Shaka Smart is a program builder at Marquette. But he says it’s time to dig into the transfer portal

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Now that he finally has started signing players from the transfer portal again, Marquette coach Shaka Smart expects to continue doing it every year.

“I would be shocked if there’s ever a spring where we don’t take any in the future,” Smart said Thursday during a media session previewing the start of summer workouts next week.

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Smart didn’t add any Division I transfers for four straight years before landing former Louisville forward/center Sananda Fru and former St. Thomas (Minnesota) guard Nolan Minessale this offseason. Marquette was the only power-conference program that hadn’t signed at least one Division I transfer during that four-year stretch.

The philosophy change came after Marquette went 12-20 last season, snapping a string of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

“We added two transfers,” Smart said. “If you look at that relative to the rest of our league or a lot of people that we play against, that’s a very small number. I think that depending on the spring, that number could be bigger. It could be right around there.”

This wasn’t the first time Smart had pursued transfers since arriving at Marquette. Smart’s first Marquette team had four transfers, including 2023 Big East player of the year Tyler Kolek and 2023 first-round draft pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper.

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But after that 2021 roster overhaul, Smart hadn’t signed any other Division I transfers until now. The only transfer he had added from 2022-25 was Zach Wrightsil, who came from NAIA program Loyola New Orleans in 2022.

Smart didn’t need to use the portal because he had a group of quality players who stayed for multiple seasons while helping Marquette make annual NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 berth in 2024.

“The reason we decided to do that after the 21-22 season, my first season, (was) we just looked at our team, and at that time we felt like we had a really good group of young guys in our freshman and our…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/shaka-smart-program-builder-marquette-213622747.html

Author : STEVE MEGARGEE

Publish date : 2026-05-28 21:36:00

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