The Marquette Golden Eagles were ranked in the top 10 for most of the 2023-2024 season and were a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. Marquette lost in the Sweet 16 to the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Marquette will have a different roster next season for head coach Shaka Smart and even with some of the big losses, they will still be able to contend in the Big East Conference with the likes of the UCONN Huskies. Marquette was only one of three teams to make the NCAA Tournament from the Big East Conference.
Other than UCONN who just won back-to-back titles, the Creighton Blue Jays also made it to the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies defeated the Purdue Boilermakers in the title game by a final score of 75-60. Marquette has not been to a Final Four in over 20 years.
The Marquette Golden Eagles are Ranked 11th in ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 For Next Season
Marquette is one of two teams from the Big East Conference that is ranked in the way too early Top 25 for next college basketball. With the Golden Eagles being ranked 11, they have the UCONN Huskies ranked 4.
Jeff Borzello, an ESPN Staff Writer wrote about why he had Marquette ranked 11th at the start of next season potentially by saying:
“Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro have likely played their final game in a Marquette uniform, but Shaka Smart brings back three other starters in star guard Kam Jones, David Joplin and Stevie Mitchell — plus key rotation pieces in Chase Ross, Ben Gold and a potentially healthy Sean Jones. This is a team that has won a combined 58 games over two seasons and earned a 2-seed in each of the past two NCAA tournaments — the Golden Eagles shouldn’t fade away quickly.”
The projected starting lineup they have for next season is as follows:
“Sean Jones (5.8 PPG)
Kam Jones (17.2 PPG)
Stevie Mitchell (8.8 PPG)
David Joplin (10.8 PPG)
Ben Gold (5.0 PPG)”
It is huge that the Marquette Golden Eagles will have two players back next season who averaged double figures in Kam Jones and David Joplin. Jones will be the star of this team next season as long as he doesn’t leave for the NBA. A player to watch for next season for the Marquette Golden Eagles is Chase Ross.
He will probably get the starting job over Sean Jones. Chase Ross averaged 6.3 PPG last season. Tre Norman and Zade Lowery are two sophomores next season that can very well break out. Another player to potentially watch for on the Marquette Golden Eagles next season is incoming freshman power forward Damarius Owens, who is a four-star recruit ranked 77th on the ESPN Top 100 for the class of 2024.
The Marquette Golden Eagles will miss Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro next season. However, the Marquette Golden Eagles are still deep enough to compete and be a Top 10 team all of next season as well.
