Room for improvement

[Scoop Snoop]

Write a letter to Shaka

That's what Muggsy's posts are, but rather than private letters, he magnanimously shares them with scoop to admire in awe. I have no doubt that he fantasizes that Shaka actually reads them.

[muwarrior69]

Honestly we just need Kam to have some good old regression to the mean and I think we will be fine. Defenses are sagging and aggressively collapsing every time we have the ball. If Kam starts shooting like the 38% career shooter he is, they wont be able to do that.

Like last year, the scout on our team is currently easy on offense. Clog the lane because if they start hitting their threes we aint winning anyway.

Jop is shooting below his career average as well.

[Jay Bee]

Muggs, I agree our offense is worse this year. But we're actually slightly better than we finished last year in adjusted efficiency right now. 118.5 to 118.2.

I'd expect that number to drop below 118.2 before the end of the season though.

DI avg is up. Our Adj OE rank is slightly down.

Actual OE is up YTD vs last season but shall fall as the conf grinds on.

TOs & OR have been positives yoy, while our eFG% has taken a dump

[wadesworld]

Need to get better in transition. Definitely need to give the ball up more, and early. Everyone just runs into the one defender back and chucks it up at the hoop wildly other than Kam, who will pass to a trailer.

Largely hitting open 3s will fix a lot of the issues with the team. Wish Kam and Jop had some of the freshman's mindset. Those young guys like to get their shots up. Kam and Jop sometimes pass up open 3s. I know they haven't been falling for them, but I'd like to see some no hesitation pulls from 3 when teams are packing the paint and short closing on them. Hopefully tonight gets Kam's confidence back from 3. Would like to see Jop hit a few.

We're turning the ball over ourselves more than we had been, which has been seemingly the only way opponents have scored the last 2 games.

[jesmu84]

Need to get better in transition. Definitely need to give the ball up more, and early. Everyone just runs into the one defender back and chucks it up at the hoop wildly other than Kam, who will pass to a trailer.

Largely hitting open 3s will fix a lot of the issues with the team. Wish Kam and Jop had some of the freshman's mindset. Those young guys like to get their shots up. Kam and Jop sometimes pass up open 3s. I know they haven't been falling for them, but I'd like to see some no hesitation pulls from 3 when teams are packing the paint and short closing on them. Hopefully tonight gets Kam's confidence back from 3. Would like to see Jop hit a few.

We're turning the ball over ourselves more than we had been, which has been seemingly the only way opponents have scored the last 2 games.

Jop especially seems to be catching, pump faking and then driving a lot when it seems he has opportunity to take a catch and shoot 3.

Even if he wants to/has a successful pump fake, I'd like to see more of him take a quick step or two to his right/left and take the 3 rather than drive

[wadesworld]

Jop especially seems to be catching, pump faking and then driving a lot when it seems he has opportunity to take a catch and shoot 3.

Even if he wants to/has a successful pump fake, I'd like to see more of him take a quick step or two to his right/left and take the 3 rather than drive

Yup. When he's decisive, whether it's getting to the rim and just going up to finish rather than pump faking or shooting the 3 rather than hesitating, he's very good. He gets into trouble when he's got a bunch of extra movements.

[dgies9156]

I'd like to see Cadein Hamilton learn to back down the opponent's center.

Like Theo, he needs to forget that stupid dribble and go straight to the basket. Theo didn't and he wasn't anywhere near what he could be. Hope Cadein learns because he's big and strong.

[mug644]

Jop especially seems to be catching, pump faking and then driving a lot when it seems he has opportunity to take a catch and shoot 3.

Even if he wants to/has a successful pump fake, I'd like to see more of him take a quick step or two to his right/left and take the 3 rather than drive

I've always felt like his 'wind up' is slow, so he needs more time than most shooters. I like the idea of his pump fake, but, as a spot up shooter, I'm not as confident in his right/left-then shoot ability. If he doesn't have the space for the first idea, then the pump-fake to a drive might make the most sense.

[K1 Lover]

I'd like to see Cadein Hamilton learn to back down the opponent's center.

Like Theo, he needs to forget that stupid dribble and go straight to the basket. Theo didn't and he wasn't anywhere near what he could be. Hope Cadein learns because he's big and strong.

Agreed. There's obviously still a lot of time for Caedin to improve, but sadly I haven't really been impressed by him once this entire season. Hopefully he gets more stabilized down low and improves the FT shooting.

[Hards Alumni]

Agreed. There's obviously still a lot of time for Caedin to improve, but sadly I haven't really been impressed by him once this entire season. Hopefully he gets more stabilized down low and improves the FT shooting.

It's his first year of college basketball.

[K1 Lover]

It's his first year of college basketball.

Same for Cooper Flagg.

Just because he's a freshman doesn't mean he can't have impressive moments. Plus Caedin's a redshirt, so technically it's his second year of college basketball.

[Hards Alumni]

Same for Cooper Flagg.

Just because he's a freshman doesn't mean he can't have impressive moments. Plus Caedin's a redshirt, so technically it's his second year of college basketball.

A bit of a silly comparison.  Hamilton was a late addition to the team last year and reclassified to do it.  He dropped a bunch of weight and is probably still getting used to high level basketball.  He's a freshman who wasn't serious about basketball until his Junior year of high school.

Give him some time.  Remember what Oso looked like as a Freshman and a Sophomore?

[K1 Lover]

A bit of a silly comparison.  Hamilton was a late addition to the team last year and reclassified to do it.  He dropped a bunch of weight and is probably still getting used to high level basketball.  He's a freshman who wasn't serious about basketball until his Junior year of high school.

Give him some time.  Remember what Oso looked like as a Freshman and a Sophomore?

Like I said...

Agreed. There's obviously still a lot of time for Caedin to improve, but sadly I haven't really been impressed by him once this entire season. Hopefully he gets more stabilized down low and improves the FT shooting.

[CTWarrior]

If you ask me, our biggest weaknesses are:
1. Defensive rebounding
2. Offense vs zone.  We need to drive and kick to get the good step-into-it threes that get converted at a high percentage, but our drivers are not much of a threat to score so teams lately are staying home on the shooters.  I think we'll figure something out here.
3. Reliance on turnovers

So I think we'll make headway on number 2 over the balance of the season, but at some point we aren't going to get the turnovers and number 1 is going to bite us in the posterior in the postseason.

[Hards Alumni]

Like I said...

So you admit, your expectations were too high? 

[Markusquette]

A bit of a silly comparison.  Hamilton was a late addition to the team last year and reclassified to do it.  He dropped a bunch of weight and is probably still getting used to high level basketball.  He's a freshman who wasn't serious about basketball until his Junior year of high school.

Give him some time.  Remember what Oso looked like as a Freshman and a Sophomore?

Same for Cooper Flagg.

Just because he's a freshman doesn't mean he can't have impressive moments. Plus Caedin's a redshirt, so technically it's his second year of college basketball.

Agreed. Look at the flashes his freshman counterparts have shown so far. Caedin had a year practicing against some NBA talent and he really hasn't shown anything to get excited or optimistic about yet. I was hoping he would at least be a little more of a rebounder or inside guy with his size. Yes there is plenty of time, but it's always nice to see promise early on from the young guys.

[wadesworld]

Anybody who thought an unranked, lightly recruited, reclassified redshirt freshman would be anything more than what Caedin has been this year had unrealistic expectations.  He was taken as a complete project.  Someone you hope by their junior year is a real contributor.

[tower912]

Anybody who thought an unranked, lightly recruited, reclassified redshirt freshman would be anything more than what Caedin has been this year had unrealistic expectations.  He was taken as a complete project.  Someone you hope by their junior year is a real contributor.

Yes.  You can change the names to Ben Gold and Josh Clark and make the same statement.   Except, of course, Ben did not reclassify.  But he was not on the radar prior to his commitment.

[MU82]

Shaka obviously recruited the wrong guy. Passing on Cooper for Caedin is something he'll regret all season.

[K1 Lover]

So you admit, your expectations were too high? 

I had exactly zero expectations for Caedin. I've only pointed out that I hope to see more from him in the future since we haven't seen anything yet.

It would be pretty dumb to have any real expectations for him since no one's actually seen him play before.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

If you ask me, our biggest weaknesses are:
1. Defensive rebounding
2. Offense vs zone.  We need to drive and kick to get the good step-into-it threes that get converted at a high percentage, but our drivers are not much of a threat to score so teams lately are staying home on the shooters.  I think we'll figure something out here.
3. Reliance on turnovers

So I think we'll make headway on number 2 over the balance of the season, but at some point we aren't going to get the turnovers and number 1 is going to bite us in the posterior in the postseason.

We're really not a bad defensive rebounding team. We're 165th in the nation (average, closer to good then bad). In conference play we're 6th, the exact middle,  and were actually closer to being 3rd than we are to being 7th.

My biggest concern is our shooting, both inside and out. 8th in eFG% is atypical for a BEast champ. Funny enough, our best contender is 11th in that category

[Viper]

It's his first year of college basketball.

after a RS, too much to expect a little more at this point?

[Hards Alumni]

after a RS, too much to expect a little more at this point?

Yes, for the other points I outlined.

[DoctorV]

I had exactly zero expectations for Caedin. I've only pointed out that I hope to see more from him in the future since we haven't seen anything yet.

It would be pretty dumb to have any real expectations for him since no one's actually seen him play before.

Sure, but any expectations came from the things we heard out of camp.

Before the ball was tipped we heard repeatedly about Caedin and Damarius.
Caedin was impressive and a sure-fire rotation piece and Damarius could be the next great star at Marquette.

Those things may end up being true, but it won't be this season.
Yet another lesson in taking things with a grain of salt before the ball is tipped.
Oh, and another lesson in the fact that you better defend if you plan on playing for Shaka

[Markusquette]

Maybe I'm asking for too much but given Marquette's prestige and Shaka's past success recruiting big men, I'm disappointed with the PF/C recruits so far. Keeyan, Gold, Amadou, Hamilton and Clark. Yes he has gotten some promising wing talent but it would be nice to have a true big that's more than just serviceable.