Sleepers no more, Marquette enters the season with realistic national title hopes
Shaka Smart zigged when the rest of the country zagged in the Spring of 2022.
Our lasting memory of his club from the 2021-22 season was a 95-63 drubbing at the hands of North Carolina in an 8/9 game of the NCAA Tournament. Smart knew he would be losing Justin Lewis to the NBA, and that the terrific two-way guard Daryl Morsell was out of eligibility.
Sure, there were pieces, but each came with their question marks. How would Kam Jones fare in extended minutes after averaging just over seven points a game as a freshman? Could Tyler Kolek rediscover the outside shooting touch he showed at George Mason after hitting threes at a 28% clip in his first year as a Big East player? What would the year look like for Oso Ighodaro (who averaged five points and three boards), Oliver-Maxence Prosper (who didn’t hit a 3-pointer in 2021-22), or David Joplin (who made threes at a 28% clip as a freshman)?
Outside of adding a Division II transfer, Smart trusted the work his staff put in when pulling together one of the top recruiting classes in the country in 2021. He knew he could get more out of Kolek, Prosper and Ighodaro as juniors.
No team saw such dramatic internal improvement up and down its roster in the Big East last year, and as a result Marquette earned a two seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning both the Big East Tournament title and finishing with the league’s best conference record at 17-3.
The Golden Eagles entered the NCAA Tournament on a nine-game winning streak. They lost just twice in 2023 before the tournament. Last season marked the first time in Marquette’s 18-year Big East tenure that they reached the league’s championship game, and after knocking off eventual national champion Connecticut in a semifinal thriller, they handled Xavier in the finale.
Marquette closed last season with the seventh most efficient offense in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy. They ranked in the 97th percentile in points per possession, 98th in halfcourt offense, and were 99th when facing man defenses.
The catalyst was, of course, Kolek, who transferred in after a coaching change at George Mason in 2021. The Rhode Island native grew up in a family of Friar season ticket holders, and dominated the Big East last season, averaging 12.9 points, 7.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and shooting just shy of 40% from three on his way to the league’s Player of the Year award. A thumb injury against Vermont in the opener of the NCAA Tournament may have slowed him in Marquette’s second round loss to Michigan State (Kolek scored seven points, with six turnovers), but that seemed to be the only thing that hindered him last year. Kolek could very well be the best creator in college basketball.