Scholarship table
Year 1: winYear 2: win moreYear 3: keep on winningYear 4: still lots of winningYear 5: still not tired of winning
MU Alum Marcus Lemonis getting in on the action:https://twitter.com/marcuslemonis/status/1435393819302846467
How many years until we win every day?
I think our 5 year plan is the same plan from the last 5 years. Mediocrity with some success here and there.I don't think the Shaka tenure has started off great. I hope I am wrong on this but with all the turnover everywhere, I expected a more blended roster with a higher talent level that would allow us to compete for a NCAA tourny bid this year. In this day and age, you need to win day 1. Heads get turned way too easily so trying to build for 2, 3 years down the line with a young group of players is hard to do. My guess is easily a 50% current roster shake out by end of year 2 and that 50% doesn't include the 2 grad players. Its a tough gig but you need to win and win right away.
Shaka's losses the last 6 years.2021 8 Shorten season with 3 players drafted in 2021 NBA draft.2020 122019 162018 152017 222016 13I expect a lot of complaining on MUscoop this year.
I expect a lot of complaining on Scoop every year. Complained about Crean, complained about Buzz, complained about Wojo. Why should Coach Smart be any different?
#ComplainEveryDay
Our NCAA chances begun and ended with the TBT scrimmage loss.
Cost us at least 3 seeds
The question comes down to how you define mediocrity. I don't think we've recruited at a high enough level to break into the top tier in the Big East, but I think we have recruited well enough to rise to the top of the 2nd tier--and that includes this coming season. I think what Shaka has brought in for this year compares favorably to the current rosters of DePaul, Butler, Providence, Seton Hall, St. Johns, and Georgetown, and falls short of Villanova, UConn, Xavier & Creighton.Is 4th or 5th in the Big East mediocre? Most years, this type of performance would make the NCAA tournament--maybe on the wrong side of the bubble in some years.The next question is what would it take to break into that top tier. I think a lot of people are pinning their hopes on Shaka finding "under-the-radar" players who will develop over time to become stars and compete for the Big East title. Which may happen--but for that strategy to work requires four things: a) Jay Wright suddenly lose his coaching mojo, b) the roster of highly ranked recruits Hurley is building consistently underperforms their ranking, c) McDermott can't coach high-rated talent now that he has some, and d) the upgrade in Xavier's talent over the last year or two doesn't rise to the level needed to overcome the fact they're coached by Travis Steele.All said, I think we're solid middle-of-the-pack team going forward.
I do not think there is enough seasoned talent to win this year. I would really like this team, if all the freshmen (including the 2nd year freshmen) stayed four years. However, with free transferring now allowed, they are not going to stay together.
I think most of the Shaka excitement is about having an actual system and knowing what to expect game in, game out. Once that’s established the recruiting will take care of itself I fully expect to surprise people this year and make the tournament. In the words of Robert Hunter “this train’s got to run today” and once we get going we ain’t stopping
Agree with the first paragraph. While I hope your optimism in your second paragraph is validated, I think too many "ifs" have to play out in our favor. IF Justin has a breakout year, Greg has a great year, Kolek makes the transition to the BE with stats similar to his last season and at least one of our freshman surprises us with hot shooting, sure- we look really good. More likely Shaka will have to give enough PT to the freshman to see what they can do and that alone may result in a disappointing season. Leave them on the bench too often and long to chalk up more W's and the best ones will transfer. While this thread is about a 5 year plan, I think in terms of a two year plan that is roughly analogous to a two act play. The first act/season, the conflicts and problems are laid out. They are resolved in the second act in a two act play but this is where the analogy becomes shaky. At the end of season two, we will have a fairly good idea of where we stand in the BE and nationally but there will still be unanswered questions.
Very well-reasoned post.
Except why would the best ones transfer? They would probably be playing? The latest bloomers would potentially transfer before being fully developed, which is unfortunate, but it would be because they weren't yet able to beat out others for playing time.