What would make you show Shaka the door in March?

[WhiteTrash]

I've been critical this year for many reasons. The lack of growth, the inability to manage lineups, the misevaluation of talent, and so many poor in game coaching decisions, but I truly empathize with Shaka here. His entire theory of the case, the worldview he built his program around, has been completely shattered in two months time. That can't be easy to deal with or come to grips with.

I find it hard to believe that a coach with Shaka's intelligence and resume is surprised by the performance. That take is a serious criticism of Shaka.

[GoFastAndWin]

That is probably why he said he wishes his players would all throw their phones in the lake.

Yeah, but the way things are going, wrong lake...

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee.

[GoFastAndWin]

I think "betraying trust" is an overstatement. Ben Steele said in his article that he expects a couple of players to transfer after the season and Shaka has not said he would never use the portal. Shaka has given the guys he recruited every chance in the world to succeed. He's already favored them over players in the portal. So giving them years to show what they have before telling them they won't be playing in the future at MU is not betraying any trust IMO.

Concluding some terms with a couple of Steele firms...

[Zog from Margo]

I've been critical this year for many reasons. The lack of growth, the inability to manage lineups, the misevaluation of talent, and so many poor in game coaching decisions, but I truly empathize with Shaka here. His entire theory of the case, the worldview he built his program around, has been completely shattered in two months time. That can't be easy to deal with or come to grips with.

His theory of the case wasn't the problem. He didn't recruit well enough to prove the theory. His failure to recognize his recruiting mistakes until now exacerbated that problem. In any event, this season is an epic failure and that can't be easy for any coach.

[Mu8891]

Ether view is an embarrassment for Shaka

Either he did not realize how uncompetitive and terrible his roster is ..  OR ... he DID recognize it, and decided to double or triple down on RGV and just ride into the season anyway.

Which one is it ?

[Billy Hoyle]

Just going to split hairs here, but Shaka may need to engage some players before March if they are thinking of leaving.

Why? The first day the portal is open for MBB is March 23. Our season will have been over for two weeks by that point. That's plenty of time for end-of-the-year meetings and escorting guys to the compliance office to fill out the portal docs.

[WhiteTrash]

Why? The first day the portal is open for MBB is March 23. Our season will have been over for two weeks by that point. That's plenty of time for end-of-the-year meetings and escorting guys to the compliance office to fill out the portal docs.

I'm not going to fight this, and I could be wrong, but I was only pointing out that it maybe beneficial to (re)recruit the best players earlier than later.   

[Jay Bee]

Why? The first day the portal is open for MBB is March 23. Our season will have been over for two weeks by that point. That's plenty of time for end-of-the-year meetings and escorting guys to the compliance office to fill out the portal docs.

#FakeNews #Lies

The portal is open now. You're speaking on the notification-of-transfer window; however, there's a proposal likely to be approved in January that will result in the window starting on April 7, NOT in March.

[Billy Hoyle]

I'm not going to fight this, and I could be wrong, but I was only pointing out that it maybe beneficial to (re)recruit the best players earlier than later. 

apologies for misreading your post. I was viewing it as Shaka telling guys who might be thinking about entering to do so now. Unfortunately, coaches have to spend significant time rerecruiting their own players throughout the season.

[Pakuni]

Ether view is an embarrassment for Shaka

Either he did not realize how uncompetitive and terrible his roster is ..  OR ... he DID recognize it, and decided to double or triple down on RGV and just ride into the season anyway.

Which one is it ?

It's a little bit of the first one and bit of something else: hubris.

High off their success developing the previous wave of players, I think Shaka and his staff believed too much that they found some secret sauce. It shows in how they recruited the 2022-2024 classes ... bringing in a bunch of toolsy players high on traits (length, size, athleticism, speed) but low on skill. They convinced themselves they could RGV those tools into high-major basketball players and are finding out the hard way.

[WhiteTrash]

apologies for misreading your post. I was viewing it as Shaka telling guys who might be thinking about entering to do so now. Unfortunately, coaches have to spend significant time rerecruiting their own players throughout the season.

Understood. The dicey part is going to be communicating to the "keepers" that he will be upgrading the roster via transfers without causing rumors to spread within the team. Not easy or enviable, but it is a situation he is responsible for and I really do think he is a good leader that can manage it.

Of course all of this is predicated on the assumption Shaka will come back. I am less certain every day he will. Shaka knew this was going to happen. He's too good of a coach not to have seen what his talent level is.

[WhiteTrash]

It's a little bit of the first one and bit of something else: hubris.

High off their success developing the previous wave of players, I think Shaka and his staff believed too much that they found some secret sauce. It shows in how they recruited the 2022-2024 classes ... bringing in a bunch of toolsy players high on traits (length, size, athleticism, speed) but low on skill. They convinced themselves they could RGV those tools into high-major basketball players and are finding out the hard way.

Do we really think Shaka and his staff saw these players over the past 1-3 years and felt that they were BE quality players? Shaka has coached FF, AP Top 10 teams and NBA talent players for a long time, but we are to believe this is a surprise to him?

Either we have way over rated Shaka as a coach or there is something else at play.

Personally , I can't ignore Shaka's actual resume. IMO he's damn good.