This So Called Marquette Roster Exodus

Theo John is going to Duke. Good for him. 

No, really I mean it. 

The young man gave Marquette everything for four years and now he gets a chance to play at one of the blue bloods and a free year towards a masters degree at Duke to go along with his Marquette degree.

What bothers my make believe gold alumni sweater vest was the headline announcing his Duke arrival. Also the article focuses more on Marquette's roster additions and subtractions and less on what John can bring to Duke. I wonder if this happens to be a coincidence considering this is from the Durham perspective and Marquette just happens to recently fire a Duke legend.

Anyways, it is a Marquette basketball exodus folks. 

Yep, four players have left the program and one is thinking about the NBA as new head coach Shaka Smart shakes up the roster to meet his programs needs. Calling it an exodus is a bit of a stretch and doesn’t even take into account any context whatsoever.

A roster exodus is like what is happening at Cincinnati where the players are fleeing a toxic situation. 

What is happening at Marquette is it’s three seniors got an extra year of eligibility because of COVID-19 and have chosen to use it at other programs. In any other year, it would be called replacing departing seniors.

Also Jamal Cain, Koby McEwen and John first made it clear they were not using that extra year. When they most likely found out most overseas teams have US players sitting at home waiting for restrictions to be lifted and therefore blocking their route to an immediate pro career, they smartly decided to take their extra year. 

Plus, Cain considered coming back but decided it was better to play closer to his hometown and most likely be the man at Oakland. Hardly fleeing the program.

Symir Torrence announced his departure before Wojo’s firing. Even then, he considered returning when Shaka was hired but the prior head coach created a bad taste about MU that he couldn't get out. I charge that departure to Wojo and not Smart.

Dawson Garcia is making a smart move by testing the NBA Draft waters. He is most likely to hear go back to school and hit the weight room but what is wrong with getting some feedback on his game and taking a chance on impressing one team enough to maybe take a gamble on him and making him a millionaire?

If Garcia returns, then yes. someone has to go because Marquette is at the 13 scholarship limit. Even then that is one player leaving under Shaka (If Greg Elliot gets granted a roster exemption then no one has to leave).

Really to reach exodus status it would take Shaka landing more players in the transfer portal (Like transfer guard Darryl Morrsell of Maryland), or another incoming recruit along with Garcia’s return. Then that means more players got to go but do we want to be the type of fan base hoping to get rid of players (Got to give credit @brutus_87to98 for that take)?

On a related note, Shaka's recruiting haul will bring seven new faces to Fiserv Forum next season. The question I keep getting is with seven new players is Marquette better, worse or a push? I would say talent wise they are better and poised to have some big seasons ahead with Shaka’s haul. MU will have some growing pains next season as Shaka implements his style of play, five freshman learn the college game and everyone learns to play together. They do have the talent to compete for a NCAA appearance next season if they can narrow the learning curve.

Only time will tell though. Until then, I guess we should just be worried about this roster exodus.

Recruiting disappointments mount but fear not

With the national signing period approaching, Marquette's remaining tier one targets made their decisions this week, each choosing programs other than MU.

Earlier this week Rodney Hood cast his lot with Mississippi State after considering MU, Alabama, Florida State and Louisville. Today 6'8" Mike Shaw pledged to Illinois, while 6'5" shooting guard Nick Faust opted for his home state Maryland Terrapins.

Coach Buzz Williams earned the basketball equivalent of the Golden Sombrero, going 0-4 on top 50-ish recruits for the 2011 class. D'Angelo Harrison, Mike Shaw, Nick Faust and Rodney Hood all looked closely at MU and ultimately passed. Predictably, there's a bit of angst in the fan base over MU's inability to breakthrough with the country's more elite talent this time around. We think that angst is unwarranted.

A deep roster dramatically alters the dynamics of recruiting, which explains why Buzz was so committed to pursuing high-end talent like never before. Fact is, the existing roster is talented and it will take high-grade talent to break into the rotation. MU went big game fishing and came up empty, but we applaud the process. Nevertheless, MU should recognize itself -- at least for now -- as a landing spot for quality players who will see significant minutes immediately - if not in their freshman year, at least by their sophomore year.

Consider 2011-2012. While Jimmy Butler, Joseph Fulce and Dwight Buycks are all seniors who expect to log big minutes this season, the current roster already has their replacements lined up. Erik Williams, Jamail Jones, Reggie Smith, Vander Blue and Jamil Wilson all figure to earn big minutes next season regardless of which players sign with MU next month or in the spring.

For the Chicken Little crowd (or even those who are mildly frustrated by being so close and yet so far away), realize that Junior Cadougan and Jamil Wilson were consensus top 50 recruits while Erik Williams was top 75 for the class of 2009. Vander Blue was a top 50 recruit last year while Jamail Jones was in the top 75. Attracting nationally ranked talent to Milwaukee is less of a concern now than it's been in decades at Marquette.

Also, these rankings don't account for Marquette's best players, Darius Johnson-Odom and Butler, as well as the productive Fulce or much-anticipated Jae Crowder, each of whom arrived at MU out of junior college and did not factor into many recruit rankings.

Buzz Williams' track record indicates that talent will find its way to MU next fall, ranked or not. MU's lone verbal commit, 6'6" Californian Juan Anderson, is the top wing player out West for the 2011 class according to Scout.com. Anderson looks to be a good fit for MU, possibly replacing some of the minutes to be vacated by Fulce and Butler, as well as being complimentary to the Blue, Jones and Wilson signings.

Despite the talent on the roster, additional needs exist. Marquette is mired in a decade-long, fruitless pursuit of a skilled power forward, which remains a gap on the roster and an embarrassment for the program. However, it is debatable that Shaw is or will become a true power forward. The 2011 class is light on players who fit the description of a classic power forward and MU has adapted its style of play and roster composition to mitigate this need somewhat. The program also needs another skilled marksman.

Regardless of the decisions made by recruits this week the overall talent on the current roster is as great as it has been since the 2003 Final Four squad. In the past three years Marquette has strung together strong recruiting classes, which have reshaped the program. As Buzz told an audience of alumni earlier this month in New York City, the roster is beginning to look more like a Big East roster. Look for that roster transformation to continue in the next 12 months.

Looking ahead to 2010-2011

During the last three weeks the nature of Marquette's roster next season has taken shape with verbal commitments from a pair of recruits and the decision to redshirt another player.

A couple of weeks ago I looked at the fallout from the surprising verbal commitment of 6'4" guard D.J. Newbill. Newbill is a classic under the radar kid who appears to be blowing up as a senior, prompting MU to push for a verbal as other programs began to make their way to Strawberry Mansion. To be sure Newbill is a talented player but his verbal ensured that Buzz Williams would have six guards on the roster next season while the Warriors maintained a gaping hole(s) on the baseline.

About that baseline gap......

Recently Buzz Williams announced that 6'10" sophomore Chris Otule will redshirt this season. The big Texan will have three years of eligibility remaining. On the one hand it is disappointing that Otule won't be able to return to help the Warriors down the stretch, but the redshirt year could help him and the team immensely. In the more intense collegiate environment Otule's body has yet to hold up and perhaps an additional season to improve his overall strength, conditioning and durability will lead to more consistent minutes in the coming years.

Perhaps the most important roster news of the last several weeks was the verbal commitment of 6'6" forward Jae Crowder from Howard Junior College in Big Spring, Texas. Originally from Georgia, Crowder went largely unnoticed in high school but his play as a freshman at South Georgia Tech was spectacular. At South Georgia Tech Crowder averaged 17 points and 10 boards, and was named the player of the year by the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association.

According to reports Crowder transferred out of South Georgia Tech because the college was not accredited, potentially limiting his collegiate options. This year at Howard Crowder is averaging 18 points, 9 rebounds and better than two steals per game for the Hawks.

While undersized at 6'6" Crowder is apparently up to 230 pounds offering the kind of muscle and girth that will fill a huge need on the baseline next season. Is Crowder enough? Certainly not but with the pressure on, Buzz landed a player to fill the program's most acute need and was able to corral a more mature player at that. One interesting aspect of Buzz' player development to date is that he is much more adept at coaching, teaching and developing mature talent than he is true freshmen. The in-season development of Jimmy Butler last year, the steady play of Darius Johnson-Odom and the improved production from Dwight Buycks this year are in stark contrast to the uneven freshmen performances turned in by Jeronne Maymon, Erik Williams and Chris Otule, none of whom made appreciable contributions as freshmen.

Heading into next season Buzz Williams will have one of the deepest backcourts in the BIG EAST -- Dwight Buycks, Darius Johnson-Odom, Junior Cadougan, Vander Blue, D.J. Newbill, and Reggie Smith.

This group of guards is collectively bigger and more talented than the current vintage and they'll be complemented by wing/combo forwards like Erik Williams, Joe Fulce, Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, and Jamail Jones. Perhaps big men Yous Mbao and the recuperating Chris Otule will be ready for primetime by next fall.

A quick look at the handy MUScoop Scholarship table shows that Marquette will have a deeper and more talented roster next season, full of interchangeable parts enabling Buzz Williams to potentially confuse opponents with a vast array of lineups. The team will remain massively inexperienced on the baseline and expecting Mbao or Otule to deliver consistent production would be a mistake. However, the baseline talent deficit will have to be overcome by the roster's other strengths if the program expects to build on its encouraging performance this season.

Remaking the Marquette roster

Building on our entry from last week about the enviable trajectory of Marquette hoops, today we'll look at recruiting -- and why the 2008 recruiting class offers an indication that Tom Crean is changing his approach to roster building.

The present roster, long on guards and short on skills at every other position, quickly established MU as an upper echelon Big East program. The formula is working but has its limitations, namely, the lack of productivity at non-backcourt positions. The unbalanced roster, while successful in putting a more than competitive team on the floor in the Big East, is not enough to break through to an elite level nationally.

The incoming class of 2008 might just change things for the better. Rather than overloading at one position or signing players with similar skills in the same class, the incoming talent 2008 -- combo guard Tyshawn Taylor, combo forward Joseph Fulce, center Chris Otule, and two-guard/swingman Nick Williams -- collectively can cover every position on the floor, and per scouting reports offer a range of complementary skills.

This group is a solid start on the journey to change the character of the roster which will allow MU to better compete for a Big East title, to get back to the Final Four, and to mitigate the annual cycle of off-season roster attrition (which, this year, could involve James and/or McNeal playing the game for a living next season).

As an aside, each of these players comes from winning programs - an underrated aspect of Crean's recruiting. Nick Williams will arrive on campus as the Alabama 6A player of the year, a two-time Final Four participant and a state champion. 6'10" Chris Otule will arrive as a guy who tripled his scoring average year to year, led his team to 24 wins and a first-ever playoff birth under the tutelage of legendary coach Ronnie Courtney. Tyshawn Taylor emerged as a go-to-guy on the nation's best high school team, the 32-0 St. Anthony's Friars. Finally, Joseph Fulce put up ridiculous numbers down at Tyler JC, leading his team to a national ranking all season long.

Building on the baseline of the balanced 2008 class, the 2009 group becomes the most critical class for Tom Crean since signing the Three Amigos. To date, Crean has not delivered strong recruiting classes in succession. One very good class is typically followed by a group that includes one productive starter and a few role players or worse (ie: Hayward, Acker, Cubillan and Blackledge following the Three Amigos), leaving the program vulnerable in the face of unexpected attrition or injury. To climb to the top of the Big East and beyond, MU needs to refill the stable with so-called studs more regularly.

A quick look at the MUScoop scholarship table reveals that the upper classmen on the 2009-2010 roster will be predominantly role players. Simply put, the 2009 freshman class is the difference between taking the program to another level, or continuing to cycle up and down as a productive class graduates, leaving behind a modestly talented roster.

At this point, Crean is off to a good start with the 2009 group. By securing a verbal from 6'7" forward Erik Williams (Cy Springs, TX), Marquette has its small forward of the future - always a position of need in the Crean era. Inking a productive big man such as 6'10" Kyle Rowley (Lake Forest Academy, IL) to go along with the highly coveted do-everything 6'7" Jamil Wilson from Racine, and a true point guard like Johnny Lacy (Milwaukee, Bay View) would complete a roster transformation that would create a higher ceiling for the program.

In addition, even though the 2008-2009 roster is already over-subscribed by one scholarship, Crean is still recruiting talent for this fall, fueling speculation that the current roster will undergo a rather substantial amount of additional attrition. Fox Sports is reporting that MU is in the top three (along with Ohio State and UVa) for former Indiana commit, point guard Terrell Holloway. Also, MU is pursuing 6'11" center Luka Mirkovic from La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. Mirkovic also is considering DePaul and Louisville.

We'll watch this space closely -- more roster churn appears to be on the way.