2025 Transfer Portal

[panda2.0]

Such a baffling take.
Nothing we write here will change anything about the program. The recruiting thread doesn't affect who MU recruits or lands. Threads discussing minutes distribution and lineups will affect neither. Threads discussing offensive or defensive philosophies will have no bearing on the coaching staff's approach. Threads discussing NIL strategy will not change MU's NIL strategy.

If you think discussion should be limited to only areas where fans' votes count, Scoop is going to be an awfully quiet place.

You're essentially saying here that you don't trust Shaka's ability to identify and recruit transfers who will improve the roster, despite evidence to the contrary.

There is nothing wrong with respectfully questioning roster construction and off season additions while understanding your words have no bearing on how the situation will manifest.

The "I implicitly trust Shaka" position is such a weak argument.

[panda2.0]

Such a baffling take.
Nothing we write here will change anything about the program. The recruiting thread doesn't affect who MU recruits or lands. Threads discussing minutes distribution and lineups will affect neither. Threads discussing offensive or defensive philosophies will have no bearing on the coaching staff's approach. Threads discussing NIL strategy will not change MU's NIL strategy.

If you think discussion should be limited to only areas where fans' votes count, Scoop is going to be an awfully quiet place.

You're essentially saying here that you don't trust Shaka's ability to identify and recruit transfers who will improve the roster, despite evidence to the contrary.

many of Shaka's most successful players are portal additions or Wojo recruits.

Jop, Ross and gold are the three guys I can think of off the top of my head as Shaka guys with no cbb experience. Jop with a solid career, ross is on his way with a question mark and the jury is still very much out on gold. 

[Its DJOver]

The "I implicitly trust Shaka" position is such a weak argument.

What more would Shaka have needed to do over the last 4 years for you to trust him?

[The Sultan]

The "I implicitly trust Shaka" position is such a weak argument.

Why?

[panda2.0]

What more would Shaka have needed to do over the last 4 years for you to trust him?

I do trust him - I also saw cracks in our roster this year and see more next year. The transfer portal is not a panacea for the perfect team but ignoring it is putting a glass ceiling on your success.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with looking to add a transfer when a high school guy doesn't pan out as expected (Norman, any of our bigs), we have a PG coming off of a catastrophic injury who hasn't played a game in a year and a half or we're graduating our best player.

Shaka's apparent strategy now is fine if you're ok taking one step back to maybe take two steps forward, but I think it's doing the program a disservice not to add a talented piece or two to make the team better and more competitive every season.

[TallTitan34]

The "I implicitly trust Shaka" position is such a weak argument.

Agreed.  I'm going to trust the guy who said Sean Jones was transferring over the 2023 AP Coach of the Year.

[Its DJOver]

I do trust him - I also saw cracks in our roster this year and see more next year. The transfer portal is not a panacea for the perfect team but ignoring it is putting a glass ceiling on your success.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with looking to add a transfer when a high school guy doesn't pan out as expected (Norman, any of our bigs), we have a PG coming off of a catastrophic injury who hasn't played a game in a year and a half or we're graduating our best player.

Shaka's apparent strategy now is fine if you're ok taking one step back to maybe take two steps forward, but I think it's doing the program a disservice not to add a talented piece or two to make the team better and more competitive every season.

There's two sides of this coin though.  Always going to the portal may result in you taking one step forward to take two steps back.  There's going to be a year when the transfers just don't live up to the hype, and the young players that you're developing for the future have already bolted because they got recruited over.

I don't think there's a right/wrong way, but until Shaka's approach actually proves to not work, rather than just looking like there are cracks in the team next year, I will implicitly trust Shaka.

[Pakuni]

What more would Shaka have needed to do over the last 4 years for you to trust him?

I imagine most Chiefs fans trust Andy Reid.
I also imagine most Chiefs fans question the offensive line he's assembled and his Super Bowl strategy this year.

Trusting a coach shouldn't be synonymous with never questioning or criticizing anything.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

He was the best pg in the pool imo. Wasn't talking hight

Just one source and it's subjective but The Athletic had him ranked as the 37th best player in the portal.

[panda2.0]

There's two sides of this coin though.  Always going to the portal may result in you taking one step forward to take two steps back.  There's going to be a year when the transfers just don't live up to the hype, and the young players that you're developing for the future have already bolted because they got recruited over.

I don't think there's a right/wrong way, but until Shaka's approach actually proves to not work, rather than just looking like there are cracks in the team next year, I will implicitly trust Shaka.

He doesn't need to abandon his development mindset. But there should be considerations made when there are very clear holes in the roster which put a ceiling on your team's success. One or two "character fitting" portal additions will not ruin the culture. If anything it breeds a new level of competitiveness rather than complacency.

The lack of depth killed us in the back half of this season. Our performance in feb/march/April should be a considered a big crack. Without any additions, next year will be bumpy too.

He's done incredible things so far but there is cause for concern looking forward. And none of that has to do with what he accomplished already.

[Its DJOver]

I imagine most Chiefs fans trust Andy Reid.
I also imagine most Chiefs fans question the offensive line he's assembled and his Super Bowl strategy this year.

Trusting a coach shouldn't be synonymous with never questioning or criticizing anything.

I don't know anything about football so I guess I'll trust you about your anecdotal, cross sport, college vs pros, salary cap vs no salary cap evidence.

I don't think Shaka is above criticism, I've thought he's been to stingy with TOs at times, I commented recently that I think he should have more set plays to help develop the underclassmen, more off the ball movement, let's have a real in-bounds play, etc.

It just seems like there's a lot of "I like Shaka, but I don't trust him to build a team", which looks an awful lot like sitting on the fence where regardless of how the team performs you can go back and say "I was right, I said I trusted him", or "I was right, I said he needed to do xyz", and that is a weak argument.

[Its DJOver]

He doesn't need to abandon his development mindset. But there should be considerations made when there are very clear holes in the roster which put a ceiling on your team's success. One or two "character fitting" portal additions will not ruin the culture. If anything it breeds a new level of competitiveness rather than complacency.

The lack of depth killed us in the back half of this season. Our performance in feb/march/April should be a considered a big crack. Without any additions, next year will be bumpy too.

He's done incredible things so far but there is cause for concern looking forward. And none of that has to do with what he accomplished already.

A lot of fence sitting "buts" and conjecture about what you think will happen vs looking at what Shaka has actually accomplished.

Again, until his way of running things actually stops working, I will trust him.

[panda2.0]

A lot of fence sitting "buts" and conjecture about what you think will happen vs looking at what Shaka has actually accomplished.

Again, until his way of running things actually stops working, I will trust him.

That is some extremely selective critiquing  while ignoring the very clear overall point lol.

[Its DJOver]

That is some extremely selective critiquing  while ignoring the very clear overall point lol.

Okay.  Correct me if I'm wrong but your overall point is that you think we will be bad, mine is that we haven't been yet and until we are we should keep doing what we're doing.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

You're essentially saying here that you don't trust Shaka's ability to identify and recruit transfers who will improve the roster, despite evidence to the contrary.

Pretty sure that's not what he's saying. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

He doesn't need to abandon his development mindset. But there should be considerations made when there are very clear holes in the roster which put a ceiling on your team's success. One or two "character fitting" portal additions will not ruin the culture. If anything it breeds a new level of competitiveness rather than complacency.

The lack of depth killed us in the back half of this season. Our performance in feb/march/April should be a considered a big crack. Without any additions, next year will be bumpy too.

He's done incredible things so far but there is cause for concern looking forward. And none of that has to do with what he accomplished already.

Why are you assuming there were/are culture fits that also were ok with Shaka/Marquette's NIL approach and would have been fine with being #7 - 10 in the rotation? 

[Scoop Snoop]

Pretty sure that's not what he's saying. 

Correct. I didn't bother to respond to Pakuni because his insistence of informing scoopers of what they really are saying reminds me of the departed Lenny's M.0. It's long since gotten very old.

[panda2.0]

Okay.  Correct me if I'm wrong but your overall point is that you think we will be bad, mine is that we haven't been yet and until we are we should keep doing what we're doing.

Best case, with the roster as it stands now, we'll be a bubble team next year.

My overarching point here is, saying I trust Shaka for what he's accomplished in the past doesn't change the fact there are holes in our roster going into next year that put a ceiling on our capabilities.

[panda2.0]

Why are you assuming there were/are culture fits that also were ok with Shaka/Marquette's NIL approach and would have been fine with being #7 - 10 in the rotation? 

You, I and everyone else here don't know that for sure. But given the volume of entrants in the portal, Marquette's recent success and Shaka's personality, odds are with some good old fashioned networking, he could find a talent and personality fit.

Also, I'm not sure why you're limiting the search criteria to back end of the rotation players because we absolutely could've used a center this year and absolutely need one next year.

[warriors141]

There's two sides of this coin though.  Always going to the portal may result in you taking one step forward to take two steps back.  There's going to be a year when the transfers just don't live up to the hype, and the young players that you're developing for the future have already bolted because they got recruited over.

I don't think there's a right/wrong way, but until Shaka's approach actually proves to not work, rather than just looking like there are cracks in the team next year, I will implicitly trust Shaka.

Players don't live up to the hype whether they are transfers or recruits all the time. The Badged got a proven winner and vet pg, we are hoping a guy coming off an acl can be our pg. what is the more risky strategy? As for the portal ruining culture...literally every team is doing it. If we were getting all Top 50 recruits I would be all on board with recruit and develop....but we aren't

[Pakuni]

Why are you assuming there were/are culture fits that also were ok with Shaka/Marquette's NIL approach and would have been fine with being #7 - 10 in the rotation? 

Honest question ... how is Shaka's culture significantly different from the culture at Houston or the culture at Creighton or the culture at Michigan State or the culture at Tennessee?
Do Marquette players compete harder? Are they better teammates? Share the ball better?
Every program talks about culture, and every winning program thinks they have a great culture.
And if bringing in a portal kid every now and again jeopardizes your entire culture, then your culture was fragile to begin with.


 

Pretty sure that's not what he's saying. 

It's exactly what he's saying.

[Markusquette]

Very fair to analyze roster construction on both ends of the spectrum.

In year one, Shaka had to build a roster quickly. He brought in Morsell and Kuath to fill immediate needs, Kolek as a promising point guard, and O-Max as a high-upside prospect. O-Max became an NBA player in two years. Kolek turned into one of the best point guards in the country. These guys were program-defining players brought in through the portal - props to the staff for their development. Same for that of Lewis, Oso, Jones and Mitchell.

Team chemistry never seemed to be an issue. If anything, adding experience helped the young guys develop. Without Tyler, Oso may not be playing for the Suns today. The only real miss was Wrightsil, who barely played due to injury.

Shaka's focus on developing high school recruits is a solid long-term approach. But with the way the game is changing, it's frustrating to see roster holes go unaddressed when he's already proven he can find great fits in the portal seasons ago. His high school recruiting at MU has been fine, not elite. Transfers can bring experience, fill gaps, and raise the ceiling without hurting team culture.

He doesn't need to go all-in on the portal every single year, just stay open to what's worked for him before. If 'he knows more than you' ended every debate, this board would be nothing but game threads and injury updates.

[Pakuni]

It just seems like there's a lot of "I like Shaka, but I don't trust him to build a team", which looks an awful lot like sitting on the fence where regardless of how the team performs you can go back and say "I was right, I said I trusted him", or "I was right, I said he needed to do xyz", and that is a weak argument.

I think I've been pretty clear where I stand with this. Shaka was outstanding his first three seasons and not so outstanding last year, both in terms of his roster construction and coaching. If he was expecting Sean back in time to help down the stretch, he was wrong. If he was expecting leaps from Gold, Norman and Hamilton, he was wrong. If he thought the three seniors could carry the load all season without wearing out, he was wrong.
Also, I've been pretty clear that I don't find any of that to be anything close to a fireable offense. But they were mistakes that added up to a disappointing finish. And it's OK to discuss and be critical of those mistakes.

My concern now is that rather than adjusting anything as a result of how the season unfolded, he's doubling down on more of the same. At least that's what we've seen in the public realm, i.e. his comments and the lack of any connection to transfer options. Maybe he's got some things cooking that we don't know about.

If next year's squad exceeds expectations, has a great regular season and advances to the second weekend or beyond, I'll be thrilled that my concerns were unfounded.

[GoldenEagles03]

Yeah, calling him better than Dent and Stirtz is wild.  Chicken littles here will do that though...

Gillespie to Tennessee is right up there with those adds IMO.

He's an awesome fit there and should elevate their offense a ton!

[Vander Blue Man Group]

It's exactly what he's saying.

It's literally not and he confirmed as much.  Buy you know what he's saying better than he does, huh?

Truly ridiculous.