Marquette Basketball: Can the Golden Eagles unlock Jamal Cain?
By Brian Foley
Marquette Basketball is loaded with plenty of offensive weapons, but sophomore Jamal Cain could turn into one of the Big East’s rising two-way stars.
Expectations for the 2018-19 Marquette basketball team are understandably high around campus. While the Golden Eagles – like so many Big East foes – have lost their leading scorer in Andrew Rowsey, Steve Wojciechowski and staff are in a better position than most to reload for 2018-19.
Juniors Markus Howard and Sam Hauser are two preseason Big East first-team candidates, defensive-minded grad transfer Joseph Chartouny projects as an ideal fit at point guard, and four-star commit Joey Hauser (brother of Sam) is one of the best recruits to ever come to Milwaukee. Toss in slashing extraordinaire Sacar Anim and rebound-maven Ed Morrow, and there is already a lot to get excited about on Marquette’s roster.
Of course, that doesn’t even include the three rising sophomores – Jamal Cain, Greg Elliott, and Theo John – who all showed extreme flashes as freshmen and might be the three most athletic players on the team. Wojo has an excellent track record of developing players between their freshman and sophomore seasons, which bodes well as those three fight a crowded roster for more minutes.
Elliott and John are talented players in their own right, but they both have a cap on their effectiveness due to Marquette’s roster crunch. Upperclassmen Chartouny, Howard, and Anim will soak up many of the minutes at the two guard spots in front of Elliott, and John is stuck behind Morrow and senior Matt Heldt for the time being.
Cain, too, will have to battle for his own minutes with so many quality forwards on the team, but he also has the potential to raise the Golden Eagles’ overall ceiling as a secondary offensive threat and a defensive menace. With his lanky wingspan and bouncy athleticism, the forward plays bigger than his listed 6-foot-7 and gives the Golden Eagles an extra boost of vigor on both ends of the floor.
Cain shot the ball well in 2017-18, as evidenced by his impressive 47 percent clip on three-pointers (albeit on just 55 attempts). He also has several effective offensive moves, including one where he catches the ball on the wing, takes two dribbles towards the nail, and rises over his smaller defender for a jumper. He can also pull out a fading, right-handed mini-floater in traffic too:
His baby floater across the lane looks similar to the move Cleveland’s Rodney Hood flashed in Game 3 of the NBA Finals once he was exhumed by Tyronn Lue. Cain’s ability to hit contested shots from both the midrange and the paint opens up three-pointers for himself and better looks for his teammates.
Of course, for all the gains he provided from beyond the arc, Cain gave them right back at the charity stripe, where he shot a team-worst 48 percent. In fact, Cain is just the seventh college basketball player since 1992-93 to shoot at least 45 percent from three, but sub-50 percent from the line (minimum 50 three-point attempts and 20 free throw attempts). Most of the other players to accomplish the feat improved their free throw percentage the following season (though still remained below average), but their three-point percentages suffered. Only one player on the list – Xavier’s BJ Raymond in the mid-2000’s – managed to maintain his long-range marksmanship and also become a good free throw shooter.
Cain’s shooting motion does look pretty clean from deep, but it’s decidedly less so from the free throw stripe. He could be the anomaly in the system, similarly to NBA wing Chandler Parsons, though Cain still has a ways to go to hit even Parsons’ quirky career marks (38 percent from three, 71 percent from the line).
As a ball handler, Cain also showed the ability to run a little high-screen action last season:
He won’t be tasked with many primary offensive actions this season, especially if he doesn’t clean up his shaky turnover rate, but if he can provide a little extra playmaking off the bounce, Marquette will be even tougher to defend. The Golden Eagles already have two offensive studs and several other useful off-ball options. Cain just adds to the wealth at Wojciechowski’s disposal.
As with all young players, Cain will earn his minutes once he proves himself on defense, at least in the short-term. Last season, Cain posted impressive defensive rebounding and steal rates, which respectively ranked in the 87th and 83rd percentiles nationally and in the top three among Golden Eagles. Cain is one of the few players who actually collects breathtaking rebounds on defense; he simply plucks boards out of the sky. His rebounding acumen should only improve as his body fills out with age.
Elliott, Chartouny, and Anim have already proven themselves defensively against other guards and wings. Toss in Morrow – who posted beastly blocking and rebounding numbers at Nebraska – and a budding Cain, and Wojo now has at least five players who are capable of lockdown defense. That’s not a lineup that would score the ball much, but it’s at least an option for late-game situations when the Golden Eagles needs a stop to win the game.
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Marquette was too one-dimensional last season, and while most of those same players return, offseason development and slight role changes should clean up some of the Golden Eagles’ defensive issues. Cain proved he has the talent to be a legitimate two-way star; now he must demonstrate those flashes more consistently. Because if Wojo can unlock Cain, Cain might able to unlock Marquette.