Quote from: Pakuni on Today at 10:55:38 AMIf you'd said Freeman was "part" of the problem at Creighton, we wouldn't be having this argument. You pinned it entirely on him while ignoring far more significant contributing factors.

My point was that Owen Freeman wouldn't have fixed the issues with this Marquette team.  Would we be a better team with him?  Sure.  But he's not taking the 102nd ranked defense and making them any better.

I'd also argue that going from Ryan Kalkbrenner to Owen Freeman defensively really is THE reason Creighton's defense has gone from strong to trash.  It certainly isn't going from Steven Ashworth to Josh Dix (who isn't a good defender, but if you've watched Steven Ashworth play defense, well...).

Quote from: WhiteTrash on Today at 02:03:00 AMPaying a HC $3M(?) a year doesn't guarantee success just like bringing in transfers doesn't either. Miami of Ohio's Steele makes $400k per year (but they do have at least 1 transfer  ).

OK. Still don't know why Shaka's salary would grate on me.

Sounds like two alternate realities colliding.

Imagine the dumb sh1t we must send recruits.  How does this keep happening? Charlie "Chaplin" 4 Ashes??

https://x.com/marquettembb/status/2023487756044038543?s=46&t=lNpN7iXqtrMrr3jfOK2gbA

Slightly better than video game.

Quote from: MUbiz on Today at 09:49:56 AMWhy not run 18 back?  Shaka did say he is one of the teams best defenders in a post game presser earlier in year.

Not sure Shaka is a reliable narrator when it comes to the tale of number 18.

Quote from: wadesworld on Today at 10:48:49 AMNigel is CERATINLY part of the problem.  Sorry, I have no problem admitting when a player is not good defensively.  And our defense is still higher than Creighton's lol.  Nigel's also in year one of college basketball, while Freeman is in year 3, school 2, coach 2.  He was brought in to start at the 5, where they had a great defensive center who anchored defenses that ranked 32, 19, 14, 24, and 44 in defensive rating his 5 years at Creighton.  Freeman can hardly find the court despite shooting 62% from the field, and Creighton's defense is now 120th in defensive rating, which is the best defensive rating of any team Freeman has played on in his career.

But yeah.  He's a solid defensive player or something, and would definitely fix Marquette's problems.

If you'd said Freeman was "part" of the problem at Creighton, we wouldn't be having this argument. You pinned it entirely on him while ignoring far more significant contributing factors.

Quote from: Pakuni on February 16, 2026, 10:38:45 PMMarquette sits 102nd in defense this year, by far the worst of Shaka's tenure.
Clearly Nigel James' fault.

Nigel is CERATINLY part of the problem.  Sorry, I have no problem admitting when a player is not good defensively.  And our defense is still higher than Creighton's lol.  Nigel's also in year one of college basketball, while Freeman is in year 3, school 2, coach 2.  He was brought in to start at the 5, where they had a great defensive center who anchored defenses that ranked 32, 19, 14, 24, and 44 in defensive rating his 5 years at Creighton.  Freeman can hardly find the court despite shooting 62% from the field, and Creighton's defense is now 120th in defensive rating, which is the best defensive rating of any team Freeman has played on in his career.

But yeah.  He's a solid defensive player or something, and would definitely fix Marquette's problems.

Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on Today at 09:39:38 AMThis season is really dragging on. Add in the fact that now we finally got some indication that we may use the portal and I'm just ready for it to be April. But who knows...maybe our next star could be gearing up to play in March for another school right now. You never know!

We know.  You want us to lose as quickly as we can in the Big East Tournament.  Worried about a sprained ankle ruining next season.

Interesting series of comments on Coach Shaka's Saturday disclosure. My thoughts are:

1) Coach Shaka left Texas with a cloud over his head from his lack of tournament success. He can ill-afford another failure if he wants to stay in coaching.

2) The Marquette faithful are becoming very restless about this year's meltdown, particularly given the steadfastness with which we have eschewed the portal and over-emphasized traditional RGV.

3) If we don't right the ship and commit to doing something dramatic, the probability that Marquette will keep the true core of a rebuild -- James, Parham, Stevens, Phillips and possibly Owens -- is so low that one must excavate the left side of a Bell curve to find it.

4) Ditto for the very good recruiting classes that are on redshirt this year and will be joining us in the fall.

Simply put, I firmly believe the university put the basketball program on notice. I'm not sure they had to because Coach Shaka is a competitive guy and wants to win badly! But the basketball program is too important to Marquette's identity and to the university overall.

If we don't fix this problem expediently, this year's meltdown will be akin to comparing a melting candle to Chernobyl. We'll make DePaul look like an NCAA Champion and be playing and losing to Southern Illinois twice a year!