Marquette Basketball: Projecting Joseph Chartouny as a shooter in 2018-19

Marquette Basketball picked up Joseph Chartouny – a Fordham grad transfer point guard – during the busy April offseason signing period.

Is Joseph Chartouny a bad shooter? It’s a simple question, with a seemingly simple answer. He shot 28.4 percent from beyond the arc last season, so yeah, that’s bad. But once you dig into the stats, the video, his situation at Fordham, and his potential fit with at Marquette, the answer becomes a little murkier.

After shooting 31.5 percent as a freshman and then 38.2 percent as a sophomore, Chartouny totally collapsed a junior, and posted the 12th-worst three-point percentage amongst players who launched at least 140 treys last year (40-141).

More from Big East

But once you break it down a little further, Chartouny’s 2017-18 season-long stats seem to be suppressed by his horrid start to the season. In his first 10 games, the 6-foot-3 guard shot just 15.4 percent across 39 attempts, well below his previous career marks. But over his final 19 contests, Chartouny found level with his jumper, and knocked down 33.3 percent of his 102 threes.

Removing that 10-game slump to start his junior year, he is 120-346 from three-point range (34.7 percent). He certainly isn’t Steph Curry, and he won’t stand out among Marquette’s crop of sharpshooters, but he should still be a perfectly average long-range option for the Golden Eagles.

It’s also hard to evaluate Chartouny in Fordham’s offense, which was one of the worst in the country last season. The Rams finished 334th in adjusted offensive efficiency in 2017-18, and 348th in three-point percentage. Chartouny contributed to those shooting woes, but it’s clear there were larger issues at play. It’s tough for anyone to thrive in such a stagnant offense, and if anything, it makes Chartouny’s 4.6 assists per game even more remarkable.

Upgrading from Fordham to Marquette on offense is like trading in a 1998 lime green Dodge Neon for the Batmobile. The Golden Eagles ranked 12th and 8th, respectively, in adjusted offensive efficiency over the last two seasons, and nailed a combined 721 threes on 42.2 percent shooting (only one other school – Kansas – cracked 700 makes at a 40 percent-plus clip). Marquette’s Sam Hauser and Markus Howard are maybe the two best shooters in the nation, while wings Greg Elliott, Jamal Cain, and Sacar Anim hit a combined 37.8 percent of their threes last year. Freshman Joey Hauser also comes to Milwaukee with considerable long-range touch.

Not only will Chartouny have plenty of weapons to kick out to on the perimeter, he should also have plenty of open space as a spot-up shooter as opposing defenses gravitate towards the other marksmen on the floor. His jumper is definitely smooth enough to project some modicum of success in a blue and gold uniform.

Chartouny will be Steve Wojciechowski’s third grad transfer at MU, following in the footsteps of Katin Reinhardt and Matt Carlino. Reinhardt was a sturdy shooter over his previous three seasons (36.9 percent from three), and that held strong in his lone campaign with Marquette (37.5 percent). Carlino’s perimeter chucking is similar to Chartouny’s. The BYU product shot 33.5 percent on 4.9 three’s per game over his first three years; with Marquette, those numbers rose to 41.9 percent and 7.1 attempts.

Chartouny will not match Carlino’s raw totals, and it’s unlikely he climbs above 40 percent from deep either. Still, Carlino’s season shows the type of effect Wojciechowski can have on a grad transfer point guard. Wojciechowski was known for his defense as a player, but he has completely flipped the script as a coach. In just four seasons, four of Wojo’s protégés – Andrew Rowsey, Howard, Carlino, and Hauser – have combined to fill five of the top-10 spots on the program’s single-season three-point makes list. Yes, those guys came to Marquette with considerably more shooting talent than Chartouny, but Wojciechowski still had to create the system to get them those open looks.

Next: Best college basketball players at each height

The former Ram will largely be tasked with filling Rowsey’s minutes as the lead point guard, and Chartouny’s nearly opposite skill set – passing and defense – should open up new pathways for the Golden Eagles. Still, Marquette will need Chartouny to be a bit of a threat from the outside; here’s betting that he will.

Home/Big East