Shaka's Credibility

[tower912]

It would be nice.

[willie warrior]

Nobody is saying it's something to be proud of. Just never knew this was a thing. If somebody asked me the last time, say, Michigan lost 20 games in a season I'd have no idea if it was 5 years ago, 35 years ago, or never. It's not something I would ever really think about.

Maybe it is time to start and be embarrassed about. It is unacceptable at MU, or should be. B ur hey...Shaka deserves a pass.

[Scoop Snoop]

From the outside, Shaka was just mentioned in an Athletic article as one of the 40 most respected people across all sports.

Wrong thread Tower. No positive news allowed here   

[Billy Hoyle]

Failure to recruit the portal is not his "error"--his error lies in his entire operating philosophy . . .

- not using the portal
- prioritizing your current roster over always looking to improve your team
- not dealing with agents
- ignoring potential recruits if they desire to maximize earnings
- believing that low-major recruits reliably can be "coached up" to Big East level
- prioritizing culture and relationships over performance
- prioritizing retention over improvement
- prioritizing practice over games

The answer is not simply "recruit the portal."  It's recruit (and land) Big East ready talent wherever he can find it.

A guy like Drayton Jones in the middle would be 100x better than what we have now he wasn't demanding massive NIL (Butler doesn't have what we have and Ajayi and Jackson were the big dollar guys for them). But no, Shaka had to protect his RVG brand with Hamilton and Clark.

We don't need to recruit million dollar stars in the Portal, we needed to fill holes.

[tower912]

Wrong thread Tower. No positive news allowed here   

Nice.

[Mu8891]

Willie - I agree

It's long past time for Shaka to take some responsibility and blame.

How about he once - just once - says that this season is unacceptable.  It's NOT what MU ( and he ) expects. And at least say he will fix it ? He could admit that he's not done well enough and needs to be better ...  But, nope

Instead, after every damn game we get the same lame platitudes and stupid cliches.

[AlienWarrior]

Wojo and UT are laughing their ass off

[Biggie Clausen]

From the outside, Shaka was just mentioned in an Athletic article as one of the 40 most respected people across all sports.

The article on Shaka's leadership in The Athletic was published on November 13, 2025.  I suspect that list was put together long before this season became a disaster.

[Billy Hoyle]

The article on Shaka's leadership in The Athletic was published on November 13, 2025.  I suspect that list was put together long before this season became a disaster.

How much of that respect is coaches appreciating that he is sticking to the RGV brand and therefore providing less competition on the court and in recruiting?

[BM1090]

At the beginning of this horrendous season, some of Shaka's defenders insisted that this was just "one bad season". Eventually, one of those scoopers later conceded that it was a "catastrophe". It took quite a while for the narrative to disappear from scoop that Shaka's stunning success in his first 3 1/2 seasons somehow made this "one bad season" acceptable.

This "one bad season" is the culmination of FOUR years of RGV and recruiting from only HS. Shaka has to be held fully accountable. This is his RGV team. 

Agree that he's fully accountable. I just have faith he'll adjust and think it would be shortsighted to fire him

[Scoop Snoop]

Agree that he's fully accountable. I just have faith he'll adjust and think it would be shortsighted to fire him

I deboarded from the Shaka train about a month ago. The faith I once had in Shaka is on hold. I see no indication that he will fully "adjust" but I think will instead go to RGV 2.0. and add some transfers. My guess is that his no agent and no pay above current players' level policies would remain. The business of college basketball has its own pricing rules, but I think he will cling to his own despite the consequences.

I can even see Marquette being a middle-of-the-pack team next season, but that would likely be our destiny going forward into the following seasons. Sixth place (or 5th or 7th) and maybe an occasional last four in to get us to Dayton under RGV doesn't appeal to me.