And there’s the fact that the Conference USA Freshman of the Year award went to Marquette’s Steve Novak last year.

But despite these lofty aspirations, Marquette’s quartet of freshmen have plenty of credentials and accomplishments of their own as a pair of Michigan natives, a Floridian and yet another Marquette student hailing from a suburb of Chicago are looking to start their own legacy at Marquette.

The most touted of this year’s class is Aurora, Ill.-native Dameon Mason. The second-place finisher in last year’s Mr. Basketball voting for the state of Illinois, Mason brings a range of experience and success to Marquette.

The 6-foot-5 guard/forward was ranked in the top 40 of high school seniors by a number of publications last year and got some high-level practice for college by starting for the West squad in the EA Roundball Classic, an exhibition game that featured many of the best high schoolers in the country, in March.

In his high school experience, Mason brings plenty of hardware with himself as well. Mason was named conference player of the year for the only two years he spent at West Aurora High School and was named prep player of the week by USA Today in February.

Mason considered attending North Carolina and Oklahoma but decided to take his 20.9 points per game last year (with 60 percent shooting) to Marquette, where he’s expected to contribute immediately — and did, with 5 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes against St. John’s last week.

Traveling a bit farther than Mason is Carlton Christian, a versatile recruit from Orlando. Christian managed to start for four years and started at all five positions at Maynard Evans High School, both firsts for that school.

Christian ended up playing most of last year at point guard and managed to average 5.2 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 12 points per game his senior year.

The 6-foot-5 guard also was named to the first team of a number of regional teams and scored 22 points in the Florida-Georgia All-Star Game.

As for the other half of Marquette’s freshman class, they provide the latest argument in Michigan’s basketball debate.

Representing Detroit in this quandary is James Matthews, a 6-foot-8, 240 pound forward. Matthews is coming off of a year of not playing high school basketball after he was ruled a fifth-year senior by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

But Matthews’ previous high school career had plenty of sizzle. In his last year of playing high school ball, Matthews averaged 18 points and 14.5 points per game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., spent his first two years playing basketball, and was ranked in the top 10 of players in California.

And on the flipside of Matthews is Brandon Bell, who has Flint, Mich., basketball running through his blood.

Bell’s brother, Charlie, was a star on Michigan State’s basketball team a few years ago leading a unit of Flint natives (including NBA star Morris Peterson) who were named the “Flintstones.”

While Brandon may be Marquette’s sole Flint representative, he brings a team’s worth of accolades with him. Bell finished fourth in voting for Michigan’s Mr. Basketball and was on the first team for B Class schools in Michigan for three different publications.

The 5-foot-11 Bell averaged 20 points and 8.8 assists last season at Flint Southwestern Academy, where he also lettered in football, baseball and cross country, and finished eighth all-time in Flint basketball history for points and third in the state of Michigan for assists.

Time can only tell whether this year’s freshmen will match the success of the previous class, but there is enough potential and talent to make it a reality again.,”Matthew T. Olson”

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