#BIGEASThoops Preview: Marquette Golden Eagles
There was a lot to like about Marquette last season.
For starters, the Golden Eagles began the season 10-2, won the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, knocking off nationally-ranked LSU and Ben Simmons along the way, won a road game at Wisconsin and introduced the college basketball world to wunderkind Henry Ellenson.
Oh, and did we mention Marquette also won 20 games, a seven-game improvement over the previous season? But with all those positives to celebrate last year the one thing that eluded Marquette was a postseason bid. A 20-13 finish did not land the Golden Eagles a spot in either the NCAA Tournament or, somewhat surprisingly, the NIT. It’s a bitter taste that remains with the Eagles even now.
“In my career here at Marquette we have never been to the tournament, we’ve never reached postseason play,” said Marquette’s senior center Luke Fischer.
“That hurt us,” said Jajuan Johnson, the Eagles’ other senior. “We haven’t been to the postseason in three years so there is a lot of motivation for us.”
Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski was not exactly elated at being shut out of the postseason party last year, but he is happy to hear that his players have not forgotten what it felt like to be on the outside looking in last March.
“I think any time you don’t reach a goal that you had it’s going to leave a bitter taste in your mouth,” Wojciechowski said. “But then you’ve got to make sure that that taste is used in a positive way. I want my guys to play with an edge and a chip on their shoulders and try to accomplish more than we did last year.”
At first glance that would seem to be an uphill fight for Marquette, which comes into this season minus Ellenson, the Eagles’ top scorer and rebounder last season and BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. It’s going to take a group effort to replace Ellenson’s production.
“Obviously Henry was a great player and we’re not going to replace him with one guy. I think offensively we’ll be able to make up for the points that he scored,” Wojciechowski said. “I think we’ll have better balance on the offensive end, but the biggest hole he left us was in rebounding and protecting the rim. We got to figure out how we’re going to rebound and replace those 10 rebounds a game and how we’re going to protect the rim. We’re certainly not going to be able to do it the same way he did it, but we’re going to need to do it nonetheless.”
That tall task will fall on the 6-11 Fischer, as well as the 6-5 Johnson and the 6-6 Sandy Cohen III.
“We’re definitely going to miss Henry but that just gives another guy an opportunity to step up and show coach what he has,” Fischer said. “I think we have a whole team that is looking forward to that opportunity. We are not superstars, we’re a team of role players and if everyone does their role and does it to the best of their ability then I think we’ll be able to win a lot of games.”
Wojciechowski said he will be looking to his seniors to raise the bar this season in hopes of playing some meaningful games come March.
“I think with any great team the urgency is created by the senior class,” Wojciechowski said. “For those guys, the finish line is in sight and so that time pressure can create an urgency and we need our seniors, and Luke especially, to impart that urgency on to the rest of our group.”
Marquette was the fifth youngest team in the nation last year and while they may be a bit undersized up front, the drive and desire to finally hear Marquette’s name called on Selection Sunday is what will drive Fischer, Johnson and the rest of the Golden Eagles this season.
“We’re small and we’re tough and we’re going to give you everything we have every time we’re out on the floor,” Fischer said. “We want to get this program turned around and leave it heading in the right direction.
That’s the thing we want the most. We could care less about individual accolades or what goes on after basketball. We just want postseason play for Marquette right now and I want to leave Marquette knowing I gave everything I had.”