New year means new numbers for two guys on the Marquette men’s basketball roster.
It’s about that time of the year when Marquette men’s basketball starts getting their ducks in a row for the next season. One of the duck-ordering things that needs to happen? Confirming what numbers players are going to wear next year so everyone’s uniforms can be ready.
Usually that just means numbers for the freshmen, but sometimes that means changes for returning guys. We’ve got a pair of those changes this year, as Caedin Hamilton and Damarius Owens are changing things up.
[ASIDE: It’s weird that the social media team didn’t put the player’s names in the graphic, right?]
Caedin Hamilton — #18
Hamilton goes from #35 for his first season of action after a redshirt year to #18. He’s not the first #18 in program history, but because of the NCAA rules, he is the first #18 in a long, long time. James Reavley was the first back in 1940-41, and he had it for two seasons. Charles Polzin picked it up in 1943 after a year off, and then Henry Weisner wore that number in 1944-45. Polzin was the team captain in 1946-47 (or at least I presume that Chuck Polzin is the same guy), but that’s the only other mention of any of the three guys in the Marquette record book, up to and including not explaining whether or not Polzin wore #18 when he returned to the team after what appears to be some time off because of World War II.
Damarius Owens — #9
Much like Caedin Hamilton, Owens is making a number change after one year of action for Marquette. He’s dropping from double digits as a freshman to single digits by subtracting just one, going from #10 to #9. It hasn’t been quite as long since MU has had a #9 as it has been since #18 was in use. Gerald Benka had #9 first back in 1944-45, and James Ove wore it for two years between 1947 and 1949. It returned briefly to use in the 1969-70 season for Mike Mills. That is NOT the member of R.E.M., by the way. Mills only wore #9 for one season before switching to #35 for the remainder of his MU career, which brings us full circle back to Hamilton’s original number. Mike Mills was part of the 1970 NIT championship rorster, but hilariously, he’s wearing #11 in the team photo in the record book.
When I noted the changes on Bluesky, an attentive reader pointed out a possible reason for the changes:
Considering they could’ve just had these numbers last year, safe to assume this is so the freshmen can keep their high school numbers?
Phillips in 35, one of James/Miletic in 10
— dɛriɛn ʤi (@dizzlevernetti.bsky.social) 2025-06-06T00:04:56.803Z
It definitely stands to reason that Hamilton and Owens didn’t have any particular emotional attachment to their numbers and were more than happy to give way to the new guys who maybe did have a special reason why they pick their numbers. We’ll have to wait and see what happens when the team announces those choices…….
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