NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 matchups in 2020-21 Big 12/Big East Challenge
4. Oklahoma State at Marquette
The biggest name we’re all going to be looking for in this challenge in Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2020 recruiting class. He picked the Cowboys, who has his older brother on the coaching staff. He and junior guard Isaac Likekele will form one of the best backcourts in all of college basketball, boosted bu sharpshooting grad transfer Ferron Flavors (44% 3PT) from Cal Baptist.
Oklahoma State still needs to replace the production from losing four of their top six scorers. They’ll be fine in the backcourt but is a bit thin in the frontcourt, having just Yor Anei as the only reliable big to play on the roster. They may have to play some small lineups next season, which might not be too bad since all of their guards can rebound at a high rate.
Marquette is going to have to find a way to replace their All-American guard Markus Howard, who scored a program-record 27.8 ppg this past season. Another important piece is second-leading scorer Sacar Anim, who put up 13.1 ppg and was the only other double-digit scorer. And seemingly out of nowhere, sophomore wing Brendan Bailey entered the NBA Draft. He’s likely to return but the team can’t afford to not have him around. They haven’t landed any grad transfers, having former Ohio State guard DJ Carton sit on the bench next season per NCAA rules.
The Golden Eagles do have a top-15 incoming recruiting class, with three four-star forwards coming in, led by top-30 prospect Dawson Garcia. They should be good in the frontcourt but will have to rely heavily on Koby McEwen, who scored just 9.5 ppg last season after putting up over 15 ppg at Utah State. He and Greg Elliott will need to combine for over 20 ppg for Marquette to be a factor in 2020-21.
It’s a battle between the youth and talent of Oklahoma State’s star versus the experience of Marquette. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, I’m struggling to see where they’re going to find their offensive production unless McEwen gets back to his Aggie days. Maybe everyone steps up without Howard having the ball so much. But for now, I’m riding with Cunningham and the Cowboys.