Marquette Basketball: 2017-18 season preview for the Golden Eagles

Marquette basketball had one of the most prolific offenses in the country last season. What can we expect from Marquette in 2017-18?

Marquette rode a high-powered offense to their first tournament bid of the Wojciechowski era last season. The Golden Eagles lost to eventual Final Four participant South Carolina in the first round but ultimately had a successful season.

However, three of Marquette’s five double-figure scorers have graduated, which means there is a lot of production to replace from their talented offense. Sharpshooting guard Markus Howard got most of the recognition due to his insane shooting percentages, but graduating seniors Luke Fischer, JaJuan Johnson, and Katin Reinhardt also made a huge impact.

Fischer was a skilled low-post player who could get the Golden Eagles a basket inside. He averaged 10.9ppg, 5.9rpg, 1.7bpg, and shot 65% from the field. Fischer led the team in rebounding and blocks, which shows the variety of ways he impacted Marquette.

JaJuan Johnson was an athletic wing who steadily improved over his career. The 6’5″ wing averaged 12ppg, 4.1rpg, and a team-leading 2.7apg last season. Katin Reinhardt was a well-traveled wing who played at USC and UNLV before finishing his career at Marquette. Reinhardt was an automatic double-figure scorer as he averaged over 10ppg for all four years of his career. Both Johnson and Reinhardt were excellent shooters and could slide to the four in smaller lineups.

This does not even include Duane Wilson, who was a double-figure scorer at one point in his career before accepting a defensive specialist role as a junior. Wilson was quite effective at this role and joined the starting lineup late in the season. He will continue his career at Texas A&M, where he should play a similar role.

Clearly, Marquette has many key players to replace, but there are suitable replacements who should be ready to step into bigger offensive roles.

This article will analyze Marquette’s starters, reserves, and non-conference schedule. It will conclude with a team overview which highlights the key questions that Marquette needs to solve to get back to the tournament.