Open practice

[Scoop Snoop]

While what you said about Kolek and Omax being transfers is true ... they weren't especially highly regarded transfers, they were only 1 year out of high school, and neither was considered anywhere near being an NBA prospect. So I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by including them here.

Umm...Shaka should use the portal more to improve the team? Worked with those two, so...

[MU82]

Umm...Shaka should use the portal more to improve the team? Worked with those two, so...

Thanks for explaining. I guess I didn't get that from the post.

What if Shaka believes that the level of freshmen he is bringing in now is better than the level of transfers he reasonably could buy?

Also, Shaka inherited a bad team in 2021 and had to quickly stock it. He now has a successful, established program that he has built piece-by-piece.

Nevertheless, I did say it would have been nice to have added a Jayce Johnson-type big for any of the past few seasons and/or a veteran PG for last season.

But I also trust the guy who has rebuilt our program and put us back on the national basketball map. Given the recruits we are now landing and what those kids are saying about Shaka's philosophy being a major reason they selected Marquette, I'm inclined to believe that he's doing things right.

Obviously, as always, we'll see.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I think seeing the development of our young players and seeing who acts as a leader with Jop and Kam gone is exciting.

Finding out who can get buckets/score is a big question for me. I'm a bit dubious as to Chase and Ben taking that next step after 3 years. Chase has a tough time in half court as his dribbling and shot are average. Ben is just plain limited to hitting the occasional three. So who is going to score for us? We are relying on mostly unproven players but there is upside with some of them as Royce and Zaide perhaps getting us 10+ a game.

When thinking about this roster and its strengths, maybe we play up to 9 or 10 guys and press on D. Try to wear the other team down while pushing the ball up the court to minimize half our court sets. The good coaches in the BE likely to pack the paint and force to shoot from the outside.

TKO and Omax were transfers before big NIL money arrived. Onus is on Shaka and his development strategy now for next 2 years. I am very curious to see how this plays out.

Like others I am in the ncaa bubble camp and maybe a .500 record. Our schedule is tough. Go Marquette!

As MU82 said, I'm not sure why Kolek and OMax being transfers excludes them as proof of concept from the development strategy. Omax averaged 2.5 points and 9.7 minutes per game before he transferred. 

Talent was identified and developed - those guys are perfect examples of it.

There are a lot of questions for this season - I am looking at it as a transition year, which could be fun.  I still expect this to be a tourney team.  Worst-case scenario is being a bubble team that comes up short. 

The team should be longer and more athletic.  I think it will be a good defensive team, especially with Ross, Lowery, Jones, and Stevens on the perimeter.  Rebounding, as is tradition, will be a question.  Big-man depth is a question.

As for offense, I don't disagree that is a question as well.  As others have said, I don't expect there to be a dominant scorer like Kam.  I'd expect it to be more balanced.  If I had to choose a leading scorer it would be Royce.  I also have more confidence in Chase continuing to develop than you seem to.

Ultimately, it comes down to how consistent guys can be with these new roles and responsibilities.   

I expect a couple of guys to take big leaps.  The question is who are they and can some additional guys surprise us like they did going into Shaka's 2nd season.   

[Captain Quette]

If you speak with any D1 college athletes, who are not 5 stars, they will likely tell you that the transition from high school hoops to college hoops is significantly hard. Physicality of college ball, mental toughness, grind of longer schedule, long daily schedule, academics - all much harder. Tko was already through his freshman year and rookie of the year in college conference. Omax played in an NBA development camp plus a year in the sec. Their development was way less risky compared to that of high school players coming into the program. To wit, look at our bench, perhaps 2-4 guys who may not belong in BE.

My overall point is that relying solely on the development of high school players is a much riskier proposition than mixing some tranfers onto the roster as well. And why I am curious to see how shaka's strategy plays out.

I am a fan of shaka and hope many of our players will make a "leap" in the off season.

[MU82]

If you speak with any D1 college athletes, who are not 5 stars, they will likely tell you that the transition from high school hoops to college hoops is significantly hard. Physicality of college ball, mental toughness, grind of longer schedule, long daily schedule, academics - all much harder. Tko was already through his freshman year and rookie of the year in college conference. Omax played in an NBA development camp plus a year in the sec. Their development was way less risky compared to that of high school players coming into the program. To wit, look at our bench, perhaps 2-4 guys who may not belong in BE.

My overall point is that relying solely on the development of high school players is a much riskier proposition than mixing some tranfers onto the roster as well. And why I am curious to see how shaka's strategy plays out.

I am a fan of shaka and hope many of our players will make a "leap" in the off season.

Thanks for going into more detail on this topic.

Marquette basketball is this era's great experiment. I'm right with you on hoping our lead scientist gets it right. Early returns are pretty solid, but time will tell.

[muwarrior69]

Thanks for going into more detail on this topic.

Marquette basketball is this era's great experiment. I'm right with you on hoping our lead scientist gets it right. Early returns are pretty solid, but time will tell.

I was not sold on Shaka's approach, but I was stunned that over a third of those who entered the portal wound up nowhere. They would have been better staying at their current school as long as their scholarship was still honored. The athletes are people not a commodity to bid on.

[DoctorV]

"To wit, look at our bench, perhaps 2-4 guys who may not belong in BE."

If the above is true it's a black eye for Coach Smart, since these are all guys he recruited and brought to Marquette.

Perhaps you meant 2-4 guys who may not belong on a top 5 team in the BE?

[Uncle Rico]

"To wit, look at our bench, perhaps 2-4 guys who may not belong in BE."

If the above is true it's a black eye for Coach Smart, since these are all guys he recruited and brought to Marquette.

Perhaps you meant 2-4 guys who may not belong on a top 5 team in the BE?

No, Marquette has 3-4 players that couldn't get time in the WIAC

G-A-P

[tower912]

What a pile of crap. Every single team in every single conference has end of the bench players.  So, to say that a 15 player roster has 2-4 players that may not contribute this season and that is a failing of the coach...  play that back in your head a few times.

PARTICULARLY, when part of the plan is to red-shirt, develop, retain.

[Uncle Rico]

What a pile of crap. Every single team in every single conference has end of the bench players.  So, to say that a 15 player roster has 2-4 players that may not contribute this season and that is a failing of the coach...  play that back in your head a few times.

PARTICULARLY, when part of the plan is to red-shirt, develop, retain.

G-A-P

[The Sultan]

If you speak with any D1 college athletes, who are not 5 stars, they will likely tell you that the transition from high school hoops to college hoops is significantly hard. Physicality of college ball, mental toughness, grind of longer schedule, long daily schedule, academics - all much harder. Tko was already through his freshman year and rookie of the year in college conference. Omax played in an NBA development camp plus a year in the sec. Their development was way less risky compared to that of high school players coming into the program. To wit, look at our bench, perhaps 2-4 guys who may not belong in BE.

Hold on. Do you think that those "2-4 guys who may not belong in (the) BE," should somehow be replaced by BE quality transfers? What transfer of that magnitude is going to want to come here and sit on the bench?

What a pile of crap. Every single team in every single conference has end of the bench players.  So, to say that a 15 player roster has 2-4 players that may not contribute this season and that is a failing of the coach...  play that back in your head a few times.

PARTICULARLY, when part of the plan is to red-shirt, develop, retain.

Exactly.

Anyway, if you are going to make the argument that Shaka should be more active in the transfer market, it would not be because of the 2-4 bench players. It would be because of a hole within our current rotation.

[pbiflyer]

Talk about failures, Shaka has walk ons that wouldn't start on any other big east team. Total failure.

[JakeBarnes]

Ben Gold couldn't even make the roster for the Open Practice.

[Captain Quette]

Likely not a right or wrong answer here. Every team does have a few on the bench w limited upside. And when you recruit 3 and 4 star players, it's the nature of the business, some hit and misses. However, the pressure is on those 4 star recruits to make an impact. Minutes as frosh, rotation as soph, starter as junior. With not taking transfers, recruiting misses amplified as depth and overall talent on roster is tested.

With us, we have seen this approach impact our rebounding and inside presence. Other than Ben, I cannot think of a player over 6'8 on our team who has really helped us. Not much development w the Bigs. As to guards, think we need to see Lowrey make a jump and Norman do anything. Both were 4 star recruits if memory correct.

Not saying that team will be bad or not exciting, just have lowered expectations about a deep ncaa run.

[Its DJOver]

Do we really have posters that have already forgotten about Oso?

[Big Papi]

It will definitely be a very interesting season.  Very wide open, lots of roles that need to be filled.  The overall raw talent on this team is undeniable. Shaka himself said this team needs to grow and improve a lot this off season.

Ross and Royce are going to lead this team in scoring.  This team will play very fast, and success will initially come from our ability to turn the other team over and score quickly.  As the season wears on, we will have to get better and more consistent in our half-court offense as that is where I feel is our biggest weakness.

I believe Ross, Zaide and Owens are the key to our season.  We need all 3 to take that next big step.

Hoping for the best and a great year but won't be surprised if we struggle during stretches. 

[wadesworld]

I'm hoping people are just forgetting that we can now have 15 scholarship players on our roster instead of 13 when they're making some of these comments.  A "black eye for Coach Smart" if 2-4 guys aren't ready to play at a Big East level?

We had 11 scholarship players in 2022-2023.  Two of them were Keeyan Itejere and Zach Wrightsil.  Two others were freshman Sean Jones and Ben Gold, neither of who were ready to play at a Big East level.

All we did that year was win the BE regular season, BE Tournament, and get a 2 seed.

But yeah.  Shaka didn't have 13 guys who could play at a BE level so, black eye.

[barfolomew]

Do we really have posters that have already forgotten about Oso?

Not me, my kids loved that show!

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Likely not a right or wrong answer here. Every team does have a few on the bench w limited upside. And when you recruit 3 and 4 star players, it's the nature of the business, some hit and misses. However, the pressure is on those 4 star recruits to make an impact. Minutes as frosh, rotation as soph, starter as junior. With not taking transfers, recruiting misses amplified as depth and overall talent on roster is tested.

With us, we have seen this approach impact our rebounding and inside presence. Other than Ben, I cannot think of a player over 6'8 on our team who has really helped us. Not much development w the Bigs. As to guards, think we need to see Lowrey make a jump and Norman do anything. Both were 4 star recruits if memory correct.

Not saying that team will be bad or not exciting, just have lowered expectations about a deep ncaa run.

Other than Ben, we only have two other players on our roster that our taller than 6'8".  One will be a redshirt freshman this year so he's never had the chance to help the team in games previously.  The other will be a redshirt sophomore who I'm sure Shaka is hoping for significant improvement for.  Pretty small sample size based on the criteria you set.

Royce is listed 6'8" so I didn't include him above but he certainly helped the team last season and has a solid chance to be our leading scorer this season.

Now, if the argument is that Shaka should have more tall dudes with more experience, that's a different conversation. 

[MU82]

Buzz's 2012-13 team had 13 players on the roster. The bottom 4 in minutes - Dylan Flood, Jamal Ferguson, Jake Thomas and Steve Taylor - contributed next-to-nothing all season.

The next 2 fewest in minutes were Derrick Wilson and Juan Anderson; they also contributed precious little, though each had a moment or two.

So Buzz had 4 non-Big East-caliber players and 2 borderline-BE-caliber players on a team that went 26-9, won the regular-season title in a strong conference, and reached the NCAA Elite 8.

But yeah, the last 4 players on Shaka's bench are gonna drag us down this season.

[MUbiz]

13, 15 - it does not matter - there are very few teams that play more than 10 guys regularly, and when you get to conference and NCAA tournaments, that lineup even shrinks more. The only team I could ever seeing playing more than 10 guys is Duke, and that is because they sometimes have McDonalds All Americans sitting on the bench.

[MU82]

So I think we've established that it's normal across college basketball to have non-stars at the end of a team's bench.

Ideally, what you'd like to see is the guys who are getting little PT early in their careers improve, earn more minutes and get a bigger role in succeeding years. As was the case with ...

Oso
OMax (at Clemson)
Joplin
Stevie
Gold
Sacar
Juan
Davante
Etc etc etc

Even JFB had several games in which he barely played his first season at Marquette.

Naturally, because they aren't stars, it's unlikely that end-of-bench guys become significant contributors. That's the same for every team in the country.

[BCHoopster]

Would MU be better with this lineup:

Play small

Jones
Ross
Lowery
Owens
Parham

Very athletic or can Ben actually play
Better then 7 points and 4 boards a game?

[Uncle Rico]

Would MU be better with this lineup:

Play small

Jones
Ross
Lowery
Owens
Parham

Very athletic or can Ben actually play
Better then 7 points and 4 boards a game?

No, Ben is terrible and shouldn't see the court

[Its DJOver]

How often does someone start every single game of their Junior year and then lose their staring spot their SR year (non-injury related)?  The only one I can think of is Heldt, and I don't believe it has ever happened under Shaka. I anticipate that remaining true this season.