Marquette Basketball: Hausers move to transfer devastating for Golden Eagles

The 2019-20 season for Marquette Basketball was supposed to be a special one. That’s taken a huge hit thanks to a pair of unexpected transfers.

This past season was pretty successful overall for Marquette Basketball, finishing 24-10 (12-6) and was a five seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. It was the most wins since Steve Wojciechowski became the head coach since 2014. But as good as this year was, things were supposed to be even better for the following season.

That’s because the Golden Eagles were set to return almost 100% of their production from this past season. Only grad transfer Joseph Chartouny will be leaving Marquette’s rotation, with 25 ppg scorer Markus Howard coming back to lead the program once again. In our way-way-too-early preseason top-25, the Golden Eagles were ranked No. 6. Makes sense given everything coming back for the Big East team.

But that’s now changed in a big way, with the announcement that brothers Joey and Sam Hauser are both transferring away from the program. The second and third-leading scorers and passers (Sam led the team in rebounding) were the key offensive options when Howard didn’t get the ball. Sam had a career-high 14.9 ppg on 40% from deep while the younger Hauser Joey had an impressive first year in college. Both could spread the floor with their shooting ability and are able to defend multiple positions.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for Golden Eagle fans but they shouldn’t throw away next season. There are still remaining frontcourt depth, including rising seniors Ed Morrow and Sacar Amin, along with 6’9 forward Theo John.

Former top-100 wing Brendan Bailey could be due for a breakout sophomore campaign now that 30 more mpg has now opened up. The offense will look vastly different though, will none of these forwards liking to shoot the ball from deep as much as the Hausers did.

Speaking off offense overall, a lot of pressure will be on incoming transfer Koby McEwen. He sat out this past season after averaging 15.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 3.2 apg at Utah State. The 6’4 guard will be able to take some load off of Howard on the perimeter and with these departures – scoring overall.

Sophomore guard Greg Elliot will back also after missing out this past season with an injury. If the other returning players develop and McEwen works out with his new team, Marquette will remain a good offensive team.

Quite frankly, the Golden Eagles should remain a “good” team overall and make the 2020 NCAA Tournament. However, the ceiling for this team next year has dropped in a big way, going from prohibited Big East favorites to not as much. As after being considered an early Final Four contender, Marquette Basketball will now be hoping for a second-weekend trip.