On Oct. 12, the website for statistical analysis KenPom.com released its initial season ratings for all 365 Division I programs.
The first of the 2026-27 projections placed the Marquette men at 34th in overall net rating, which is KenPom’s dictating rank for a team’s quality. Duke is ranked No. 1 in the projections.
Marquette has an impressive 20th defensive rating and a much more lackluster 48th offensive rating.
At the start of last season, the Golden Eagles were projected to be the 47th-best team. After a 20-loss season, they finished 83rd.
Marquette’s best KenPom finish in coach Shaka Smart's five previous seasons at MU was 10th in the 2022-23 season, when it won the Big East championship. The Golden Eagles headed into the year projected at No. 76.
Although MU’s 34th overall rank places them above Wisconsin, North Carolina and Baylor, the Golden Eagles are fifth in the Big East, a few spots behind Villanova (32) and Creighton (30), and well behind St. John's (23) and Connecticut (11).
Marquette has an overall projected record of 21-11 and 11-9 in the Big East. KenPom’s game-by-game projections have MU being swept by Connecticut and splitting the series’ versus St. John’s, Providence, Creighton and Villanova.
After being swept by DePaul for the first time since the 1990-91 season, Marquette is projected to bounce back with two wins over the Blue Demons.
Marquette’s toughest nonconference game comes against Michigan in Ann Arbor on Nov. 11, when KenPom rates MU as a 5-point underdog.
KenPom also expects Marquette to have some tough sailing in the Bahamas where they are 4- and 3-point underdogs to Virginia and Texas A&M, respectively.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette men’s basketball lands at No. 34 in the KenPom preseason projections