Season Low

[1SE]

No way to cut it - giving up almost 60 points in a HALF and getting curb stomped by DePaul is brutal.

As of Tuesday, 75% of us were expecting a 7 seed or better (actually higher, but people voted AFTER the loss).

As of February 9th, 90% of us thought we would finish 4-2 or better.

As of February 3rd, 85% of us were expecting at least one NCAAT win.

A 7 seed could still be in play if we win the next two. I think for a 6 seed will need to win the BET or at least make the final.

One NCAAT win should still be doable, but a S16 looks like we'll need a bit of magic at this point.

By any measure we've fallen off our recent expectations. We can still salvage an above average season, but barring some post-season magic an "A" season is basically out of reach.

If you read the Texas fan boards, a lot of them viewed Shaka like we viewed Wojo - fades late in the season. There's still some time for redemption, but if we a$$ slide our way out of this season most of the goodwill from that January run will evaporate.

I think last night was the low point of our season. If not, yikes.

[ATL MU Warrior]

No way to cut it - giving up almost 60 points in a HALF and getting curb stomped by DePaul is brutal.

As of Tuesday, 75% of us were expecting a 7 seed or better (actually higher, but people voted AFTER the loss).

As of February 9th, 90% of us thought we would finish 4-2 or better.

As of February 3rd, 85% of us were expecting at least one NCAAT win.

A 7 seed could still be in play if we win the next two. I think for a 6 seed will need to win the BET or at least make the final.

One NCAAT win should still be doable, but a S16 looks like we'll need a bit of magic at this point.

By any measure we've fallen off our recent expectations. We can still salvage an above average season, but barring some post-season magic an "A" season is basically out of reach.

If you read the Texas fan boards, a lot of them viewed Shaka like we viewed Wojo - fades late in the season. There's still some time for redemption, but if we a$$ slide our way out of this season most of the goodwill from that January run will evaporate.

I think last night was the low point of our season. If not, yikes.

The current iteration of his team could very easily lose to St. John's and to Georgetown.  At this point, unless something drastic changes, I wouldn't be surprised by either.

[1SE]

The current iteration of his team could very easily lose to St. John's and to Georgetown.  At this point, unless something drastic changes, I wouldn't be surprised by either.

That would be troubling. I think it is unlikely.

[1SE]

Incidentally, I don't know about the advanced numbers, but one of the biggest differences between January and our recent struggles seems to be Greg.

He was 13-22 from deep (59%) over the 7 game winning streak. He is 6-29 (21%) since.

Is the scouting report out? Is he taking worse shots? Or are guys not getting him the ball? 

[swoopem]

I'll gladly take an 8/9 seed if that means we can play a 1 seed Badger team

[nyg]

The usual ups and downs of a college basketball program.  Is this like fours years in a row now in which MU has faltered down the stretch?  In the last six games, MU has gone 2-4, with their only wins against Georgetown, the worst team in the BE and one of worst teams in country, and Butler who is the second worst team in BE and is in a downfall. 

After the winning streak, Shaka was the BE Coach of the Year, Lewis going to be Player of the year, Kolek was Steve Nash, Prosper was an NBA prospect, Morsell was going to make an NBA team and earn some big "coin", Oso had NBA potential, love Greg's energy,etc.....  Seems like yesterday, but expectations have fallen and on the edge of a cliff. 

It is always good to start a new streak going and I believed it would have started last night, then going into the BET.  Well, that didn't occur and now I am not looking forward to ST. Johns pressuring MU backcourt in bringing up the ball.  We can only hope Posh Alexander actually gets foul calls against him for the usual "bumping" he does against the ball handler.  How he gets away with this tactic has amazed me. 

MU plays fairly well at home and not so good on the road.  Shaka needs to adjust, modify, something in order to get the team back on track.  Lots of head hanging from players during the Depaul run last night and that must stop. 

[MuggsyB]

Incidentally, I don't know about the advanced numbers, but one of the biggest differences between January and our recent struggles seems to be Greg.

He was 13-22 from deep (59%) over the 7 game winning streak. He is 6-29 (21%) since.

Is the scouting report out? Is he taking worse shots? Or are guys not getting him the ball?

He was  big in some of our wins for sure but I think the biggest issue is PG play.  I stated this in another thread but our tempo and shot selection has really hurt our defense.  When we are taking bad shots or turning it over we are frankly really bad in our transition defense.  If you allow a 60 in a half to anyone, let alone DePaul, it's a problem.  We have to be more patient in our half-court offense, move the basketbal, and stop getting beaten down the court.  It was a brutal loss for sure.

[Big Papi]

The current limitations of Kolek and Oso are really hurting this team right now. 

Oso on the defensive end was abysmal at times.  How do you trap a guy under the hoop and then move away from them to allow them to dunk?  Numerous times he moved away instead of moving towards the attacker or just standing pat.  Offensively, he fumbled the ball way too many times.

Teams have adjusted to Kolek's drives for 2 months now and he hasn't made the adjustment.  The lack of adjustment has made the offensive significantly worse. Defensively he is getting isolated and exposed.  Stevie is getting more and more minutes and at this point in time probably needs to play more of Kolek's minutes.

 

[swoopem]

Bring back the balloons for our turnover issues!

Kidding, I'm not worried. We'll win on Saturday and I still think we're a 2nd weekend team. I have faith we'll figure it out when it matters most

[willie warrior]

That would be troubling. I think it is unlikely.

Nothing with this team is unlikely. Getting asskicked by DePaul was unlikely, but here we are. This team is caving down the stretch, approaching Wojo-Dukiet territory.

[Goose]

No silver linings, other than I did not make the trip to Chicago, from last night's game. A poor performance by a team playing poorly at the moment. They were outplayed and looked horrible for stretches and that is disappointing. That said, I still watched the entire game and am looking forward to the upcoming games. I do not believe all is lost.

[cheebs09]

To me, the low point was the Creighton loss when not fouling up 3. Our non-conference wins weren't looking the strongest or had guys out with injury. I thought we'd have to claw to get to the bubble.

At least now we've seen some really good basketball and the team is just in a rough patch. I think a change to the tournament format might help the team re-focus.

I agree with MUFan12, I think they are hitting a bit of a freshman wall. Even the guys that played last year didn't play this many games. We only played 27 total last year.

[brewcity77]

I woke up this morning and still couldn't find a silver lining. This is the first time I'm thinking more about what can be done to improve these problems next year than what kind of run we might still make this year. While an NCAA bid is still likely, and that would meet my preseason expectations, the January surge definitely had me thinking the ceiling was much higher than it feels now.

What was most dispiriting was seeing a team peaking at the right time and playing their best basketball entering March, and knowing that it wasn't us. This was a game we should've won, but there are so many things going against us at the moment. Kur doesn't seem right. Kolek has been figured out by Big East defenses. Kam and Greg couldn't hit a meaningful shot. There were lineup issues. The defensive intensity isn't close to what it was.

Maybe what we really need is to play someone outside the Big East. Maybe playing someone who hasn't been scouting us all season long will help. I hope that's the case. And on a short turnaround, maybe this team finds some life and energy and has a fighting shot at winning a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. But at the moment, that doesn't feel likely. Definitely headed in the wrong direction at the worst time.

[mileskishnish72]

The current iteration of his team could very easily lose to St. John's and to Georgetown.  At this point, unless something drastic changes, I wouldn't be surprised by either.

Or both.

Shaka and the players have a lot to show us Saturday. One good thing is that we'll know how everyone else did and be aware of exactly what we're playing for (as to BET seed).

I am going to shed my pessimistic outlook and look for a re-energized squad this weekend.

At any rate, we will see some character revealed.

[jesmu84]

What happened to January MUBB? Did we change? Did our opponents? Both?

[GoldenEagles03]

What happened to January MUBB? Did we change? Did our opponents? Both?

Guys look tired.  Kolek is a step slow. Justin is struggling to get up and down the court. Greg has hit the point in the season that he does every year where his legs just don't work.

Because of that there are a lot of turnovers and teams are scoring at will on Marquette's defense that is slow and often out of position.

No longer any connectivity or togetherness that we saw in January.

[jesmu84]

Guys look tired. Kolek is a step slow. Justin is struggling to get up and down the court. Greg has hit the point in the season that he does every year where his legs just don't work.

Because of that there are a lot of turnovers and teams are scoring at will on Marquette's defense that is slow and often out of position.

No longer any connectivity or togetherness that we saw in January.

I've been told in prior seasons that this is not a thing and certainly not an acceptable excuse for bad play.

[MUfan12]

I've been told in prior seasons that this is not a thing and certainly not an acceptable excuse for bad play.

It's a thing for all teams. The best ones deal with it better than MU has.

[BM1090]

I woke up this morning and still couldn't find a silver lining. This is the first time I'm thinking more about what can be done to improve these problems next year than what kind of run we might still make this year. While an NCAA bid is still likely, and that would meet my preseason expectations, the January surge definitely had me thinking the ceiling was much higher than it feels now.

What was most dispiriting was seeing a team peaking at the right time and playing their best basketball entering March, and knowing that it wasn't us. This was a game we should've won, but there are so many things going against us at the moment. Kur doesn't seem right. Kolek has been figured out by Big East defenses. Kam and Greg couldn't hit a meaningful shot. There were lineup issues. The defensive intensity isn't close to what it was.

Maybe what we really need is to play someone outside the Big East. Maybe playing someone who hasn't been scouting us all season long will help. I hope that's the case. And on a short turnaround, maybe this team finds some life and energy and has a fighting shot at winning a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. But at the moment, that doesn't feel likely. Definitely headed in the wrong direction at the worst time.

Saw you post in another thread that MU is close to a lock but not there yet.

I think the only scenario I'd be worried is a loss to SJU and a loss to Georgetown. If we lose Saturday, get the 5 and lose to Uconn, I think we'd be safely in?

[rocky_warrior]

Saw you post in another thread that MU is close to a lock but not there yet.

I think the only scenario I'd be worried is a loss to SJU and a loss to Georgetown. If we lose Saturday, get the 5 and lose to Uconn, I think we'd be safely in?

I don't think there's any way Marquette falls out of the tournament.  But I'd prefer to go in after winning a couple.

[hawk]

The issue with this team is the same now as it was from the start, REBOUNDING.  Lewis leads the team wit 8 a game, Kuath,Morsell and Kolek are next withj 4.  That is simply not enough.  Before the season started I thought MU needed to replace Garcia with a glass eater  I stand by that.  without rebounding any team is forced to play a finesse game and that is more difficult to maintain over time.  I had MU at 9 and 11 and maybe an NIT bid.  I'm good with where this team is but the need of a dedicated rebounder needs to be addressed moving forward. 

[BM1090]

I don't think there's any way Marquette falls out of the tournament.  But I'd prefer to go in after winning a couple.

I tend to agree because I don't think late season results sway the overall picture too much. That said, I plugged all the scenarios into T rank. Finishing the season 0-2 with losses to SJU and Uconn drops MU to a 10 seed. But losses to SJU and Georgetown would knock them all the way out and not particularly close to in (6th team out).

[1SE]

I tend to agree because I don't think late season results sway the overall picture too much. That said, I plugged all the scenarios into T rank. Finishing the season 0-2 with losses to SJU and Uconn drops MU to a 10 seed. But losses to SJU and Georgetown would knock them all the way out and not particularly close to in (6th team out).

If we play and lose to Gtown we don't deserve to be in and Shakachowski will be totally a thing.

There is no way we lose to both SJU and Gtown unless we have some major injuries.

[brewcity77]

Saw you post in another thread that MU is close to a lock but not there yet.

I think the only scenario I'd be worried is a loss to SJU and a loss to Georgetown. If we lose Saturday, get the 5 and lose to Uconn, I think we'd be safely in?

I think any win locks us in. Losing to SJU and Georgetown would be bad. Losing to SJU and UConn would be better than Georgetown, but I still think adding another win would something I would heavily advise.

While we have some really nice wins, our slipping metrics aren't encouraging and 18-13 is not typically a record that feels secure, especially if we are sitting on 9-12 or 9-13 Q1+2 and 6-9 in road/neutrals, all that much worse if there's a Q3/4 loss to Georgetown as well.

[hawk]

we beat Georgetown, we're in.  Beating the red storm would be a lock.  get a bid win a game and move happily to next season.  For a team that was put together on the fly you have to be pleased with the result.  The proof of Shaka's pudding comes in the next couple seasons, he needs to build on this year and find a way to keep MU in the upper half of the conference year in and year out.  I hope he can do it, go warriors