Transfer Player Spotlight: Marcus Foster (Xavier)
After a disappointing year for Xavier’s standards Sean Miller is trying to reload this team to hopefully make a tournament run. This offseason they lost their top scorer in Quincy Olivari and while Marcus Foster most likely won’t lead the Big East in scoring like Olivari did, he is a great piece to add to fill some of that scoring role. Foster is only 6’6 but his style of play will fit right into that small forward position the best while Desmond Claude shifts over to the shooting guard position. At Furman last season Foster averaged over 17 points, 7.5 rebounds, and a steal a game. He is a high volume three-point shooter as he shoots almost 7 threes a game. Last season he regressed a little bit in the three-point percentage department. He shot just 30% after shooting 36% from three the previous two seasons. In Sean Miller’s two seasons at Xavier, he has taken high scoring transfers in Souley Boum and Quincy Olivari. In each of their respective seasons their three-point percentage went up from 36% to over 40%. Xavier fans should expect a similar if not larger jump in Foster’s three-point percentage.
What immediately jumps out on the film is how big Marcus Foster is. He is listed at 6’4 200 lbs. but that seems like a gross underestimate when you see him on the court. He uses that size very effectively on both sides of the court. On offense just like Quincy Olivari he is more of a shot maker than a shot creator. When Foster is given a favorable situation like a fast break or a closeout, he can beat a guy off the dribble and get to the rim but that’s not his game. His game is mostly three-point shots off on ball and off ball screens or post ups. For a guard/forward hybrid he posts up a lot more than the average player. Foster lacks quickness and it is what really hurts his offensive game, but he combats that by being very patient and a crafty finisher. Foster is very efficient on those post ups shown by him shooting over 56% from inside the arc. The most improved part of his game last year was tripling the number of free throws he shot per game. A lot of those come on the post ups and playing on two feet in the paint just like Sean Miller preaches. Foster also shoots above 80% from the line which adds to this Xavier team's great ability to shoot from the line with McKnight and Claude both shooting around 80%. The key to Foster's success at Xavier is how well he fits into the system offensively. Xavier runs a breakneck pace and is trying to get in transition as much as possible. At Furman they also have a fast pace, but Foster was mostly used as a rebounder and to outlet to other guards when it comes to transition. He was very good in that role but it left very little transition buckets for Foster. At Xavier presumably he is going to be asked to focus less on defensive rebounding and more on getting out in transition and using his finishing ability. Foster’s rebounding numbers will most likely go down if this happens, but it will definitely help his scoring at the Big East level. Once in the half court Xavier’s style of offense should help him more than Furman’s. When everything in clicking for Xavier, they run a flow style of offense with a lot of ball movement that emphasizes creating advantages for the guards and high low post ups for the big men. The identity of the offense was forced to change slightly because of the personnel Xavier had last season but with a better roster it should be similar to this idea. Just like getting to transition more this should create more driving lanes for Foster and help expand his game. When you combine that with Foster’s shooting ability, he could be in for a monster year offensively.
On the other side of the ball Marcus Foster is an above average defender but not an elite defender. He uses his size well to stay in front of his opponents and can be an effective on-ball defender. At Furman he was asked to guard the best player on occasion. For example, in their games against Western Carolina he was asked to guard the conference’s leading scorer in Vonterius Woolbright. In the Big East he most likely won’t get those assignments but is very capable if he is asked. One of the strengths of his defense is that he has averaged over a steal a game for the past three seasons which could be valuable to a Xavier team that doesn’t force many turnovers. His limitations come due to his quickness. Foster tends to get blown by a little bit and has very little recovery skills. It isn’t a super big problem, but it is what keeps him from being an elite on ball defender. The other issue comes with his off-ball defense. Foster can get ball watching on defense which leads to him leaving guys open sometimes but it also leads to steals as well. This is an easy fix and if Sean Miller sees it as a problem, he will make sure it doesn’t affect Xavier. Overall, Foster’s physicality on defense is going to fit right into the Big East and he is going to help Xavier in that end.
