Often times when a coaching change happens in college basketball, the program hits a reset button.
Players graduate or transfer, the school loses top-tier recruits, and it takes a year or two to recover.
Not this year at Marquette.
Not with Shaka Smart.
The new head man at MU had a banner day on Wednesday, grabbing commitments from previous Texas commits Emarion Ellis and Keeyan Itejere, as well as local 4-star Brookfield Central product David Joplin.
The transfer market is fruitful, too.
Smart landed Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year Tyler Kolek in the transfer portal from George Mason.
In addition to bringing in top-tier talent of his own, Smart has retained pieces from the Steve Wojciechowski era.
Incumbent stars DJ Carton and Justin Lewis are back.
And previous signees Stevie Mitchell and Kam Jones are following through on their commitments to MU.
Rising sophomore Dawson Garcia is testing the NBA Draft waters while keeping his collegiate eligibility.
Forget a rebuild.
If Garcia comes back, the Golden Eagles could be in business as soon as this season.
It’s a credit to Shaka for quickly getting people to buy into the culture he’s creating in Milwaukee.
More than that, though, it’s a credit to President Lovell and Athletic Director Bill Scholl for hiring a guy that was ready to hit the ground running.
