Marquette Men’s Basketball Announced 2023

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Not just numbers for the new guys on the team, but a couple of new numbers for guys coming back from last season, too.

Hey, did you see that Marquette men's basketball announced some new uniform numbers and/or uniform numbers for the newcomers last week? It's true! That happened! We should probably talk about it.

New faces, New numbers! #MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/aOlJpDLlTg

Quick aside: Check out the Domino messaging with the name/number graphic.

With Chase Ross changing numbers (patience, young padawan), Tre Norman will continue the run since the start of the century with just one season of Marquette basketball without a #5 on the roster. That's a bit of a change from the history of the number, which was regularly in use from 1937 through 1945…. And then no one at all until Chris Crawford in 1993. Crawford is presumably the best Marquette player to ever wear #5, as he's one of the 50 guys to score 1,000 points in their careers. We’ll see if Norman can ascend that hill in his career, but he has a much steeper climb to become the most popular guy wearing #5, at least amongst recent Marquette players. That's because Fan Favorite Greg Elliott had it for his entire MU career. I personally keep a warm spot in my heart for Junior Cadougan, too.

All due respect to Zaide Lowery, but the odds of it are that he's not going to be the best Marquette player to ever wear #10. That's what happens when Tony Miller, the program's all time assists leader, wore it for his whole career. A guy by the name of Travis Diener had it for a year, too, Noted NBA Player Juan Toscano-Anderson wore it for his entire career, and Zach Wrightsil was the most recent Golden Eagle to wear #10. The number has been in use pretty consistently since 1973, with a year here and a year there out of service. Richard Collentine is the first Marquette player to ever wear it back in 1941, and there was a gap from 1945 to 1973 where no one wore it.

There's a long history of guys wearing #21 for Marquette. Between Thomas McCarthy in 1940 and Ben Gold last season (he's changing numbers, be patient, we’ll get there), there have been 27 guys with that on their jersey. There is not a storied history of #21's, though. Ulice Payne, Terry Reason, Mike Bargen, Trend Blackledge, Joe Fulce, Traci Carter, D.J. Carton.... there's names of note out there, but no one that's sticking their head above the clouds as the obvious pick as the best #21 in program history. The door's open for that to be Amadou, and fairly quickly in his college career. too.

That brings us to the two guys from last year's squad that will be sporting new numbers come November.

New year, New numbers! #MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/LsLWz1O2cv

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this in the past when Justin Lewis and then Emarion Ellis took up #2, but the use of the number through the history of the program is fascinatingly weird. James Blask wore #2 between 1933 and 1935...... and then it went unused until Odartey Blankson picked it in 2000. There has to be some sort of NCAA rule/uniform manufacturing explanation here, right? Vander Blue or Justin Lewis is the best MU player to ever wear #2, but both of those guys might not be the owner of the title as "best performance while wearing #2," as Blue's best season came in #13 and Lewis’ best was as #10. There's arguments for Maurice Acker and Sacar Anim as the best #2 here, and all due respect to those guys, but that means the door is open for Ross to be the best #2 eventually.

Is Ben Gold going to be the best #12 in Marquette history? He’ll have to overtake Aaron Hutchins, who finished his career in the top 20 in scoring, #2 in three-pointers made (#6 now), and #2 in total assists (#4 now). Is Ben Gold going to be the most successful Golden Eagle after his time at Marquette? Well, the jury's still out on that, not just because that's (theoretically) a long time off for Gold, but because Olivier-Maxence Prosper is very clearly on the verge of rewriting that concept. I don't even think Ben Gold can become the biggest fan favorite to wear #12, as it's going to be awfully hard to pass up Matt Heldt.

We have to give a shoutout to Friend Of The Show Alan Bykowski from Cracked Sidewalks for noticing that there has been some height updates on the roster as things shifted from 2022-23 to 23-24. No one has a new weight listed, but five guys are now taller than they were last year, at least officially.

Stevie Mitchell — 6’2" to 6’3"

Chase Ross — 6’4" to 6’5"

Kam Jones — 6’4" to 6’5"

David Joplin — 6’7" to 6’8"

Oso Ighodaro — 6’9" to 6’11"

The big change — literally — is an addition of two inches by Oso Ighodaro. I’m not saying it's weird or impossible for 18 to 22 year old young men to suddenly add height over the course of a calendar year, especially when they’re already well above average height. I am saying that I suspect that people are going to start looking at Ighodaro and his particular set of skills differently — in a positive manner, mind you — with Marquette listing him at just short of seven feet tall.