Marquette Basketball and college basketball season is here with many games played tonight. I love how college basketball designates one day to be the kickoff date for everything. We are going to stick with covering both Marquette and Wisconsin like we have in the past couple of years. I’m going to hopefully find a recap system that’s unique and works for this sport that’s unlike what we do for some of the others.

1. Haanif Cheathan breakout season: No sophomore slump happening with Marquette’s talented freshman guard. Cheatham is poised to breakout in a major way this season. He’s very talented in creating his own shot, getting to the basket and taking over any game. While he’s not the vocal leader, he’s a silent leader of this game. When he goes, the team goes with him. The slashing ability of Cheatham creates more opportunities for others on the team.

2. Three Bombs away: For the first time in recent memory, Marquette has a firing squad when it comes to three-pointers. They have multiple guys who have shot well over 35 percent in college basketball plus the new additions Sam Hauser and Markus Howard can also stroke the ball. Now, this can be sometimes troublesome when the team relies on the three instead of going to the hole, but let’s focus on that another day and time. Marquette will beat a couple teams with their three-point shooting.

3. New transfers add element to this squad: Katin Reinhardt and Andrew Rowsey are new older additions to this team. Both players are three-point threats, but I like to think both will be able to do more for this team. Reinhardt is a pure scorer who can get hot at any moment and take over a basketball game. I’m also going to make an assumption that most opponents will not be fond of him, but that’s just a hunch. Rowsey is a bit of a gunner with over 100 made threes in his second year at UNC-Asheville, and he needs work distributing the ball yet he’s a solid player who, once again, if he gets hot, look out.

4. Luke Fischer and Jajuan Johnson’s senior year: Both guys have had their ups and downs with this program. Luke Fischer showed so many flashes throughout his Marquette career like he would be a great inside presence, and it hasn’t happened yet. Fischer will be one of the two traditional big men on this roster. He needs to be more productive. Jajuan Johnson had a coming out party last season. He’s one of my favorites to watch play basketball as he’s a hard-worker on the court plus never gives up if he gets off to a slow start.

5. Love being the underdog – Marquette has a good roster. KenPom rates this team 49th in the nation which would probably put them in the NCAA Tournament. No one is talking about them. They don’t have a top 100 player according SB Nation, CBS Sports and others. No one is calling them even a sleeper this season. Marquette can be a damn good if all the pieces come together.

Charlie.