Marquette Basketball: 5 storylines for Golden Eagles in 2020 offseason

Looking ahead to the 2020-21 schedule

Let’s lay out Marquette’s 2020-21 schedule thus far (opponent’s T-Rank projection included):

• vs. Wisconsin (6) – presumed
• at UCLA (36)
• vs. Liberty (272)
• Hall of Fame Tip-Off: vs. two of Minnesota (68), Rhode Island (88), UCF (118)
  • potentially two more home games against mid-majors as well
• Big East/Big 12 Challenge and/or Gavitt Tip-Off Games?
• 20 Big East games
  • Creighton (4)
  • Villanova (13)
  • UConn (25)
  • Providence (39)
  • Xavier (40)
  • St. John’s (49)
  • Butler (54)
  • Seton Hall (59)
  • Georgetown (88)
  • DePaul (123)

By and large, Marquette has scheduled well in the Wojo era, and using T-Rank’s very early prognostications, the current schedule already features 13 Quadrant 1 opportunities. That number could certainly drop once the season is underway, but it could also continue to climb if Marquette matches up with more high-profile opponents in the Big East‘s inter-conference battles. Of course, the bevy of top-tier contests already on the schedule means the rest of Marquette’s slate will likely be filled with college basketball’s bottom feeders.

Between a strong schedule and high-level additions to the returning core, the path is there for Marquette to make another run at the postseason. The Golden Eagles are just going to need a lot of things to break right for that to actually come to fruition.