Marquette Basketball: Projecting Golden Eagles’ 2019-20 rotation

Small Forward

Minutes Breakdown (40 total): Sacar Anim (20), Brendan Bailey (8), Greg Elliott (8), Dexter Akanno (4)

Last year’s starting shooting guard Anim will likely shift to the ostensible small forward spot, though his role will hardly change at all.

Anim is the prototypical 3-and-D weapon in today’s college game. Opponents dare him to shoot, but he has made them pay of late, nailing 39 percent of his treys over his last 48 games dating back to January of his redshirt sophomore year (he shot just 14 percent from deep across his first 38 games with MU). The rest of the Big East may want to update its scouting report.

At 6-foot-8, the sophomore Bailey is maybe Marquette’s most versatile defender, as he can feasibly guard anyone from the 1 to the 4, depending on the matchup. He should spend most of his time on the wing, though, and could start if Wojo rolls with a four-guard arrangement (more on that later).

The lanky Elliott should also see time here in smaller lineup, as could freshman Dexter Akanno. The 6-foot-4 California native is another potential redshirt candidate, but for now, we’ll spot him a handful of minutes as a backup. Akanno profiles as an Anim 2.0, and figures to be a relatively important piece in 2020-21 once MU is without its current four-man senior class.