It’s Time to Think Bold

[Uncle Rico]

How well does he use the portal?

Mostly his recruits but has 2 guys in the rotation that are transfers according to the stat sheet

[Uncle Rico]

Will Wade gets a win over one of his former haunts as NC State beats VCU

[Newsdreams]

Will Wade gets a win over one of his former haunts as NC State beats VCU

Translates into a win over 🤙🏼

[Uncle Rico]

Translates into a win over 🤙🏼

Quiet!  Quiet piggy!

[Uncle Rico]

Probably worth keeping an eye on Mick Cronin at UCLA.  He should be wearing out his welcome at this point and he's a Midwest-ish kind of guy.

USF has a game tonight, too.  Should be an easy W for them but after losses to St. Thomas and Central Michigan during the Shaka era, want to see possible hires make sure they handle the cupcakes

[The Sultan]

Probably worth keeping an eye on Mick Cronin at UCLA.  He should be wearing out his welcome at this point and he's a Midwest-ish kind of guy.

USF has a game tonight, too.  Should be an easy W for them but after losses to St. Thomas and Central Michigan during the Shaka era, want to see possible hires make sure they handle the cupcakes

Yeah Bryan Hodgson used to work for Nate Oats, who of course is from Wisconsin originally. Maybe he could bring in Oats as a senior assistant like Steve Lavin did with Gene Keady.

[Uncle Rico]

Yeah Bryan Hodgson used to work for Nate Oats, who of course is from Wisconsin originally. Maybe he could bring in Oats as a senior assistant like Steve Lavin did with Gene Keady.

I meant San Francisco but I will add this USF to the watch grid.

[DoctorV]

Probably worth keeping an eye on Mick Cronin at UCLA.  He should be wearing out his welcome at this point and he's a Midwest-ish kind of guy.

USF has a game tonight, too.  Should be an easy W for them but after losses to St. Thomas and Central Michigan during the Shaka era, want to see possible hires make sure they handle the cupcakes

I know you're poking fun, but I disagree with Brews take that Shaka would be let go after b2b under .500 seasons.

I know it's historically been the case, but I assert that Shaka would be a trend setter and make it back as the first coach to do so in Marquette history.

Lucky for us we won't have to find out

[brewcity77]

I know you're poking fun, but I disagree with Brews take that Shaka would be let go after b2b under .500 seasons.

I know it's historically been the case, but I assert that Shaka would be a trend setter and make it back as the first coach to do so in Marquette history.

Lucky for us we won't have to find out

I sincerely hope we don't have to find out. I think Shaka's model working would be the best thing for college basketball. From a theory perspective, I think retention and getting to know the players in your program over years is a good thing. I want this to succeed and want our players to all grow and thrive.

That said, I think people forget how quickly it all turned south on Wojo. There was zero thought that Wojo would be dismissed when we got dumped from the Big East Tournament on March 10th. 8 days later, The Case Against came out. I don't think that alone made the decision, but I think its virality was part of why the Board moved their planned meeting up from March 22nd to March 19th and made it easier for Bill Scholl to explain why the time was right to dismiss Wojo. Roughly 24 hours after The Case Against came out, Wojo was fired.

If we have a losing season and Shaka's model is largely seen as the reason for it, we're going to end up with months of fan acrimony growing. The initial student calls of "Use the Portal" will get louder and likely more vitriolic as the season goes on. At that point, will Shaka go to the portal next summer, or will he double down on the 15 committed scholarships we have? I don't know.

But I guarantee the board will see and feel the pressure of a losing season. They know that our CBB investment brings back $3 to the university for every dollar spent (as Lovell said). They know that it is our most visible marketing arm. And they've seen what happens when you slide into DePaul territory. A second losing season in a row would be viewed as catastrophic.

In this century, around the league...

• UConn had losing seasons in both 2017 & 2018, then fired Kevin Ollie despite a national title 4 years earlier and NCAA berth and win 2 years earlier.
  
• Butler had losing seasons in both 2021 and 2022 and fired LaVall Jordan despite top-25 kenpom finishes in two of the three previous years.
  
• Georgetown had losing seasons in both 2016 and 2017 and fired JT3 despite 8 bids in the 10 prior years, then had losing seasons in 2022 and 2023 and fired Ewing despite a tourney bid the year before.
  
• Providence had losing seasons in 2010 and 2011 and fired Keno Davis in year 3. PC did let Tim Welsh return in 2007 (19 years ago) after losing seasons in 05 & 06.
  
• Villanova (Neptune), Xavier (Steele) and St. John's (Anderson) fired coaches that never had losing seasons. St. John's did let Norm Roberts return in 2010 (16 years ago) after losing seasons in 08 & 09.
  
• Creighton and Seton Hall haven't had consecutive losing seasons this century.
  
• ONLY DePaul has allowed multiple coaches to return after consecutive losing seasons.

.
So...do you really think the board would let Marquette become DePaul? Because that's what they would be on the verge of if they let a coach come back after consecutive losing campaigns.

[Uncle Rico]

I know you're poking fun, but I disagree with Brews take that Shaka would be let go after b2b under .500 seasons.

I know it's historically been the case, but I assert that Shaka would be a trend setter and make it back as the first coach to do so in Marquette history.

Lucky for us we won't have to find out

He's gone if they have another losing season after this season.

I'll do the dirty work of updating the board of how possible candidates look.

[mug644]

Brew, I think your take is somber and the situation could possibly play out like that, though I don't think two under .500 seasons would quite get us there. Two areas of skepticism:
--while The Case Against served a bit as the last straw, you seem to be downplaying the negativity around Wojo that had been present for at least a couple of years, centered on his decent recruiting but poor coaching. Certainly the administration was well aware of the Projo v Nojo positions among the fanbase.
--you sound as though you are already drafting your Case Against, even despite your hope that Shaka's model would work.

Regardless, I can't imagine Shaka being so stubborn or the administration being so short-fused that there wouldn't be a change to no-portal model before any sort of firing happened. If, after two under .500 seasons happens, there will be pressure to change. But, Shaka wouldn't ever get another P5 job if he refuses to change  if his approach is not successful enough for MU. And, MU is so enamored with Shaka as THE person representing the university that they will push him to adapt before they push him out.