Big East Roundup: Shaka Smart, Marquette Retool After Losing Senior Stars

This is one in a series of stories covering roster changes around the Big East heading into the 2025-26 college basketball season.

After climbing as high as No. 5 in the AP Poll last season Marquette sputtered down the stretch, playing to a 5-8 record once the calendar flipped to February with a first round upset loss to New Mexico.

The Golden Eagles lost national player of the year candidate Kam Jones (points, assists), Philadelphia area native Stevie Mitchell (steals) and David Joplin (rebounds, blocks) to graduation, who combined to lead them in every major statistical category: they also finished top three in scoring. Other graduations include depth pieces Jack Anderson, Cameron Brown and Jake Ciardo. 

Redshirt sophomore forward Al Amadou, a Philadelphia native, hit the transfer portal, as did redshirt freshman walk-on Luke Jacobson. Neither appeared in a game during the 2024-25 campaign. The loss of Jones, Mitchell and Joplin will hurt, but the Golden Eagles needed to slim down their roster. They had 19 players last season, well above the new roster limit of 15 scholarship athletes. Now they’re down to 17 players, and likely hope to grandfather in former walk-ons Jonah Lucas and Casey O’Malley in order to remain in compliance.

Senior starters Chase Ross and Ben Gold will return for a final season at Marquette. Ross finished fourth in scoring (10.5 points per game) and second in assists (2.1 per game) last season, while Gold, a 6-foot-11 forward, put up 7.4 points and 4.3 boards per game as the fifth-leading scorer.

Untested Continuity

Marquette returns the No. 6 through No. 10 spots from last season’s bench in terms of minutes played per game. Sophomore Royce Parham, a 6-foot-8 forward, led the bench in minutes (14.8) and points (5.1) per game, making him an athlete to watch as he continues to develop.

6-foot-5 guard Zaide Lowery put up 4.1 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game, while the rest of the bench — 6-foot-9 sophomore Caedin Hamilton, 6-foot-4 junior guard Tre Norman and 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Damarius Owens — all played sparingly behind an accomplished starting lineup that all stayed healthy throughout the season and dominated in minutes played. They could suffer growing pains this season or step right into success after being blocked by established talent.

The Golden Eagles also brought back junior guard Sean Jones, who redshirted while recovering from a knee injury suffered the previous season; 7-foot-1 Joshua Clark and 6-foot-8 Braeden Brenn both redshirted as a true freshman.

Marquette will supplement their lineup with a five member freshman class, all of whom earned a four-star ranking. 247Sports lists the class as the 20th-best in the nation. Headliners are ESPN Top 100 recruits Nigel James Jr. (No. 68), a six foot tall point guard, and 6-foot-6 wing Michael Phillips II. 6-foot-11 freshman Sheek Pearson reclassified from the class of 2026 and will redshirt this season, while 6-foot-4 combo guard Adrien Stevens and 6-foot-7 forward Ian Miletic round out their four-star haul.

Marquette might need to retool after losing all that production from last season — ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently lists them as one of the ‘First Four Out’ despite four straight tournament bids under Smart — but they brought in a star-studded freshman class in an attempt to stay on course.