5th Year, so judge

[1SE]

Alrighty-o. Kicking off Shaka's 5th year - where do you stand? How heavily does the NIL-House world weigh on your judgement? How much NCATT success do you need? I've pulled a few comparative metrics (with the help of ChatGPT - so might be hallucinated) in terms of NCATT Depth of Run (25 teams have gone EE or deeper), NCATT wins (22 teams have 4+ wins), NCATT appearances (19 other teams with 4 season NCATT streak) and Win% of P6 teams since 2021-2022 (ChatGPT especially struggled here, but I think 12 P6 teams with >MU's 70.5%). The 10 teams that met all four of those criteria - i.e. those that have had unequivocally better RESULTS than MU since Shaka took over:

Alabama
Auburn
Duke
Houston
Kansas
North Carolina
Purdue
Tennessee
UConn
Gonzaga (P6 caveat)

Not a bad list - and if you argue that PROCESS also matters, and NIL funding availability matters, then certainly Shaka might be about as good as they come.

That said, I still don't like going into year 5 (the first "completely Shaka" team with "his guys") as a fringe tournament team. I think we do better than that, but a deep March run doesn't seem overly likely this year.

 

[Elonsmusk]

Just gonna bump this - To me this was a no-brainer - we couldn't hope for better, Shaka4Eva.

Shaka - Class act all the way around. Brilliant mind. Charismatic. Unbelievable character. Zagged when everyone around zigged (shunned the transfer portal).  Recruiting character and talent at a high level.  Roster construction and talent depth, best we've ever seen in the modern era (post Al years). Fun brand of basketball.  Taking selfies with students in student section post game.

We obviously would have loved for a deeper run in the NCAA, but an outright Big East Championship and BET Tourney championship was an amazing run, despite getting knocked out in Round of 32.  I'd be surprised if a Final Four/Natty doesn't happen for Shaka should he stay at MU another 10 years.

[MU82]

15 years to judge?

[DienerTime34]

My Shaka grades depend on the time of year:

Offseason: A
November-February: A
March: C

[StillAWarrior]

My Shaka grades depend on the time of year:

Offseason: A
November-February: A
March: C

This is pretty fair.

I am thrilled Shaka is our coach and remain absurdly optimistic about the future of Marquette basketball. But, I do think it's fair to say that Shaka absolutely kills the homework assignments, aces the quizzes during the term, but struggles on the final exam. I'll take it, but I sure would like to see him finish strong.

[dpucane]

It's definitely the most successful era since Crean, but I worry there's a permanent ceiling on the team if they can't fill obvious short term needs the way other teams can.

[Shaka Shart]

My Shaka grades depend on the time of year:

Offseason: A
November-February: A
March: C

April: Withdrawn due to Absence

[PJDunn]

Agree with Diener.. but I would add there is a certain level pride that we should all have in Shaka's doing things the right way. Not sure how this "no portal" experiment is going to play out, but I appreciate being able to watch kids progress through their 4/5 years at MU. If we had a bit more effective strength and conditioning program, I think that the chances of this succeeding would be higher.

[MUbiz]

It's definitely the most successful era since Crean, but I worry there's a permanent ceiling on the team if they can't fill obvious short term needs the way other teams can.

Putting aside the off court stuff - you don't think 3 consecutive sweet 16s and an elite 8 with Buzz was more successful than current day Shaka?

[wadesworld]

With Shaka already utilizing the red shirt and rosters expanding to 15 scholarships, we'll see if he will have the need to fill holes in the portal (or miss opportunities not to) or if having a bunch of guys around for a 5th year will cover that.

[Pakuni]

Finally we have something to argue about around here.

[The Lens]

Yes the NCAAT success has been middling (relative to seed) but you can't discount playing on Friday night three years in a row (and counting) in the Garden, winning a BET, having a BET runner up and also winning a regular season championship.

Playing on Friday Night in NYC is an advancement officer's dream.  Save for a S16+ run, advancing to the semi's of the BET is mission accomplished for the program. 

[brewcity77]

If we end up being the one program where the players we want to keep all stick around, this is potentially the start of a very exciting period of Marquette basketball. Look at the effective recruiting classes that will drive us the next few years:

2023: Lowery, Jones, Norman
2024: Parham, Owens, Hamilton
2025: James, Stevens, Clark, Phillips
2026: Pearson, Miletic, Egbuonu, Walker, Johnston

The classes look more and more solid as the years go on. I know people think this might be a down year, but I've been really excited watching these young guys. James/Stevens is going to be an excellent back court, and you can already see with Clark that once he gets his body control, he's going to be a player. It might take time, but I think the next four years will end up better than the first four, and that's the trajectory we all want.

[jfp61]

Where Number 2 in luck on KenPom. so pretty lucky so far.

[muwarrior69]

I picked "We swapped WOJO for this?!?!"

Absolutely! I can remember Tom Crean complaining how difficult it was to recruit at MU and BUZZ echoing the complaint when the Big East shed all the football schools. Wojo recruited well. He just didn't know what to do with them.

This is the beginning of the Shaka era and with Alex committing today, you bet we swapped WOJO for this.

[dpucane]

Putting aside the off court stuff - you don't think 3 consecutive sweet 16s and an elite 8 with Buzz was more successful than current day Shaka?

There's that too, and I relate that to not filling obvious needs before the season.

[Badgerhater]

Only one conference team is on that better than MU list.

You have to do all things right in regular season to be in a position to succeed in March.

March is where Juan Felix scores a career's worth of points and is never heard from again.  It is also where Vander Blue pulls a last-second layup out of his ass.

But you can't experience the highs and lows of March if you are not there.  MU is in great shape.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

You can obviously never know for sure, but I'm confident Shaka is the "forever" coach we've been waiting for.  Barring something unforeseen, I expect him to retire at Marquette. 

Plus, I love the current roster building strategy, including really leveraging redshirts with the new 15-man rosters. 

Even if this year's squad rides the bubble this season, the arrow is pointing way up.