MUScoop

If you can only pick one of the following, which would it be?

I vote Sweet 16.  Really want that taste of tourney success.

I voted for the only one we haven't done......

S16 by a very wide margin. That is the only goal I care about at this moment. I get guys wanting BE tourney wins, but it would only matter to me if I made the trip to NYC. Win in the NCAA is why we are all pulling for the team.

Quote from: Goose on January 16, 2023, 11:30:44 AM
S16 by a very wide margin. That is the only goal I care about at this moment. I get guys wanting BE tourney wins, but it would only matter to me if I made the trip to NYC. Win in the NCAA is why we are all pulling for the team.

Exactly. 2nd weekend. If we were to win the Big East or the BEAST and don't make the S16.......disappointing. Dont need to do either one, and make the S16...awesome season.

Quote from: Goose on January 16, 2023, 11:30:44 AM
S16 by a very wide margin. That is the only goal I care about at this moment. I get guys wanting BE tourney wins, but it would only matter to me if I made the trip to NYC. Win in the NCAA is why we are all pulling for the team.

Exactly.  In fact, the grind of winning the BE tournament can negatively impact the team heading into the NCAA tourney.  A couple of wins in NYC would be good enough if we make it to the second weekend of the Big Dance.

The season title and Big East Tourney will come. Let's go to the Sweet 16 and end Marquette and Shaka's 10-year winless streaks.

Sweet 16.   Then return everybody.   And then buckle up.

Quote from: Goose on January 16, 2023, 11:30:44 AM
S16 by a very wide margin. That is the only goal I care about at this moment. I get guys wanting BE tourney wins, but it would only matter to me if I made the trip to NYC. Win in the NCAA is why we are all pulling for the team.

Yep, same here.

BET is an amazing event to attend but it's just not thought of nearly as much as a S16. I usually make the trip there when MU is a lock for the tournament, but making an effort to attend the NCAA games this year instead if they can take care of business the rest of the way and get there.

Sweet 16 and It's not close. Imagine the 2011 .500 team is viewed as a huge success because of its run. Whereas much much better teams like 96, 08, and 09 are forgotten.

Quote from: Galway Eagle on January 16, 2023, 12:24:46 PM
Sweet 16 and It's not close. Imagine the 2011 .500 team is viewed as a huge success because of its run. Whereas much much better teams like 96, 08, and 09 are forgotten.

The big east was just insane in 2011. UCONN also finished 500 and won the national championship and had 2 lottery picks.

I'd put that team right up there for best MU teams in the last 20 years. Would put them ahead of 2019 (by a large margin) and also 2013.

But you are correct that they wouldn't be nearly thought of as a success if not for the tournament wins.

I answered win regular season BE Title.

It's the minority take, but it means more to me.

As a guy who cares all day every day, as we all do, the regular season title means everything.
The conf tourney title, as exciting as it might be, means nothing to me. (I STILL WANT IT ALL DOE!!)

I get the S16 arguments, and all things considered those are probably right.

That said, I remember Vander winning our ONLY BE Title more than I do the other runs.

Consider me old fashioned.

It's a grind, Shaka is here for a while. So, win a regular season title and make us all rejoice.
And then win 1 in the dance.

Win 2 and we all cool. If I had to pick I'd take win BE Title and win 1 over 2nd in BE and go to sweet 16.

Had to get that off my chest.

PS. Win BE title and lose first round cancels the work of 20 games and 2+ months, so don't do that

Doctor V

IMO, winning in the NCAA means more to me than usual because they might be good enough to really make noise in March. This team might be one of those special teams that do not come around often.

I am hoping this is not the best team Shaka ever has at MU, but it might me hard to repeat the chemistry and intangibles this team seems to have. They look like they have a special bond that does not happen every year.

The more we see of this team, the bigger believer I become in them. Like has been said here many times, the NCAA is a crap shoot and it is. Who knows, with the right draw this team might go further than the S16.

Quote from: Goose on January 19, 2023, 05:37:36 AM
Doctor V

IMO, winning in the NCAA means more to me than usual because they might be good enough to really make noise in March. This team might be one of those special teams that do not come around often.

I am hoping this is not the best team Shaka ever has at MU, but it might me hard to repeat the chemistry and intangibles this team seems to have. They look like they have a special bond that does not happen every year.

The more we see of this team, the bigger believer I become in them. Like has been said here many times, the NCAA is a crap shoot and it is. Who knows, with the right draw this team might go further than the S16.

Agree, especially to the last sentence.   I hope this team milks every ounce of potential out of it and IMO that could be better than a sweet sixteen. 

Quote from: DoctorV on January 18, 2023, 11:07:29 PM
I answered win regular season BE Title.

It's the minority take, but it means more to me.

As a guy who cares all day every day, as we all do, the regular season title means everything.
The conf tourney title, as exciting as it might be, means nothing to me. (I STILL WANT IT ALL DOE!!)

I get the S16 arguments, and all things considered those are probably right.

That said, I remember Vander winning our ONLY BE Title more than I do the other runs.

Consider me old fashioned.

It's a grind, Shaka is here for a while. So, win a regular season title and make us all rejoice.
And then win 1 in the dance.

Win 2 and we all cool. If I had to pick I'd take win BE Title and win 1 over 2nd in BE and go to sweet 16.

Had to get that off my chest.

PS. Win BE title and lose first round cancels the work of 20 games and 2+ months, so don't do that

I voted Sweet 16 because of the condition of only having one. But, I share your old fashioned value of regular season championships. Getting those requires exceptional play over 20 games and means that there were several satisfying wins.

Two things I would like to erase with this season that almost require two of these.
1. No late season collapse. If we win the Big East regular season title we couldn't have had that collapse.
2.  NCAA Tournament success. Not just a game but at least a sweet sixteen. It has been too long and this has left a bad taste at the end of the last several seasons.

Since I can only choose 1, I would go with the Tournament. A good run in the tournament helps me forget another late season collapse. We could avoid the late season collapse and still not win the conference or conference tourney but if we don't progress we would end the season on a low note. I think ending on at least a second weekend be a great high note to carry though the off-season and get us ready for another long season.

Quote from: Goose on January 19, 2023, 05:37:36 AM
Doctor V

IMO, winning in the NCAA means more to me than usual because they might be good enough to really make noise in March. This team might be one of those special teams that do not come around often.

I am hoping this is not the best team Shaka ever has at MU, but it might me hard to repeat the chemistry and intangibles this team seems to have. They look like they have a special bond that does not happen every year.

The more we see of this team, the bigger believer I become in them. Like has been said here many times, the NCAA is a crap shoot and it is. Who knows, with the right draw this team might go further than the S16.

You really mean teams that rebound as badly as we do.  ;)

Why such low expectations; I'm writing NCAA Champs.

Quote from: Goose on January 19, 2023, 05:37:36 AM
Doctor V

IMO, winning in the NCAA means more to me than usual because they might be good enough to really make noise in March. This team might be one of those special teams that do not come around often.

I am hoping this is not the best team Shaka ever has at MU, but it might me hard to repeat the chemistry and intangibles this team seems to have. They look like they have a special bond that does not happen every year.

The more we see of this team, the bigger believer I become in them. Like has been said here many times, the NCAA is a crap shoot and it is. Who knows, with the right draw this team might go further than the S16.

Yep, there is a special bond and it will very probably be there next year, but it may not have the depth that is there this season. I deeply respect the in-depth statistical analyses that we have on scoop, but that bond is something that defies numbers.

I do not blame the selection committee one bit, but we have had really bad luck on our draws. To be clear, I really do not like going the "bad luck" route, but I think it fits here. UNC last year, Ja Morant and Murray, and South Carolina, an eventual final four team that we had to play IN Carolina? Holy smelly brown stuff! Let's hope we finally get "the right draw".

NCAAT S16 ... by a mile.  This team has tons of potential...

And ... the more they win, the less likely they are to get one of those " bad " draws the Snoop mentions

GO WARRIORS!

Snoop

I agree that a culture has been formed it should carryover year to year and I hope it does. This season seems special because it is something new, players know their roles and are aligned 100% together. IMO, you get a team like this once in a coach's time at a school and you need to take advantage of it. I am not looking forward to next year and want to get it done NOW.

Never cared about conference accolades.

Sweet 16 by a sizable margin

I have to admit, I like things that get you a banner.  I'd like to see Marquette actually WIN something.  Regular season championship or BE tournament championship would be great.  I'd take a Final Four over those, because you will have won a regional.

I'd be super happy with any/all of them, but I voted BET championship.

NCAA success is all that matters.

Quote from: DoctorV on January 18, 2023, 11:07:29 PM
I answered win regular season BE Title.

It's the minority take, but it means more to me.

As a guy who cares all day every day, as we all do, the regular season title means everything.
The conf tourney title, as exciting as it might be, means nothing to me. (I STILL WANT IT ALL DOE!!)

I get the S16 arguments, and all things considered those are probably right.

That said, I remember Vander winning our ONLY BE Title more than I do the other runs.

Consider me old fashioned.

It's a grind, Shaka is here for a while. So, win a regular season title and make us all rejoice.
And then win 1 in the dance.

Win 2 and we all cool. If I had to pick I'd take win BE Title and win 1 over 2nd in BE and go to sweet 16.

Had to get that off my chest.

PS. Win BE title and lose first round cancels the work of 20 games and 2+ months, so don't do that

I agree with your overall high rating of a conference championship. I also rate it really high, and rate a BET championship pretty low.

It's hard to separate out the conference championship from the sweet 16 though because they are so correlated. If you win the BE, you will be seeded well, and then not making the sweet 16 is disappointing. But it also depends on how it happens: if you lose in the first round that is devastating, since it's a major upset and feels like a waste. A loss in the second round goes back to crapshoot territory -- disappointing but could be an element of bad luck, and the memory of a good season can still win out.

On the other hand, if you have a mediocre season, stumble into an at-large birth, and win 2 games, it's fun and memorable, but I think I enjoy a season of sustained success more. For a program like Dayton those kinds of Cinderella years are their ceiling, but we expect to go to Sweet 16s because we've been that good for decent stretches, not because we want to go on miraculous runs.

The harder ones to distinguish are like, if you finish 2nd in the BE, still get a good seed and end up making the S16, is that better than finishing 1st and losing a 2nd round nail-biter? OK, yeah, in that case probably I favor the S16.

Shaka won a conference tournament at Texas, the next year he was coaching at Marquette. That says everything about the importance or lack there of of a conference tournament.

well I'd like to see us win one for once, just to see how it feels.

Quote from: Pepe Sylvia on January 19, 2023, 10:11:21 AM
well I'd like to see us win one for once, just to see how it feels.

Fair.  However, if you flame out the following week after winning a conference tourney, it ends up feeling pretty hollow

Quote from: Goose on January 19, 2023, 08:06:43 AM
Snoop

I agree that a culture has been formed it should carryover year to year and I hope it does. This season seems special because it is something new, players know their roles and are aligned 100% together. IMO, you get a team like this once in a coach's time at a school and you need to take advantage of it. I am not looking forward to next year and want to get it done NOW.

100% Goose, especially the last sentence.  Let's get it done now.  Too good a team to waste this opportunity.

Once again, I am both/and.   I am enjoying this season.    If everybody comes back, next year has the potential to be ridonkulous.

Quote from: Uncle Rico on January 19, 2023, 11:57:19 AM
Fair.  However, if you flame out the following week after winning a conference tourney, it ends up feeling pretty hollow

Yep. Ask Virginia how special the 2018 ACC championship was feeling on March 16 of that year.

Numerous other examples available, including (as Galway mentioned) Shaka and Texas.

Not saying I wouldn't be happy with a BET title. Just saying that, if I had to choose, I'd rather win in the weeks that follow.