Recalibrate your expectations

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Seriously?
For weeks leading up to and including the Creighton loss, a certain segment of Scoop preached that, for Shaka, this season is about process and culture, not winning (because somehow they're mutually exclusive?).
And any of us who suggested that this team had realistic NCAA tourney hopes needed to keep our wild expectations in check. After all, KenPom says we weren't a tournament team, so it must be true.
I'm not going to go through every thread, so if you remember things differently, ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

Okay...but this is different from what you just said. Who said anything about Shaka downplaying winning?

Let me help because I don't want this to be a long drawn out thing. Shaka could have kept at least two of the COVID seniors from last season. He told them to go. He could have made promises to DJ Carton and Dawson Garcia, both of whom made it clear that they would stay for a year and then go pro. He told them to go. He could have recruited a bunch of upperclassmen transfers who were more game ready than the transfers we got. He didn't. He recruited 5 freshmen, none of whom were ranked in the top 75. He recruited Tyler Kolek and O-Max Prosper, two young transfers who no one listed amongst the top 100 transfers in the country and as we saw, were very much works in progress when they got here. He then recruited Kur Kuath and Darryl Morsell, two COVID seniors who were known for defense and leadership, one of whom no one had in the top 100 transfers, and the other was ranked in the 30s-50s by most. And it's not just that these are the guys he landed, we weren't mentioned as recruiting any of the top transfers. This is a different approach from what many first year coaches did this season. Chris Beard, Porter Moser, TJO, they all infused their rosters with high level upperclassmen transfers to varying degrees of success.

Shaka never downplayed winning. No one has ever said that. What they said was, that Shaka's number one goal was to build the program and wouldn't win this season at the expense of that number one goal. That doesn't mean that he can't do both. Shaka could have had a much more formidable day one roster than he put together. The dude knows how to recruit, we could have landed some of those top transfers. Instead, he invested in a bunch of young, less heralded transfers/recruits with the goal of building them up...which will give us a better chance of being better next season than we are this season. Beard, Moser, TJO...they might be better next season than they are this season, but they will likely need to reload on the transfer market more than we will...which is a perfectly fine approach but is susceptible to pitfalls.

To Shaka's credit, he's having his cake and eating it to. We were a bad team at the beginning of the season. We were stumbling against the likes of SIU-E and New Hampshire. We beat Illinois but without Cockburn they are just a team. Beating Ole Miss and West Virginia was fun but time has shown that they weren't very good. We got our clocks cleaned by what has turned out to be a very mediocre St. Bonaventure team. If Shaka had approached the season differently, I doubt we struggle in that way...but I also doubt we see the development that we have. I anticipated development in season, but hot damn what Shaka has done in-season for this team is so f*cking impressive. Can't wait to see how he builds on it.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

If you filter T-Rank from the start of the year (including Creighton) Marquette is the 7th best team in the country. If you filter to January 2nd, Marquette is the 2nd best team in the country. I'll be happy with whatever comes from here, but this team is playing like a legitimate Final Four contender the past month.

What was Marquette's t rank before conference Jan 1?

[1SE]

I love how this whole board is basically just a Bayesian-Frequentist debate.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The implication of folks saying this team would struggle to score 50 points at the beginning of the season is that this team would struggle mightily on the offensive end for large portions of the year. That has been wildly incorrect.

I was one of those people and no, I didn't mean that implication at all. I expected us to struggle at the beginning of the season and get better.

It is correct we have played two 40 minute games in the 50’s.

Three 40 minutes games in the 50s. Plus another that after 40 minutes was in the 50s and broke 50s in overtime.

[The Lens]

Shaka said both.  He would talk about process etc but he never gave the Tom Crean: it's gonna be a long rebuild speech.  He embraced expectations.  He made comments at the tip luncheon and other places that he thought he could win now (I took that as be a bubble team). 

[brewcity77]

What was Marquette's t rank before conference Jan 1?

From the start of the season to December 31st, they were 105th. Quite the turnaround.

[panda]

I was one of those people and no, I didn't mean that implication at all. I expected us to struggle at the beginning of the season and get better.

Three 40 minutes games in the 50s. Plus another that after 40 minutes was in the 50s and broke 50s in overtime.

The vague statement is factually true, but the implication as the season moves along is quite wrong.

I believe you so no need to check receipts but others certainly made the 50 point statement with the implication our offense would be poor, which is false.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Shaka last night when asked what his was and where the team is at: “Our expectation is that we win every game”.

[MU82]

Shaka said both.  He would talk about process etc but he never gave the Tom Crean: it's gonna be a long rebuild speech.  He embraced expectations.  He made comments at the tip luncheon and other places that he thought he could win now (I took that as be a bubble team).

Shaka said on many occasions that it was not going to be about "instant gratification." He did an interview with The Athletic in which he definitely tamped down expectations. Otherwise, I think TAMU captured things very nicely with his longer comment a few posts back.

Shaka last night when asked what his was and where the team is at: “Our expectation is that we win every game”.

As it damn well should be at this point. And that includes NCAA tourney games!

[mug644]

The implication My inference of folks saying this team would struggle to score 50 points at the beginning of the season is that this team would struggle mightily on the offensive end for large portions of the year. That has been wildly incorrect.

It is correct we have played two 40 minute games in the 50’s.

FIFY

[brewcity77]

Last night was the 288th win of Shaka's career. If we win the games we are favored in per kenpom, he will hit 294 heading into the Big East Tournament. I'm hoping he gets to 300 before this season is over.

[Sturgeon General Warrior]

I love how this whole board is basically just a Bayesian-Frequentist debate.

I was thinking of giving you a +1, but this sort of high quality comment is already baked into my expectations of your commenting ability

[willie warrior]

I am slowly coming out of that position, but yeah, I'm kind of like the beaten dog that flinches when someone goes to pet it.

Yup. Wojo-Dukiet 7 years of mediocrity can definitely take away from enthusiasm  for MU. But Shaka and this team have been fun to watch. Just cannot imagine them getting blown out of a game at this point in the season. Things looking up.

[Pakuni]

TAMU,

Thanks for the lengthy response.
We'll have to agree to disagree.

[JakeBarnes]

Last night was the 288th win of Shaka's career. If we win the games we are favored in per kenpom, he will hit 294 heading into the Big East Tournament. I'm hoping he gets to 300 before this season is over.

Hope that means he'll also be hitting 294 (to 65) for a trip to Indy and then back up to Chicago after that weekend.

[tower912]

TAMU,

Thanks for the lengthy response.
We'll have to agree to disagree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXD6TQmiW18

In the press conference last night, Shaka flat out says that they did not have a schedule this year because they didn't know how good they were.     7:00 mark has the question and answer.

[panda]

FIFY

Sure…….

[1SE]

I was thinking of giving you a +1, but this sort of high quality comment is already baked into my expectations of your commenting ability

Well, now that we've all seen Shaka's posterior we know what we've got

[Pakuni]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXD6TQmiW18

In the press conference last night, Shaka flat out says that they did not have a schedule this year because they didn't know how good they were.     7:00 mark has the question and answer.

I don't see how this contradicts anything I'm saying.
I do see how it contradicts with the idea that there was some yearslong process.

[tower912]

I think it buttresses what TAMU said.  He didn't have a schedule.   He was trying to build culture.   

[Pakuni]

I think it buttresses what TAMU said.  He didn't have a schedule.   He was trying to build culture.

What does "schedule" have to do with trying to win? And how are building a culture and on-court success mutually exclusive?
I didn't really want to invest the time in responding to TAMU point-by-point (and I still don't) but his claim that Shaka is "having his cake and eating it too" is, IMO, misguided. It's premised on a completely false choice that you can either a) win right away or b) build a culture.
That's bull----, and Shaka is proving it's bull----. Winning isn't separate from building a successful culture, it's inherent to building a successful culture.
What are some examples of college basketball programs with great cultures that got that way by losing?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I didn't really want to invest the time in responding to TAMU point-by-point (and I still don't) but his claim that Shaka is "having his cake and eating it too" is, IMO, misguided. It's premised on a completely false choice that you can either a) win right away or b) build a culture.

Pakuni, I've never said this. I don't know why you have insisted for months that I have.  Let me be clear you can win and build culture at the same time. What I said was that Shaka wouldn't win at the expense of building culture.  I hope that clears it up for you.

[StillAWarrior]

Honest question: Do you think that Marquette is the best team in the Big East?

Truthfully, I do. I do not think that there is another team in the conference that is better than Marquette. I think Marquette has a very legitimate chance to win every Big East game they play. I'm not saying that they are head and shoulders above the other top teams in the conference or will win every game, but I honestly think they're at the top. I am well aware of my blue and gold colored glasses, but I don't think that this is a ridiculous take.

[VegasWarrior77]

On January 24, 2022 I had a vision that MU would win the national championship.

[StillAWarrior]

On January 24, 2022 I had a vision that MU would win the national championship.

I wanted to do that when I was in Vegas over the summer. Unfortunately, it wasn't available. Instead, I bet on the Browns winning the Super Bowl. It never occurred to me that I might be backing the wrong Ohio NFL team.