The Stony Brook Seawolves and the Marquette Golden Eagles meet Monday in college basketball action from the Fiserv Forum. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Stony Brook vs. Marquette prediction.
Stony Brook Recap
The Stony Brook Seawolves come into this season looking to build on a decent 2023-24 campaign, finishing the year 17-14 in the regular season and making it to the CAA tournament finals as the 7-seed but losing out to Charleston in OT. The Seawolves didn’t take part in any postseason tournaments. It was a big deal for Stony Brook to have as much success as they did, losing four players for almost the entire season and the Seawolves were actually the best ATS team in the country. The problem is losing Chris Maidoh and Keenan Fitzmorris from last year’s team, as that takes a lot of size away from Stony Brook’s interior. But the Seawolves brought over a double-digit scorer in Joe Octave from Holy Cross to bolster the backcourt alongside returning pieces like Jared Frey and Andre Snoddy alongside star JUCO transfer CJ Luster II. Only time will tell if Stony Brook can replicate any of the magic from 2023-24 this time around.
Why the Stony Brook Seawolves will win
- Stony Brook has won five of its last six games against non-Conference opponents.
Marquette Recap
The Marquette Golden Eagles will try to have another successful season under Shaka Smart, finishing 27-10 overall including 14-6 in the Big East, losing to national champs UConn in the conference championship game. Marquette knocked off Western Kentucky and Colorado as a 2-seed before falling in the sweet sixteen to NC State. The Golden Eagles return a lot of the corps from last season, led by Kam Jones, who had 17.2 PPG while also shooting 40.6% from three, along with David Joplin scoring 10.8 PPG and Stevie Mitchell in the backcourt. The key for Marquette will be replacing big pieces lost like Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, both of whom ended up in the NBA. Ighodaro was massive for Marquette’s success last year, so replacing him won’t be easy, but Shaka Smart’s done nothing but win since coming to Marquette, and I wouldn’t put another NCAA tournament appearance past him.
Why the Marquette Golden Eagles will win
- Marquette has won 20 of its last 21 games at Fiserv Forum against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Stony Brook has lost 15 of its last 16 road games against non-Conference opponents.
Stony Brook vs. Marquette Prediction
I’m on Marquette here. It’s going to be interesting to see how Marquette does with replacing key cogs like Ighodaro and Kolek, and not to say it’s going to be easy, but Shaka Smart is a good enough coach to be able to get past that and Marquette last season really took it to the teams that they were far better than. Teams like Northern Illinois, Rider, Southern early on, winning each by 22, 30 and 37. I think a lot of folks are going to be tempted by backing the most profitable ATS team in the country from last year, but I think there’s just a talent gap here that’s hard to get by. Give me Marquette.