By Hunt Palmer
The SEC has a chance to put a bow on the greatest basketball season in conference history this weekend. The league blitzkrieged the country in November and December and wound up with 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament. That group of 14 teams has won 23 games and will play for a national title on Monday night as Florida takes on Houston.
LSU clearly didn’t match the level of its conference competition. The challenge now is to build a roster capable of keeping up, and that comes from the transfer portal.
That ball started rolling a week ago when LSU grabbed commitments from Michael Nwoko and Dedan Thomas Jr. That momentum continued with the additions of Rashad King and Max Mackinnon later in the week. Sunday we learned that Marquel Sutton was on board, too.
LSU adds Summit League POTY Marquel Sutton
Sutton averaged 18.9 ppg for Omaha last season. #BootUp #geauxTigershttps://t.co/imScVMvH6k pic.twitter.com/o6AdfdhrcA
— 104.5 ESPN (@1045espn) April 6, 2025
We’ll break down every portal commitment the Tigers reel in with our Portal Profile. This edition features Marquel Sutton, the Summitt League Player of the Year from Omaha.
WHAT WE KNOW
Sutton started for three seasons at Omaha after beginning his college career at Connors State, a community college of less than 2500 students in rural Oklahoma.
Over those three years, the 6-foot-9 Sutton started 98 games and scored 1,373 points for the Mavericks. He also led the team in rebounding the last two seasons, averaging about seven per game.
Sutton is a really good athlete for his 6-foot-9 size. He can really run and jump which makes him a force around the basket. He runs the floor exceptionally well and can finish in transition when asked.
He’s not a good shooter. He shot 29 percent from three-point range two years ago and 28 percent this past season. He did improve his free throw shooting from 63 percent to 74 percent this year, and he shot a lot of them, 222 or six per game. That was 24th in the country. Cam Carter led LSU with 116 attempts, for reference.
His season high of 36 came against South Dakota when he went 14 of 20 from the floor. That came right in the middle of a seven-game stretch where he averaged 24 points per game and topped 20 points in all seven.
His block numbers are surprisingly low considering his physical size and athletic ability. He only blocked 10 shots in each of the last two seasons.
THE FIT
Big, athletic forwards are always a welcome addition to any team. LSU boasts a front court full of them, now. Michael Nwoko moves very well and is a physical presence at 6-foot-10. Same thing can be said for Jalen Reed. Nwoko’s strength is defense and rebounding. Reed is more of an offensive weapon.
Sutton pairs with Reed to make up a formidable scoring duo in the front court. Right now, I think Sutton’s motor and athleticism are ahead of his skill level. A lot of his 18.6 points per game came from “junk” around the rim and the free throw line. He can play a little bit with his back to the basket. How well that translates from the Summit League to the SEC will be the question. It’s perfectly fair to question that.
The flip side to that is that Sutton has never played with a supporting cast as talented as the one joining him in Baton Rouge.
With Dedan Thomas, Rashad King, Max Mackinnon, Jalen Reed and perhaps Mazi Mosley creating as much as they should, Sutton becomes very dangerous off the ball cutting and rebounding around the rim. You don’t have to create your shot as much when other guys are creating space.
LSU looks like a very balanced offense on paper. Thomas is a great floor general, and his two wings in King and Mackinnon are scoring threats on all three levels. Reed figures to be a double-figure scorer, and Sutton just scored 20-plus points in 21 games this season.
I think Sutton is a good fit for the roster, but he’s a role guy on this squad as opposed to the conference player of the year he became at Omaha.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
I think Sutton’s shooting numbers dip from a volume perspective at LSU. He was Omaha’s best option, and I think he may be LSU’s fourth option at a given time on the floor.
It’s a good fourth option.
Sutton is going to use his size and athleticism to do a lot of the things guys like new general manager Ronald Dupree and Emmitt Williams did at LSU. Lots of four footers. Catch some lobs. Rebounds and putbacks. Playing through contact.
That should result in about 9 to 11 points and seven or eight rebounds per game.
I don’t have a great feel for the starting five at this point. Nwoko feels like the five. Sutton and Reed look like fours. I can see Sutton playing some three, but it’s possible he comes off the bench. That would put Mackinnon and King on the wings at the two and three.
There’s a long way to go before that sorts itself out. As I wrote initially, adding 6-foot-9 guys who can run and jump is always a positive. Sutton’s addition certainly qualifies.
