Wisconsin hosts Marquette basketball at the Kohl Center on Nov. 17 in what should be an evenly-matched battle. Why might the Golden Eagles by better?
Last summer, fellow Busting Brackets writer Jason Burgess and I tackled the Wisconsin-Marquette basketball rivalry, with both of us taking a stance on the superior program heading in the 2018-19 campaign. As it turned out, the Golden Eagles and Badgers could not have been more evenly matched.
Here are the eerily similar season recaps for both teams:
Wisconsin
- 23-11, 14-6 Big Ten (fourth in the B10)
- Reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament
- No. 5 seed in the NCAAs, lost by 18 to 12-seed Oregon in the first round
- Led by second-team All-American, Ethan Happ
Marquette
- 24-10, 12-6 Big East (second in the BE)
- Reached the semifinals of the Big East Tournament
- No. 5 seed in the NCAAs, lost by 19 to 12-seed Murray State in the first round
- Led by second-team All-American, Markus Howard
Oh, and when the two teams actually squared off on Dec. 8 in Milwaukee, the Golden Eagles barely slipped past UW in a 74-69 overtime victory.
Marquette and Wisconsin enter 2019-20 with similar projections – T-Rank slots UW at No. 24 and MU at No. 28 in its preseason rankings – as both programs look for continued growth from its youngsters to cover their major roster losses. The Badgers will be forced to refocus their offense after using Happ as the focal point for the past three years, while the Golden Eagles are still looking to put the Hausers’ surprising transfers behind them. Those three players combined for 62 points and 26 rebounds in last year’s meeting, meaning some new faces will be tasked with increased responsibility in 2019-20.
Still, even though Wisconsin returns more of its 2018-19 rotation, Marquette enters the new campaign with a slight edge. Here are three reasons the Golden Eagles will earn a superior seed come March.