Here at Paint Touches, we’ve been used to very sleepy offseasons during Shaka Smart’s tenure. There were relatively few transfers out, no negative headlines and with the overt retention model, nothing to (over)analyze outside of NBA Draft prospects of former players.
So when Shaka revealed in February that Marquette would “evolve” this offseason, I immediately was curious about how Marquette would modernize its infrastructure to make it happen, even writing about it in real time.
Since then, Marquette picked up two significant players in Sananda Fru and Nolan Minessale, while losing Sheek Pearson in the process. Not content with just seeing the end result, I wanted to talk to people making it all happen and was given access to two of the most important members on staff in Director of Program Development Tyler McDevitt and Director of Video& Analytics Devon Mulry.
McDevitt has been on Marquette’s staff all of Shaka’s tenure and has graduated from program assistant in 2021 to becoming the “Pseudo GM” as Mulry put it. He is the central hub for recruiting, both high school and portal, plus is in charge of “the agent relationships, contracts, and all of those logistical pieces.” In an environment where roster building is so fluid, the GM role has heavily increased in importance, with most top-level teams now employing someone with that job description, even if the titles might vary.
Mulry has been on staff the past 2 seasons, coming over from HD Intelligence previously and is responsible for Marquette’s video database as well as other advanced scouting. Together, Mulry and McDevitt helped stand up a transfer recruiting operation that had been mostly dormant for the past 4 years.
And they were kind enough to give us an inside look at what that was like.
Retention
Funny enough, and something most non-MU coaches have also said, that the most important piece to any transfer portal operation has nothing to do with transfers, but rather retention. Keeping the players you already have is the vital.
“The first thing for us is we’re always going to focus on retention,” Mulry said. “That was the biggest thing. Who do we need to retain? What do we need to retain? How are those conversations going? Before we can figure out who we need to add, we have to know who’s coming back.”
McDevitt concurred. “Retention was absolutely the first priority.”
Marquette’s offseason strategy was to have a majority of the team locked in by the start of the Big East Tournament. And that came as a boon for both staff planning and fan sanity as Nigel James reaffirmed his commitment to return to Marquette at his acceptance of the Big East Freshman of the Year Award before the BET.
“It was huge for us,” Mulry noted. “But honestly, that started way before this offseason. Retention started the moment we began recruiting him in high school. The relationship coach (Smart) built with him has been huge.”
James would have been one of the top names in the portal, so keeping him home and having that public before the season even ended made a huge difference to the way MU attacked the offseason.
“Nigel’s not just a cornerstone of that class — he’s working toward being a cornerstone of the program. Building around a point guard is foundational for how we want to play,” Mulry said. “He’s obviously an incredible fit stylistically, but culturally too, he was an awesome leader as a freshman.”
“I don’t think it can be overstated how important it was for him to come out early in terms of retaining our other guys and then drawing top guys in the portal to Marquette. Players want to play with a dynamic point guard. Nigel created more points than anyone in the Big East last year. We’ve now had a Marquette guard lead the league in points created for four straight years. People want to play with that. “
With Royce Parham, Adrien Stevens and Damarius Owens also committed to return, Marquette had the foundation it needed to hit the transfer market.
Prep & Process
“After that, it becomes evaluating both statistically and through our own lived experience from the season,” Mulry noted. “What do we need? What kinds of players fit? How many spots are we filling?”
McDevitt mentioned that it was “obvious that our first portal priority was a five man” and that the staff also identified the need for another creator or ball handler, but there were questions about how best to fill that need. Would it be 1 or 2 players, and what would that role look like with Nigel already locked into heavy minutes and ball handling duties.
“The reality is, we’re going to be really good when Nigel has the ball a lot,” said McDevitt. “So the challenge was finding someone who could still impact winning without needing to dominate possessions.”
Once the internal needs were identified, it was time to scour the market. To do so Marquette built out a big board of players that might be available and might fit based on both intel a well as understanding situations around the country. And this process began long before the portal opened.
“There’s this strange in-between period where you’ve identified players you think may enter, but you’re waiting for the portal to officially open,” McDevitt remarked.
During that identification process, the staff met constantly and collectively to discuss what they agreed on and the kinds of player to target.
“We knew we needed a starting-caliber five man,” Mulry said. “We needed someone who could rebound first and foremost, and someone who could finish around the basket.”
To evaluate players Marquette used different analytical tools like HDI and DAOR, which helped project how production might translate between levels. But the numbers had to be put into context, which meant lots and lots of hours of film.
“Film is massive. Honestly, probably even more important than the numbers,” Mulry added. “As a staff, we’re watching, offensive possessions, assists, defensive possessions, best 3 games, worst 3 games.”
Shaka Smart was also involved in that process as well, evaluating personality, competitiveness, how the player communicates, per Mulry.
“And maybe more important than anything, does the guy compete” noted Mulry. “If you’re not competitive, you’re probably not going to thrive here.”
Of course, the key ingredient to a successful incorporation of a new player with the existing roster is fit.
In Mulry’s own words:
“Fit is probably the most important thing. Can these guys play with Royce? Can they play with Nigel? Will they thrive with them? We may not use one specific site or archetype tool, but we use a lot of different resources and methods to evaluate those things.
“Ultimately, you can be the best rebounder or finisher in the country, but if you don’t fit with the players we already have, then it’s probably not the right situation for either side.”
McDevitt specifically used Nigel’s ability on the ball as a reference point.
“There may have been players who popped more on film, but they needed the ball constantly,” McDevitt said. “So the challenge was finding someone who could still impact winning without needing to dominate possessions.”
After months of prep and weeks of work, Marquette was able to land Fru Sananda and Nolan Minessale via the transfer portal, specifically addressing the gaps identified, but it wasn’t all seashells and balloons.
Surprises
Just hours before new entries into the portal were officially closed, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported that redshirt freshman Sheek Pearson, who was expected to be the primary backup big, was entering the portal and intended to transfer.
For a program that hadn’t really lost any players it had pushed to retain, losing one that has already committed to returning was both a surprise and a learning experience.
“We recruited him under the old model and that no longer was the case,” McDevitt said. “We did bring in a guy that’s going to play as many minutes as he could breathe at his position.”
From there, Marquette had to make some quick decisions. Would they take another big? What does that role look like? Does the cost make sense? How would they allocate resources?
“Can you get a good enough player within a price range that makes sense for, technically, what that role would be,” McDevitt asked.
The answers so far haven’t matched to what Marquette is looking for. There simply weren’t many true bigs in the portal this year, let alone late in the game, and that scarcity drove prices and desperation up.
McDevitt did reveal that Marquette vetted and had virtual calls with other bigs after Sheek had left, but the market meant paying backup-big prices that resembled starting-big money.
Despite there being a need for this season, over-allocating resources to fill that partial need runs the risk of upsetting existing players and relationships, and introducing a financial dynamic that will need to be rectified in future years.
“You’re going to pay a guy you actually feel worse about more than a guy you’ve already retained,” McDevitt added. “The market is whatever market someone put out there. All it takes is one person. You’re either in or you’re out”
And that’s where it all comes full circle. Per McDevitt, “retention is a fraction of the price,” of a transfer player.
For Marquette, this first full foray into the portal sets the precedent that will be built on going forward.
“We are evolving. This was the first step in a different era of how we’re constructing our rosters. It takes time,” McDevitt summed it up. “We do want to continue to build through elite freshman, but there is a reality that you have to fill holes in the Spring that you identify.”
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