What's happened?

[PointWarrior]

you posters that love SilverWarrior - he is questioning if this team even makes the tourney

[willie warrior]

We've talked a lot about Kam's J, but I don't think he's moving as well as he did earlier in the season.

Yeah, he must be injured too, which is the default answer. Predicted he would wear down being primary ball handlers. This team played well first 2 months if season, but has fallen apart. No underneath bangers and no 3 point shooters. And next year could be more of the same, unless a couple if the frosh can consistently drain 3s.

[willie warrior]

Early on I thought this team was a title contender. Other Scoopers did too. Everyone is down on this team now, justifiably. Although there is little evidence that things will get better at the moment, I have a hunch that this team is going to perform well in March.

I'll have what he is smoking. This is the time of the year elite teams peak. We arent.

[willie warrior]

Me too. I think they are going to limp into a seven seed into the tourney then get hot...have a feeling this team gets to Elite Eight then gets smoked by a #1 seed.
[/aren't.
Speaking of smoking, what are imbibing?

[Vander Blue Man Group]

you posters that love SilverWarrior - he is questioning if this team even makes the tourney

That's nice.

They're a lock.

[tower912]

Silver, who obsessed about wanting the keys handed to Sean on day 1 and TKo moved off the ball or to the bench.

[ATL MU Warrior]

Me too. I think they are going to limp into a seven seed into the tourney then get hot...have a feeling this team gets to Elite Eight then gets smoked by a #1 seed.

I think it's a lot more likely we go 1-3 to finish the regular season.  There's not a chance of stringing together multiple victories against tournament teams the way this team is playing.  MU is like the basketball version of the Keystone Cops right now. 

[muwarrior69]

Other than *maybe* injury (which most teams deal with), I don't know what's gone wrong.  I'm hopeful it goes "right" again too.

I am with you. I have not seen any of the post-game reports of late and I certainly do not know what goes on in the locker room, but I can't recall a time when Shaka lost his temper and asked more of a player because he knows they can perform better. Maybe its time for bad cop Shaka to light a fire under this team. It's like a switch was turned on and now it's turned off.

[tower912]

Shaka criticized Kolek and Kam last season.  He criticized Joplin multiple times earlier.  He criticized his bench.  Shaka lets you know what he is thinking.

[dgies9156]

My first response was they ate too much Real Chili and were suffering from dysentery but there aren't any RC chambers in Philadelphia.

My gut is that this is pretty much the team I expected when the season started. Good but not great. We lost two true all-Americans and their positions were plugged with one fellow who has promise (Chase) and a second who, on a good day, is a role player. We fell victim to media hype and Shaka-love and believed Jop and Ben, particularly, were more than they really are.

Our guys are great guys and they represent the university well. Nonetheless the team reminds me an awful lot of the team we had after Dwyane Wade turned pro in 2003. The pieces were there to be good but the greatness came from Wade's talent and leadership. We didn't quite have a DWade last year, but we had the will and the leadership that came from Oso and Tyler.

As a group, we Marquette fans really underestimated the leadership intangibles that came from Oso and, particularly, Tyler.

For Shaka, the challenge will be, "what happens when my development projects don't develop?" That happens all the time in college basketball and we may have at least two failed launches in Al Amadou and Caedin Hamilton. I hope I'm wrong but if I'm not, Shaka and the Portal must get reacquainted.

[tower912]

Who hasn't improved in their time at MU under Shaka?

[forgetful]

It's hard to be a team that shoots 15-26 from 3, and made over double the number of FTs that your team even took.

This game is an anomaly.

On the plus side Zaide confirmed what I've been seeing from him lately. He's a stud. Needs more playing time.

[Pakuni]

Who hasn't improved in their time at MU under Shaka?

Not many players, regardless of coach, are better as 18-year-olds than 21/22-year-olds.

[tower912]

Wisblue accurately pointed out that the second half of the conference schedule was more difficult than the first half.   

[#UnleashSean]

Not many players, regardless of coach, are better as 18-year-olds than 21/22-year-olds.

Thats a lesson scoop will never learn. Remember when there were talks on scoop about how much Marquette would beat the alumni tbt team by? Those dudes not realizing the 27-32 year olds were about to wipe the floor with a college team lol

[PointWarrior]

It's hard to be a team that shoots 15-26 from 3, and made over double the number of FTs that your team even took.

This game is an anomaly.

On the plus side Zaide confirmed what I've been seeing from him lately. He's a stud. Needs more playing time.

There we go, we can still make excuses for this team. Think their 💩  play had anything to do with those numbers? 

[Shooter McGavin]

I just don't think wisblues accurate assessment of our schedule is the reason we are losing.  The schedule getting more difficult was obvious.  Predicting our team would play this poorly for this long of a stretch of the season was not as obvious at the time.  Perhaps to some. 

[Stretchdeltsig]

The offense flowed so well early on.

Kam started getting POY talk and the ball got sticky.

Now the flow is off and out 2nd team is beating our 1st team in practice.

KAM is not a point guard. We surely miss Sean Jones as point guard. Marquette needs a shooting coach. Our shooting is awful.Ben plays like he's a foot shorter. There are no dominant players on this team.

[tower912]

I think it is one of factors.  I also believe that most teams go through rough patches in their seasons. 
The cliche around the Crean teams were that they peaked in November.
As fondly as we remember Buzz's teams due to post season success, team bubble watch was coined during that era.
Wojo.... well, after beating #1 Nova and getting a court storm, two weeks later he declared every position was open and would be decided by effort in practice.  (Don't be late)

This team is going to the tournament.  This team is in a rough patch.  This team has not made 3's at the expected rate.    This team has won 20 games and has OOC wins against 3 big 10 teams that are likely to dance.  All of these things are true. 

Frustrating?  Sure.  End of the world stuff?  F no.

[muwarrior69]

It's hard to be a team that shoots 15-26 from 3, and made over double the number of FTs that your team even took.

This game is an anomaly.

On the plus side Zaide confirmed what I've been seeing from him lately. He's a stud. Needs more playing time.

Not exactly: Nova shot 45% and 58% 3PT; UCONN shot 61% and 63% 3PT.

[hawk]

Nova was desperate and played like it.  The boys are ok I think just beat up and tired.  If Gold has shin issues and Stevie has achilles issues that would explain a lot.  Just because guys don't miss games doesn't mean they are not injured.  I would trather look at the bright spot shinning in our faces...Lowery, Parham and Owens are coming of age and Hamilton would be much better if Shaka would just chain him in the lane and let him band instead of trying to make every center into the next Oso.  I am disappointed in the results so far but I expect a 4 seed and still a shot at a sweet 16.

[Pakuni]

I think it is one of factors.  I also believe that most teams go through rough patches in their seasons. 
The cliche around the Crean teams were that they peaked in November.
As fondly as we remember Buzz's teams due to post season success, team bubble watch was coined during that era.
Wojo.... well, after beating #1 Nova and getting a court storm, two weeks later he declared every position was open and would be decided by effort in practice.  (Don't be late)

This team is going to the tournament.  This team is in a rough patch.  This team has not made 3's at the expected rate.    This team has won 20 games and has OOC wins against 3 big 10 teams that are likely to dance.  All of these things are true. 

Frustrating?  Sure.  End of the world stuff?  F no.

My issue isn't that they're losing games. If they were losing hard-fought, competitive games, well, thems the breaks.
The problem isn't the losing, it's the way they're losing. The quality of play has fallen off a cliff and the coaching staff is either unwilling or unable to make adjustments needed to stop the bleeding.

[mileskishnish72]

A 4 would mean some very good stuff has to happen in the next four weeks.

[Zog from Margo]

Need to back to "Where the Streets Have No Name" for the intro. Irish bands get it done.

[PointWarrior]

A 4 would mean some very good stuff has to happen in the next four weeks.

More probable to get 4 more losses than to earn a 4 seed this season.