INDIANAPOLIS — Behold today’s college basketball: Revolving-door rosters, tidal waves of transfers and lineups that have the changing faces of an airport terminal.
But then there’s Marquette.
The Golden Eagles are 18-3, tied for the lead in the Big East, ranked No. 9 this week in the Associated Press poll, and when it comes to the makeup of their team, are so . . . last decade. They sent out a lineup of Kam Jones, Chase Ross, Stevie Mitchell, Ben Gold and David Joplin on Tuesday night at Butler. Those are the same five guys who started the first 20 Marquette games. But there’s more.
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The five have now played in a combined 555 college basketball games. All 555 in Marquette uniforms. No transfers here. No sudden appearance of players from distant area codes. No here today and gone tomorrow. Just continuity and success.
The Golden Eagles have not dipped into the Division I transfer portal since the start of the 2022-23 season, while all around them, it’s a gusher. They are the only power league program that can say that. As of last weekend, they were one of nine teams in Division I that had used the same starting lineup every game. Two years ago, they were one of only two. Also, since the opening of the 22-23 season, a span covering parts of four calendar years and 94 games, Marquette has started only eight players. Kansas has already started nine in its first 19 games this season.
How is this swim-against-the-tide happening? And why? This is where coach Shaka Smart comes in. You remember him. He was at Texas, and before that, coached VCU to the Final Four in 2011. And before that, he was a magna cum laude graduate in history from Kenyon College. Shaka Smart, all right. Anyway, this is his fourth season with Marquette, and there he was in the hallway of Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday night, his team having just spotted Butler a 10-point lead and then blowing past the Bulldogs 78-69 to stay atop the Big East with a 9-1 conference record.
“We try to recruit guys from families, not just the players but the parent, who really value relationships. And then we really work at relationships very hard. I mean, it’s the number one thing we work on,” Coach Smart began. “Most importantly, that’s player-to-player relationships because if you and I are teammates and we love each other, if you’re staying, then I’m more likely to stay. Probably the opposite is true, too.”
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