Shaka's ceiling

[muwarrior69]

Yeah, Al rather drove the Abbey into the ground year by year.  His 7 seasons there chronologically:

24-3
21-2
19-5
17-6
15-8
7-21
6-18

Al got out before the sheriff arrived.  A miraculous hire by MU!

Can you imagine if there was a scoop in '64.

[AlumKCof93]

By all accounts, Gates will have a successful career and he'd do a great job at MU.  But taking him over Shaka would be difficult given Shaka's high profile and the stability should he succeed as we hope.  Its the first time in awhile in which I know we got better today.  Welcome Shaka! 

[rocket surgeon]

shaka's a players coach.  i realize he's a good recruiter.  i just wonder if he will be able to maintain our core of carton, garcia and lewis.  who would he or does he need to keep of this core?  i believe he's a dude that players want to play for.

     i've also heard our incoming class is pretty good.  what affect will this have of any of them?

[DefinitelyNotPorterMoser]

There is no reason to believe that Marquette cannot win a national title. So that would be the ceiling of any hire.

That, obviously, is not the expectation. This is somewhat colored by the previous coach, but I believe a reasonable expectation for Shaka (and any coach MU would have hired) would be to make the tournament (or at least be on the bubble) 4/5 years, finish in the top half of the conference every year, show progress from the beginning of each season to the end and have a track record of making the players you recruit into the program better.

I couldn't care less if he gets top 20, top 50 or top 100 classes. Find guys that fit your system. Coach them up. Develop a culture. Develop an identity.

I didn't care much for Buzz, but he won games and those teams had an identity. You knew they would fight. You knew it wasn't going to be easy to play against them. But you also knew that some years, it wasn't going to be pretty offensively. That's who MU was at that time.

Wojo never had an identity ... other than falling apart at the end of the season and not being able to manage the stars in the program. His teams were never better at the end of the season. Very few, if any, players got better the longer they stayed (with Sacar Anim being the outlier.)

I really wanted Porter Moser. I think he could have been here for 25 years. But I think Shaka could be here for 10 and have a few teams worthy of a Final Four run. I think next year's team, if the Big 3 come back, could make a Sweet 16.

I think Shaka's absolute floor is close to what Wojo had the last four years. Two decent teams, an average team and a stinker. It's a low risk, high reward hire.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

There is no reason to believe that Marquette cannot win a national title. So that would be the ceiling of any hire.

That, obviously, is not the expectation. This is somewhat colored by the previous coach, but I believe a reasonable expectation for Shaka (and any coach MU would have hired) would be to make the tournament (or at least be on the bubble) 4/5 years, finish in the top half of the conference every year, show progress from the beginning of each season to the end and have a track record of making the players you recruit into the program better.

I couldn't care less if he gets top 20, top 50 or top 100 classes. Find guys that fit your system. Coach them up. Develop a culture. Develop an identity.

I didn't care much for Buzz, but he won games and those teams had an identity. You knew they would fight. You knew it wasn't going to be easy to play against them. But you also knew that some years, it wasn't going to be pretty offensively. That's who MU was at that time.

Wojo never had an identity ... other than falling apart at the end of the season and not being able to manage the stars in the program. His teams were never better at the end of the season. Very few, if any, players got better the longer they stayed (with Sacar Anim being the outlier.)

I really wanted Porter Moser. I think he could have been here for 25 years. But I think Shaka could be here for 10 and have a few teams worthy of a Final Four run. I think next year's team, if the Big 3 come back, could make a Sweet 16.

I think Shaka's absolute floor is close to what Wojo had the last four years. Two decent teams, an average team and a stinker. It's a low risk, high reward hire.

There is a lot there, but you honestly think a coach is going to run a program into his late 70s?

[brewcity77]

10 days ago, if you had asked anyone that follows college if Shaka Smart, the 43-year-old coach of a top-15, 3-seed, would make another Final Four in his career, the answer would be a resounding yes. He was at a major program, coaching one of the best teams in the country, and likely has 20+ years left to go. Of course he'll reach another Final Four.

And if you can reach a Final Four, if everyone in the college basketball world would expect you to get to a Final Four, you can win a National Championship.

So what changed? Shaka is still one of the best recruiters in the country. He's still one of the most consistently good defensive coaches in the country. All that changed was his zip code.

His ceiling is a National Championship. A Final Four coach at a high major with his recruiting ability and remaining career longevity could absolutely win the biggest prize in the sport. That doesn't mean he will. That doesn't mean he should. But ceiling? Winning a National Championship. And if he does that, anything else is gravy.

[DefinitelyNotPorterMoser]

There is a lot there, but you honestly think a coach is going to run a program into his late 70s?

25 may have been a bit much, but Porter may have to beat a 74-year-old coach to get to the Final Four on Monday.

[warriorstrack]

25 may have been a bit much, but Porter may have to beat a 74-year-old coach to get to the Final Four on Monday.

Nope he's losing to a guy that is 55

[Herman Cain]

I am very enthusiastic about the potential that Shaka brings to MU. Here is my view to his ceiling.

1. He brings instant recruiting currency. He can spend that on retaining the guys in our program that he wants or bring in equally talented players.
1a. Shaka will be able to engage the local Wisconsin talent in a way that Wojo wasn't able to .
2. Because of the Shaka recruiting currency, we don't have to endure a Dodd's style endless rebuilds are a bitch mode that we had to do with Wojo.
3 . The Big East is a tough league , but everyone is in a relatively similar mode with the exception of Nova at the Top and DePaul at the bottom. MU, with the assets it brings to the table,  can move into that 2 or 3 spot in the league with a Shaka energized program.
4. When your program has a solid conference result, the seeding in the NCAA tournament is better. More 1,2,3 and 4 seeds.
5. With Better Seeding more potential to get through to Sweet 16. From there anything is possible.
6. With the right roster, with the requisite pogo stick types which I believe Shaka can access, He can get us back in the running for a Natty. 

The floor for Shaka is also relatively high, basically a continuation of what we already have. So he is the low risk/ high reward candidate.

[Silent Verbal]

Agree with others that his ceiling is a National Championship.  What excites me most about him, however, is his floor, which I think is *at least* Crean and Buzz level success, if not a little bit better.  Wojo couldn't even sniff that.  This will be fun, and a huge relief to Marquette fans after seven mediocre to lousy seasons.  Fiserv will be bumping next winter.

[MU82]

10 days ago, if you had asked anyone that follows college if Shaka Smart, the 43-year-old coach of a top-15, 3-seed, would make another Final Four in his career, the answer would be a resounding yes. He was at a major program, coaching one of the best teams in the country, and likely has 20+ years left to go. Of course he'll reach another Final Four.

And if you can reach a Final Four, if everyone in the college basketball world would expect you to get to a Final Four, you can win a National Championship.

So what changed? Shaka is still one of the best recruiters in the country. He's still one of the most consistently good defensive coaches in the country. All that changed was his zip code.

His ceiling is a National Championship. A Final Four coach at a high major with his recruiting ability and remaining career longevity could absolutely win the biggest prize in the sport. That doesn't mean he will. That doesn't mean he should. But ceiling? Winning a National Championship. And if he does that, anything else is gravy.

I want to thank you, brew, because your takes along these lines helped convince me that I overreacted initially to Shaka's loss to Abilene Christian.