NCAA Basketball: 12 teams with most pressure to win in 2023-24 season

Mar 16, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter guides his teamâ€™s practice for the NCAA menâ€™s basketball tournament at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchBasketball Ncaa Men S Basketball TournamentSyndication The Columbus Dispatch /

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NCAA Basketball Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

7. Marquette Golden Eagles

Coach Shaka Smart’s stock has gone up and down in the last decade in NCAA Basketball. He was a star at VCU, taking them to the Final Four as a mid-major program. At Texas, he largely underachieved, despite having a lot of top-50 prospects to work with. But now at Marquette, Smart seems to have gotten his footing again.

In his second year with the program, Marquette broke out to go 29-7 overall and winning both the Big East regular season and conference tournament titles. Yet as a 2 seed, the team lost to Michigan State in the Round of 32 upset. Losing to Coach Izzo in March is not shameful but it was a disappointing ending for the program last season.

The Golden Eagles did lose forward Olivier Maxence-Prosper to the NBA Draft as a 1st-round pick. However, the rest of the rotation is all back, including point guard and Big East Player of the Year, Tyler Kolek. Leading scorer Kameron Jones is back, along with other key pieces. In a Big East that’s loaded, including reigning national champion UConn, the Eagles will be a contender in their own right.

If Marquette can’t get to at least the Sweet 16 with this roster, which likely will disband after the year, then Coach Smart is going to get a lot of heat. Not the kind that would get him on the hot seat but rather questions about whether that past VCU run was a fluke or not.

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