Basketball schedules a lackluster buy game

Those who complain about Wojo scheduling easy non-conference opponents got some more ammunition last week when Chicago State revealed its full schedule and Marquette was on it. The Golden Eagles and Cougars will square off Wednesday, Nov. 29.

KenPom.com ranked Chicago State 335th out of 351 teams in the country last year. Only three of the Cougars’ six wins on the season were against Division I teams. Chicago State plays in the Western Athletic Conference, which is 1-10 all-time against Marquette.

Nine of Marquette’s 12 non-conference opponents are now known: Wisconsin, Purdue in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, Georgia, Chicago State, American, Mount St. Mary’s and three of the teams in the Maui Invitational field. Two buy games and the Maui Invitational mainland game will likely be announced in the next month.

Deputy athletic director Mike Broeker tweeted that this year’s game was a makeup after last year’s was postponed.

Evaluation period for 2019 starts with a flurry of offers

The current year isn’t even half over, but Marquette basketball is already starting to look at its 2019 roster.

Five recruits received offers from Marquette on Thursday, the first day coaches were allowed to personally contact 2019 players. Three of them are in the 247Sports composite Top 100 rankings: forward Isaiah Stewart (No. 19) and guards Josh Nickelberry (No. 57) and De’Vion Harmon (No. 63).

Marquette also called several prospects without extending them an offer: big man Will Baker from Austin, Texas, and Leonardtown, Maryland, wing Mekhi Long. Baker is ranked within the top 100 while Long does not have a ranking yet.

There are two open scholarship spots for 2019-’20, a year when Marquette projects to have five seniors. Nobody from that class has committed to Marquette yet, although that is pretty standard at this early juncture.

Marquette throws a final 100-year celebration

To cap off its hundredth year of basketball, Marquette is holding a Centennial Hoopla event in the Bradley Center on Friday, June 23 at 5 p.m.

More than 100 players and former staff members are expected to attend, including every living Marquette head coach except for Buzz Williams, who now coaches Virginia Tech. Over 20 of them will be speaking on panels throughout the evening. Some of the more notable names in that group are current NBA players Wesley Matthews and Steve Novak.

Online registration for the event is now closed, so anybody who still wants a ticket should call (414) 288-7431. The cost of attendance is $125, which includes a non-refundable $25 donation to the Men’s Basketball Excellence Fund.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas will emcee the event. He played basketball at Duke from 1982 to 1986, 12 years before Wojo entered the program. Wojo told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Jay is a good friend and “it took just one phone call” for Bilas to agree to emcee the event.

Quick hits

• The Golden Eagles Alumni team unveiled the new uniforms they will wear for this year’s The Basketball Tournament. This year, the Alumni have two kits to choose from; one of them all white and the other all navy blue. Click here to see the full uniform design.
• Marquette lacrosse graduate Liam Byrnes notched a goal in his season debut with the MLL’s Florida Launch Saturday. Florida came from behind to beat the Atlanta Blaze, 19-16.
• Power forward Matt Heldt has only made five jumpers in his Marquette basketball career, but that didn’t stop him from draining a half-court to give kids at a Marquette basketball camp ice cream. He did it again yesterday at another basketball camp.