Marquette’s Prosper says he will stay in draft rather than returning to school

Associated PressMay 26, 2023, 7:08 PM EDT

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

MILWAUKEE — Olivier-Maxence Prosper announced he is keeping his name under NBA draft consideration rather than returning to Marquette.

The 6-foot-8 forward announced his decision.

“Thank you Marquette nation, my coaches, my teammates and support staff for embracing me from day one,” Prosper said in an Instagram post. “My time at Marquette has been incredible. With that being said, I will remain in the 2023 NBA Draft. I’m excited for what comes next. On to the next chapter…”

Prosper had announced last month he was entering the draft. He still could have returned to school and maintained his college eligibility by withdrawing from the draft by May 31. Prosper’s announcement indicates he instead is going ahead with his plans to turn pro.

Prosper averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds last season while helping Marquette go 29-7 and win the Big East’s regular-season and tournament titles. Marquette’s season ended with a 69-60 loss to Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32.

He played two seasons at Marquette after transferring from Clemson, where he spent one season.

Marquette’s Shaka Smart voted men’s AP coach of the year

Associated PressMar 31, 2023, 4:06 PM EDT

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Shaka Smart has packed an entire career’s worth of experiences into 14 years as a college head coach. He led VCU to an improbable Final Four as a 30-something wunderkind in 2011, guided mighty Texas to a Big 12 Tournament title during six otherwise tepid years in Austin, and now has turned Marquette into a Big East beast.

It’s sometimes easy to forget he’s still just 45 years old.

Yet his work with the Golden Eagles this season might have been his best: Picked ninth in the 11-team league by its coaches, they won the regular-season title going away, then beat Xavier to win their first Big East Tournament championship.

That earned Smart the AP coach of the year award Friday. He garnered 24 of 58 votes from a national media panel to edge Kansas State’s Jerome Tang, who received 13 votes before guiding the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, who earned 10 before taking the Cougars to the Sweet 16.

Voting opened after the regular season and closed at the start of the NCAA Tournament, where the No. 2 seed Golden Eagles were knocked out in the second round by Michigan State and Smart’s longtime mentor, Tom Izzo.

“I’m very grateful to win this award,” said Smart, the second Marquette coach to take it home after Hall of Famer Al McGuire in 1971, “but obviously it always comes back to the guys you have on your team.

“Early on,” Smart said, “we had a real sense the guys had genuine care and concern for one another, and we had a very good foundation for relationships that we could continue to build on. And over the course of seasons, you go through so many different experiences as a team. And those experiences either bring you closer together or further apart. Our guys did a great job, even through adverse experiences, even through challenges, becoming closer together.”

It’s hardly surprising such cohesion is what Smart would choose to remember most from a most memorable season.

The native of Madison, Wisconsin, who holds a master’s degree in social science from California University of Pennsylvania, long ago earned a reputation for building close bonds with players and a tight-knit camaraderie within his teams.

No matter how high or low the Golden Eagles were this season, those traits carried them through.

“Everything that we go through, whether it be the retreat that we went on before the season, all the workouts in the summer, he’s preaching his culture,” said Tyler Kolek, a third-team All-American. “And he’s showing his leadership every single day, and just trying to impart that on us, and kind of put it in our DNA. Because it’s definitely in his DNA.”

That’s reflected in the way Smart, who accepted the Marquette job two years ago after an often bumpy tenure at Texas, has rebuilt the Golden Eagles program after it had begun to languish under Steve Wojciechowski.

Sure, Smart landed his share of transfers – Kolek among them – in an era in which the portal has become so prevalent. But he largely built a team that finished 29-7 this season around high school recruits, eschewing a quick fix in the hopes of long-term stability. Among those prospects were Kam Jones, their leading scorer, and do-everything forward David Joplin.

“He teaches us lots of things about the importance of each other,” Joplin said. “He lets us know, time and time again, that we can’t do anything without each other, but together we can do anything.”

That sounds like a decidedly old-school approach to building a college basketball program.

One embraced by a still-youthful head coach.

“I think being a head coach has never been more complicated, never been more nuanced, and never more all-encompassing,” Smart told the AP in a wide-ranging interview last week. “Does that mean it’s harder? You could say that.

“What makes your job less hard,” Smart said, “is having a captive audience in your players, and guys that truly understand and own what goes into winning, and that’s what we had this past year. But those things just don’t happen. There are a lot of steps that have to occur on the part of a lot of people, not just the coach, to get to where you have a winning environment.”

Michigan State outlasts Marquette; Izzo back to Sweet 16

Associated PressMar 20, 2023, 12:54 AM EDT

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tom Izzo leaned on star guard and native New Yorker Tyson Walker to get Michigan State to Madison Square Garden for the Sweet 16.

Walker, a fourth-year player who grew up in Westbury on Long Island, delivered against Marquette in March Madness on Sunday night, scoring 23 points and punctuating Michigan State’s 69-60 victory with a steal and his first ever collegiate dunk late in the game.

And Walker wants to make sure his 68-year-old, Hall of Fame coach has a quintessential Big Apple experience.

“It means everything,” said Walker, who played two years at Northeastern before transferring to Michigan State. “Just growing up, seeing everything, playing at the Garden. Just to make those shots, look over see my dad, see how excited he was. That means everything. And I just owe Coach some pizza now. And a cab ride.”

Joey Hauser – a Marquette transfer – had 14 points and A.J. Hoggard had 13 as seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-12) took over in the last three minutes. The Spartans advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in four years and will play third-seeded Kansas State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday.

“I’ve been in Elite Eight games; I’ve been in the Final Four – that was as intense and tough a game as I’ve been in my career,” Izzo said. “And a lot of credit goes to Marquette and (coach) Shaka (Smart) and how they played, too.”

Izzo reached his 15th regional semifinal and won his record 16th March Madness game with a lower-seeded team – one more than Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who retired after this season.

This one was particularly meaningful. Izzo became the face of a grieving school where three students were killed in a campus shooting on Feb. 13.

“It’s been a long year,” an emotional Izzo said in a courtside interview. “I’m just happy for our guys.”

Olivier-Maxence Prosper led second-seeded Marquette (29-7) with 16 points and Kam Jones had 14 points, including three 3-pointers, for the Big East champions.

Michigan State led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Ben Gold and Prosper made back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Golden Eagles close within 33-28 at halftime.

Prosper hit two more 3s in the first minute of the second half to give Marquette its first lead of the day. Michigan State grabbed back the lead with an 8-0 run and didn’t relinquish it.

Back-to-back baskets in the paint by Hoggard and then Walker, both times as the shot clock expired, gave the Spartans a 60-55 lead with 2:20 left. Mady Sissoko then blocked shots on consecutive Marquette possessions, and Walker had a steal followed by a game-sealing dunk with 39 seconds left.

Marquette’s nine-game winning streak ended, concluding a season in which the Golden Eagles exceeded expectations under coach Smart, who has referred to Izzo as a mentor.

Michigan State, meanwhile, finished fourth in the Big Ten but appears to be improving at the right time.

“We’ve still got some dancing to do,” Izzo said. “And we’re going to New York. I couldn’t be more excited for Tyson and even A.J., being a Philly guy.

“After watching the tournament, it doesn’t matter who we play, when we play, where we play, or how, it’s going to be a hell of a game. And I’m looking forward to it.”

BIG PICTURE

Marquette: Coming off their first Big East Tournament title, the Golden Eagles dominated Vermont in the first round of March Madness, but Michigan State was a much tougher opponent. The Golden Eagles committed 11 of their 16 turnovers in the second half, and those giveaways led to 19 Spartans points.

“I thought (Michigan State) played with great aggressiveness, particularly early in the game and at the very end of the game,” Smart said. “And those two the stretches were the difference in the outcome of the game.”

Michigan State: The Spartans came out of their shooting funk after the halfway point of the second half and pulled away. They made 15 of their 17 free throws after halftime.

KOLEK HURTING

Tyler Kolek, the Big East Player of the Year, injured his thumb when he caught it on the jersey of a Vermont player in the opening round Friday night.

He finished that game with eight points. He wasn’t much of a factor against Michigan State, either, scoring seven points, losing six turnovers and committing four fouls.

Kolek insisted the thumb “wasn’t an issue at all.”

“Just trying to be out there for my team and command the game. And I didn’t do that today,” he said.

UP NEXT

Michigan State’s next opponent, Kansas State, is making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018 and first under coach Jerome Tang.

March Madness: Jones, Marquette roll over Vermont 78-61

Associated PressMar 17, 2023, 7:30 PM EDT

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Kam Jones managed just a single point in the first half against Vermont. Then the guard received a round of encouragement from the Marquette bench during an early second-half timeout.

It all just clicked for Jones from there.

Jones scored 18 of his 19 points in one stretch of the second half as second-seeded Marquette pulled away from Vermont en route to a 78-61 rout in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

“Kam, second half, he looked a little down, like somebody took his puppy dog in the timeout,” coach Shaka Smart said. “And we just tried to encourage him, all the coaches and players tried to encourage him. ‘Hey, just be you, man.’ And I thought he did a great job. That’s what allowed us to break the game open.”

Oso Ighodaro scored 14 points and David Joplin added 12 as Marquette (29-6) left the Catamounts behind in the last 10 minutes. Marquette won its first NCAA game in a decade and advanced to face seventh-seeded Michigan State on Sunday in the East Regional for a spot in the Sweet 16.

Michigan State beat No. 10 Southern California on Friday.

Although the win put Marquette in new territory for the first time in 10 years, the NCAA Tournament is routine for Smart. He’s made 10 tournament appearances in the last 13 years with three teams, and he led VCU to the Final Four in 2011.

His pep talk with Jones helped Marquette advance.

Jones’ second-half surge included scoring all of Marquette’s points in a five-minute stretch, including a trio of 3-point shots. By the time he was finished, the Golden Eagles increased their lead from five points to 17 with just under 10 minutes left.

Jones, who averages 14.7 points per game, said he got a pass from Ighodaro that gave him a look for an “easy 3” to start the run.

“That just made the basket look wide,” he said. “So I was just able to get it going.”

Dylan Penn, Matt Veretto and Robin Duncan each had 11 points for Vermont (23-11), whose 15-game win streak was snapped by the Golden Eagles.

Marquette led 39-30 at the half, despite Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek hitting only 3 of his 10 shots from the floor.

“Kam Jones really killed us in the second half,” Vermont coach John Becker said. “We did a good job on Kolek and didn’t do a good enough job on Kam Jones. Credit to them, they’re really good players. It’s not like we weren’t trying.”

Marquette extended its winning streak to 10 games.

KOLEK INJURED

Smart said Kolek has a thumb injury but plans to play against Michigan State on Sunday. Kolek wasn’t a big factor in the game, getting his fourth foul early in the second. He finished with eight points after scoring in double figures for the previous 13 games.

“He’s about as tough as they come,” Smart said. “So if he can play, he’s going to play. You probably have to cut his thumb off to keep him from playing. Even then he’d still try to play.”

BIG PICTURE

Vermont: The Catamounts stayed close for most of the game but couldn’t make up the points after the stunning run by Jones.

“We cut it to five and we’ll go back and watch that tape and be frustrated by some of the mistakes we made,” Becker said.

Marquette: The Golden Eagles won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2013. It was Smart’s 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 13 years with three teams. In 2011, he led VCU out of the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, all the way to the Final Four.

South Florida women rally to beat Marquette 67-65 in OT

Associated PressMar 17, 2023, 7:18 PM EDT

Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu scored 22 points and Elena Tsineke’s jumper with 31.2 seconds left in overtime put South Florida ahead for good in a 67-65 victory over No. 9 seed Marquette to start the women’s NCAA Tournament on Friday.

The Golden Eagles (22-11) had a final look to win, but Mackenzie Hare’s 3-pointer went inside the rim and rolled out with a second to play.

“What a way to start the NCAA Tournament,” South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said.

The Bulls (27-6), who didn’t lead for the game’s first 38 minutes, rallied several times including from 47-36 down in regulation to tie their mark for wins in a season.

Breaking the record this year won’t be so easy as South Florida will face the No. 1 overall seed and defending champion South Carolina, undefeated on the year at 33-0 after a 72-40 winner over No. 16 seed Norfolk State.

“We have one day to prepare for them, they have one day to prepare for us,” Fernandez said. “So we’ll see.”

The Bulls appeared to have the game won at the end of the fourth quarter, ahead 59-55 after Tsineke’s 3-pointer with 31.7 to play. But Hare’s two foul shots after a South Florida turnover tied things and forced the extra session.

The lead changed hands six times in overtime, the last on Tsineke’s basket.

“This game says we just simply don’t give up,” said Tsineke, the senior who made just one of her first nine shots before heating up.

She finished with 13 points, 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Fankam Mendjiadeu finished with 16 rebounds for her 24th double-double this season and 56th of her career.

It was a disappointing finish for the Golden Eagles (22-11), who built a double-digit lead as Chloe Marotta scored a team-high 25 points. But the 6-foot-1 senior, an all-Big East first-team selection, fouled out with 2:56 to play in OT.

“It’s the hardest day of the year,” Marquette coach Megan Duffy said.

South Florida entered with a mindset on a different ending than in this building a year ago when the Bulls lost the eight-nine match up to No. 8 seed Miami in the NCAA opener of last season’s Columbia pod.

BIG PICTURE

Marquette: The Golden Eagles have gone to two NCAA Tournaments in coach Megan Duffy’s four seasons. They have a strong base of young players to build with going forward including Hare and freshman Emily La Chapell. “We’re in the dance and we earned every piece of it,” Duffy said.

South Florida: The Bulls won the AAC’s regular-season title and have a strong one-two combo in Fankam Mendjiadeu and Tsineke that should keep them close against anyone – maybe even the nation’s No. 1 team.

CASE OF NERVES?

Fankam Mendjiadeu acknowledged some nerves as she stood at the foul line in overtime, her team ahead by one and facing a pair of free throws. “I was scared,” she said with a laugh. Fankam Mendjiadeu made one of two, enough to keep the Bulls out front, “so it turned out OK.”

Edey, Jackson-Davis, Wilson headline AP All-America Team

Associated PressMar 14, 2023, 2:15 PM EDT

Alex Martin/Journal and Courier/USA TODAY NETWORK

Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis gave the Big Ten Conference a third straight year with multiple first-team Associated Press All-America picks, while Kansas had a second straight first-teamer in Jalen Wilson.

The 7-foot-4, 305-pound Edey appeared on all 58 ballots as a first-team selection from AP Top 25 voters as the lone unanimous pick.

The selections of the Boilermakers’ Edey and the Hoosiers’ Jackson-Davis came a year after the Big Ten had three first-team picks. And it gave the league seven through the last three seasons; no other league has more than three.

The Big Ten has had at least one first-teamer for five straight years and eight of the last nine.

Houston’s Marcus Sasser and Alabama’s Brandon Miller joined Edey and Wilson on the first team in representing each of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seeds.

Edey has commanded the national spotlight all year. The Big Ten player of the year ranks sixth nationally in scoring (22.3), second in rebounding (12.8) and first in double-doubles (26).

“Everybody goes: ‘You go to him so much,’” Purdue coach Matt Painter said after the Big Ten Tournament title win against Penn State. “If they call it by the rules, they’re fouling him on every possession. So why shouldn’t we get it to him and just try to get in that bonus early and steal points?

“Obviously he can make tough post-ups and he can get at the rim, and he gets offensive rebounds when you take him away.”

Jackson-Davis, a 6-9 fourth-year forward, is Indiana’s first first-team selection since Victor Oladipo in 2013. He’s averaging 20.8 points and 10.9 rebounds while taking a leap with his passing (4.1 assists, up from 1.9 last year).

“I probably have pushed him harder than any player on this team and I know there’s been days that he’s walked out of here thinking that, ‘Hey, is this guy really in my corner, based on how he’s pushing me?’” coach Mike Woodson said. “But at the end of the day, he’s gotten better as a player.

“We have benefited from it, you know, with our ballclub, in terms of how we played as a team. And he’s been the driving force behind it.”

Wilson, a 6-8 fourth-year forward, was a returning complementary starter from last year’s NCAA title run. He thrived in an expanded role, becoming Big 12 player of the year and nearly doubling his scoring average (20.1, up from 11.1) to go with 8.4 rebounds.

It marked the fourth time in seven seasons that the Jayhawks had a first-team pick going back to national player of the year Frank Mason III in 2017.

“He’s an elite competitor,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said after a Big 12 Tournament loss to the Jayhawks. “He gets to the glass. He makes cuts. He makes it hard. He does so many things.”

Sasser, a 6-2 senior, was a starter on the Cougars’ Final Four team two years ago and is the star of another title threat this year. He’s averaging 17.1 points as the program’s first first-team selection since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984 during the “Phi Slama Jama” era.

Miller, a 6-9 freshman, was a McDonald’s All-American who became an immediate star on the way to being named the Southeastern Conference player of the year. He’s averaging 19.6 points and 8.3 rebounds for the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.

Miller has been involved in a murder case that has overshadowed the Crimson Tide’s successful run, leading to capital murder charges against former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man for the January shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. A police investigator testified last month that Miles texted Miller to bring him his gun that night, though authorities haven’t charged Miller with any crime.

SECOND TEAM

Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jaquez Jr. of UCLA was the leading vote-getter on the second team that included Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, last season’s AP national player of the year.

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme was a second-team selection for the third straight year, while Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis and Penn State’s Jalen Pickett rounded out the second quintet.

THIRD TEAM

Kansas State’s surge led to the Wildcats earning third-team selections in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, their first AP All-Americans since Jacob Pullen in 2011.

Big East player of the year Tyler Kolek of Marquette, Iowa’s Kris Murray and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot rounded out the third team.

HONORABLE MENTION

National scoring leader Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy, who averaged 28.2 points and fell three points shy of tying “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s all-time career scoring record, was the leading vote-getter among players who didn’t make the three All-America teams.

Players earned honorable-mention status if they appeared on multiple voters’ ballots. This year’s list includes Memphis’ Kendric Davis, Xavier’s Souley Boum and Miami’s Isaiah Wong.