Am I the only one?

[Warrior of Law]

I've talked myself off the ledge.  MU is going through a slump.  These things happen. Kolek, Jones and Joplin (hopefully) are not this bad.

[MattyWarrior]

Too much size and strength, all these teams look buffed compared to us

[Daniel]

The team has revealed its vulnerabilities over the last few weeks.  It will now depend on how they react and respond to that revelation.  Work harder and get your swagger back, or give up and believe you are doomed.   I think they will work harder.

The injuries are a major issue and hindrance going forward,  Zaide and/or Tre will have to step up.   Gold will have to be used in different ways... more driving to hoop etc.  And Al?   

[Viper]

The team has revealed its vulnerabilities over the last few weeks.  It will now depend on how they react and respond to that revelation.  Work harder and get your swagger back, or give up and believe you are doomed.   I think they will work harder.

The injuries are a major issue and hindrance going forward,  Zaide and/or Tre will have to step up.   Gold will have to be used in different ways... more driving to hoop etc.  And Al?

if Amadou can't grab some playing time at this point, his acclimation to high D-1 must not be going well. It's not like Gold has a lock on off-the-bench minutes.

[21Jumpstreet]

Too much size and strength, all these teams look buffed compared to us

We certainly get bumped a lot, which I like being allowed, but we have to either get mentally stronger and battle or we have to move much much more on offense to make the physical defense more difficult

[wadesworld]

Bless you, Goose.   Perhaps you had forgotten how dystopian scoop becomes when the team is not playing well.   Putting that aside....
   The freshmen have an opportunity now.   Step up, young men.
UConn started out with what record in the conference last year?
Stevie dropped 10 and 8 last night.

But it all comes down to this.   TKo and Kam make this team go.   When they break out of their slumps, the rest will fall into place.    If they don't, it will be a long, cold rest of the season.

UCONN was healthy and absolutely dominant in the non-Big East portion of their schedule.  Marquette had two great wins (at IL and vs. Kansas) and a good performance in a close loss to Purdue.  But the game against UCLA is looking brutally bad, and while Wisconsin is proving to be a good team, that was still an absolutely stinker of a game.

2023-2024 Marquette is not 2022-2023 UCONN.

[Elonsmusk]

Too much size and strength, all these teams look buffed compared to us

I do agree with this...both Hall and Butler are teams of 22+year olds who are physically bigger than most of our guys.  The physicality has really bothered Kolek, Kam, Jop and Gold.  And now we lost our two most physical players in Sean and Chase.

I'm confident Shaka will adapt in recruiting, and we may see him realize he needs to take some proven 4th year transfer guys who are physically matured/Big East body ready.

[MurphysTillClose]

UCONN was healthy and absolutely dominant in the non-Big East portion of their schedule.  Marquette had two great wins (at IL and vs. Kansas) and a good performance in a close loss to Purdue.  But the game against UCLA is looking brutally bad, and while Wisconsin is proving to be a good team, that was still an absolutely stinker of a game.

2023-2024 Marquette is not 2022-2023 UCONN.

Putting 22'23 UCONN in the same sentence as this team is laughable. Like, not even remotely close to last year's UCONN.

[CountryRoads]

Was way more frustrated than usual last night and blamed team chemistry issue as the reason. Though after some time has passed and rewatching a bit of the game, I don't feel that way any more. Think there is currently just an odd vibe with the team causing a degree of tentativeness and uncertainty. It goes back to Shaka's theme from last year of approach vs avoidance. They are being too calculated and trying to avoid a mistake vs just playing with confidence.

The injuries have sucked this year and MUs good fortune of health in recent years is catching up to them. Though I think they will respond well to that adversity and end up in a better place in a few weeks due to having experienced this rough stretch.

I thought of coach crean's message to the team at the beginning of the season:

https://x.com/marquettembb/status/1713607272402702623

[Elonsmusk]

Putting 22'23 UCONN in the same sentence as this team is laughable. Like, not even remotely close to last year's UCONN.

Sure..except our team beat UCONN 2 of 3 last year with the exact same squad, minus O-Max.  O-Max was valuable for sure, but let's not discount the reality that we beat that UCONN squad 2 of 3 last year.  The team is in a massive shooting slump and that's all that's going on as to why we aren't winning.

[BrewCity83]

There's no way they continue to shoot 3's this bad.  They'll adjust to the mean, whenever their mean will be, and everything will be easier.   Depth may be an issue, but all the starters are in place and Chase should come back (I think, right??) and we'll need freshmen to step up a bit. 

Still lots of potential here and the ceiling is high.  As stated by others, this might be the thing that gives the team back their fighting edge. 

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

I agree with this take.

If we hit only 25% of our threes last night, we win that game.  And 25% is still poor shooting. 

[WarriorFan]

This is still the best time of the year to have a slump.

[MuggsyB]

This is still the best time of the year to have a slump.

Good point. 

[JakeBarnes]

You're not alone Goose. I share a lot of the frustration of many here, but not the loss of hope. Most concerning to me is how unconnected everyone is when things hit the fan. Shots, I get--the should be falling more (perhaps tired legs for some?). However, the battle to play for and with each other seems to falter in some of those stretches and the ball gets REALLY sticky and no one is moving into the empty space to help the guy driving in the lane. It was encouraging to see the fight at the end of the game. Hopefully this is a struggle that forges better relationships and connectedness going forward.

We need to see more out of the frosh to help keep the team, well, fresh. Zaide has earned more playing time due to effort on the defensive end. Tre will only have the game slow if he actually gets to play in them. Al could probably get a short run given his nose for the ball. There is a lot of upside, even with the depth of the team taking a hit.

[Farley36]

A lot of day after rationalizing going on bundled up with a heap of lowering expectations.  Will they be fine?  Depends on your definition of fine.  They'll win games and make the tournament.  I'll be shocked if this is a special season in the end.  That should be disappointing to everyone because it could have been.  They could get hot at the right time and some of you will be able to puff out your chests and say I told you so.  However, it's pretty difficult to see that right now.  They have a lot of issues that seem to indicate this is more than a slump.

[GoldenEagles03]

I think we've all seen enough knee injuries to know Sean's season is very likely over. Who knows though, maybe we get lucky.

Regardless I expect him to be down for a long time if not the year. I also read an NBA study that said shoulder dislocations took on average 7.6 weeks to return to action. That would put Chase out until almost March.

Tyler
Kam
Stevie
David
Oso

Tre
Zaide
Ben
Al

We need to find 200 minutes out of those 9. I suspect the brunt of the increase will come from Joplin and Stevie expanding roles. Less rest for Kam. Zaide and Ben getting 15-20 minutes each night. Shaka won't win any awards because of the overall record this year but even he has an opportunity to show just how good he is.

[rgoode57]

The freshmen are going to have to really step up, and they are going to get the opportunity to do it. I have no idea if they are up to the challenge or not, but there are freshmen playing significant, productive minutes all over the college bball landscape -and not just 5* recruits. Ben Gold and David Joplin are also going to have to take on more responsibility. But, most importantly, Tyler, Kam, and Oso have to realize that things have really changed and they, as the team leaders, have to adapt and lead the group.

[UWW2MU]

I do agree with this...both Hall and Butler are teams of 22+year olds who are physically bigger than most of our guys.  The physicality has really bothered Kolek, Kam, Jop and Gold.  And now we lost our two most physical players in Sean and Chase.

I'm confident Shaka will adapt in recruiting, and we may see him realize he needs to take some proven 4th year transfer guys who are physically matured/Big East body ready.

So... you think Sean is one of our most physical players?

[Daniel]

What we have seen the last couple of games is individual lack of confidence in shooting the ball, hesitation to take the shot, passing to someone else with the thinking, hey better you shoot and miss than me.... And so , lack of confidence 8n team mates as well.

We need to regain the individual and collective cream confidence, and get back to, give me the ball so I can hit this critical shot..... which we saw over and over again before from Tyler, Kam and Oso ..and others. 

We will get back there.   Soon.  I have confidence in this team and staff,   We will be back soon!

[Dr. Blackheart]

We need to regain the individual and collective cream confidence,

If that comes with two scoops and chocolate sauce, sign me up!

[BrewCity83]

There's nothing like good ol' cream confidence to bust a slump.

[muwarrior69]

Yes, until I see the upside. Sorry!

[Uncle Rico]

I hope they all get gout

[BM1090]

Remember Uconn had this stretch last year and won 15 of their last 17 and a national title. Not saying it'll happen, there are real concerns, but teams do go through it at times.

[Silkk the Shaka]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-QQAM1GDM