Hawk - So ... basically w / running back the same team, MU " will be 15 games better next year " ?

From ( maybe ) 10 wins to 25 !?!  UH. Ok

LMFAO

All IMHO:

James, Stevens, Parham and possibly others will be more experienced and better after getting a baptism under fire.

Egbuonu and Sheek will be valuable contributors. Other newbies might be, too.

Shaka will bring in at least two good players via the transfer portal.

So sure, lots of reasons to believe MU will be better, probably a lot better.

Or if it makes folks feel "better" ...

Nah, nobody will improve, the newcomers will suck, Shaka will stubbornly refuse to add transfers, and we'll stink again. Whee!

If I was around I'd probably go. Not a bad place to put 12 beers down.

Quote from: tower912 on January 14, 2026, 03:56:48 PMThis amuses me.

A seriousish question for the board. When you watch games, do games fall into patterns to the point that you can almost predict what happens over the next few minutes, as you have seen it with dozens of teams in dozens of games?

Case in point:  The IU game overlapped with the MU game last night.  My wife and I watched our favorite teams separately.  Afterwards, I asked her about the IU-Sparty game.  'Meh.  Tied at 53 IU foul trouble caught up and Sparty upped their intensity'.  That is all I needed to recognize a pattern and know the outcome.

'How about Marquette game'?  "Nine players dressed, 7 freshman and sophomores, at MSG". 
'Ouch.  25-30 points?'

Putting aside the spousal banter shorthand, aren't there certain patterns that you notice when you watch other teams play? 

For me, one is always who stands around on offense first and off ball movement.  Another is defensive rotations.  How quickly teams recognize a zone.  That sometimes bad free throw shooting is like the norovirus.  That Sparty at home almost always finds another gear.

And like last night.  That young, undermanned teams usually lose badly  on the road.  In my mind, it is an expected, a given, a cliche. 


And I always assume that MU is not immune from these patterns.

Does anybody else watch games with this mindset?

I take it that your wife's comment was in the context of already knowing MU is God awful. Duke, KU, and UK have often played with frosh on the road and won. The problem MU has is not the freshmen. The problem is the lack of production from sophomores, redshirt sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Who would have thought before the season started that James would be better than Jones and Stevens would be better than DO and Lowery? It would be understandable if the freshmen were superstars, but they're not.

Quote from: mileskishnish72 on January 14, 2026, 03:13:53 PMDepends on what our coach does in March and April.

Which cannot come soon enough!

Quote from: wadesworld on January 14, 2026, 03:29:40 PMIf no legitimate Big East rotational pieces are added through the portal and there are no unexpected departures, they'll be better but not good enough to even be on the bubble.

You can build around Nigel.  I'd expect Egbuonu to be one of the better players on the team if the above is the case.  The ceiling would depend on whether Sheek can contribute right away and whether Stevens and Parham progress to legitimate Big East rotational players.

But if no portal players, then the lineup would probably be:

Two freshmen (Sheek, Egbuono)
Two sophomores (James, Stevens)
One Junior (Parham)

Of course that being maybe Owens stays and starts.

Then the excuse of losing, would be the same narrative that is currently being discussed as an excuse, too many young players against older experienced players.

Quote from: willie warrior on January 14, 2026, 03:25:35 PMSeems like 20 plus losses are becoming a thing with this team.

Absolutely, joyless willie!

20-plus losses every single season, year after year after year. Yup, truly a Marquette thing.

What is it now ... 14 straight 20-loss seasons?

I have no illusions about MU winning the BE tourny and much less expect that if they did they could make a run in the NCAA's.  All I am suggesting,contray to what seems the group think around here, is that this team has talent and if in the next 10 or 12 games can come together as a team they would be fun to watch.  Rosss and James had the best game together this year.  Parham had a nice game and Hamilton made what I think was a hook shot.  The freshmen and sophomores on this team are learning to play together which in the larger view was I think the goal for the season.  There is absolutly no reason to think that next season's edition of the team  won't be 15 games better.  James is a stud.  Stevens and Philoips are studs in the making.  Next year the the eagles soar and play like warriors.

We're gonna go 0-20 (update: 1-19). Shaka can't coach. Nobody can make a shot. We don't play intelligently. We have very little talent. We're total garbage.

But I'm worried we'll win the Big East Tournament.

So funny.

Im guessing this might be the smallest crowd in quite a while for an away Depaul game. Shame for them, they probably look forward to the stadium being reasonably full once a year.