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

[MU82]

Woulda been nice if the Novak-led 2006 MU team had matched your last sentence. But unfortunately, as great a shooter as he was, he didn't do anything special and Marquette lost in the first round to Alabama.

My only prediction about Gold is that he'll continue to improve, as he did each of the last couple of years. His improvement to date hasn't been at an Oso-level pace, but few players at any school improve at that kind of trajectory.

[Uncle Rico]

CBS Sports has moved St. John's to number 1 in their top 26 poll.

Bringing this news in case you want to change your vote.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

CBS Sports has moved St. John's to number 1 in their top 26 poll.

Bringing this news in case you want to change your vote.

Its amazing how much more Pitino has accomplished than Shaka by using the portal when you compare their first two years.

[milwaukee expat]

the Marquette roster as we know it to be for 2025/26 is close to StJ's and UConn, in your opinion? Care to explain? Imo, no MU player is a top 6 player for Pitino. Do I think StJ's runs the BE? Wouldn't surprise me if they did.

Getting to this thread late but I would say several of MUs players would be equal or above St. John's starting six - Sanon, Ian Jackson, Sellers - none of them I would take above Chase Ross of Sean Jones.  I will put my stake in the ground - Ross will be an AA, Sean Jones will be an all Big East player - he appears to be 100% back.  Why would you take someone Like Iam Jackson who had a mediocre to bad year last year over Zaide Lowery?  Because once he was a 5 star?  St. Johns is rolling the dice alot more than Marquette - they are getting a huge "Pitino" bounce IMO - they have very little proven talent - as in on court success.  Hoskins is a huge question mark. Ejiofor is good - will he be better than Gold this coming season?  Maybe but maybe not.. Ya never know how injuries will play out, maybe Shaka gets out coached, but as someone mentioned our starting five would have gotten alot of offers if they had gone portalling. Imo we are competing for the title on paper.  We'll see how it goes...

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Getting to this thread late but I would say several of MUs players would be equal or above St. John's starting six - Sanon, Ian Jackson, Sellers - none of them I would take above Chase Ross of Sean Jones.  I will put my stake in the ground - Ross will be an AA, Sean Jones will be an all Big East player - he appears to be 100% back.  Why would you take someone Like Iam Jackson who had a mediocre to bad year last year over Zaide Lowery?  Because once he was a 5 star?  St. Johns is rolling the dice alot more than Marquette - they are getting a huge "Pitino" bounce IMO - they have very little proven talent - as in on court success.  Hoskins is a huge question mark. Ejiofor is good - will he be better than Gold this coming season?  Maybe but maybe not.. Ya never know how injuries will play out, maybe Shaka gets out coached, but as someone mentioned our starting five would have gotten alot of offers if they had gone portalling. Imo we are competing for the title on paper.  We'll see how it goes...

I'm a shameless optimist and this is making me blush. I think we could be better than St. John's...but questioning if Ejiofor is better than Gold or putting Sean Jones above their starting lineup...

[brewcity77]

CBS Sports has moved St. John's to number 1 in their top 26 poll.

Bringing this news in case you want to change your vote.

Seeing this feels like Gary Parish is doing his best Rico impression.

[Uncle Rico]

Seeing this feels like Gary Parish is doing his best Rico impression.

The gap IS WIDENING

[geps]

Can St John's really be #1 with 4 new starters? I think there needs to be a teams with returning players ranking.

[tower912]

May rankings.  SJU in the media hub of the country with a tremendous promoter, as well as tremendous coach, is getti g love because the made big splash in the portal.   It is understandable and irrelevant.

[MU82]

The gap IS WIDENING

Agree. Marquette just keeps opening up a bigger excellence gap over the rest of the league.