Kohl hole o sole' mio

[Big Papi]

Back to reality with this team.  A very young inexperienced team that will lose a lot of games but hopefully will be better by the end of the year. 

Badgers are and have always been a very disciplined team with great fundamentals.  They run a system that has been in place for a long time.  We are in the very beginning stages of learning our system.  It will take time. 

The offense will get much better.  The defense will get better.  I really like the potential of Jones and Joplin on the offensive end.  We need someone who can score down low.  Hopefully they can recruit a big with an offensive game for next year.  Defensively in the half court, we jump too early on help defense leading to one pass to a wide open player.  They will figure that out.  3/4 press is a work in progress that will have to be tweaked or shelved if it doesn't improve shortly. 

[tower912]

Box score

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401372004

10 minutes from Kur.    Barely more than Greg or EE played.   

[rocky_warrior]

I guess I don't know what people were expecting this year. 

Honestly, other than NoLonger's wildly negative attitude, and Goose and Bitcher's wildly optimistic attitude, I think most people have expectations about right. 

[tower912]

Good point.    The vast majority here are pragmatic and have realistic expectations.    The outliers get all of the attention.    Much like life in general.    Rocky, you ought to pin the preseason victory total thread to the top to illustrate your point.   

[The Sultan]

Honestly, other than NoLonger's wildly negative attitude, and Goose and Bitcher's wildly optimistic attitude, I think most people have expectations about right. 

Good point.    The vast majority here are pragmatic and have realistic expectations.    The outliers get all of the attention.    Much like life in general.    Rocky, you ought to pin the preseason victory total thread to the top to illustrate your point.   

Good points.

[The Equalizer]

The Illinois win was great, but remember they played without a potential First Team All American.  Since his return Cockburn has been a beast averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds a game.

Remember what Tower has stated at least a hundred times, its a "Process". The process may not be what everyone wants at this point, but it is what it is.  MU may lose the next five after what we observed today, against a very disciplined Wiskey team and the BE win totals may be very low.   UCLA will absolutely destroy MU next week. 

MU will win or lose with Shaka's system of aggressive defense (led to too many layups on full court press today), run and gun offense/tempo.  The personnel he has now, utilizes the system on occasions, but against better teams it is a let"s see approach.  Markus and Rowsey are not here to make the threes required in his offensive sets. Cam Jones and Joplin are only ones seemed capable and it will take awhile for them settling in. Team will be sometimes good, sometimes bad, but may be a long season.

Shaka's success will be based upon who comes in next year and as of now, his start is very, very slow.  Morsell, Kuath, Elliott and in all likelihood Lewis will be gone.  Throw in the usual player who transfers and all you got coming in are two recruits, one a 5ft 10 point guard, both of whom are not even ranked in the top 150 in their class.  Maybe he will get some players from the transfer portal, but that is a way off.  Lets hope for the best.

This seems like an overly negative interpretation.

First, after seeing enough games to get a handle on the Big East, I don't believe there is anyone other than perhaps Villanova that plays with the discipline of Wisconsin. If we faced 10 teams like Wisconsin, our win total in the Big East would be low.  Fortunately, most of our opponents aren't playing at that level. 

Second, while I am also disappointed that Shaka hasn't elevated our recruiting, I am heartened that most of the pre-season comments of how little we could expect from transfers and freshmen were incorrect. I said then (and still believe) that we have enough talent to compete in that middle tier of the Big East.  I don't see us challenging Villanova or perhaps Uconn, but I wouldn't be surprised by a 3rd place finish.  And the talent we have right now as Frosh and Sophs, we could build a team that will be recognized as a solid 2nd or 3rd place contender each year over the next three years.   

Third, ESPN has Sean Jones listed at #83, quite a bit better than "not being ranked in the top 150."  Hopefully, the poor rankings from other services were due to COVID-era travel restrictions that hindered visibility, as opposed to a fair evaluation of his talent.

[tower912]

https://247sports.com/college/marquette/Article/Shaka-Smart-after-MU-89-76-loss-to-23-Wisconsin-177271865/


Shaka post game.

[Its DJOver]

Honestly, other than NoLonger's wildly negative attitude, and Goose and Bitcher's wildly optimistic attitude, I think most people have expectations about right.

This. Pretty much everybody else has things figured out. A select few are weirdly  skewed in one direction or another.

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

Did I miss this? Has the team made reference to what/how he got injured?

watch who the trainer is working on pregame and during timeouts.  It's pretty clear he's not healthy even though nothing has been said to media

[Jockey]

I guess I don't know what people were expecting this year.  I think some people talked themselves into thinking that this team was going to be better than it is. We have too many true freshmen or players who are debuting with big minutes on the P6 level.

Yup. I saw a lot of issues where UW was the better team. Defense. Passing. Consistency. Turnovers. Passing vs. dribbling to get open shots.

All of these are things that one would expect from a young, inexperienced team. It will get better.

The good news is that there is a lot of individual talent on this team. Just need to wait for it all to come together. Next year and the year after could be a lot of fun.

[JTJ3]

We're pressing, but Shaka isnt ready to go full Havoc yet. This 1-2-2 we're running isnt Havoc.

[Markusquette]

A bit disappointed with Kolek's lack of offensive progression. I like his game as a passer, but MU really needs him to score a bit more to expand his game. Right now Lewis is the offensive identity and he is still trying to find his stride. Can be sloppy or a little too physical. Oso is becoming a pleasant surprise. Greg has been a non-factor since he return. Wonder how much the suspension affected his slow start.

[tower912]

MU has run a number of different sets out of the 1-2-2.

[MU82]

The best player on the court, by far, was Davis. Hardly surprising, many of us said that would be the case. He is going to make a whole lot of money after this season.

Unfortunately, the second-best player on the court was Floppy McDickpuncher. His corner 3 on the inbounds play after we had cut it to 8 was a real dagger. Him being a difference-maker sucked almost as bad as the loss did. Actually, might have sucked more. But he still lost 3 of his 5 games against us, and his choke-jobs in a couple of those losses made him directly responsible for sadness in Madison. So there!

This team has trouble winning any game if 2 of Morsell, Lewis and Kolek don't play well, and we probably won't beat any good team if all 3 aren't plus players for us.

I almost hope Morsell is a little dinged up -- and, of course, that he gets fully healthy very soon -- because that's a much less worrisome explanation than reversion to mean. These last 5 games (that's more than half the games so far) his scoring average is about what it was in 4 years at Maryland.

Re-read the Shaka quote that's in my tagline: "A lot of the stuff that we believe in and that I've always believed in — it takes time. It's not a quick fix. It's not an instant-gratification thing. It's a drip-by-drip process."

I'm thrilled we won the games we did, and I'm an optimist who remains hopeful for a top-5 finish in the Big East and an NCAA bid. But I completely agree with Shaka about it being a drip-by-drip process. We'll see.

And speaking of drips ...

It's sad that anybody who claims to be a Marquette fan would actively root against the team, as a few mopes did last season and as at least one twat is doing this season. Guys who don't have the onions to come here after wins because they're waiting to drop the hammer after losses ... pathetic.

[The Lens]

Wasn't able to watch.  Did we score 50?

[NCMUFan]

28-2 is still on the table.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Spamming with this? And not really he is ok but lots of players ahead of him right now.

Elite 8ish

[Elonsmusk]

First true road game of the year.  Solid first half.  Davison played above his usual game. 

Rough game for JLew.  Kur in early foul trouble.  Poor shooting day from 3.  Oso a big bright spot.  His chemistry with Kolek is really good.  Need better shooting from Kolek and the staff thinks he's a better shooter than what he's shown so far.

Takeaway for the day for me was Johnny Davis.  Silky smooth player.  He keeps playing at the level he did today, he might have lottery pick potential.

Still think our team has nice potential, and can be an NCAA team.  If you consider this team could have 3 more years of Kolek, Kam, Oso, Joplin, Mitchell (he's trying to do too much/play too fast right now), O-Max, Ellis - where that team could be in 3 years is special.  I left Justin Lewis off of that list as he very well could go pro after next season (wouldn't think he'd try to go pro after this year despite being in some mock drafts/second rounds)

[Billy Hoyle]

Wasn't able to watch.  Did we score 50?

Bucky did...in the second half.

[MuggsyB]

We need to do a much better job finishing and being under control in the paint.  Use the floater, the shot fake, and stop being in a rush. Just relax and finish a two foot shot.

[Elonsmusk]

Bucky did...in the second half.

If only Tan Crean were our coach.  How's Georgia doing in Year 3 of the Tan Crean era, Chicos?  KenPom has them at 162.

[We R Final Four]

Bucky did...in the second half.

There he is!

[OffTheGlass]

First true road game of the year.  Solid first half.  Davison played above his usual game. 

Rough game for JLew.  Kur in early foul trouble.  Poor shooting day from 3.  Oso a big bright spot.  His chemistry with Kolek is really good.  Need better shooting from Kolek and the staff thinks he's a better shooter than what he's shown so far.

Takeaway for the day for me was Johnny Davis.  Silky smooth player.  He keeps playing at the level he did today, he might have lottery pick potential.

Still think our team has nice potential, and can be an NCAA team.  If you consider this team could have 3 more years of Kolek, Kam, Oso, Joplin, Mitchell (he's trying to do too much/play too fast right now), O-Max, Ellis - where that team could be in 3 years is special.  I left Justin Lewis off of that list as he very well could go pro after next season (wouldn't think he'd try to go pro after this year despite being in some mock drafts/second rounds)

I totally agree with your Mitchell comment. He plays decent D, but he really struggles with the ball in hands as was the case right before half when he lost the ball as the shot clock expired. He also can't penetrate against the better teams because he isn't strong enough "yet". He does try to do too much and just needs to slow down as his game will come in time. I rather see Kam have the minutes due to his outside shot being more of a threat. Both guys are fun to watch and will make this a dangerous team in the years to come.

It's only one game...beat Kansas State and get back on track!

[MuggsyB]

It's only one game and our first road game but does anyone have some ideas how to best tweak our line-up?  It seems to me in the half-court Kolek has all the responsibility to create offense.   We get super stagnant and ball-stop with a lot of overdribbling.  We really need Morsell and Jones to create more, not just try to score.  Move the basketball and maybe use our bigs more in the wide or high post?

[DoctorV]

Please explain Morsell:

First 4 games, 22.5 pts/game
Last 5 games, 8.6 pts/game

All Marquette's reach equilibrium.

He won't be the 10ppg scorer he was at Maryland (if he is then uh oh).

He won't be the 20ppg scorer he was in the first 4.

Likely, and at this point hopefully, right in the middle at around 15ppg to go along with solid leadership and excellent defense.

That defense though... let's see more of it