Non-con grade

[1SE]

Put + or - in comment.

For me it's a B-. We're good, but we didn't play 1-seed good throughout the slate. We didn't play great - the intensity dropped at times - I'm surprised by that. I'd say we only saw the "A" game maybe 25% of the minutes - it was the exception rather than the rule. Not good enough

We can still get a one, but it's ours to earn right now rather than ours to lose.  If UCONN pulls off the zags victory they're clearly class of the BE and on tier 1a along with PU, Zona, KU and maybe Houston and Baylor - well see soon enough.

[MUfan12]

B+.

Overall pretty strong, but still off their peak by a good margin. Weaknesses are glaring for long stretches of play. Not hard to see how it would go if they get bounced early again.

I'm just gonna enjoy this year, because there's a real potential that next year could be a rough transition year with Oso/TK/Kam potentially gone.

[Carl]

Complete silliness

[CountryRoads]

B+. Beat UW and it's an A. Incredibly challenging non con this year and they did well. A number of our wins so far aren't getting the respect they deserve.

[wadesworld]

A-. Not sure how it can be anything below that. Wins at Illinois and neutral Kansas are great wins. Dominant performances against ND and Texas are nice. Took care of the cupcakes easily outside of the Tommies, which we still won. Losses were a neutral to probably the best team in the country and a borderline top 25 team.

If you told me 10-2 with the schedule we had I'd take it. That's what we got.

[mugrad_89]

A-   Putting on a clinic against Kansas proved we are a legit national title contender.  Purdue and the Bucky debacle showed we still have some room to grow and get better.

[MU82]

F-minus-minus

Lost in Madison, coulda lost to St. Thomas, meh second half against ND, didn't get any good wins at all really. We'll be lucky to even make the NCAA tournament.

[21Jumpstreet]

A

[BLWarrior91]

In the moment, tonight's game could be clouding our judgement.  But given the slate we faced, it was a resounding success and should prepare us well for the BE season and the NCAA tournament. 

We beat UCLA, Kansas, Illinois on the road, blew out Texas, and scored 17 on ND before they scored.  Lost to Purdue by 3.  The only blemish was Bucky.


It's a A!

[Mu8891]

B ...

Some really good moments... but nowhere consistent enough to win 4 in a row ... let alone 6

I think Shaka will regret not adding a
guy or two in the portal

[Biggie Clausen]

To grade it tough, I'll give it a B because of the Wisconsin game.  That's not a bad loss (Bucky looks good this year) but Christ, we didn't even show up.  Other than that it's been smooth sailing. 

[DoctorV]

A-

The minus only because of the game in Madison.

Won a big road game against a good B10 tourney team.

Trounced Kansas and looked every bit of a National title contender in doing so. That game alone will be a gift that keeps on giving.

Destroyed Texas, another solid win. Looked great when it mattered against ND- both of those came after the minus game on the schedule.

Didn't love the Purdue performance, but showed grit and kept it close when they shot lights out.

Cupcakes were all fine except tonight, and I actually enjoyed tonight's game so it's whatever. Games like this are good come tourney time for elite teams.

Marquette set itself up as a protected seed lock barring a disaster, so how could it be worse than an A-/B+?
Win 15+ in conference, including wins in the BET, and that should be a top 4 seed at like 24-8 or better.
Win any beyond that, which many of us expect they will, and that's likely a top 3 seed.
Win the conference, and it's likely a 1 seed or at worst a 2.

Let's go get that B2B conference championship.

[1SE]

So much COLE.

This is a team with title aspirations. 5-5-1  AGTS.

An A season this year is a 1 seed and a FF.

[1SE]

I mean it's recency bias, but the game tonight was BAD - 17 pt loss AGTS. Um sure the other advanced metrics will show that too

A "win" isn't just a win  - in March yes, not December

[wisblue]

B+. Would be A- if the second loss were to Illinois instead of Wisconsin.

[Jay Bee]

E for effort

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

A-

Only two bad games: Wisconsin and St. Thomas. 

Plenty of good. Dominating Kansas, nearly completing a big comeback against Purdue, dominating Texas, and an Illinois win that should age nicely.

As bad as tonight's game was, MU only dropped two spots in Kenpom from 5 to 7.  Defense dropped from 9 to 17, offense stayed at 11.

In excellent shape for a 1 or 2 seed.  Really, what more could you ask for?

[Lennys Tap]

A-. If not for the loss in Madison, an A.

[mu_eyeballs]

A really I think the loss at Madison isn't getting enough Maui hang over talk.  I know that I was still kinda turned around a week after I got back.  Not a right off excuse...I'm just saying they played flat with no energy...maybe they actually had low energy?
Anyway with a schooling of Kansas and a gem in Champaign these boys earned an A.

[PointWarrior]

Any loss to Wisconsin equals a C

[Dr. Blackheart]

The double stripped three point lines are affecting MU's trey shooting.

[Goose]

A-

The UW loss in a the biggest negative mark against them thus far. Tough schedule should have them well prepared for BE play.

I definitely had a bit of concern over the Omax departure and no portal addition to fill his role, and they are better than I expected. Will add, their really good is winning NC really good and that has been great to watch.

Back to the grade, I guess everyone needs to evaluate based off their own criteria, but I doubt if many counted on 11-1 or 12-0 going into the season. IMO, the gutsy win at Illinois, great second half against UCLA, clinic against Kansas, 33-8 run/clinic against Texas and causing four shot clock violations against ND before they scored is all I needed to see so far.

[tower912]

A-.  Faced a gauntlet.   Beat either Wisconsin or Purdue and it is an A+.

[brewcity77]

I would go B-. It was okay, but this team came into the year with a #5 next to their name and national championship aspirations. We didn't hurt our 1-seed hopes, but if the tourney started today we wouldn't be there and that should be one of the goals for this team, to make their journey to Glendale as easy as possible. The only way this team would deserve an A would be if they had a 0 in the loss column.

High expectations require high standards to be met to reach them. We didn't come close to exceeding expectations, in my opinion. I say this with the idea that a C is average. This team has been slightly above average to date, really the Kansas and Texas demolitions are the only reason it's a B- as opposed to a C.

[Goose]

tower

I am somewhat surprised that it seems like that gauntlet has been forgotten by some here.
While I felt they would be 10-2 going into BE play, I thought that was an aggressive prediction due to the schedule. That was a brutal five weeks of basketball, with pretty much non stop big times for the past four weeks.

IMO, this team is better than I expected going into the season. I am going to stick with my 15-5 in BE, but would not be surprised if they end up better than that.