Marquette Basketball: 3 reasons why the Golden Eagles will be better than Wisconsin in 2018-19
By Brian Foley
Star Power
It’s rare for a program to move forward so seamlessly after losing the player who just provided the greatest single-season scoring campaign in school history, but Marquette is prepared to just that with Markus Howard and Sam Hauser stepping in for the since-graduated Andrew Rowsey.
Howard and Hauser – who were both part of the same 2016 recruiting class – have already established themselves as two of the best shooters in college basketball, full stop. Over the last two seasons, Hauser leads all players with a 47.3 three-point percentage (min. 300 attempts); Howard is nipping at his heels in fourth place at 45.4 percent, despite having an absurd number of attempts (425).
Ethan Happ is just as talented for the Badgers, if not more so, and he will likely compete for the Big Ten Player of the Year award, just as Howard and Hauser will do in the Big East. He is a rare passing specimen at 6-foot-10; only four players over the last 25 years have matched Happ’s 2017-18 per game totals of 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks.
The only problem for UW is that Happ lacks a sidekick, while the Marquette duo is a perfect complement. Yes, the Golden Eagles no longer have their three-headed monster (which combined for 63 points on 13 three’s in Madison last year), but Howard can more than handle the scoring load in the backcourt, and Hauser deserves more opportunities to flash his supreme efficiency.
Obviously, having two players who can go off for 25-plus points at the drop of a hat is better than one. Wisconsin was just 5-14 when Happ shot less than 58 percent from the field in a given game last season. Greg Gard needed his superstar big to be just that essentially every night. Of course, last year was an especially poor season for the Badgers, but with basically the same team returning, many of the same issues remain.