The Marquette Golden Eagles began the season with high expectations. After all, they were returning most of their rotation from a year ago and had one of the most publicized freshman classes in the nation coming in. The Golden Eagles were ranked somewhere around 15 or so in the preseason, and were picked by some to win the Big East. Yes Vander Blue made a confusing decision to enter the NBA draft, and is now over in Europe, but still they were bringing back an experienced team that would be loaded even more with these new talented freshmen coming in.
Six weeks into the season, and that has all changed. This has been about the worst possible start to the season the head coach Buzz Williams could have imagined. Marquette currently sits at 7-5, they have lost every tough game they have played so far, and the loss on Saturday against New Mexico doesn’t help their cause at all. It actually makes it worse, as that is now a big negative mark against them come March when the NCAA Tournament selection committee is making their decisions on who to put in the tournament and who to leave out. Two players, Devonte Gardner and Jamil Wilson, are basically doing everything by themselves. The freshman, specifically one Jajaun Johnson, outside of a few glimpses of talent, have done nothing so far this season to help this team’s cause. Add into that the sudden inexplicable resignation of athletic director Larry Williams, although the story was that he and Buzz Williams were not getting along, and you have yourself a recipe for disaster.
At this point, Marquette can’t finish 20-12 and make the NCAA tournament on a close at large bid. They have nothing to hang their hat on outside of conference play to sway the tournament selection committee. They need to do more than that. They need to somehow have a big year in conference play and make sure that they are easily in. Problem is, I do not see that happening right now. This team is a scattered mess, and they are far from in a position to make a run. Still, anything could happen.
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