2026 Transfer Portal

[brewcity77]

If Shaka has proven anything in his career it's that he has no clue how to coach bigs.

I do wonder if he took the wrong lesson from the bigs he coached at Texas. Bamba and Allen were always going to the NBA, and Sims being top-50 was a solid bet. But getting Jaxson Hayes and him basically being the Keaton Wagler of his year gave the impression that every big man Shaka touched turned into a NBA pick.

Oso kind of reinforced that, but Itejere, Amadou, Hamilton, & Clark sure seem to demonstrate it's not as easy as it looked. Really hope the turn to Fru is followed by more high profile bigs because as much as Hayes seemed to indicate a Midas touch, all the long shots here have been pyrite at best.

[Jay Bee]

I do wonder if he took the wrong lesson from the bigs he coached at Texas. Bamba and Allen were always going to the NBA, and Sims being top-50 was a solid bet. But getting Jaxson Hayes and him basically being the Keaton Wagler of his year gave the impression that every big man Shaka touched turned into a NBA pick.

Oso kind of reinforced that, but Itejere, Amadou, Hamilton, & Clark sure seem to demonstrate it's not as easy as it looked. Really hope the turn to Fru is followed by more high profile bigs because as much as Hayes seemed to indicate a Midas touch, all the long shots here have been pyrite at best.

18 2 tha rescue!

[panda]

18 2 tha rescue!

That's CH18 to you

[Small Orange Soda]

Oso kind of reinforced that, but Itejere, Amadou, Hamilton, & Clark sure seem to demonstrate it's not as easy as it looked. Really hope the turn to Fru is followed by more high profile bigs because as much as Hayes seemed to indicate a Midas touch, all the long shots here have been pyrite at best.

Yup, he's had some pretty big whiffs with bigs in his time here. You're not bringing guys back for their third and fourth years in the program if you accept you've misevaluated them.

[panda]

Yup, he's had some pretty big whiffs with bigs in his time here. You're not bringing guys back for their third and fourth years in the program if you accept you've misevaluated them.

Baffling decisions specifically on CH18 but a lot of those whiffs are pure recruiting/eval misses and not specifically development issues. Would've loved to see sheek grow here and oso's growth was incredible. Lots of guys from the vcu and Texas days. Still waiting to hear the news Shaka is ch18's long lost father. Would make much more sense

[DoctorV]

As long as he doesn't change his number to 69 and become CH69 amirite?

[DoctorV]

Or maybe we can just start calling him "barely legal" because that's what it is to actually play him!

Ok I'll stop

Hope he crushes some unsuspecting bigs in the BE 😂

[muwarrior69]

As long as he doesn't change his number to 69 and become CH69 amirite?

I already have dibs on that number!

[MUDPT]

I do wonder if he took the wrong lesson from the bigs he coached at Texas. Bamba and Allen were always going to the NBA, and Sims being top-50 was a solid bet. But getting Jaxson Hayes and him basically being the Keaton Wagler of his year gave the impression that every big man Shaka touched turned into a NBA pick.

Oso kind of reinforced that, but Itejere, Amadou, Hamilton, & Clark sure seem to demonstrate it's not as easy as it looked. Really hope the turn to Fru is followed by more high profile bigs because as much as Hayes seemed to indicate a Midas touch, all the long shots here have been pyrite at best.

Turning OMax into a 1st round pick too, may have made him take more risks on athletic players.

[GoldenEagles03]

He did for 1 year. There's plenty of time to add. He didn't kick Sheek off the team. It was an unexpected departure.

Are you this dramatic in all facets of life?

Not dramatic. That's just the life of a college basketball coach in 2026 with all the money that's involved now.

No time for "wait and see" anymore. It's all about winning now. I'm rooting for him.

[SchnitzelBoy]

Shaka tried to bring in two unheralded (a euphemism for nobody wanting them) recruits to redshirt and develop. This hasn't worked out yet, but it still could. I think this is a smart approach, if you do it every once in a while. The problem is he did it twice and it coincided with Marquette badly needed contributors at that position. Caedin has been bad, and the development process for Josh was always going to take years. Shaka did reconcile the situation by brining in Sheek who I think would have been pretty solid for us this season.

The downside of Sheek leaving is his versatility. I think he would have seen a bunch of minutes at the 4 as well. IF he developed enough, he would have played 15-20 minutes spotting both our frontcourt players. And he has tons of height and length.

Now, we'll be relying on 6'7" Owens + 6'6" Egbuonu and Phillips to play the 4 when Royce needs a breather. Luckily, DO looked really good when he started in place of Royce for the Gtown game and I'm seeing optimism with Alex Egbuonu. I'd like a little more size at the 4, so we'll see if Shaka adds a piece this offseason.

[Jay Bee]

FWIW, Sean's mom saying it's "official" that Sean is getting 2 more years to play. Don't know the reason, but could be related to the 5 year transition plan. Curious though... great for him though, hope he does great at Toledo (and beyond??)

[rgoode57]

I am not sure the current atmosphere of college sports allows for much redshirt and development. Every player is essentially playing on a year-to-year deal. Why invest two or three years recruiting, redshirting, and trying to develop a player when he can simply leave anytime he wants (i.e. Pearson). If the player never really develops, you end up with a Hamilton situation. If he does develop, you may have a hard time hanging on to him. While I don't like it, I understand why some coaches rely mostly on the portal to build their teams. I also understand why some of them have just decided to get out of the business.

[The Sultan]

I am not sure the current atmosphere of college sports allows for much redshirt and development. Every player is essentially playing on a year-to-year deal. Why invest two or three years recruiting, redshirting, and trying to develop a player when he can simply leave anytime he wants (i.e. Pearson). If the player never really develops, you end up with a Hamilton situation. If he does develop, you may have a hard time hanging on to him. While I don't like it, I understand why some coaches rely mostly on the portal to build their teams. I also understand why some of them have just decided to get out of the business.

If the new five in five rule is approved, there will be no redshirting. You get five years to play five seasons. No exceptions. No redshirts.

[WhiteTrash]

If the new five in five rule is approved, there will be no redshirting. You get five years to play five seasons. No exceptions. No redshirts.

I still think coaches have to weigh the benefits of recruiting a developmental type player who projects to sit a year or two. It seems more prudent to let them go to lower level school to play and maybe recruit them later.

[The Sultan]

I still think coaches have to weigh the benefits of recruiting a developmental type player who projects to sit a year or two. It seems more prudent to let them go to lower level school to play and maybe recruit them later.

With 15 roster spots, there will always be room for developmental players. The good news is if they actually develop, it may be easier to retain than to attract in the open market. You also can supposedly encourage them to move on if they don't develop as well.

[Mu8891]

Yes.  Shaka has WHIFFED now on 4
bigs to " develop " at MU. 

Keyan and Amadou were total busts, and now playing in the Horizon League FFS

Hamilton is also a total bust, and Clark is so bad he can't play ahead of him.

Fru looks to be a one year solution, but we now lost Sheek ( redshirting him was a joke, as he now " developed " for SLU )

Shaka should have told CH or Clark to take a hike.

[The Sultan]

Yes.  Shaka has WHIFFED now on 4
bigs to " develop " at MU. 

Keyan and Amadou were total busts, and now playing in the Horizon League FFS

Keeyan Itejere did not play in the Horizon last year and would have been a better option at center than either of the two bigs who were on the roster.

[Zog from Margo]

With 15 roster spots, there will always be room for developmental players. The good news is if they actually develop, it may be easier to retain than to attract in the open market. You also can supposedly encourage them to move on if they don't develop as well.

This true provided you have only limited misses in the other 13 spots and you're willing to jettison developmental players if more promising developmental players become available.

[muwarrior69]

If the new five in five rule is approved, there will be no redshirting. You get five years to play five seasons. No exceptions. No redshirts.

Not even for medical reasons? If you sit out an entire year for  an injury or illness and don't play and that still counts against your 5 years of eligibility seem a little unfair.

[The Sultan]

Not even for medical reasons? If you sit out an entire year for  an injury or illness and don't play and that still counts against your 5 years of eligibility seem a little unfair.

Correct. Even for medical reasons. The problem is that the NCAA is getting attacked in the courts for the supposedly "arbitrary" nature of their rulings - see Trinidad Chambliss. So this makes it black and white.

[SchnitzelBoy]

It would be the funniest thing to ever happen to Marquette Basketball if Caedin Hamilton averages 15 and 9 his senior season.

That said, the number of whiffs is hard to ignore. Itejere, Amadou, and Hamilton are BAD whiffs. The jury is still out on Josh Clark who I think could turn into a productive 10-15 minute player, but that's his ceiling. I think they hit on Sheek but the portal/tampering torpedoed that.

Every April is going to be frustrating if MU is constantly having to add a starting center by outbidding other teams.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Things are quiet... too quiet.

[Jay Bee]

If the new five in five rule is approved, there will be no redshirting. You get five years to play five seasons. No exceptions. No redshirts.

Not quite... there will be limited exceptions (e.g., military {lots of wars on deck!!}, religious, maternity). But, sure.. for most programs there will be no sitting out in order to preserve a year of eligibility. Will there still be kids who sit and don't play, taking the year to focus on strength and skill development? Certainly. But, won't affect eligibility.