What is the actual gap between Marquette and the top of the Big East

[NCMUFan]

You didn't seem to qualify and neither did I.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

You didn't seem to qualify and neither did I.

His response didn't really need a qualifier.  Your response just doesn't make sense.

[DoctorV]

Right now, he is Novak Ultra Lite. We'd all love nothing more than to see Gold have a senior season anything remotely like Novak's!

Ultra Lite seems like a bit of an understatement here.

Talking about elite skills, Steve was one of the best pure shooters in NCAA hx.
It was very obvious early on that he would be one of the best shooters in Marquette history.
If Ben shoots 10% worse from 3 as a senior as Novak did, most would be pretty happy. That's how big the gap is.

Now, if Bennys other "potential skills" pick up maybe they can be discussed in the same breath, but boy would he have to show a big improvement

 

[wadesworld]

Ultra Lite seems like a bit of an understatement here.

Talking about elite skills, Steve was one of the best pure shooters in NCAA hx.
It was very obvious early on that he would be one of the best shooters in Marquette history.
If Ben shoots 10% worse from 3 as a senior as Novak did, most would be pretty happy. That's how big the gap is.

Now, if Bennys other "potential skills" pick up maybe they can be discussed in the same breath, but boy would he have to show a big improvement

 

Ben already shot less than 10% worse from 3 as a junior than what Novak shot as a senior.

[DoctorV]

Ben already shot less than 10% worse from 3 as a junior than what Novak shot as a senior.

Yup, and I'd be pretty happy if he can duplicate it.

If he can break 40% I'd be absolutely ecstatic.

As we've seen this past season, more responsibility, both offensively and defensively, doesn't necessarily mean improved shooting.

[tower912]

It is funny how two seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time.  More responsibility can lead to poorer shooting AND becoming an all American.

[MU82]

Yup, and I'd be pretty happy if he can duplicate it.

Interesting. I thought you weren't happy with Gold's production last season, but maybe I confused you with other Scoopers.

If Gold can average 10 and 7 while again shooting 37%+ from 3 to keep defenses honest, all while playing the kind of solid D he did most of this past season, I will consider his 2025-26 season a huge success.

[DoctorV]

Interesting. I thought you weren't happy with Gold's production last season, but maybe I confused you with other Scoopers.

If Gold can average 10 and 7 while again shooting 37%+ from 3 to keep defenses honest, all while playing the kind of solid D he did most of this past season, I will consider his 2025-26 season a huge success.

I wasn't early on, but I grew to accept what he was giving.

I think part of it is that my expectations just dropped- I was never a huge BG2NBA guy but I wasn't for OMax either and he proved me wrong.
I think the other part is that he's just a good kid, and I was pulling for him to succeed.

At the end of the day you just realize that he's part of Shaka's system, where you learn the ropes and then are counted on to step up into a bigger role as an upperclassman. He did that, but maybe what we saw is just his ceiling.

As Tower pointed out- Kam's shooting drastically declined but he became an AA and was a pretty good PG.
In the same realm- Jops shooting drastically declined but he became a much better all around defender and rebounder.


Unfortunately, those were our two best shooters so that decline was part of the late fade and first rd exit.
You could argue that in that sense, maybe another pg or another big to help keep Jop in his microwave scorer/3P specialist role woulda helped...

Shaka is learning right alongside the rest of us. I'd be happy with what you mentioned for Benny as a Sr as well, but I'm sure many expected better numbers.
Or maybe he can shoot like Novak as a senior,  take Marquette to a FF, make the NBA and put this all to rest