Believe

[DoctorV]

I believe this was probably the worst BE performance in the Shaka era.
Need someone to fill me in with one of those computer game score things, but it felt that way.

I believe there was a point where I felt like it was some of the worst basketball I’ve seen in the Shaka regime, felt kinda like some of the stuff we had seen with the last guy. Just a bad night of basketball.
Wasn’t the worst though, that was against UNC in the dance- seems like millennia ago…

I believe that we will win. It was such a quick and faint belief tonight just like it was in Madison.

I believe Shaka handled it very well. He was calm, he was collected. Does that matter? Yes I think so.

I believe we should probably all just R-E-L-A-X. It’s the Big East after all, it’s a long season and it’s a tough ass conference.

I believe this team really needs to make some 3s. Can’t win without it. I think Shaka knows it, and so does the team. All that does, when you know it and you know you haven’t been doing it is… clank, there’s another miss.
Shakas technique is to just keep shooting, don’t disparage anyone, and move the damn ball to get a better shot. Can’t blame him. You can’t tell guys to not shoot open shots, won’t make anything better. Keep feeding confidence, even if it’s bullcrap. What else can you do?

I believe the connectivity isn’t there just yet. No idea why, but coach knows it. He will have to figure it out.
I’ve got a suggestion though- although I get the thought and concept behind getting TyKo off the ball, getting others more confident on it and conserving him long term, making your team multi-dimensional etc etc- I think it’s time to pivot and get TyKo back on that ball.
Connectivity comes from easy baskets, it comes from winning.
Getting him back on that ball will help with both.  Coach knows the team better than any of us do though, so that’s just a suggestion. He at least knows the ball isn’t moving like it should, he said so himself tonight

I believe this is a top 10 team that beat the current #2 with authority this season, and then barely lost to the current #1.
So, anyone on here saying Marquette sucks and the players aren’t good enough and that Shaka doesn’t know what he’s doing can kiss my arse.
Coach and players get way more rope than that.

I believe it would be a good idea to beat GTown and Creighton at home in order to restore order.

[MUfan12]

Worst game score in conference since the game at Butler his first season. Worst overall since the UNC tournament game.

[MuggsyB]

I believe this was probably the worst BE performance in the Shaka era.
Need someone to fill me in with one of those computer game score things, but it felt that way.

I believe there was a point where I felt like it was some of the worst basketball I’ve seen in the Shaka regime, felt kinda like some of the stuff we had seen with the last guy. Just a bad night of basketball.
Wasn’t the worst though, that was against UNC in the dance- seems like millennia ago…

I believe that we will win. It was such a quick and faint belief tonight just like it was in Madison.

I believe Shaka handled it very well. He was calm, he was collected. Does that matter? Yes I think so.

I believe we should probably all just R-E-L-A-X. It’s the Big East after all, it’s a long season and it’s a tough ass conference.

I believe this team really needs to make some 3s. Can’t win without it. I think Shaka knows it, and so does the team. All that does, when you know it and you know you haven’t been doing it is… clank, there’s another miss.
Shakas technique is to just keep shooting, don’t disparage anyone, and move the damn ball to get a better shot. Can’t blame him. You can’t tell guys to not shoot open shots, won’t make anything better. Keep feeding confidence, even if it’s bullcrap. What else can you do?

I believe the connectivity isn’t there just yet. No idea why, but coach knows it. He will have to figure it out.
I’ve got a suggestion though- although I get the thought and concept behind getting TyKo off the ball, getting others more confident on it and conserving him long term, making your team multi-dimensional etc etc- I think it’s time to pivot and get TyKo back on that ball.
Connectivity comes from easy baskets, it comes from winning.
Getting him back on that ball will help with both.  Coach knows the team better than any of us do though, so that’s just a suggestion. He at least knows the ball isn’t moving like it should, he said so himself tonight

I believe this is a top 10 team that beat the current #2 with authority this season, and then barely lost to the current #1.
So, anyone on here saying Marquette sucks and the players aren’t good enough and that Shaka doesn’t know what he’s doing can kiss my arse.
Coach and players get way more rope than that.

I believe it would be a good idea to beat GTown and Creighton at home in order to restore order.

I think you're right and before tonight our offensive efficiency was solid, but our defense triggers our offense in my judgment.  We get good looks when we can turn teams over and get in transition.  As far as our half-coutt offense and "making threes" this is where I have some concerns.  Especially when our bench plays.  But I do believe that this was the kind of performance you just throw in the trash and hopefully learn from Dr. V.

[PointWarrior]

a pattern is forming - this team does not turn over quality teams and does not make threes...

[Hards Alumni]

a pattern is forming - this team does not turn over quality teams and does not make threes...

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401581595

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401574566

[wisblue]

I think teams have figured out that the way to beat Marquette is to take away the paint as much as possible, force them to make threes, and adjust if they do. 

With Joplin and last year’s freshmen not making the progress I hoped for so far, the 3 point shooting is spotty at best, and downright horrible at times if Kam Jones and Kolek aren’t making them.

I believe that MU can beat anyone on their schedule, but they can lose to anyone too, and I am not excluding DePaul and Georgetown. I forced myself to write off the Wisconsin game as “one of those days” (which would have been easier against a different opponent) and shrugged off the St. Thomas game as an expected uninspired performance during exam week.

But throwing last night’s game into the mix is setting off some alarms. The refereeing may have been horrible, but if MU thinks they are going to get officiating that is perfect and consistent, and allows just the amount of contact that they want, it’s going to be a long season.

One of the alarms involves the tendency to fall behind by double digits in the first half. They got away with that (barely) against UCLA but it isn’t a recipe for success against any competent team. I shudder to think of how the season would look if they hadn’t pulled out that UCLA game.

I had no expectation that this team would repeat a 17-3 conference record. But, unless they find some answers to some real issues, even my expectations (which were lower than those on the board who think Final Four or Bust) are going to prove to be too optimistic.

[NCMUFan]

I like the team and the guys on the team.
They overachieved last year beyond anyone's imagination. 
For the longest time we wanted to be above 500 in BE league play to get in the dance.
Tough conference.   Saw that last night.
Beat the cupcakes at home and away.
Split with the heavies.
We are in the dance with a decent seed.

[HowardsWorld]

I will say I am not as optimistic as I was a few weeks ago, but the season is long and I will still enjoy it. I made mention after the Wisconsin game this team had a very glaring weakness and that was covering the 3 ball. Few people spat my way saying I was wrong but if you look at it Purdue shot double there season average, Southern hit a ton of 3's, St. Thomas shot well from 3 and Wisconsin although it was 1 player was the difference in that game. Even in our win against Texas if you take out the last 2 mins of the first half the shooting was piss poor.

This can change and I have no doubt that Shaka will make the corrections but when it comes down to it no one outside of Kam Jones and Kolek can hit a 3. The Job experiment needs to stop. It's very much like the Michigan St game last year when this team struggles to score, they will not win games. I believe our celling right now is most likely a 3 seed. I think the 1 sailed last night.

[Daniel]

Doc V’s important point is out Tyler back in the ball.   The entire offense moves much better when Tyler is the point.  That lets us score more, and not suffer losing rebounds and run away scoring from opponents.   So allows better opportunities for defense as well.    I think that one move could be the difference..  Doc.  V is correct.

And PS - in that tough game last night I thought our freshmen did not look rattled - maybe the only ones. Tre and Zaide have lots of potential.

[mug644]

...
I believe this team really needs to make some 3s. Can’t win without it. I think Shaka knows it, and so does the team. All that does, when you know it and you know you haven’t been doing it is… clank, there’s another miss.
Shakas technique is to just keep shooting, don’t disparage anyone, and move the damn ball to get a better shot. Can’t blame him. You can’t tell guys to not shoot open shots, won’t make anything better. Keep feeding confidence, even if it’s bullcrap. What else can you do?
...

There was a possession in the second half where Sean took a three from the wing, missed and we got the offensive rebound. The ball was worked around and Sean was again open for a three, this time from the baseline. He missed and we got another offensive rebound (two in one possession!). Again worked it around, and Sean was again (left?) open, this time from near the top of the circle. In line with the "an open shot is a good shot" mantra, he let it fly. Third time's a charm!

CORRECTION: I just went to the play-by-play transcript and see that after his second attempt, PC got the rebound, leading to a (another) Devin Carter three. Jones took and hit a three on MU's next possession. So, my number of o-rebounds in one possession was wrong. The green light even for Sean after 2 straight misses stays turned on.

[Goose]

I have no idea how the season will play out but definitely think this team is better than last year with one exception, chemistry. I am 100% sure the chemistry is good-very good, but last year was a special year you do not get often. My biggest concern is not getting more out of 4-8, it is them falling into the trap of not moving the ball. If Kolek wanted to play more off the ball, then Shaka needed to get a big time transfer portal PG to allow that to happen.

My biggest negative is that they have played two of the worst games in the last two years over the past three weeks. Now, I do think the tough schedule was both a positive and negative and it seems like they have played more than 12 games to me. Last night will either turn out to be a blessing or it could limit their upside. For the moment, I am sticking with 15-5 and hope I am not hedging my bet in two weeks.

[GoldenEagles03]

I think it is so clear what their issue is and there are 2 of them.

1) As I stated in a different thread...Stevie, Sean, Ben, Chase, Tre, Zaide...the other guys. That group needs to stick open 3s when they get em. They are capable, they get good looks in this offense. Stick em. That simple.

Gold - 13/37
Ross - 8/27
Lowery - 1/5
Norman - 2/10
Jones - 4/26
Mitchell - 3/23
Overall - 31/128 - 24%

2) The 4 spot. Joplin did an exceptional job last night defensively on Hopkins. He does look improved on that end, but the energy he exerts on the defensive end clearly has affected his offense. He doesn't have burst, his shots don't look as confident, and he looks like he's playing tired on that end. It would be nice if they could trust Al to get a couple 1st half minutes. If not Al, then Zaide has to carve out a consistent role to get meaningful minutes early. Right now the 3 man rotation at the 4/5 spots just isn't enough.

[MuggsyB]

a pattern is forming - this team does not turn over quality teams and does not make threes...

We turned over Kansas and Purdue. 

[Goose]

Muggsy

MU turning teams over is not the problem. Making baskets and forcing he tempo is the problem. If MU had a 6–8-point lead last night it would have changed how PU played. Kansas buckled because MU shots, Purdue buckled to some degree because they knew MU was not going away and Texas felt the heat. MU needs to score in bunches and dictate the pace, otherwise we will see more of last night. IMO, it is 60% moving the ball and 40% making shots. Defense is much easier when you are scoring points.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I think it is so clear what their issue is and there are 2 of them.

1) As I stated in a different thread...Stevie, Sean, Ben, Chase, Tre, Zaide...the other guys. That group needs to stick open 3s when they get em. They are capable, they get good looks in this offense. Stick em. That simple.

Gold - 13/37
Ross - 8/27
Lowery - 1/5
Norman - 2/10
Jones - 4/26
Mitchell - 3/23
Overall - 31/128 - 24%

2) The 4 spot. Joplin did an exceptional job last night defensively on Hopkins. He does look improved on that end, but the energy he exerts on the defensive end clearly has affected his offense. He doesn't have burst, his shots don't look as confident, and he looks like he's playing tired on that end. It would be nice if they could trust Al to get a couple 1st half minutes. If not Al, then Zaide has to carve out a consistent role to get meaningful minutes early. Right now the 3 man rotation at the 4/5 spots just isn't enough.

The 7/49 from Sean and Stevie is just brutal.  I still feel decent when Ben and Chase get open looks, however, Stevie and Sean shooting about 14% combined has such an impact on the offense. 

[Galway Eagle]

The 7/49 from Sean and Stevie is just brutal.  I still feel decent when Ben and Chase get open looks, however, Stevie and Sean shooting about 14% combined has such an impact on the offense.

Yeah, someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think I remember reading a three is still the better option as long we hit at least 1/3 so if that's true then Ben's fine and Chase is just slightly below fine but... the rest is glaringly terrible

[Goose]

Galway

33% from three is like making 50% from two. Have to reach that mark and then some. It is almost impossible for a D-1 player to go a whole season shooting as badly as Stevie and Jones. I would dare to say that Oso took twenty three pointers this year he could make three on them.

[Galway Eagle]

Galway

33% from three is like making 50% from two. Have to reach that mark and then some. It is almost impossible for a D-1 player to go a whole season shooting as badly as Stevie and Jones. I would dare to say that Oso took twenty three pointers this year he could make three on them.

Derek Wilson would like to refute that second sentence.

at this point I'd honestly rather see Oso pop to the shoulder and shoot the kick out three. At least he's not in his head with them right now.

[NCMUFan]

There was a possession in the second half where Sean took a three from the wing, missed and we got the offensive rebound. The ball was worked around and Sean was again open for a three, this time from the baseline. He missed and we got another offensive rebound (two in one possession!). Again worked it around, and Sean was again (left?) open, this time from near the top of the circle. In line with the "an open shot is a good shot" mantra, he let it fly. Third time's a charm!

CORRECTION: I just went to the play-by-play transcript and see that after his second attempt, PC got the rebound, leading to a (another) Devin Carter three. Jones took and hit a three on MU's next possession. So, my number of o-rebounds in one possession was wrong. The green light even for Sean after 2 straight misses stays turned on.

If the three point line is too far for some MU players to hit consistently, take closer shots that are within one's high consistency range.  Two points is much much better than zilch.  Oso knows his range.  Don't see him jacking 3-pt attempts.  But everyone on the floor needs to be an offensive threat.  Opponents defense with 5 versus MUs offense with 4 is a recipe for a loss.

[GoldenEagles03]

The 7/49 from Sean and Stevie is just brutal.  I still feel decent when Ben and Chase get open looks, however, Stevie and Sean shooting about 14% combined has such an impact on the offense.

I have a STEAMING HOT take...and I know it is wayyy out there...

I want Zaide starting at the 4 and Tre getting more minutes while Stevie is out.

Kolek
Jones
Ross
Lowery
Oso

You unfortunately can't start Gold next to Oso because Gold is the only option at the backup 5. Zaide brings a different element defensively and can knock down the 3 so the ceiling with the Jop/Zaide swap isn't affected. What really is affected is the bench then becomes a much bigger scoring threat.

Sean
Tre
Joplin
Gold

Bench scoring was an issue and Joplin brings some firepower off the bench. When Stevie returns go with

Kolek
Jones
Mitchell
Ross
Oso

But Zaide needs more run in some fashion to elevate this team. It gives then more options. He hasn't done anything glaringly bad, he just needs opportunity.

[Hards Alumni]

Sounds like something that should have happened more in the OOC schedule.  Zaide looks three steps behind everyone and Tre looks one or two.

[tower912]

There was a possession in the second half where Sean took a three from the wing, missed and we got the offensive rebound. The ball was worked around and Sean was again open for a three, this time from the baseline. He missed and we got another offensive rebound (two in one possession!). Again worked it around, and Sean was again (left?) open, this time from near the top of the circle. In line with the "an open shot is a good shot" mantra, he let it fly. Third time's a charm!

CORRECTION: I just went to the play-by-play transcript and see that after his second attempt, PC got the rebound, leading to a (another) Devin Carter three. Jones took and hit a three on MU's next possession. So, my number of o-rebounds in one possession was wrong. The green light even for Sean after 2 straight misses stays turned on.

So he hit one out of three.

[GoldenEagles03]

Sounds like something that should have happened more in the OOC schedule.  Zaide looks three steps behind everyone and Tre looks one or two.

Zaide looked awesome against Southern (levels of competition, I know) with 7 rebounds.

Then just kinda lost opportunity. I think once Stevie is back you can just roll with Mitchell and Ross at the 3/4, but Zaide finding meaningful minutes could really elevate this team and allow Jopin to be a scorer off the bench similar to last season. Kolek/Jones/Oso are so good that removing Joplin from the starting 5 doesn't really have a negative impact but rather positive for the bench.

[tower912]

This fascinates me.  Why does anyone think that a lineup of 6'2, 6'3, 6'4, and 6'5 is desirable in the Big East?  What makes you think Ross brings more on offense than Joplin?   The last two game with Ross starting can hardly be called artistic successes.  So how can going smaller with a worse 3 pt shooter make things better?   On a team that rebounds poorly and isn't currently making 3's.    The logic doesn't work for me.

[Markusquette]

As the season progresses I hope that MU can find ways to get some scoring from others besides the big three. Omax's departure is quite evident, especially during scoring droughts. He was often the guy to bail the Golden Eagles out when things weren't going well on offense. His energy was also a catalyst for defensive stops and scoring runs. I think MU is missing that quality from Stevie these last few games (energy/intensity).

There was a decent amount of hope Joplin and especially Ross would step in to fill that big hole when Omax entered the draft. Joplin looks like he's regressed. Lots of hype around Ross and he simply has not delivered as expected. A few glimpses of his potential but not there yet. Lots of hype around Gold- looks like the same player. Sean Jones is the only one off the bench who has markedly improved, and he still doesn't offer what they need most in shooting.

My expectations were surpassed early after the success in Maui, and the realist in me was waiting for that fall back to earth and eventually see MU as a very solid top 25 team, but not elite. Hope they can get Stevie back soon and string together some wins after last night's disappointment. Love this team. Now stomp the Hoyas.