Shaka Smart has done a great job with the Marquette basketball team ever since taking over as head coach, and his best win came on Tuesday night in the Maui Invitational semis. The Golden Eagles came into this matchup against Bill Self and Kansas basketball ranked #4 in the country and with an undefeated record. The Jayhawks were also defeated, and they were ranked #1 in the country. We saw Kansas nearly go down last week against Kentucky, and it was clear that they had some weaknesses in that game. Marquette took advantage of those weaknesses on Tuesday and they cruised to a convincing 73-59 win as a result.

Last season, Marquette basketball was one of the best teams in the country all season long, and they went to the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed. The Golden Eagles seemed poised for a run, but they were upset in the second round by #7 seed Michigan State. This season, Marquette has to do better in big games, and they showed they are ready to compete with anybody with their win against Kansas.

Smart has picked up some big wins in his coaching career, and his three biggest wins have all come against Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks, according to a tweet from ESPN Stats & Info. The three best wins of Shaka Smart's career came with Marquette on Tuesday against Kansas, in the 2011 NCAA Tournament when he was the coach of VCU and during the 2020-21 season when he was the coach of Texas. All three of those wins came against the Jayhawks.

Self is one of the best college basketball coaches of all time, so it has to feel pretty good for Smart to be able to pick up all of those impressive wins against Kansas. It has to feel especially good after the argument that he shared with Self during last night's game.

He will get another opportunity to pick up a huge win for Marquette on Wednesday as the Golden Eagles are taking on Purdue in the Maui Invitational Championship. The Boilermakers are ranked #2 in the country. If fourth ranked Marquette goes into Maui and knocks off the two best teams in the country, they will likely be ranked #1 in the nation next week.