Al Amadou Expected To Redshirt In 2024-25

That’s the upside of the Marquette sophomore not playing in Monday night’s opener.

If you were counting off season debuts for Marquette men’s basketball on Monday night against Stony Brook, then you noticed one missing. Not top 100 freshman Damarius Owens, who spent the game in a walking boot and street clothes, and not freshman Josh Clark, who did dress for the game but is expected to redshirt this season.

Instead, the one guy on scholarship that we expected to see but did not was sophomore forward Al Amadou. He played sparingly as a freshman, but his hustle and motivation was plain to see in his limited minutes. Without context and without notification of an injury, it was a little troubling to see Amadou not even remove his warmups on Monday night as the margin against Stony Brook grew from 20 points to 30 and eventually to 40.

The obvious answer to the question came in the postgame interviews, as head coach Shaka Smart told the collected media that Amadou is now expected to redshirt for the 2024-25 season. He will have three years of playing eligibility remaining afterwards.

Here’s the presser, skip ahead to the 9 minute mark.

I think, and I don’t think you’d ever get Smart or his staff to say this in public, that the decsion about Amadou’s playing time this season might have more to do with Royce Parham’s ability to contribute right this second than it does about Amadou’s development as a player. Parham opened his Marquette account on Monday night with 19 minutes of action, and the big man from Pittsburgh chipped in four points, including turning one of his two steals in the game into a runout dunk for himself, and added three rebounds and an assist as well. Yes, it’s not much, but no one’s asking Royce Parham to carry the team at this point. It’s exactly the kind of role that can do a lot of work for the Golden Eagles this season, and if he gets comfortable with his long range shot — Parham went 0-for-4 from three-point territory — then that helps MU even more.

It’s hard to say for sure where Amadou is along that same development trajectory, but if the minutes that Amadou and Parham might have been fighting for are going to go to Parham heavily, then it makes sense to kick the can on Amadou’s career down the road for a year. It is possible that Amadou’s future lies in being more of a wing player than a big, particularly if he finds it difficult to put on the weight necessary to get physical in the paint in the Big East. If that’s the case, then a year of skill development will probably go a long way towards helping him find minutes next season.

For the time being, this does mean that Marquette will be playing with nine available players. Amadou and Clark will stay on the bench while Owens (toe) and Sean Jones (ACL) work their way back from injury. A nine man rotation is more than big enough to get through games, and having Clark and Amadou available for practice makes things a little easier on that end, too.