Greg Gard a better recruiter than Shaka Smart?

[Uncle Rico]

They were higher earlier in the year! Apparently I haven't kept up.

They started the year playing high tempo but quickly reverted. 

[Jay Bee]

They are playing at a slightly quicker pace this year as well. (Still slower than average but still...)

Source??

[wisblue]

It seems kind of early to draw conclusions about Shaka's ability to recruit at MU

He really didn't have time to do any recruiting for his first year and had to rely on trying to retain some of Wojo's players and getting transfers.

For year 2 he brought in Ross, S Jones, and Gold, who were all contributors to a championship team.

We'll find out about Norman and Lowrey soon, and Amadou and Hamilton and the class of 24 down the road.

I really think Shaka has to recognize that relying entirely on recruiting high school players and developing them in today's world is like playing with one hand tied behind your back. He has to be willing to shop in the portal to fill in immediate needs. I can see why he didn't do it this year with 8 of 9 rotation players from a championship team returning. But he has to see how other teams in the conference have improved themselves significantly, and to the point they have surpassed MU.

After what we have seen so far in conference play, if you restarted the conference season would you pick MU as the favorite? I wouldn't, and that's even before the injuries.

[Boone]

Well put, Wisblue. Even if Kolek returns, now that Sean Jones is on the shelf for several months it'd be negligent of Shaka not to at least dip into the portal for point guard help/insurance

[The Sultan]

Well put, Wisblue. With Sean Jones on the shelf for several months and Kolek questionable to return, it'd be negligent of Shaka not to at least dip into the portal for point guard help

Here's a former high makor PG who's available.

https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/college/basketball/bradley-hoops/2024/01/06/emarion-ellis-leaves-bradley-basketball-program-before-missouri-state-game/72134453007/

[GoldenEagles03]

Parham with 25 and Owens with 21. They look really good.

https://twitter.com/DeeAyySports/status/1746294124951552472?t=yvbvcmery2vYu_RRd9PaAQ&s=19

[Viper]

Parham with 25 and Owens with 21. They look really good.

https://twitter.com/DeeAyySports/status/1746294124951552472?t=yvbvcmery2vYu_RRd9PaAQ&s=19

...they all do, in high school

[Viper]

Well put, Wisblue. Even if Kolek returns, now that Sean Jones is on the shelf for several months it'd be negligent of Shaka not to at least dip into the portal for point guard help/insurance

why would Kolek not return? Is he thinking of another school for next season?

[panda]

why would Kolek not return? Is he thinking of another school for next season?

[Viper]

haha. I'm a TK fan, but are you implying NBA? Please. G-league, sure, I suppose.

[panda]

haha. I'm a TK fan, but are you implying NBA? Please. G-league, sure, I suppose.

Just a joke - I love that meme

[rgoode57]

I initially applauded Shaka for his view of the transfer portal, but I have now changed my perspective. The portal, like it or not, is here to stay and is a tool you cannot ignore. Shake is recruiting high school players that are not ready to play BE basketball; they have to be developed. Some of them develop, and some of them don't. Even those that develop into BE players can take two years to get there. And, unfortunately, injuries also happen. All that means that you are going to have holes in your roster that need to be filled ffectively.by players who can contribute immediately. Yes, bringing in a transfer can mess with team chemistry, but other coaches are dealing with this effectively. I suspect Shaka's view of the portal will evolve just as mine has. In fact, his portal philosophy may evolve quickly.

[The Sultan]

I don't think Shaka is completely against the transfer portal. I think he just had a lot of confidence that the continuity of last year's team was the most important factor for success this year. I think this off-season is going to be telling. If TK leaves, how does he manage the back court?

[Dr. Blackheart]

The transfer portal costs big NIL which throws off the NIL structure balance of the current roster. Despite what Scoopers believe, MUs coop doesn't have that kind of limitless cash, and by situationally overpaying, that flies in the face of Shaka's philosophy.

[WarriorFan]

Symir Torrence ranks 4th in the NCAA in assists.   8 places ahead of Tyler.
Obviously it was a mistake to let him go.

Where's that teal button?

[jesmu84]

Symir Torrence ranks 4th in the NCAA in assists.   8 places ahead of Tyler.
Obviously it was a mistake to let him go.

Where's that teal button?

Does John "magic" Dawson still have eligibility?

[Uncle Rico]

Does John "magic" Dawson still have eligibility?

I hope not.  He wasn't very good

[The Equalizer]

I initially applauded Shaka for his view of the transfer portal, but I have now changed my perspective. The portal, like it or not, is here to stay and is a tool you cannot ignore. Shake is recruiting high school players that are not ready to play BE basketball; they have to be developed. Some of them develop, and some of them don't. Even those that develop into BE players can take two years to get there. And, unfortunately, injuries also happen. All that means that you are going to have holes in your roster that need to be filled ffectively.by players who can contribute immediately. Yes, bringing in a transfer can mess with team chemistry, but other coaches are dealing with this effectively. I suspect Shaka's view of the portal will evolve just as mine has. In fact, his portal philosophy may evolve quickly.

If there was ever a season that Shaka should have relaxed his recruiting strategy, this was it. 

We returned nearly everyone from a Big East Championship/2-seed team, and yet none of the recruiting decisions were made with the mindset of adding talent to support an NCAA tournament run.

I liken the situation to a 1st place MLB team in a pennant race at the trade deadline. Such teams frequently trade future prospects to add depth to the current roster because you just don't know when the stars will align again to put you in contention for a championship. 

Shaka did the opposite.  Every recruiting decision Shaka made was for 2025 or beyond:

• 2 Borderline top 100 guys in Lowery & Norman (Neither were RSCI top 100).  I get the attraction of Lowery and Norman, but face it, they're not sure things to play a major role on a championship contender as freshmen. They're going to be great players--in 2025 or 2026. See the career trajectory of Oso Ighadoro.  I think most MU fans would have gladly suffered a rebuilding year next season if we brought in a pair of players the likes of Storr, Oliveri, Bamba, Spencer, or Dingle to solidify the 23-24 roster.
  
• A Project Big: Amadou. I can only imagine that Shaka was thinking about who's going to take Oso's minutes next year and beyond.  But we could have landed a similar player next year.  Meanwhile, we have a guy using a scholarship who is currently seen only 27 minutes this season to date and shows no signs of getting more as we get deeper in the season..
  
• Allow Caedin Hamilton to reclass and immediately redshirt:  No matter how promising Amadou or Hamilton are, their presence on this year's roster does nothing to help take last year's team over the top. They were never going to help us in 2023-24. They may be a solid piece on the 2026 or 2027 roster. Shaka gave up recruiting insurance against injury on this year's team for players who *may* develop into contributors two or three years from now.
  
• Bank a scholarship (otherwise known as a self-imposed penalty). Inexcusable.  Did Shaka really think the returning players were immune to injury?

I get the arguments people will make around not enough minutes, not recruting over current players, etc.   However, if you've spent 3 or 4 years at Penn or Harvard or Rice, you might be willing to take a scholarship with less playing opportunity in exchange for being part of a championship run.

And if the egos of Jop or Stevie or Kam are so fragile that the mere presence of someone who might challenge them for minutes pushes them over the edge, they probably don't have the right mindsent to make a championship run on their own.  No matter what you think about the negatives of being recruited over, our guys coming back knew there was nobody behind them who could concievably challenge their role--and that's could explain why we see so many guys who have plateaued or taken a step back.  Seeing a 3- or 4-year starter from a lower-level program may have given them the motivation to work harder to improve over the summer.

[DoctorV]

Ok Equalizer, all fair points.

The two things that jumped out immediately to me during the interview with Jen Lada were that

1- Shaka gave a shout out to his wife and how much he loves her, twice.

2- Shaka made a comment to Marquette Nation about how we win together, and we lose together with class and that the team needs our support in both winning and losing times (paraphrasing)

The first stood out to me because the Butler game was likely one of the hardest moments in Shaka's Marquette career. He's human, he's passionate, and it likely affected him 1000x more than it affected us.
Everyone needs their support system in times like this, and Shaka's wife and daughter I'm certain helped him overcome the heartache.

The second stood out to me because Coach is spot on. He's building a championship and winning culture at Marquette, or trying to.
He's already accomplished a regular season and conference tournament championship, in extreme short order, so he personally gets a heck of a leash.

In that end, he gets the benefit of the doubt in all his program building decisions, including recruiting and how he approaches it, for several years still.
When he spent 2 weeks in a bunker at the Al and showed up with TyKo, Omax etc. as MU transfers we all kind of scratched our heads at first, the coaches did too and predicted 9th, and Shaka was proven brilliant.
I'm sure he was probably slightly surprised it ended up as well as it did, but why wouldn't he run it back with what he has?
I agree with you that he should've used the extra schollie at the very least for depth, but he decided not to and that's ok.
Now he's tasked with figuring out how to win with freshman that he's given limited minutes to up to this point, and we will see how he does.

All of this doesn't mean we can't question his game to game moves, his in game decisions, or the future of the program, because we can. All I'm saying is that he gets a major benefit of the doubt with regards to his overall structuring of the program, his recruiting style, and his vision going forward for quite a while because he's earned it.
It's also ok to be disappointed with the current results and trajectory of this season, and be concerned with the outlook of the next- but that just comes anytime you falter with super high end expectations...

Shaka got us to those high end expectations after all.

The beauty of it is that the next game, and the 15-20 after that, can completely change the narrative in a positive direction yet again.
So let's do that Shaka and Co.
If not, as he said, those guys will need our support in good times or bad.

[wisblue]

The transfer portal costs big NIL which throws off the NIL structure balance of the current roster. Despite what Scoopers believe, MUs coop doesn't have that kind of limitless cash, and by situationally overpaying, that flies in the face of Shaka's philosophy.

NIL is also a fact of life in today's world of college basketball. MU might not have limitless cash, but if it doesn't have enough to compete for impact transfers, it's essentially a concession that MU is unlikely to compete with the teams that do have the resources to attract them.

Free transfers and the ability for teams to pay for talent is already lowering my enthusiasm for college sports. If things continue on this path that enthusiasm will be completely gone. The schools with boosters willing to throw huge money at  any player that can help them will be the only ones able to compete for championships.

[Big Papi]

It is easy to say Shaka should have gone into the portal for an impact player.

Realistic factors he didn't or couldn't find the right impact player.
1. NIL - It's the wild west and I don't know if we can ever compete for high impact portal players getting more money from other programs
2. NIL - How hard did Shaka have to recruit his existing players to stay instead of going Pro or going elsewhere for more money?
3. Team chemistry - We lost 1 impact player from last year.  Easy to see why you don't mess with this with all the players coming back.
4. Impact transfer - Would an impact player even consider transferring to a team where they would not be promised minutes and might not play a lot?  Then factor in NIL money
5. One year impact transfer not a guarantee - Landscape is littered with transfer players who made little to no major impact.  Balance that with current roster makeup and I can see why Shaka went with incoming freshmen he can mold over a portal player

I bring these up because it's not black and white.  Shaka did what he thought was best for this team.  I can't blame him.  It sure looked like he made the right move in early December.  Now with 2 major injuries, more experienced depth would have been great.   

[Shooter McGavin]

The transfer portal costs big NIL which throws off the NIL structure balance of the current roster. Despite what Scoopers believe, MUs coop doesn't have that kind of limitless cash, and by situationally overpaying, that flies in the face of Shaka's philosophy.

This was the concern once NIL started.  And by what you are saying still is.  I just hope that the philosophy we have gets the team to the tournament most years and a deep run frequently enough to create excitement around the program on a regular basis.

This year was supposed to be and still may be one of those deep runs.  RGV + EGBs + NIL will tell the story over the next couple of years.

[panda]

Ask Wojo how deep the pockets are of mu boosters. That money ain't comin from Marquette

[BCHoopster]

Ask Wojo how deep the pockets are of mu boosters. That money ain't comin from Marquette

MU can play the game!

[panda]

MU can play the game!

10,000%

Fans crying poor are very, very incorrect.