Kolek planning to go pro
Yeah, the narrative of "other teams figured us out the second time around" is false. First time through the conference 5-4, second time through 5-4. Throw in the last game with StJ (a win). We were what our record stated. No real slump or trending downward at the end of the year. Ran into two hot teams (Creighton and UNC) in the post season.
And before someone makes the "small sample size" argument, keep in mind that everyone who made the same "don't worry, other teams just did a better job of adjusting" argument used the same data. Right now it's just for fun. In a few years we'll know if Cooley or Stubblefield are consistently better at making adjustments or if it were a one-time fluke.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Second half of the season. We were 7-3 through our first 10 Big East games. We went 4-5 in our last 9, plus then lost the first game of the BET and the first game of the NCAA Tournament. Went from 15-6 (7-3) to 19-12 (11-8).
Right. I don't mean that coaches made adjustments the second time they played against MU. I mean the book was out on them and other coaches took note during the second half of the year.
Or we had an extremely hot streak, punching above our weight for 7 games, then fell back to our mean.
They won a few games early in the season they had no right to win
9 games, really.7-game winning streak was followed by a tough 2-point loss at Providence in which we played pretty darn well, followed by a huge win at Nova. That 8-1 streak included 5 wins over ranked teams (Nova twice). It was as good a month as Marquette basketball has had in a long, long time.Did our alma mater's team play over its head? Seems so, but it was sure fun.That also might be true. But did we have "no right to lose" to Butler and DePaul?
I think the bigger problem with your assertion is that you can't look at changes in margin of victory and declare that the difference was entirely because one coach or the other was better at making adjustments.
There's a lot of factors that go into winning a basketball game, not just coaching adjustments.
I never said changes in margin of victory were entirely because of coaching adjustments.
Simply put, if other teams study us and make adjustments in order to turn a loss into a win, we have an equal opportunity to do the same. You have to look at which coaches did a good job and which didn't. So if you were to compare Shaka's adjustment-making ability based on last season, he was worse than Cooley, Stubblefield, Ewing, and McDermott, on par with Hurley, and better than Steele, Jordan, Wright, and Willard.
But certainly, you would agree that at least some of the difference can be attributed to the relative coaching adjustments made by the two coaches, which, by the way, was the topic discussed here.
I'm not sure it's the comforting comment it's being made out to be.Simply put, if other teams study us and make adjustments in order to turn a loss into a win, we have an equal opportunity to do the same. You have to look at which coaches did a good job and which didn't. We played St. Johns only once, so they're not included. Four teams wound up performing better in the 2nd (or 3rd) matchup against MU. 2 of them turning losses into wins (DePaul and Providence), one narrowing the margin of loss (Georgetown), and one increasing their margin of victory (Creighton). Georgetown +28, +11, 17 point improvement made by Ewing compared to the previous meetingDePaul +11, -11, 22 point improvement by StubblefieldProvidence +32, -2 34 point improvement by Cooley2nd to 3rd Creighton -1, -11 10 point improvement by McDermott The 1st Creighton game was a 6 point loss in 2OT, and the 2nd game was a 1 point loss in regulation. I don't know whether to credit that as a 1 point improvement for McDermott or a 5 point improvement for Shaka, so I'm not including it.One team we managed to have equal margin in both games--UConn. UConn -8, -8 Three games resulted in a better performance for Marquette in the second matchup increasing margin over Villanova by 7, Seton Hall by 9, turning an 11 point loss to Xavier into an 11 point win, and turning a six point loss at Butler into a 9 point win.Xavier -11, +11 22 point improvement by ShakaVillanova +3, +10 7 point improvement by ShakaSeton Hall +1, +10 9 point improvement by ShakaButler -6, +9, 15 point improvement by ShakaSo if you were to compare Shaka's adjustment-making ability based on last season, he was worse than Cooley, Stubblefield, Ewing, and McDermott, on par with Hurley, and better than Steele, Jordan, Wright, and Willard.The bad news: all four coaches who Shaka bettered at making adjustments last season have left the league.And before someone makes the "small sample size" argument, keep in mind that everyone who made the same "don't worry, other teams just did a better job of adjusting" argument used the same data. Right now it's just for fun. In a few years we'll know if Cooley or Stubblefield are consistently better at making adjustments or if it were a one-time fluke.
All four of these teams have new coaches. Two were fired, one left for Maryland and Wright retired.This does not mean anything, I just thought it was interesting.
Radford - WCentral Michigan - W@Purdue - LLIU - Wvs. Mississippi St. - Lvs. Georgia Tech/Utah - WChicago St.- WBaylor - LWisconsin - WNorth Carolina Central - W@Notre Dame - LCreighton - W@Providence - LSeton Hall - W@Villanova - L@St. John's - WGeorgetown - WUConn - W@Xavier - LProvidence - W@Seton Hall - L@DePaul - LVillanova - LButler - W@UConn - L@Georgetown - LXavier - L@Creighton - LDePaul - W@Butler - LSt. John's - WOverall: 16- 15 (18-16 counting BET)Big East Record: 9-11Big East Tournament Seed: 8Big East Tournament Result: Loss in the SemisPostseason Tournament and Seed: NIT 4Postseason Result: Loss in 2nd game of NIT
Feelin' pretty good about starting 8 for 8 with these predictions
Pat yourself on the back
I picked them to lose every game on the road this season except St. John's.😂It could happen 🤷♂️I'd change it if I could. I'm way higher on DePaul and Seton Hall now, than I previously was before the season.
Congrats on picking us to beat two cupcakes at home and lose to a perennial NCAAT team on the road. That's a real bold 3-0 start. Almost a profile in courage!
Agreed weird thing to brag about. Reminds me of my in-laws who say their team is undefeated and in first place in their conference when they are 1-0. And they mean it.