The 2026-27 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the Marquette men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. Going forward in these Player Previews, we’ll be going in this order: The two freshmen going in alphabetical order by last name then doing the same for the three transfers, then moving on to the redshirt freshmen. After that, it’s the seven players returning from last year’s roster going in order of average minutes
played per game last season.
We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:
- Reasonable Expectations
- Why You Should Get Excited
- Potential Pitfalls
With that out of the way, we address one of the two guys who were on the roster last season, but were sitting out on a redshirt season, back when that was a thing in the eyes of the NCAA…..
Ian Miletic
Redshirt Freshman — #7 — Forward — 6’7” — 205 lbs. — Arlington Heights, Illinois
“Hey, head coach Shaka Smart, Ian Miletic redshirted last season because that was a thing you could do a year ago and preserve eligibility before the NCAA changed the rules to the 5 years/5 seasons thing now. You guys won your three games on the Canada trip by margins of 53, 30, and 37 points. That’s a great chance to see how Miletic fits in with his teammates now, how did you handle his minutes?”
“Well, I never let him play more than 12 minutes, and that was only in the last game of the tour anyway, and that was the game where we were without Adrien Stevens because he was sick.”
“Oh. Well, what did you see from Miletic in that limited time? Looks like he’s developing into a role for 2026-27?”
“He shot 1-for-9 from the field, including missing all six attempts in the second two games, and missed all four of his three-point attempts on the trip.”
“Oh. What about non-shooting stuff?”
“He committed five fouls in his 31 minutes of play, and technically in just 21 minutes because he didn’t have any fouls in one of the games.”
“Oh.”
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Reasonable Expectations
Hey, maybe Vancouver doesn’t agree with Ian Miletic’s body clock.
That’s the best case scenario for how to take his performance on the Canadian trip. It’s not a good sign that Miletic only played nine minutes in Marquette’s biggest margin of victory of the trip. He didn’t play until late in the third quarter of the 50+ point win and subbed in when MU was up 41. I get that Shaka Smart has to make sure that Sananda Fru and Nolan Minessale get quality playing time to gel with their new teammates, and I get that generally speaking, Miletic is going to be competing for minutes at the exact same position that Minessale is going to play on the court for the Golden Eagles. That may have been limiting for the redshirt freshman, and it is what it is.
But 1-for-9? In blowouts? 0-for-4 on threes? I don’t know what’s a bigger issue there, missing all four or a guy with a reputation as a shooter only getting four attempts off in 31 minutes.
The reasonable expectation here is that it will be good news if we see Ian Miletic in a competitive moment in a game at all this season. Keep your eyes on the Green Bay and Michigan State exhibitions to see which direction Shaka Smart is leaning here.
Why You Should Get Excited
Well, the reasonable expectation is essentially “I hope he plays at all.” Therefore, literally anything else we get from Miletic this season will be better than that and thus a reason for excitement. If he turns into an instant offense option off the bench because he can’t possibly keep missing every single three-pointer he attempts, then great! Wonderful to see, big win all around, etc., etc.
Potential Pitfalls
As I’ve pointed out on these digital pages already, Shaka Smart kind of doesn’t have a choice but to coach like he needs to get the Golden Eagles into the NCAA tournament this season. If what we saw from Miletic’s minutes on the Canada trip are an example of how Smart intends on coaching the team when it counts, then I don’t like his chances for playing time. Think about it this way: Is Nolan Minessale going to play only 19 minutes a game? Is Adrien Stevens locked to 21 minute a night? If you think they’re going to play more, then that’s two guys who play roughly the same position as Miletic is going to be able to contribute who will be absorbing more of the minutes that might be available to Miletic. If starter-caliber guys are going to have to carry heavy doses of minutes to get the Golden Eagles to 20+ wins, then I don’t know how Miletic gets on the floor all that much.
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