide Lowery will also compete for playtime next season.
Another player to watch for next season is incoming freshman, Damarius Owens, who is a power forward and a four-star recruit from Hudson, Ohio, and went to the Western Reserve Academy and is a four-star recruit. He is ranked 77th in the ESPN Top 100 in the class of 2024 for college basketball recruiting.
There is a lot of time between now and next November to see what the Marquette Golden Eagles are going to bring back and what they aren’t going to bring back. As long as Kolek and Ighodaro are the only two loses, they will be okay even though they are going to be hard to replace.
