I hate to break it to the board, but.....

[The Equalizer]

This team is really talented and going to win a lot of games this year!!!

I know this is in direct contradiction to the funeral procession of constant negative posts about the outlook of this year's team.  The board's propensity to group think, while acting as if they are the majority, when they are in fact a very small minority of Marquette's total fan base reminds me of Twitter in many ways. 

Just wait until the end of the year, when people jump on board the "Marquette overachieved" bandwagon rather than admit they simply underpredicted.

[BallBoy]

This game didn't change my feelings for the year over all. I am expecting a clunker against Illinois and UCLA a la Iowa, Indiana, Michigan. A good game against Wisco. Middle of the road Big East.

There is a solid foundation but I think we are going to see several shooting games like last night. I expect us to be better at the end of the season.

[tower912]

If you really look at his post it was more of a political statement.

Good call.   I had given up by the end.   

[Jockey]

If you really look at his post it was more of a political statement.

I don't think most of us read that far.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Too bad our home court atmosphere won't be as dynamic this year due to lingering Covid worries, a sluggish economy and the damage from past left wing political statements made by last year's team... I personally know this kept some people from renewing their tickets.

You're an idiot.

[MU24]

This is a basketball board

[Newsdreams]

I don't think most of us read that far.

What can I say, I love to read.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Just wait until the end of the year, when people jump on board the "Marquette overachieved" bandwagon rather than admit they simply underpredicted.

So...by that logic can any team overachieve? Or are they always underpredicted?

[jesmu84]

At least I'm not the only one who remembers BLM is the reason wojo got fired

[JakeBarnes]

So...by that logic can any team overachieve? Or are they always underpredicted?

Well it is...and It isnt.

[MU82]

Good call.   I had given up by the end.

Me too. I hadn't realized it was a political screed.

[CountryRoads]

I'm actually a lot less optimistic about this season than I was before the first game after watching the team play.

My main concern is that despite our size, it doesn't seem like the bigs have enough physicality or enough of a "motor" currently.  I think our best lineup will end up being Lewis at 5 and Morsell at 4 (like he did at Maryland).

Only time I'll make this distinction ever again, but the Wojo freshman look to be ahead of the Shaka freshman at this point. I thought Ellis would make a difference on this team, but I may have really whiffed on that if he can't even get in a game like this.

I will say I'm optimistic about Shaka though. Proven guy and will have MU at least be a round of 32 program which is all I ask for. Somewhere between Crean and Buzz.

[Daniel]

I've never referred to the online roster as many times as I did during last night's game. Frequently heard in my living room:  "Wait a minute...who is that?"

Lol - I had the MU Gameday open to Roster to figure out who was who.   It felt at time I was watching some other team.  We will get used to it

[Viper]

This game didn't change my feelings for the year over all. I am expecting a clunker against Illinois and UCLA a la Iowa, Indiana, Michigan. A good game against Wisco. Middle of the road Big East.

There is a solid foundation but I think we are going to see several shooting games like last night. I expect us to be better at the end of the season.

14, maybe 15 wins. 17 losses.

[Viper]

You're an idiot.

opinions not allowed, comrade?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

This is a basketball board

Sir, this is an Arby's.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

My main concern is that despite our size, it doesn't seem like the bigs have enough physicality or enough of a "motor" currently.  I think our best lineup will end up being Lewis at 5 and Morsell at 4 (like he did at Maryland).

If there is anything I took from the game it is that Shaka has everyone, including the bigs, playing with high motors, maybe too high on the offense end.

You didn't think Oso, Kur, or OMax were playing with high motors??

[dgies9156]

Hm, clearly we need more time with this team, those players don't exist 

Ok my spelling sucks. Where are we, copy editing class? LOL

I admit, Luke Staudaucher or John Vivian would have flagged me if I was still in class at MU. But I'm just a humble Scooper, so I get a break this time.

Right?

[BallBoy]

14, maybe 15 wins. 17 losses.

Agreed. If Shaka gets to .500 he overachieved. If he has less than 14 wins he underachieved for the year. 

It seems like this year we are playing better competition in the nonconf and the Big East is always good.  I don't see a team where we are guaranteed two wins but I do see a few where we are guaranteed two losses on paper. If Shaka gets the team to 5/6 in Big East he overachieved. Good news is I don't see much down side as consensus is we are bottom 4.

[Scoop Snoop]

Ok my spelling sucks. Where are we, copy editing class? LOL

I admit, Luke Staudaucher or John Vivian would have flagged me if I was still at MU in class. But I'm just a humble Scooper, so I get a break this time.

Right?

As long as you do not write like forever, yeah, you deserve a break. Your crime was misspelling players' names. Anyone who wrote "Marcus" during his time at MU got the same treatment.

[CountryRoads]

If there is anything I took from the game it is that Shaka has everyone, including the bigs, playing with high motors, maybe too high on the offense end.

You didn't think Oso, Kur, or OMax were playing with high motors??

No issue with their efforts whatsoever, but I felt there were a number of 50/50 balls and defensive rebound opportunities that were missed. Personally, I think it was time for both parties to explore new things, but a guy with Theo's physicality was noticeably absent Tuesday.

It was probably too much to make the statement after one bunny game, but I think this year's team will gain it's advantage by going smaller.

[dgies9156]

As long as you do not write like forever, yeah, you deserve a break. Your crime was misspelling players' names. Anyone who wrote "Marcus" during his time at MU got the same treatment.

Yeah, I think I did that once without thinking. 

[Scoop Snoop]

Yeah, I think I did that once without thinking. 

Spelling of players' names aside, I agree that Kolak is way better than any of Wojo's tranfers.    Love his passing!

You seem to be a favorite punching bag for some scoopers. Did you get beat up a lot when you were a kid?

[The Equalizer]

So...by that logic can any team overachieve? Or are they always underpredicted?

That's an interesting question.  I'm inclined to say that "overachievement" is almost always a situation of being underestimated by someone else.

I start with an isolated case--some pundit states that Tyler Kolek is a bench player who won't contribue much. Then Tyler actually earns a starting role and dishes out 9 assists in his first game, a far better performance than that pundit thought he was capable of. 

Did Tyler merely "overachieve?"  Or did he actually put in the hard work to achieve to the level that his talent allowed him to perform?  I suggest it's the latter.

Moreover, calling the outstanding prformance an "overachievement" seems to minimize the whole of Tyler's effort while at the same time absolving the initial pundit from taking any responsiblity for his erroneous prediction. 

Saying the player or team overachieved to me seems to be a polite way to avoid saying "I was wrong in my prediction."

 

[Galway Eagle]

That's an interesting question.  I'm inclined to say that "overachievement" is almost always a situation of being underestimated by someone else.

I start with an isolated case--some pundit states that Tyler Kolek is a bench player who won't contribue much. Then Tyler actually earns a starting role and dishes out 9 assists in his first game, a far better performance than that pundit thought he was capable of. 

Did Tyler merely "overachieve?"  Or did he actually put in the hard work to achieve to the level that his talent allowed him to perform?  I suggest it's the latter.

Moreover, calling the outstanding prformance an "overachievement" seems to minimize the whole of Tyler's effort while at the same time absolving the initial pundit from taking any responsiblity for his erroneous prediction. 

Saying the player or team overachieved to me seems to be a polite way to avoid saying "I was wrong in my prediction."

I think you'd need a larger data set to say someone over or under achieved. Last year we had two games where we overachieved. John Dawson had a game where he over achieved. We know this because we saw the larger data set and can point to outliers. On the other hand, as of now, it would seem that Tyler has the ability to play effectively at this level and is reaching his potential.