This season, Marquette men’s basketball has to replace the 44.1 points-per-game that graduated with Kam Jones, David Joplin and Stevie Mitchell.
This is no small feat for a team that had one of the fastest and most efficient offenses in the country a couple of years ago.
Marquette finished as the 7th most efficient offense in the country according to KenPom in 2022-23 (it held the number one spot for some time, too) and followed that with the 21st best offense in 2023-24.
After the graduation of Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, Marquette was 35th in efficiency last season and have the preseason projected 69th offense by Ken.
There are three open spots in the lineup following the graduation of Jones, Joplin and Mitchell. And with that come exponential possibilities of how Marquette could be introduced against Albany on Nov. 3, mainly about who will score.
Senior forward Ben Gold, who stands out as a potential point-leader, said the team can call on players all the way down the bench.
“We got depth this year, so everyone’s coming in and making plays,” Gold said.
Following the open practice of the year back in July, head coach Shaka Smart said that variety can be a good thing.
“I think we’ll have more versatility, and I think we will need to score by committee,” Smart said. “I don’t see a Kam Jones necessarily out there from a scoring standpoint, and that’s good.”
With these countless possibilities come some interesting angles as to how the Golden Eagles can attack opposing defenses.
From Gold on the wing, to playing with Road Runner-esque speed after redshirt junior guard Sean Jones’ return, here is what Marquette fans can expect from the offense in 2025:
Throwback to Wojo?
The lineups in the second scrimmage at the start of October gave an indicator towards a lineup that features Gold not playing the primary center position. Smart started Gold alongside redshirt sophomore forward Caedin Hamilton, a new role for last season’s center.
Gold was put in positions to cut along the baseline from the arc and stay on the perimeter, where he is more comfortable, whereas Hamilton was the bruiser down low involved in the early screening action.
A lineup with both of them on the floor would be unlike anything seen under Smart, and Marquette fans would have to flashback to the Steve Wojciechowski era when forwards Theo John and Dawson Garcia were on the floor together.
The similarities between John and Hamilton, and Garcia and Gold, are uncanny.
John and Hamilton are both the same height (6-foot-9), and essentially the same weight (245 and 250 lbs, respectively). And Garcia and Gold have not only the same height, but also the same weight (6-foot-11, 235 lbs), not to mention similar 3-point shooting percentages (35.6 percent and 37 percent, respectively).
Allowing Gold to matchup against a smaller wing on the perimeter and using Hamilton’s physicality on the interior could produce a more efficient duo than Wojciechowski was able to get in the former forwards.
If Hamilton’s offseason development is as good as advertised, this two-man tandem can generate a lot of half court trouble and exploit mismatches.
Pace, pace and a little more pace
Jones and first-year guard Nigel James Jr. — two ultra-quick point guards — being on the floor at the same time could provide enough speed to turn back time.
And Smart couldn’t be more excited about it.
“We talk about our most important advantages a lot as a team, and one of them is playing with great speed and pace,” Smart said after the second scrimmage. “We want to get the ball up the floor as fast as we can. We’re going to get the ball in the paint as fast as we can.”
If there was one thing clear in the second scrimmage, it was the fact that this team feasts in transition. At the peak of speed under Smart, Marquette’s average possession length was 15.1 seconds in his first season at the helm, which, according to KenPom, was fifth in the country that season. This season’s pace could see the team creep under the 15 second mark.
“Our pace is going to be a big advantage for us this year, and I’m excited to see how it is for other teams and how they’ll be able to guard it,” junior guard Zaide Lowery said.
This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at trevor.hilson@marquette.edu or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.