Shaka Smart: Inside Marquette’s Transfer Portal Strategy
Shaka Smart sat down with Homer for a deep dive into how Marquette is navigating the new world of college basketball while trying to maintain the culture that has fueled the program’s recent success. Shaka explained why the Golden Eagles shifted from avoiding transfers to bringing in Sananda Fru and Nolan Minasali, while also sharing what excites him most about incoming freshmen Ethan Johnston and Alex Egbuanu. The Marquette coach praised Nigel James Jr.’s resilience and leadership growth after an impressive freshman season, and explained why Adrian Stevens and Royce Parham could become future All-Big East players. Shaka also gave listeners an honest look at the pressures of roster building in the NIL and transfer portal era, comparing modern recruiting to “speed dating” as coaches scramble to evaluate players and fit. The conversation closed with an emotional reflection on how deeply losses still affect him and why his competitive fire entering next season has “never been stronger.”
17 Jul 2025
Jay Bilas on The Homer Hour
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas joins the Homer Hour, gives an update on the court case for giving former players NIL back pay, on allowing schools to pay athletes $20.5 million per school, are college athletes currently being signed to contracts, will roster sizes be reduced now, should fans be worried about the new rules regarding paying players, will this be a long-term structure, was the SEC this past year the best conference in the history of basketball, how do we know which teams are going to be good going forward, will women's team's get half of the $20.5 million with Title IX, how does the third party NIL space work with the new rules, will the salaries of players be made public and who from the rookie NBA class should fans look out for?
13 Feb 2025
Breaking Down the Badgers and Golden Eagles – ESPN Wisconsin College GameNight
Ben Brust and Alex Strouf host a specialty edition of ESPN Wisconsin College GameNight with less than 5 weeks until Selection Sunday. Ben is officially a fan of Marquette.. kind of. Colin Russo, UW grad and host at ESPN West Palm, joins to discuss the two teams and create chaos. Which team will go further in the tournament: Wisconsin or Marquette? Wednesday night bets.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
27
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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