Marquette Basketball: Golden Eagles season review

Marquette basketball had a one-and-done prospect in Henry Ellenson, but their inexperience was a major problem.

Steve Wojciechowski’s first recruiting class at Marquette was comprised of a one-and-done five star prospect and four, four-star prospects.

Henry Ellenson, Haanif Cheatham, Sacar Anim, Matt Heldt and Traci Carter joined returnees Luke Fischer, Duane Wilson, Sandy Cohen III and Jajuan Johnson as the Golden Eagles’ core group for the 2015-16 season.

Because of the plethora of talent that was featured, Marquette was viewed as a sleeper in the Big East Conference and a team that had an outside shot of competing for an NCAA Tournament berth.

It didn’t work out that way for Wojciechowski and company though.

The Golden Eagles had moments of brilliance – they won the Legends Classic in Brooklyn and swept Providence – but they also lost to DePaul at home, were upset by Belmont in the first game of the season and failed to make a postseason tournament.

After winning nine games in a row in non-conference play, Wojciechowski’s unit shifted gears in the Big East play. They lost five out of seven to open up the slate and were unable to defeat any of the top teams on their way to a seventh place finish.

The reason: inexperience

The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 14.7 times per game, which was 322nd in the country. They often struggled against pressure defense, something that was evident in their games against St. John’s. The Johnnies, the worst team in the Big East this past season, nearly came back down double digits to beat Marquette twice (once in the regular season and once in the Big East Tournament) due to the Golden Eagles’ inability to handle a zone press.

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While Ellenson had an excellent season and was the team’s leading scorer, he struggled at times against length and toughness. Cheatham showed a knack for attacking the basket and finishing amongst the “trees,” but he also made poor decisions and turned the ball over 2.7 times per game. Carter was a solid on-ball defender but had his fair share of issues offensively, shooting just 34 percent from the floor.

Anim and Heldt are developmental players, as both played under six minutes per game.

The Golden Eagles also didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from beyond the arc (34 percent) and other than Ellenson and Fischer, could not protect the rim.

Although those issues didn’t help Wojo’s team, there is no question that when they played the likes of Villanova, Xavier, Creighton and Butler, the differential in the experience level was the difference.

Even though Marquette will lose their best player Ellenson (17.0 points per game, 9.7 rebounds per game), they also return everyone else in year three of the Wojciechowski era. Cheatham, Carter, Anim and Heldt have been exposed to the college game for a full season of development and they will also have an entire offseason to make themselves more comfortable in Wojo’s system.

Fischer and Johnson will be seniors, Wilson and Cohen will be juniors and the Golden Eagles will add former UNC Asheville transfer Andrew Rowsey.

The program brings in four-star shooting guard Markus Howard, four-star small forward Sam Hauser and four-star small forward Brendan Bailey, giving the team an excellent balance of upperclassmen and freshman. Marquette also expects to have an impact on the transfer market, so the Big East school might not be done adding pieces.

Next: Top five prospects in the 2016 NBA Draft

The Golden Eagles may not have an instant impact player in Ellenson next season, but they sure do have something that they didn’t have last year: experience.

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