Big East Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2021-22 season

2020-21 season record: 13-14( 8-11)

After several years of underachieving, the program decided to let go of head coach Steve Wojciechowski, replacing him with someone who underachieved at Texas a bit in Shaka Smart. It’ll be interesting to see whether the “havoc” pressure-style defense will come with Coach Smart to the Big East.

The roster he has to work with is interesting as it’s frontcourt-heavy. The key guards (DJ Carton and Koby McEwen) have both moved on, along with Jose Perez, Dexter Akanno, and Symir Torrence. That leaves Greg Elliot as the last man standing in the backcourt, with four newcomers. George Mason transfer Tyler Kolek is a sharpshooter and former Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year but not a pure point guard. So one of the freshmen (Kameron Jones, Stevie Mitchell, and Emarion Ellis) will have to step up out the gate to be a lead guard.

If the Golden Eagles are going to have a good season, the frontcourt will have to lead the way. Leading scorer and rebounder Dawson Garcia is still going through the NBA Draft process but with Qudus Wahab and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl both gone, he has the chance of being the best big man in the Big East in 2022.

Marquette has other frontcourt talent, including Oklahoma shot-blocking transfer Kur Kuath, as well as Justin Lewis and Oso Ighodaro coming back. Then there’s a pair of big men newcomers in David Joplin and Keeyan Itejere to add even more depth.

The Golden Eagles will have good frontcourt depth but there are too many questions in the backcourt to think that the bigs will overcome it. And if the guards don’t do well, then the “havoc” defense can’t be implemented. Look for plenty of growing pains for Marquette.