Marquette Basketball: Why MU will be better than Wisconsin in 2019-20

Breakout Candidates

Not only do the Golden Eagles have the true superstar in Howard and an expected steady No. 2 option in McEwen, Marquette also has a deeper cadre of role players who could turn into all-Big East-level talents.

Bailey is one of the more intriguing wing options in the Big East this season. He was a top-100 recruit in 2016 before taking a two-year Mormon mission. Once he returned to Marquette for his freshman season in 2018-19, it took him a few months to find his basketball legs but he turned into a legitimate force during the second-half of the Big East slate, often guarding one of the opposing team’s top scorers. His agility makes him a perfect foil for speedy guards and his 6-foot-8 frame allows Bailey to guard anyone from the 1-4 spots. He came into college with a reputation as a shooter, and while his season-long stats certainly didn’t bear that out (25 percent from three), he did shoot 8-for-19 from beyond the arc over his final 6 games. Expect him to take a massive leap forward as he works through another offseason with the program and assumes more responsibility as a multi-faceted weapon.

Next to Bailey is the hulking Theo John, who became a feared rim protector and vastly improved his touch around the rim in his second year with the blue and gold. He is never going to be an automatic back-to-the-basket player, but he is functional down there and can sky for lobs. Either way, his value will always be on the defensive end, where he will be one of several players – potentially alongside Bailey – vying for the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award.

Further down the list of Marquette’s potential breakout cast is the aforementioned Elliott and junior Jamal Cain. Elliott shined as a bouncy guard with defensive chops as a freshman before thumb surgery forced him to redshirt in 2018-19. Unfortunately, his offseason progress has been shortened by ankle surgery, though he should be back on the practice court anywhere from late September to late October.

Cain appeared to be the archetypal 3-and-D star as a freshman, but regressed in every major category last season. Wojo has proven to be an effective developer of talent (Howard, Sam Hauser, John, Anim, and Jajuan Johnson all took noticeable leaps forward during Wojo’s first five years), so the book isn’t written on Cain just yet.

For the Badgers, much of the upside lies with King and Aleem Ford, both of whom, similarly to Cain, struggled mightily in year two. Are they ready to fill Khalil Iverson’s spot in the starting lineup? Iverson is certainly no Happ, but he did start every game in which he appeared over the past two seasons. It remains to be seen if King and Ford are legitimate rotation linchpins or simply high-potential wings who fall short of expectations. King – who was mostly a non-factor in Big Ten play last year – is Wisconsin’s most likely breakout candidate as he puts another offseason between himself and the knee injury that cut short his freshman season.

Guard Trevor Anderson has been not proven much since coming over from Green Bay, but has struggled with injuries throughout his career, and and will not return to game action until December as he recovers from ACL surgery. Micah Potter, an Ohio State transfer, appears to be just a frontcourt filler. Junior Nate Reuvers is poised to make a leap for the sans-haps Badgers. Reuvers had 12 games of double-digit scoring last season, including 22 at Illinois, but there is a ceiling on his game.

Marquette could very easily get 40 points a night from the Howard/McEwen duo, and then will look to one of their several up-and-comers for additional offense. Wisconsin, meanwhile, will be relying on a bunch of Steady Eddies in an balanced unit. The latter is not an inherently worse strategy, but a Golden Eagle roster that surrounds two talented, score-first guards with a litany of high-upside players should be the more potent plan of attack.