Typically, we will try to get a recap up the day after games. That will be the mission moving forward. Friday games are always tough which we have two of them in the next two weeks. As a placeholder, let’s talk about the first two games for Marquette. They played a cupcake in Arkansas Pine-Bluff then put away a spunky Eastern Illinois with a great final push in the waning minutes of the game. Marquette is 2-0 again for the third straight season. But can it be sustained? Here are a few things that have caught my eye.

1. This is not Markus Howard’s Marquette team anymore – This might be a dumb, meathead take, but teams take the identity of their best player and/or their leader. Markus Howard was that for Marquette last season. They appeared to be soft, not as physical as other Big East teams, and smaller than most teams they played against. This isn’t the case anymore. Marquette looks mean. Ready to play defense and long as all hell. This is a different look, and expect a lot of broadcasters to talk about that especially early in the season. I loved Howard, but this version is intriguing and exciting.

2. Is this Theo John thing real? – It does weirdly seem that Marquette big men have these out-of-nowhere senior years. Ousmane Barro became a great role player for Marquette in his senior year. Dwight Burke had some moments too. Could this be Theo John’s year? KenPom gave him the ‘MVP’ of the first two games. John is thriving early on. He scored 13 points, 12 rebounds, and five blocks against Pine-Bluff then followed it up with nine points, nine rebounds. John will get Oklahoma State and Wisconsin this week. That will be a challenge. If he is a factor in those games, there is a conversation worth having.

3. Dawson Garcia is everything as advertised – It didn’t take long to go all-in on Dawson Garcia. He played great in both games to start his Marquette career. Garcia had 19 points in game one, and 16 points in game two. He looked very comfortable out there and fit well into Marquette’s system. Steve Wojciechowski isn’t a big fan with the fans, but he deserves some credit for integrating another big man seamlessly Like with John, this will be a level up this week with Oklahoma State and Wisconsin. It will be interesting to see if Garcia can hang with those dudes too.

4. D.J. Carton started to show some promise late against Eastern Illinois – There is no reason to worry about D.J. Carton. He did not have a great first game, and for a part of the EIU game, Carton did not look great. But then he started to find it late. He is a great attacker and finisher. That needs to be more of his game. I’m not concerned about him.

5. Marquette getting to the line, just make them now – The first two games featured Marquette getting to the free-throw line over 30 times in both of those games. The free-throw percentage isn’t that good though. 72% isn’t that bad which is what they did against Pine-Bluff, but 64% is. Marquette needs to make more of them but getting to the line is a great sign. That’s encouraging.

Next up: Marquette will stay at home for their third game of the year against Oklahoma State on December 1st. That will be Tuesday and feature Cade Cunningham, the top recruit in the nation. KenPom projects this as a three-point victory for the Golden Eagles. This is the Cowboys and Golden Eagles’ first matchup since 2007-2008.

Charlie.