Maybe Shaka will change his way of making roster

[wadesworld]

Does Kolek have any eligibility left :-)

He did when he left early for the NBA, actually. Thank God he showed up to MU's campus as an NBA player. Shaka can't develop players. Hope he can find some reliable, proven NBA talent in the portal to bring in!

[Newsdreams]

Does Kolek have any eligibility left :-)

I remember when people were saying Kolek shouldn't be a starter

[Shooter McGavin]

We didn't have a proven consistent volume scorer in 2022-23 and won double Big East titles behind an electric offense.

You don't need proven volume scoring, that's a fallacy. You need your scorers to be highly efficient. Chase, Zaide, Royce, Gold, all of them are efficient enough to step up as leading scorers.

I like it Brew! 

[PointWarrior]

Oh, like St. Johns?  They don't have a guy on their roster over 6'9 that plays meaningful minutes, yet they are ranked 6 in the nation.

Hmmmmm

STJ will get bounced early from the tourney.

[willie warrior]

STJ will get bounced early from the tourney.

I agree with that. In fact MU should kick their ass today at home. If they can't, then Shaka needs to get his ass in gear and develop a new strategy.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I agree with that. In fact MU should kick their ass today at home. If they can't, then Shaka needs to get his ass in gear and develop a new strategy.

😆 😂

[TSmith34, Inc.]

I agree with that. In fact MU should kick their ass today at home. If they can't, then Shaka needs to get his ass in gear and develop a new strategy.

The wise man pauses to appreciate the small wonders in his life, and does not concern himself with Ramsey's rectum, Dung Willie

[hawk]

MU has enough talent and enough talent coming in to remain relevant for the next several years .Recruiting and development are not the issues, the issue is not having our bigs go to the goal to score.  How many times do you see Gold, Jop or Parham drive hard into the lane just to stop ,pivot and look to pass out for a 3?  New rule...If you are an MU big and you have the ball 4ft. from the rim score the damn ball.

[Newsdreams]

MU has enough talent and enough talent coming in to remain relevant for the next several years .Recruiting and development are not the issues, the issue is not having our bigs go to the goal to score.  How many times do you see Gold, Jop or Parham drive hard into the lane just to stop ,pivot and look to pass out for a 3?  New rule...If you are an MU big and you have the ball 4ft. from the rim score the damn ball.

And when they miss or turn it over, you will say they should have looked for the open player in the perimeter.

[bradforster]

STJ will get bounced early from the tourney.

Rick Pitino has taken three teams to the FF, and clearly knows how to notch wins in the tourney.  St John's is not getting bounced early.  This is a really good team that will create major problems with its tenacious defensive effort and rebounding ability.  Luis is a star.  He hurt us yesterday with one clutch play after another. 

[HutchwasClutch]

Rick Pitino has taken three teams to the FF, and clearly knows how to notch wins in the tourney.  St John's is not getting bounced early.  This is a really good team that will create major problems with its tenacious defensive effort and rebounding ability.  Luis is a star.  He hurt us yesterday with one clutch play after another. 

Depending on matchup, they could certainly go down early.  Teams that don't shoot well are always vulnerable.  Pitino has been upset before early on in the tournament.  They're a good, far from great team. We'll see.

[Pakuni]

Depending on matchup, they could certainly go down early.  Teams that don't shoot well are always vulnerable.  Pitino has been upset before early on in the tournament.  They're a good, far from great team. We'll see.

Teams that rely on shooting and then don't shoot well are vulnerable.
St. John's has won all season despite poor shooting.
They beat Creighton while shooting 38% from the floor. Beat UConn in a game they were 4-for-21 from three. Won the first Marquette game going 3-for-18 from three and 17-for-31 from the line. Won yesterday going 5-for-23 from three.

Seems to me they can weather an off shooting night better than most.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

St. John's won't get away with all the pushing, shoving, and grabbing in the NCAA tournament.  That's why I think they are an early exit from the tournament.

But who knows, worse teams have certainly made the Final Four.

[hawk]

Just saying scoring the ball on a drive from a big should be the 1st option not the last.  Get fouled , make the refs pay attention to you.  Make the other team expect you to drive which in turn would open the outside shot.

[willie warrior]

MU has enough talent and enough talent coming in to remain relevant for the next several years .Recruiting and development are not the issues, the issue is not having our bigs go to the goal to score.  How many times do you see Gold, Jop or Parham drive hard into the lane just to stop ,pivot and look to pass out for a 3?  New rule...If you are an MU big and you have the ball 4ft. from the rim score the damn ball.

Relevance is not a goal, competing for titles is. You are rightabout bigs but shakas offensive strategy ignore bigs. We need bangers that can muscle in traffic down low.
Parham could help ifhe adds 20 pounds of muscle. But Shaka does not have bangers in the equation.

[panda2.0]

It's your old friend panda. I was checking in to the board and this thread compelled me to word vomit my thoughts on Shaka and his roster construction.

First - I love Shaka. He is a good man who proves to earn the trust of his players and families right away which leads to high quality people in the program as well as being in the living room of high quality recruits. With Shaka, we will always be in the mix for good players and will hopefully always have a very competitive roster, challenging for top of the BE.

Shaka is a smart and successful person. Smart and successful people should constantly be evaluating themselves and their surroundings to look to change/improve their situation. I hope Shaka looks back at this season as a learning experience in roster construction as well as takes a long hard look at the way they're playing on the offensive end.

 The makeup of the roster this season is borderline malpractice. The fact we have two project bigs redshirted and Caedin Hamilton taking up roster spots is absolutely killer. I'm sure he's a great kid, but Hamilton has no business ever being on a high major college basketball roster. He is completely lost on the floor and has no projectibles. With that said, we now have Ben Gold and Royce Parham sharing the 5 man responsibilities. Ben is such a frustrating player. There are plays where he looks like he's put it all together and then he goes silent for long stretches. He is nowhere near a good enough shooter to play the minutes he's playing to compensate for his lack of consistent offensive production. Royce is going to be an incredible talent, but because of lack of depth, he is playing far more than his current talent level shows.

I love the faith Shaka showed in Kam, letting him play point guard this year to display himself for the next level but I would have loved another body to spell him and allow him to play a bit off the ball.

As for the offensive strategy - Teams who make deep runs in March need to be able to score in a variety of ways when their plan A is not working. I've seen it time and time again this year that there is no plan B when the three ball isn't falling. Nevada's offense works great when you have the best point guard in the country, the best passing big in the country and a bunch of guys who can camp on the perimeter, knock down open shots or reverse the ball to get to the bucket. This year, we don't have that and we're constantly fighting to score at the rim, unless your name is mr. magic Kam Jones. My concern with the current offensive philosophy is without top tier players, it is never going to be very effective. It's easy to defend when no one is hitting outside shots and you have a bunch of players who aren't great scoring at the rim.

Just my two cents - Glad to see everyone is still pluggin along here.

Bump - all very relevant following that dud to close out a terrible finish to the season.

[PointWarrior]

needs to change the roster - could not win with an all-american, 2 additional seniors, and 2 juniors.

What makes you think he can win next year with 2 average seniors, an unheralded sophomore class turning to juniors, and an underachieving freshman class turning to sophomores.


but hey - our freshman class may turn into day 1 starters - right?

[willie warrior]

needs to change the roster - could not win with an all-american, 2 additional seniors, and 2 juniors.

What makes you think he can win next year with 2 average seniors, an unheralded sophomore class turning to juniors, and an underachieving freshman class turning to sophomores.


but hey - our freshman class may turn into day 1 starters - right?

Wait...there is always next year. The future is bright and upward.

[lalumiere's architect]

What is Shaka's top priority as the men's basketball coach at Marquette?

Is Shaka's top priority:   culture  or  winning?

If Shaka's top priority is winning, it'll be an interesting next month, as the program's talent and experience level needs to be significantly upgraded for next year's team.

[PointWarrior]

STJ will get bounced early from the tourney.

Who possibly could have predicted STJ getting bounced early from the tourney? 

[HutchwasClutch]

Depending on matchup, they could certainly go down early.  Teams that don't shoot well are always vulnerable.  Pitino has been upset before early on in the tournament.  They're a good, far from great team. We'll see.

Bump. Juan Anderson Mixtape and Point Warrior were bolder than I was.  Nevertheless

[Hards Alumni]

Who possibly could have predicted STJ getting bounced early from the tourney? 

Yep said the same weeks ago.  We so smart.

[MDMU04]

It does when you only have 2 bigs, both of which should not be playing as many minutes as they're playing.

You want experienced bigs on the roster. You're not gonna believe what some say is the best way for the ones on this roster to get experience...

[panda2.0]

You want experienced bigs on the roster. You're not gonna believe what some say is the best way for the ones on this roster to get experience...

All of the big men on this roster, except for parham, have a very low ceiling coupled with minimal talent right now. Playing them is sacrificing a quality roster on the very small chance they may improve outside of what common sense and talent evaluations say.

But sure - play Caedin Hamilton who barely knows where he is on the floor in hopes he may average 7 pts and 6 boards his senior year.

[BCHoopster]

All of the big men on this roster, except for parham, have a very low ceiling coupled with minimal talent right now. Playing them is sacrificing a quality roster on the very small chance they may improve outside of what common sense and talent evaluations say.

But sure - play Caedin Hamilton who barely knows where he is on the floor in hopes he may average 7 pts and 6 boards his senior year.

You're so right!  Bigs are just bodies right now, Hamilton was a major disappointment!  Amadou was very skinny with minimal talent shown so far, I have hope with Clark just because he is so tall and long.  Add Norman and your using 4 scholarships up that you could add maybe a player or two that can maybe play, MU can pay