Marquette Basketball picks up graduate transfer Joseph Chartouny

Marquette basketball filled a crucial need with graduate transfer Joseph Chartouny. Let’s dive into his fit with the Golden Eagles.

After an extensive recruiting pitch that included an in-home visit and on-campus trip, Marquette has landed Fordham grad transfer point guard Joseph Chartouny. ESPN’s Jeff Goodman first broke the news on Chartouny, who was reportedly deciding between Marquette and Louisville for his final collegiate season.

Let’s hit some offensive numbers first: Chartouny averaged 11.9 points with the Rams, including 12.2 ppg in 2017-18. He also dished out 5.2 assists per game throughout his Fordham career and collected 5 rebounds. Chartouny has a decent jumper, and knocked down over 38 percent of his 3-point attempts as a sophomore, though that mark fell to just 28.4 percent as a junior when he was the focal point of the Fordham offense.

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But Chartouny’s defensive impact will be where he really makes his hay in Milwaukee. The Montreal native has terrorized opponents since he first stepped onto the floor for the Rams, and he even led the country in steals last year (3.2 per game). Chartouny will be a welcome addition to Marquette’s defensive unit that has been absolutely shredded for two consecutive seasons.

So how will Chartouny fit in with the Golden Eagles’ current roster? My guess is very, very well.

With Andrew Rowsey‘s impending graduation, Marquette does not have much guard depth returning, and MU really does not have anyone who slots into the point guard role. Rising junior Markus Howard will be one of the Big East’s top scorers next season and he can handle some point guard responsibilities but he projects better as an off-ball scorer. Rising sophomore Greg Elliott should take another step forward if he can work through his offseason hand surgery, though he was also a bit loose with the ball as a freshman (partially due to the injured hand), and would be better served easing into a bigger role. Other wings like Sam Hauser and Sacar Anim can help out with the ball handling, but that is not their forte.

Now, with Chartouny in the fold, Steve Wojciechowski is able to slot everyone in their ideal position on offense. The Marquette offense has become a high-powered machine over the last two years, finishing top-12 in adjusted offensive efficiency in both seasons. Chartouny’s efficiency was negatively affected as the lead option last year, but he still finished with an assist rate in the 97th percentile. This year with Marquette, he simply has to drive and kick to the open shooter, take the occasional open three and set up the half court offense for Howard, Hauser, and the rest. Chartouny gets to be his best self, which will make life even easier for his new teammates.

Marquette needed another guard on offense, but what the Golden Eagles really needed was some perimeter defensive help. Howard and Rowsey were a nightmare tandem atop last season’s defense (a nightmare for MU fans, that is), and even with Rowsey departing, Howard clearly needs help in that area. Howard is competitive defensively but he still gets caught with his hands down sometimes and, at 5-foot-11, he just cannot guard any opponent with size.

That’s where Chartouny comes in. At 6-foot-3, he can take the other team’s top guard, which will allow Howard to shift down to a less potent threat. It will also give Howard a chance to occasionally catch his breath on defense and save some energy for his typical offensive fireworks. Marquette already figured to be an improved defensive unit even without Chartouny, but his addition could catapult them even higher in 2018-19.

Next: Marquette adds UMBC to 2018-19 schedule

Chartouny is not the offensive player that Rowsey was, but the former Ram plugs so many of Marquette’s holes that this move should propel the Golden Eagles up the Big East ladder. While the rest of the conference attempts to deal with key defections, Marquette is adding to an already talented squad. It’s incredibly early, but the Golden Eagles plans for March 2019 just got a lot more interesting.

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