Marquette Basketball

On Saturday Dec. 7th, the Wisconsin Badgers and Marquette Golden Eagles will battle in Madison, Wis., an annual rivalry game between the two state of Wisconsin schools. The Golden Eagles have won the last two meetings, though Bo Ryan's Badgers will enter Saturday's contest as the favorites in this matchup.

Point Guard: Traevon Jackson vs. Derrick Wilson

In a battle of junior ball-handlers, the Badgers' Jackson gets the edge. Jackson is averaging 11.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists compared to Wilson's 5.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists. 

Wilson is a shutdown defender, so don't expect many points to come from either lead guard. Jackson isn't as good an outside shooter as his numbers may show, though he is still a much bigger threat from the perimeter than the pass-first Wilson.

Shooting Guard: Ben Brust vs. Jake Thomas

Two seniors will battle it out at shooting guard, with Wisconsin's Brust getting the nod. Brust's season averages are 11.2 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Thomas is averaging 7.3 points, two rebounds and 1.5 assists.

Brust is a knockdown shooter and great rebounder for his position. Thomas is also a major three-point shooting threat, though the rest of his game isn't as well-rounded. However, Thomas is a better defender than he is given credit for.

Small Forward: Josh Gasser vs. Juan Anderson

Unfortunately for Marquette, the team's backcourt is its weakness, while guard play is one of the Badgers' strength. Once again UW gets the edge as Gasser is averaging 10.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists to Anderson's 4.4 points, five rebounds and 1.1 assists.

Both players are juniors, though Gasser is a redshirt junior after sitting last season with a torn ACL. Gasser is an opportunistic shooter and has connected on half of his three-point attempts this season. He is also a terrific defender. Anderson makes the little plays and does the dirty work, but is a hesitant shooter.

Power Forward: Sam Dekker vs. Jamil Wilson

Both Dekker and Wilson are their team's best starters. Unlike the previous three matchups, there is a big age gap between the sophomore Dekker and redshirt senior Wilson. Still, Dekker has the advantage. Dekker is averaging 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists, while Wilson averages 10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and two assists.

This is the most intriguing matchup in this bout, as both players have the ability to score on the perimeter or in the paint. Whoever is the aggressor here will be the ultimate winner. Both Dekker and Wilson were reserves a season ago, but have proven their worth as go-to guys early on in the 2013-14 season.

Center: Frank Kaminsky vs. Chris Otule

Unfortunately for Marquette, Kaminsky is given the edge here—giving the Badgers a clean 5-0 sweep in the matchup of the team's starting lineups. Kaminsky is averaging 15.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and one assist, while Otule averages 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.1 assists. Again there is an age gap, as Kaminsky is a junior compared to the sixth-year senior Otule.

As the Badgers' leading scorer, Kaminsky's point average may be inflated due to his 43-point school record performance several weeks back, but the numbers remain impressive nonetheless. Otule is the more physical specimen in this matchup and will try to get Kaminsky is foul trouble, as the Badger frontcourt is slim.

Bench: Bronson Koenig/Nigel Hayes/Duje Dukan vs. Davante Gardner/Todd Mayo/JaJuan Johnson/Deonte Burton/Steve Taylor Jr.

It would be unfair not to mention key players off each team's bench. Wisconsin has played an eight-man rotation all season, while Marquette's Buzz Williams plans to go deeper into his bench and get 10 players regular minutes. Here, the edge clearly goes to the Golden Eagles.

Gardner is the team's best player, leading scorer and leading rebounder, and will sub Otule out early on in Saturday's game. Mayo is Marquette's third leading scorer and was a star two years ago in this contest when Marquette shockingly won at the Kohl Center.

Koenig will spell one of Wisconsin's three backcourt players, playing the point guard position. Hayes and Dukan stand 6'7" and 6'9", respectively, but will exclusively play power forward or center against the bigger and stronger Marquette frontcourt players.

Marquette comes into Saturday's game with a disappointing 5-3 record, while the Badgers remain unblemished at 9-0. Both teams rank in the lower half of the nation in scoring, as the Badgers score 76.8 points per night, compared to MU's 71.0 points.

Marquette must take advantage of its size, as the team averages close to 8 more rebounds per game than Bo Ryan's squad. On the other hand, Wisconsin is an immensely better three-point shooting team. Expect a physical, low-scoring, but down-to-the-wire game between these two on Saturday afternoon.

The Marquette Golden Eagles (5-3) entered Tempe, Ariz. with a lot of questions but walked out of Anaheim with some important answers.

Marquette's four-game road trip entailing a matchup against Arizona State University and a trip to Cal-State Fullerton for the Wooden Legacy Classic resulted in a 2-2 record but provided some much-needed clarity on the roster.

After lackluster performances at home against Ohio State and New Hampshire, the Golden Eagles were expected by many to struggle in their first road game of the year against the Sun Devils.

The first half of the game met those lowly expectations, as Marquette started the trip sloppily and went into the locker room trailing 43-33. Things started clicking in the second half, as Jake Thomas finally found his stroke from beyond the arc. Thomas drilled five threes and was the catalyst of Marquette's second-half rally.

The Golden Eagles couldn't overcome Jahii Carson's 23 points, however, and Derrick Wilson's last-second layup was swatted away by Jordan Bachynski to seal the victory.

Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Wooden Legacy tournament, and Marquette was given the not-so-easy draw of the tournament's host, Cal-State Fullerton. Marquette wasn't a gracious guest, drubbing the Titans by a score of 86-66. Jamil Wilson had his first break-out game of the season, scoring a career-high 24 points, while Davante Gardner and Jajuan Johnson chimed in with 18 points in the win.

In the semifinals, Marquette met a George Washington squad who knocked off Miami (Fla.) in overtime in the first round. The Golden Eagles got off to a blazing start and maintained it thanks to 20 points from Gardner.

Marquette left California with a bad taste in its mouth after reverting back to its old self against a gritty San Diego State squad. The Golden Eagles were unable to cover Xavier Thames, who scored 27 of the Aztecs' 67 points in the defeat. Nothing looked in sync for head coach Buzz Williams' squad on Sunday night.

Although the Golden Eagles return home as runners-up in the Wooden Legacy, there were plenty of positive takeaways from the West Coast swing.

The point guard question was answered last week, as Derrick Wilson emerged as a reasonable threat to score. After attempting just 10 shots in the first four games of the season, Wilson threw up 30 during the six-day trip. Wilson averaged 10 points a game in the games and shot 50 percent from the floor.

Along with his newfound offensive prowess, Wilson managed to keep a solid assist-to-turnover ratio. He dished out 19 assists in the four games and limited himself to only seven turnovers, including a turnover-free game against Arizona State, in which he played 39 minutes.

Marquette's 10th-ranked 2013 recruiting class, according to Scout.com, shone brighter than the California sun over the weekend.

Johnson scored nine points and logged 25 minutes on Tuesday against Arizona State and had a coming out party against Cal-State Fullerton with 18 points and a perfect day from the three-point line. On Sunday night, Deonte Burton scored 15 points off of the bench and was a much-needed spark for the struggling offense.

Johnson and Burton haven't been steady contributors, but they have shown the ability to make plays in key minutes.

Marquette's offense finally looked like a fluid unit and much of that was because of Jake Thomas. The sharp-shooting transfer from South Dakota had been a disappointment in his first season as a Golden Eagle. It appeared as if Thomas would be going through another rough year, until he heated up against the Sun Devils.

Thomas went 5-of-12 from beyond the arc in 36 minutes against Arizona State and kept his team in the game with his sudden hot streak. He only scored three points in the victory over Cal-State but broke out again with 13 points on 3-of-5 from deep against George Washington.

Thomas certainly stepped up his game on the road trip, but whether he will manage to stay on this pace will be interesting to keep an eye on as nonconference play concludes.

As the Golden Eagles prepare for an in-state rivalry game against the undefeated and eighth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, they will have plenty of positives to build on in practice. Wilson proved he had the ability to be more than just a game manager, Johnson and Burton showed they can contribute in marginal minutes and Thomas may have rediscovered his shooting stroke from his South Dakota days that resulted in a 44 percent three-point percentage in the 2009-10 season.

The Golden Eagles shouldn't be happy with coming up short in the Wooden Legacy Classic, but they should have boarded the plane back to Milwaukee feeling much better than they did when they left.

Although we may be approaching just the second weekend of the college basketball regular season, most of the power conferences have seen their top schools tested on the national stage. 

On Saturday, the Big East will send its preseason pick to win the conference title into a heavyweight bout against Ohio State of the Big Ten at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. 

The Golden Eagles will have a slight home-court advantage, but the Buckeyes are a team that's no stranger to the national spotlight, especially after last season's extremely challenging Big Ten schedule. 

For the host team, it will have a chance to showcase just exactly what its new-look conference is all about. 

The Big East had a chance to shine on the first night of the season, but Georgetown failed to win against a depleted Oregon side that had suspended two key players just days before the clash in South Korea.

New kids on the block Xavier had a semi-impressive nonconference win at home against Tennessee on Tuesday night, but no one outside of Knoxville and Cincinnati paid any attention to that game given what was going on at the Champions Classic in Chicago. 

While a Saturday afternoon stage in the middle of college football season is not a prime location for a collision of two ranked teams, it is the platform the Big East needs to show what it's all about during the 2013-14 season. 

Besides Creighton's Doug McDermott, the players that sit on the Marquette roster like Davante Gardner, Chris Otule and Jamil Wilson are the student-athletes with the most potential to make waves on the national stage this season.  

The Golden Eagles have a good group of experienced players that has dabbles of youth mixed into the rotation that head coach Buzz Williams utilizes. 

Some will say that since the Golden Eagles are hosting the Buckeyes in a rematch of a cancelled game that was supposed to be played on the USS Yorktown in South Carolina last season before court condensation eliminated any hope of getting that game in, they will not be put in an uncomfortable environment.

Let me tell you this: If any player in college basketball can put an opponent into an uncomfortable environment on its home court, it is Ohio State's Aaron Craft, who contrary to popular belief is still eligible to play in the collegiate ranks. 

Craft and Ohio State have been a pillar of success in the Big Ten for years, but so have Williams' Marquette teams, who have reached the Sweet 16 in the last three seasons. 

This is a perfect matchup for both the Big East and the Big Ten as both programs have been arguably the most consistent in their respective conferences over the last few years. 

While this may sound too early to talk about, Marquette needs this win to establish the fresh Big East and get a quality win for their NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament hopes.

With Georgetown not sure of what its identity is at the moment and Creighton relying solely on McDermott, the Golden Eagles undoubtedly have the most complete squad in the Big East. Yet they need to prove that on the nonconference landscape, and Saturday presents the perfect opportunity to do so. 

Follow me on Twitter, @JTansey90. 

Predicted Record: 23-8 (13-5)

Big East Finish: First

NCAA Tournament Result: Sweet 16

Marquette has what I call a plethora of posts with Davante Gardner, Chris Otule, Jamil Wilson, Steve Taylor and others. The question will be how Marquette fills the void at guard without Junior Cadougan, Trent Lockett and Vander Blue.

Derrick Wilson will get the opportunity to play some serious minutes—especially with freshman Duane Wilson out with a foot injury for most of the nonconference schedule. But how Wilson utilizes those minutes will be the thing to watch in the beginning of the season.

The shooting guard position will also be of some intrigue in the early going. Junior Todd Mayo is likely to get the first crack at the starting job, but JaJuan Johnson will be breathing down his neck. The freshman from Memphis, Tenn., has raised some eyebrows during the preseason and should factor into the rotation immediately.

The Golden Eagles will need a proficient scorer at the 2-guard to take some of the pressure off the big men. With Derrick Wilson unproven as a viable threat, Mayo, Johnson and perhaps Jake Thomas will be relied on to give Marquette a scoring presence on the outside.

Marquette's biggest advantage is its versatility.

Imagine a potential lineup consisting of Derrick Wilson, Juan Anderson or Steve Taylor, Jamil Wilson, Otule and Gardner on the court at the same time. This lineup may be a stretch of reality, but it's a good example of the array of options Buzz Williams has at his disposal. The Golden Eagles are never about one guy but rather are a team that consists of multiple guys who can lead the team in scoring on any given night. This trait can be a blessing or a curse, but Williams usually finds a way to get the most out of his lineup.  

The new Big East raises plenty of new questions and matchups, but Marquette's challenging nonconference schedule should prepare the Golden Eagles for conference play. Williams mentioned in his media day press conference that he felt he over-scheduled.

Whether that be a motivational ploy or not, Marquette's nonconference slate is daunting.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will come to the Bradley Center on Nov. 16, when Marquette's presumable 27-game home winning streak will be in major jeopardy. Later in the month, Marquette will head out west to face Arizona State and play in the Wooden Legacy Tournament, where the Golden Eagles could meet Miami, San Diego State or new conference foe Creighton. Following the tournament, Marquette will return home to face Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. A trip to Las Vegas to face New Mexico at the MGM Grand rounds out a brutal schedule to start the season.

If Marquette can overcome some rocky guard play against fierce competition in the early stages of the season, then the Golden Eagles should be able to handle the new Big East.

Creighton, Georgetown and St. John's all could challenge for the inaugural Big East title, but in a league where no game is a cake walk, Marquette's depth will come through in games where the stars are struggling.

Expect a top-two finish in the reformed Big East and a fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance from the 2013-14 Marquette Golden Eagles.

All quotes used in this story were obtained firsthand.

The 2013 season will be the first season of the reformed Big East conference. The conference consists of the "Catholic Seven," from the disbanded Big East, along with newcomers Xavier, Creighton and Butler.

But the tumultuous ride is finally over, and it's time to talk about the new conference on the floor, rather than off of it. I went around at Marquette's media day to gauge some of the players who were most looking forward to playing in the new conference.

One of the team's foremost leaders, Jamil Wilson, doesn't have one particular team he's looking forward to playing because he takes the season one game at a time.

"Whoever we play first. You can't skip games," Wilson plainly said.

Another senior leader, Chris Otule, is returning for his sixth season at Marquette and has plenty to look forward to aside from just being back on the court.

The conference is really good. We have Xavier who played in the tournament a couple years back, Creighton who has one of best players in country, obviously Butler who we played in NCAA tournament and Maui. It's just an interesting league and I'm excited to play in it

Speaking of the Blue Jays, the newcomer out of Omaha, Neb., was mentioned several times by the players partly because of their matchup on New Year's Eve at the CenturyLink Center. Steve Taylor said he's excited to play the Jays because of a matchup he has his eyes on.

"I can't wait to play Creighton because I'm going to be against McDermott," Taylor said with a small grin on his face.

Doug McDermott is one of the best players Marquette will see all season, and Dylan Flood said he is anxious for the challenge of trying to shut him down.

"I would say Creighton just because they have one of the best players in the country, Doug McDermott," Flood said. "I think that would be a real fun matchup for us to go against, a challenging, but fun one."

Freshman Duane Wilson wasn't on campus during the drama in the changing scene of the Big East, but Wilson has plenty of teams and venues he's looking forward to experiencing for the first time.

I'd probably have to say St. John's because we get to play at the Garden and I've never been to New York before," Wilson said. Georgetown is a big school and a hall of fame school. Everybody's saying Creighton is a leader in the Big East and they have some NBA pros on their team.

Wilson is also ready to experience some of the road environments that will come in the basketball-centered conference.

I feel like it's a great conference. Every road game is going to be good because it's all basketball so I think the atmosphere is going to be crazy and the fans are going to be crazy.

Junior Juan Anderson almost left Marquette because of home sickness, but now that he's back, his biggest games will be the ones his team plays closer to his native Oakland.

"We get to play Arizona State, we go to Vegas to play New Mexico, I'm looking forward to going to the West Coast to see my family, but I look forward to every game," Anderson said.

Like Jamil, Derrick Wilson is just excited for the opportunity to play in the Big East conference.

"I'm excited to play everybody, but just the whole Big East is always exciting," Wilson said.

No matter who the players are excited to play now, the Big East conference should instill some more hatred in old rivalries and stem some thrilling new grudge matches along the way.

All quotes obtained firsthand.

Anytime a team returns two key contributors and nine letter winners from a squad that advanced to the Elite Eight, they should be considered a dangerous threat the next season. 

In the case of the Marquette Golden Eagles, they have been perceived as such a huge threat to the rest of the revamped Big East that they were chosen as the No. 1 team in the conference's preseason poll at Big East media day last week in New York City. 

Last season, the same Golden Eagles side barely escaped out of the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, but after they survived a potential upset at the hands of Davidson, Buzz Williams' team made it to the Elite Eight with wins over Butler and Miami (FL) before bowing out at the hands of old conference foe, Syracuse. 

Over the years, Williams' Marquette teams have proven that they can play with the big boys when it matters the most, and they will be expected to do just that this season. 

As we ask with all teams that are picked to win their conference in the preseason polls: Do the Golden Eagles have enough talent to actually be the true favorite in the Big East? 

For starters, the Golden Eagles return a pair of seniors who did plenty of damage in conference play last season in forwards Davante Gardner and Jamil Wilson. 

Gardner is easily the most recognizable player on the roster at the national level due to his contributions in the paint last season.

The 6'8" Suffolk, Va., native recorded 11.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during the 2012-13 campaign, and he will look to replicate those numbers and then some in his final collegiate season.

The same can be said about Wilson, who averaged 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in his redshirt junior season a year ago.

Gardner and Wilson will be asked to do plenty down low for the Golden Eagles, and they will be allowed to do so because of the defensive prowess of center Chris Otule, who ranks fifth all-time in blocked shots at the Wisconsin school with 114. 

The presence of the 6'11" sixth-year senior will cause opponents plenty of trouble because of his length and ability to deflect shots away with ease. 

With most of the attention on the frontcourt, the players in the backcourt will not be fully under the microscope, but they will be asked to significantly contribute in an effort to replace the presence of Junior Cadougan and Vander Blue, who both left the program after last season. 

One of the players posed with the difficult task of replacing the two veterans at the guard position will be junior Derrick Wilson, who averaged just 13.1 minutes per game last season. 

Joining Wilson in the backcourt will be a plethora of program veterans in junior Todd Mayo, redshirt senior Jake Thomas and junior Dylan Flood. 

If that trio of players slips up at any point in the season, the Golden Eagles have a triumvirate of freshmen that they can call off the bench in Deonte Burton, Duane Wilson and JaJuan Johnson. 

Lest we forget the presence of forward Juan Anderson, who made 31 starts last season and is a valuable cog in the machine as well.

There is also a bit of good news when it comes to the members of the conference this season as two of the four teams who defeated Marquette in conference play last season, Cincinnati and Louisville, have departed the conference. 

Williams' Golden Eagles will have no problem defeating the low-lifes of the conference in DePaul, Seton Hall and potentially Butler, who could be in the midst of a major rebuilding season. 

But, we honestly don't care how they perform against the teams ranked near the bottom of the standings.

We all care about how they do against the likes of Creighton and Georgetown, who will be the two main title contenders. 

Creighton is an unknown opponent to most of the Big East teams, but the Golden Eagles could have the answer to the Bluejays' National Player of the Year candidate Doug McDermott if they use the combination of Otule and Gardner in the right manner on the defensive end in the two meetings between the teams this season. 

That leaves an old foe in Georgetown, who will surely find themselves near the top of the Big East standings by season's end once again. 

In their two meetings last season, the Golden Eagles and Hoyas split with both teams winning in their respective home venues. 

While Marquette's depth looks to be strengthened this season, Georgetown's is a bit rattled since Greg Whittington is injured once again and Otto Porter Jr. is now in the NBA. 

If everything plays in their favor, which it looks like it will, Marquette could easily head to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament as the No. 1 seed. 

A lot has to be determined between now and then, but as we speak there is no reason not to crown Marquette as the preseason favorite to sit atop the Big East throne in March. 

Do you believe Marquette is the favorite to win the Big East this season? 

Comment below or leave me a comment on Twitter, @JTansey90. 

Jameel McKay has decided to transfer from Marquette University before ever playing in a game as a member of the Golden Eagles. McKay, a 6'8" forward, transferred to Marquette after playing two seasons of junior college ball at Indian Hills CC in Iowa. McKay is a local product, however, playing for Pulaski HS in Milwaukee during his prep career.

McKay would have joined a long list of junior college success stories under Buzz Williams since he became the Marquette head coach five-plus seasons ago. Jimmy Butler, the starting shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls, played three seasons under Williams. Butler played a variety of positions at Marquette, making him a versatile fit for any NBA team.

Dwight Buycks played two seasons in Milwaukee before pursuing an international playing career. Buycks' hard work paid off, though, as this past summer he was signed to be the backup point guard for the Toronto Raptors. Darius Johnson-Odom played for three seasons under Williams and was a second-round selection following his senior year.

Former Big East Player of the Year and two-year junior college transfer Jae Crowder was the player most commonly compared to McKay. Not only do both players have dreadlocks, but they are both versatile forwards. Physically, Crowder is much stronger and more primed for Big East basketball. McKay, however, is four inches taller than Crowder, so what he loses in strength he could have made up for in athleticism.

McKay was a two-time All-American in the junior college ranks and averaged a double-double a year ago. He was the third best junior college recruit for the upcoming year and could have been part of an incredible frontcourt this season up north.

The reason for McKay's decision to transfer remains unclear. Unwillingness to play the center positions and poor grades have been rumored, though those are neither here nor there. Just this past spring, both Jake Thomas and Juan Anderson were released from their scholarships at MU, before weeks later deciding to come back and join the team. Will this be the case with McKay? Who knows.

Marquette's frontcourt contains a trio of seniors in the true-senior Davante Gardner, redshirt senior Jamil Wilson and sixth-year senior Chris Otule. Anderson can also play anywhere from shooting guard to power forward, while sophomore Steve Taylor Jr. is a natural 4-man. Deonte Burton is also a versatile, bulldozer-built newcomer to the team.

I had projected McKay to be the team's starting power forward, though there would have been competition with all the above-mentioned players. As we've learned from Buzz Williams' coached teams, whether you are a starter or reserve, it does not matter as he'll play a 10-plus man rotation every night. 

In the end, McKay's loss isn't a huge blow for this upcoming season. It does, however, sting in what would have been McKay's senior year, as Taylor will be the only true big man on next year's roster. I, for one, was incredibly excited to see McKay perform on the court this year and wish him the best wherever he ends up.