Report: Marquette, Utah to begin home-and-home series

The Marquette Golden Eagles will be making plans to head out to 'The Crossroads of the West.' That's because starting next season, MU and the Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference have agreed to take part in a home-and-home series.

Utah and Marquette will start a home and home series next year in Salt Lake City, source told @CBSSports. Return game in Milwaukee in 17-18.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 29, 2016

As Rothstein, CBS Sports' college hoops insider informs us per a source that told CBS Sports, the Golden Eagles will head to Salt Lake City next season, and the year after that, the Utes will trek out east to Milwaukee for the return game.

Marquette is has been no stranger to the Pac-12 since the year 2010. The Golden Eagles have faced Arizona State three times, and played the Washington Huskies in the Round of 64 in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. In those matchups, MU is 2-2, with two consecutive victories under their belt against the Sun Devils in each of the last two seasons.

The Utes, meanwhile, are heading into unfamiliar territory from a program perspective. Since the 2004-05 season, Utah has played just one team from the Big East Conference. That matchup occurred in last year's NCAA Tournament when they faced the Georgetown Hoyas in the Round of 32.

The 2016 version of this matchup will be relatively interesting especially when you consider that both the Golden Eagles and Utes are likely to lose their best players. Henry Ellenson and Jakob Poeltl are likely to be NBA-bound, and Utah will also be losing the likes of veterans Brandon Taylor, Jordan Loveridge and Dakarai Tucker.

Luckily, Utah should still have the benefit of maintaining Lorenzo Bonam, Kyle Kuzma, Brekkott Chapman and Chris Reyes, among others.

Marquette, meanwhile, is going to be bringing back damn near everybody from their 20-win team this past year, a key factor in what will be a tough road game at the Huntsman Center.

The Golden Eagles and Utes have faced each other twice since 1949, and split the series at one victory apiece.