In recent years, opening day of the NCAA transfer portal meant little to Marquette men’s basketball.

While other programs scrambled to pluck each other’s stars, the Golden Eagles sat back with a bucket of popcorn and watched the chaos unfold from a safe distance.

Not in 2026.

After Marquette ended the season with 20 losses for the second time in program history and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years, head coach Shaka Smart has to make changes. Not merely to his roster, but also his construction process.

That means, for the first time in four seasons, entering the gladiatorial battle for transfers. Smart and his staff are back on the front lines, in the vanguard.

Golden Eagle fans are along for the ride, closely following reports of possible acquisitions, dreaming of potential reinforcements. Supporter message boards and group-chats teem with excited gossip about which players Marquette could woo to help their favorite program return to the perch it once occupied.

As March Madness ended Monday, April Madness began Tuesday. And, after missing out on the first kind of mayhem, the Golden Eagles are participating in the second.

Smart knows this is his most crucial offseason since taking the reins in Milwaukee. His job seat is not hot right now, but another season spent at the bottom of the Big East and ending with a Selection Sunday omission would significantly raise the temperature. Perhaps to boiling.

“We got a lot of work to do,” Smart said after Marquette’s first-round loss to Xavier in the Big East tournament. “But we’re very, very motivated and driven to grow and be better, because we know what we’re capable of.”

What does Marquette have?

The Golden Eagles have three open scholarship positions as of Tuesday morning.

Guards Sean Jones and Tre Norman unlocked two spots on March 31 when both announced they were entering the portal, and Zaide Lowery marks the third after his mid-season departure.

Crucially, Marquette retained its core and supporting cast.

Along with its three pillars — point guard and floor general Nigel James Jr., fellow backcourt first-year Adrien Stevens and breakout forward Royce Parham — other young Golden Eagles with high ceilings announced they too were returning.

First came Damarius Owens, who on March 23 posted a highlight reel with the caption “Nowhere I’d rather be.”

Injuries in his two years in the blue & gold have kept the lengthy and athletic Owens from reaching his full potential. But, the 6-foot-7 wing ended his sophomore year well after a rocky start, and has repeatedly shown flashes he can be a real asset to Smart.

Then, on April 1, first-year Michael Phillips II announced he was returning as well.

Phillips skipped his final year of high school to enroll early at Marquette, and his youth showed with some sloppy mistakes and erratic playing time. But, he has potential to be a reliable 3-and-D player, evidenced by his 17-for-46 3-point shooting clip (37%) on the season, which he capped off with a career-high 10 points in 13 minutes in the Big East tournament.

Smart will also get to use Sheek Pearson, Ian Miletic and Nash Walker, all of whom redshirted last season.

Pearson, who graduated high school one year early, is the latest big to prematurely join Marquette and jump-start his college career. Miletic is a versatile forward who made the decision to redshirt shortly before the season started. Walker, a much-needed pure shooter, came to campus from Australia in December, but suffered a shoulder injury during a workout and wore a sling on his right arm for the month of March.

“I do think we have some young players, Michael Phillips showed it [against Xavier], that can emerge and develop and be part of a rotation playing heavy minutes,” Smart said in New York.

“I think Owens has had games where he’s been really, really good. I thought in the second half he came alive and was much, much better. We’ve got some other young players in our program, including the three redshirts that really have a chance.”

The Golden Eagles have two incoming first-years in Ethan Johnston and Alex Egbuono.

Egbuono is Marquette’s second-highest recruit in Smart’s five years, at No. 79 nationally on 247Sports. The Lawrence Academy product was named the 2025-26 Gatorade Massachusetts boys basketball player of the year on March 20.

Johnston was the first player to commit to the Golden Eagles’ 2026 recruiting class, and averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as a junior at The Hill School. He also reached the EYBL Peach Jam title game last July, coincidentally playing against Pearson.

What does Marquette need?

The number one answer to the question is clear. Marquette coaches know it. Fans know it. The world knows it.

The Golden Eagles need a big man. Desperately.

Ben Gold is out of eligibility after making 62 starts in 138 appearances across four seasons. But at only 235 pounds, the 6-foot-11 forward was not much of a bruiser and could be found more often outside the arc instead of in the paint.

Supposed to fill that void was sophomore Caedin Hamilton, who people in the program raved about before the season began. Standing shorter but heavier than Gold — at 6 feet, 9 inches and 245 pounds — Hamilton started the first 15 games of the season but struggled mightily.

By January, having proven unable to succeed at a high major level, Hamilton was replaced by Parham in the starting five (other than two games when Gold was hampered by an ankle injury) and saw his minutes dwindle. Whether he will return to Marquette next season is unknown at this time, but he could be seen in offseason workout videos posted by the program as recently as Monday.

Another option is 7-foot-1 Josh Clark, but he has not shown he is capable of occupying a prominent role in the rotation. There are a lot of expectations surrounding Pearson for the future, but listed at only 205 pounds, he needs to gain a lot more weight to battle Big East bigs.

An older, better developed center who can play alongside Parham would immediately improve the roster, and should be Smart’s biggest priority in the portal.

Marquette didn’t finish 12-20 because it struggled only in the front-court, though.

Guard depth was also an issue, especially after Lowery left the program in late December and Jones missed the final 18 games with a foot injury.

For the final three months of the season, the Golden Eagles had only one reserve guard in Norman, who failed to develop offensively and never became a consistent contributor. It meant a heavy burden for James Jr. and Stevens, who played a large bulk of the minutes and occasionally fell victim to fatigue late in games.

Along with Norman and Jones, the Golden Eagles also need to replace graduating guard Chase Ross, who scored over 1,000 career points and made the 2026 Big East all-defensive team after leading the conference with 2.3 steals per game.

“We’re going to make sure we have more depth,” Smart said.

Getting at least a reliable starting big and backup guard should help Marquette improve on two massive struggles: rebounding and shooting.

The Golden Eagles allowed opponents to grab 34.7% of available offensive boards, the No. 332 mark in the country. And, they finished a lowly 31.8% from beyond the arc on the year, making them 289th nationally in 3-point shooting per KenPom.com.

But, Marquette has its foundation, and adding a few talented pieces in key areas before the portal closes April 21 could be all it needs to get back to the Big Dance. Or, at least out of the tragic, continuously deepening hellscapes in which they spent most of last season.

This story was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.