Marquette Basketball: 2024-25 season preview for the Golden Eagles

Season Outlook

We live in a different reality in the college basketball world, one in which NIL and the Transfer Portal are playing a monumental role in building successful rosters. This year’s Marquette squad is a stark contrast, without a single player who’s transferred into the program. The Golden Eagles lean on a plethora of returning talent, but is that all good news for this team?

First and foremost, the starting lineup consists of talented players who each possess multiple years of experience in Smart’s system. While nearly every program in the country might have question marks among new faces, this staff knows what they can expect from Jones, Joplin, and the rest of this lineup. A few of them will be asked to play much more significant minutes, but they’ll each continue to develop.

The question marks only begin behind this starting five. This rotation can be a Top 25 team this season, though there are a lot of unknowns on the bench. The backcourt is in great shape with Jones, but it’s basically inexperienced underclassmen behind him. Norman and the other young guards have great talent, but Marquette is an injury or two away from having major depth issues.

Bigger questions loom in the frontcourt, though it’s clear that Smart and his staff aren’t that concerned. Gold has been in this system for a few years and looks ready to take that monster step forward as the new starter. This all depends on which of those underclassmen behind him take their own step forward as collegiate players with several decisions for this coaching staff to make when forming lineups.

If there was significant worry, then Marquette would’ve utilized the Transfer Portal. It’s clear that this team is confident with this homegrown talent and they might have a right to feel that way. Replacing a former Big East Player of the Year in Kolek is no easy task, but this is a deeply talented team that has the pieces to cause damage in the Big East for a third season in a row.

The bottom line is that Marquette’s raw homegrown talent is more than enough to win games and be a factor in this conference yet again. The season presents a fantastic opportunity for the young pieces on the roster to assert themselves, with legitimate returning talent in Jones, Joplin, and Mitchell leading the charge. Nobody will call the Golden Eagles the favorites in this league, but don’t expect them too far behind UConn and Creighton once again this year.