Since Marquette men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart used TNT Sports to announce that he will be evolving the Golden Eagles roster for the 2026-27 season, it was reasonable to wonder precisely that would mean for most of the 2025-26 roster. We’ve already nailed down that Nigel James, the 2026 Big East Freshman of the Year, would be returning. Same for Adrien Stevens, Royce Parham, and Damarius Owens. We also got word recently that Sean Jones and Tre Norman would not be returning as well.
All of
this matters because the evolution of the roster can only happen by way of available roster spots with an NCAA limit of 15. On top of that, the official list of who’s coming back matters in terms of figuring out exactly what Smart and his staff need to accomplish in the transfer portal.
All of that to say that it would appear that we’ve nailed down another piece of the puzzle by way of this Instagram post published by freshman Michael Phillips and co-posted with Marquette Men’s Basketball:
The caption is simple: “Round 2” with an eagle emoji.
We have to play internet detective there a little bit, but between the co-post with the team account and the use of the team shot video for the highlight package in the post… yeah, that seems pretty safe to draw the conclusion that Michael Phillips will be back in blue and gold for next season.
Phillips appeared in 28 games for Marquette as an 18 year old freshman this season, as he won’t turn 19 until early August 2026. For the full season, he averaged 8.0 minutes and added 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds to the proceedings. The most notable contribution for Phillips came by way of his three-point shooting, as he connected on 17 of his 46 long range attempts, which is 37%. He got into 18 of Marquette’s 20 Big East games, but he was slightly less productive at just 1.3 points and 1.6 rebounds along with just 7-for-27 (25.9%) three-point shooting. That’s a mixed bag at best, but if you focus on his 40% shooting in the 17 top 100 games he played (as measured by KenPom.com) and 35% in top 50 games, then it gets a little easier to ignore the drop off across the entirety of league action.
Let’s wrap up here with the scholarship chart as we get closer to the opening of the transfer portal on Tuesday.
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