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.

[#UnleashJosh]

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

Let's face it, with 2500+ players in the portal every year, there are plenty of underdeveloped, unproven transfers that are functionally identical to the underdeveloped, unproven HS players he's been recruiting. 

If the only thing Shaka changes is taking those players from the portal instead of HS, results won't be any better. 

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

Why did you remove the part where I said "were all very well aware"

We already know this. Thanks.

[Scoop Snoop]

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.

This is precisely why I am skeptical that Shaka will make the extensive changes needed. For those who say that he will fix it, make the changes, etc.....exactly what do you base your statements on? Where's the evidence?

I do not take cupcake wins very seriously. Deduct those from our total and we have a one-point win over Xavier, and a one-point win over Providence, both on our home court. Late January, and that's IT!

So yeah....I think Shaka should "just once" say "this season is unacceptable."

[WhiteTrash]

This is precisely why I am skeptical that Shaka will make the extensive changes needed. For those who say that he will fix it, make the changes, etc.....exactly what do you base your statements on? Where's the evidence?

There is nothing but circumstantial evidence of what Shaka will do. He's smart, ultra competitive and has a long resume of very good results.

I would be more surprised if he didn't make changes than if he just stepped down.

I wouldn't read too much into public statements during the season. To me, he is acting like the ultimate professional I believe he is.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

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. 

Saying it was one bad or horrendous season is not the same as saying it is acceptable. 

I'm not sure a single person ever said it was acceptable but some of the hyperbolic nonsense (We're DePaul Now) was and is over-the-top.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

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.

This again? 

[Scoop Snoop]

Saying it was one bad or horrendous season is not the same as saying it is acceptable. 

I consider the "one bad or horrendous season" to be the culmination of four years of roster building. There was plenty of time to see this coming and to take corrective action.

[#UnleashJosh]

Wojo and UT are laughing their ass off

Wojo had disappointing season after disappointing season. What are you talking about?

[Scoop Snoop]

White Trash-The long resume' looks very short right now. I think that different M.O.s for his great successes and this season need to be viewed in context. This is why I see no reason to future predict improvement based upon past success.

[K1 Lover]

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

I'm not as strongly opinionated on the postgame pressers as others, but just as an observation... If I had a dollar for every time Shaka used the word aggressiveness, I could probably retire early.

[onepost]

Ideally Tre, Sean, and one of Caedin/Josh leave and we have 4 scholarships to add meaningful talent to a promising young core.

We're basically in a wait and see until April.

[wadesworld]

Wojo had disappointing season after disappointing season. What are you talking about?

And Texas is on their third coach since Shaka left?

Also, I get needing to use the portal in today's day and age. Shaka needs to correct high school recruiting misses (and there have been plenty) by utilizing the portal to get proven college production. But maybe we use a better example than Butler? MU under Shaka have been significantly better than Butler, and Butler has used the portal to...grow into a bubble NIT team? If that's what we were, people would still (rightfully) be complaining about this season.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I consider the "one bad or horrendous season" to be the culmination of four years of roster building. There was plenty of time to see this coming and to take corrective action.

This is revisionist history.  Most experts, pre-season metrics, the coaches poll, etc. saw Marquette as a bubble team, give or take, going into the season. 

No one saw this kind of season coming.  Even any of the worst-case prognostications were nowhere near what has unfolded. 

Shaka and staff likely got overconfident based on the success of the previous 4 seasons (sorry, I'm not playing the dumb "3-and-a-half seasons" crap"), and that's understandable to a certain extent. 

Now reality has slapped Shaka in the face a bit and we'll see how he responds. 
 

[The Equalizer]

Why did you remove the part where I said "were all very well aware"

We already know this. Thanks.

First, I wasn't responding to that portion of the quote. 

Second, allow me to repeat the conclusion for you, since you don't seem to be "very well aware" of the problem: With 2500+ players in the portal every year, there are plenty of underdeveloped, unproven transfers that are functionally identical to the underdeveloped, unproven HS players he's been recruiting.

Where Shaka gets players is irrelevant. The Portal (and lack of using it) is not the problem. If Shaka doesn't change his entire operating philosophy, we can land an entire roster out of the portal that is just as bad as this year's team.

[tower912]

To land a roster out of the portal would require a change to his entire operating philosophy.