Path to Success 2025-26 in 2026: Rotations

[Viper]

This continues to be said here now and then and it's astounding.  If someone was brought in here with the express intent to ruin this program, they couldn't have done better.  Because anyone can see things are not looking up for future seasons because we've got players sitting out with major injuries or have 2 or 3 or whatever top 30 recruits coming on board. 

No competent coach does what Shaka's done to bring us where we sit today.  And that place is one of, if not THE worst team in modern program history.  There's no excuse for what he's done.  It's not just an off season or rebuilding year, it's egregiously bad and negligent handling of a major college program. 

well said

[Viper]

Right, it's 💯 on every player their underperformance.  Shaka got "burned" by each and every one of them.  Do you hear yourself and how nonsensical that is?? He's the one after all that came up with RGV.  The G part of that is most certainly his to impact.  Some kids won't live up to expectations.  That's the reality of college sports.  But when everyone falls short, sort of indicative of a much deeper problem, right?

 That and his and his staff evaluations of a few guys were completely off base.  Which Shaka owns completely.  It's not the kids fault if they were brought in and have no business playing at this level (Tre Norman). 

also well said

[Viper]

I never said nor implied it's a "dream program".  And you know that.  I merely stated what reality is and that is it's a very good job with plenty of resources to win at consistently.  Period.  I feel confident that would be a widely held consensus opinion of our program for those that follow college basketball outside our program.

I would probably still give Shaka one more chance to start using the portal. But there's always coaches who are good but no longer feeling the love where they are or other circumstances going on and that largely is unknown until the coaching turnover cycle gets in full motion.  Did Villanova fans really think they'd poach Willard out of Maryland last year at this time? Or did anyone predict Buzz would be ready to move on again from his home state already?

There's possibilities no one sees coming and we're more than of enough stature in the landscape to take advantage. It's the old COLE mindset that Shaka's the best we can ever do.  Especially how badly he's managed things that have led to this season.

hat trick!!!

[Vander Blue Man Group]

The idea of NOT pulling redshirts is extremely dumb if those players have a higher ceiling.  Shaka's players that could have had a fifth year have either transferred, or left for the NBA.

No, it remains extremely dumb.  There's a reason those guys are redshirting and it's because they were not ready to help this team win from a physical or skills perspective. 

Even if the possibility of Miletic or Sheek being here for a 5th year is low they may want to play a 5th year elsewhere.

There's no benefit to wasting a year of eligibility in a lost season.  None. 

[Farley36]

The idea of NOT pulling redshirts is extremely dumb if those players have a higher ceiling.  Shaka's players that could have had a fifth year have either transferred, or left for the NBA.

Don't bother, VBMG is the dumbest of the dumb.

[Biggie Clausen]

No, it remains extremely dumb.  There's a reason those guys are redshirting and it's because they were not ready to help this team win from a physical or skills perspective. 

Even if the possibility of Miletic or Sheek being here for a 5th year is low they may want to play a 5th year elsewhere.

There's no benefit to wasting a year of eligibility in a lost season.  None. 

It seems extremely dumb to me, especially in this brave new world of college basketball, to recruit and pay guys who don't have the physicality or skills to help you right away.  When has Marquette *ever* had three non-injured players redshirting during the same season?  I mean, teams are signing NBA draft picks mid-season while we have three 18 year olds contributing nothing to the current roster other than "pouring into each other" and "getting lost in the fight" in practice, where it has been said the players are way ahead of where they are in games because they "fly around" or something.  What genius thought redshirting three guys in a single year would be a good idea?

[mug644]

It seems extremely dumb to me, especially in this brave new world of college basketball, to recruit and pay guys who don't have the physicality or skills to help you right away.  When has Marquette *ever* had three non-injured players redshirting during the same season?  I mean, teams are signing NBA draft picks mid-season while we have three 18 year olds contributing nothing to the current roster other than "pouring into each other" and "getting lost in the fight" in practice, where it has been said the players are way ahead of where they are in games because they "fly around" or something.  What genius thought redshirting three guys in a single year would be a good idea?

It's worth noting that roster limits increased from 13 to 15 for this season. That might help explain why a program might choose to have 3 redshirt players on their roster.

[Pakuni]

Look, Shaka got burned by pretty much this whole returning team underperforming reasonable expectations of growth.  Zaide didn't take the next step despite seemingly getting it done in practice/but not able to translate to gamedays.  Sean largely has been a difference maker in the wrong direction. Ben Gold's shooting has regressed.  Royce started the year very slowly. Damarious hasn't taken much of a step forward.  Chase started the year looking like he'd made improvement but he's fizzled as Royce and Nigel have started to really improve.

The in game coaching has not been great, yet I also feel the crappy performance of pretty much every player (poor shooting, careless turnovers, missed layups), put Shaka into the spin cycle of wholesale substitutions, grasping for straws.

Stop trying to make Shaka a victim. He's not the victim. He's the perp.

The players who can't make layups, who turn over the ball and play matador defense? Those are players he chose to bring into the program.
They haven't developed? It's the job of Shaka and his staff to develop them. The players' failure to develop is also a failure of coaching.

And justifying the haphazard rotations as grasping at straws makes me wonder what Shaka's been doing the past six months. Why are we now in the third month of the season and he still hasn't figured out what his players are capable of?

[SOSW]

It's worth noting that roster limits increased from 13 to 15 for this season. That might help explain why a program might choose to have 3 redshirt players on their roster.

15 players allow for you to take flyers on projects. Nothing wrong with that. But when you over estimate those flyers ability to compete, that's a problem.

[WhiteTrash]

15 players allow for you to take flyers on projects. Nothing wrong with that. But when you over estimate those flyers ability to compete, that's a problem.

Or recruiting 13 flyers, not 2 or 3?

[Pakuni]

15 players allow for you to take flyers on projects. Nothing wrong with that. But when you over estimate those flyers ability to compete, that's a problem.

15 scholarship players, 5 of whom will never/rarely see the floor, is a wasteful thinning of NIL resources.

[SOSW]

15 scholarship players, 5 of whom will never/rarely see the floor, is a wasteful thinning of NIL resources.

Taking projects means taking players who aren't going to demand much NIL. But I get your point.

[DoctorV]

This continues to be said here now and then and it's astounding.  If someone was brought in here with the express intent to ruin this program, they couldn't have done better.  Because anyone can see things are not looking up for future seasons because we've got players sitting out with major injuries or have 2 or 3 or whatever top 30 recruits coming on board. 

No competent coach does what Shaka's done to bring us where we sit today.  And that place is one of, if not THE worst team in modern program history.  There's no excuse for what he's done.  It's not just an off season or rebuilding year, it's egregiously bad and negligent handling of a major college program. 

This is a brutal take.

If someone was brought in here in 2021 with the express intent to bring Marquette a Big East Championship, BET title, and multiple 2 seeds in his first 4 seasons we would all be laughing our asses off that it's a complete joke.

Shaka did that. There is likely no one else they could have brought in that would have done that. I know I know "you don't know that for a fact... there are plenty of capable hires..." blah blah.

What the man did to the basketball program as a new hire in his first 4 seasons was way beyond what we could have dreamed of.

How in Gods green Earth could you turn on that so quickly?

[panda]

This is a brutal take.

If someone was brought in here in 2021 with the express intent to bring Marquette a Big East Championship, BET title, and multiple 2 seeds in his first 4 seasons we would all be laughing our asses off that it's a complete joke.

Shaka did that. There is likely no one else they could have brought in that would have done that. I know I know "you don't know that for a fact... there are plenty of capable hires..." blah blah.

What the man did to the basketball program as a new hire in his first 4 seasons was way beyond what we could have dreamed of.

How in Gods green Earth could you turn on that so quickly?

Have you been paying attention the last year and a half?

[DoctorV]

Have you been paying attention the last year and a half?

No I've been watching Murder she wrote

[WhiteTrash]

No I've been watching Murder she wrote

Valid excuse.  Can I recommend Barnaby Jones as your next watch?

[Biggie Clausen]

This is a brutal take.

If someone was brought in here in 2021 with the express intent to bring Marquette a Big East Championship, BET title, and multiple 2 seeds in his first 4 seasons we would all be laughing our asses off that it's a complete joke.

Shaka did that. There is likely no one else they could have brought in that would have done that. I know I know "you don't know that for a fact... there are plenty of capable hires..." blah blah.

What the man did to the basketball program as a new hire in his first 4 seasons was way beyond what we could have dreamed of.

How in Gods green Earth could you turn on that so quickly?

Sometimes, a coach will luck out with one player.  Dwyane Wade made Tom Crean's whole career.  That Big East Championship, BET title, and consecutive 2 seeds?  Years from now, especially if he gets his chance to shine in the NBA, I think history will show that Tyler Kolek was the driving force for all of MU's success during those two seasons, not Shaka.  For the sake of MU fans, hopefully that doesn't prove true.

[HutchwasClutch]

This is a brutal take.

If someone was brought in here in 2021 with the express intent to bring Marquette a Big East Championship, BET title, and multiple 2 seeds in his first 4 seasons we would all be laughing our asses off that it's a complete joke.

Shaka did that. There is likely no one else they could have brought in that would have done that. I know I know "you don't know that for a fact... there are plenty of capable hires..." blah blah.

What the man did to the basketball program as a new hire in his first 4 seasons was way beyond what we could have dreamed of.

How in Gods green Earth could you turn on that so quickly?

Not even the slightest acknowledgement about here and now that this year isn't just down, but is on the fast track to being historically bad for this program.  Last year was good for the first month and then we basically couldn't beat anyone good.  One win over a top 100 school all of calendar year 2025. 

It is brutal...a brutal reality the state of this proud program. 

[wadesworld]

Not even the slightest acknowledgement about here and now that this year isn't just down, but is on the fast track to being historically bad for this program.  Last year was good for the first month and then we basically couldn't beat anyone good.  One win over a top 100 school all of calendar year 2025. 

It is brutal...a brutal reality the state of this proud program. 

Buddy wants to say we can't ignore what happened 11-14 years ago, but then wants to ignore what happened 18 months ago because we have an "incompetent" coach (who has coached in a Final Four and won a Big East regular season and Tournament title in the last 3 years).