Radio show 2/5

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

He's very high on Nash Walker.  Says his passing and vision are excellent and even compared him to TK.

In other words, our practice defense is so bad that it makes Nash Walker look like TKO. Got it.

[MuggsyB]

Either way, Muggsy is outraged.

Both idioms are seriously problematic. 

[Billy Hoyle]

In other words, our practice defense is so bad that it makes Nash Walker look like TKO. Got it.

It makes Carin look like RJax, so that tracks

[rocky_warrior]

It makes Carin look like RJax, so that tracks

I like the new nickname.

[Zog from Margo]

I like the new nickname.

Yes, that's some Shakespearean-level wordplay.

[BrewCity83]

Carin Hamiltoe.

[Scoop Snoop]

Carin Hamiltoe.

I don't care how you spell it, no Karens on our team please.

[Pakuni]

He's very high on Nash Walker.  Says his passing and vision are excellent and even compared him to TKO. 

Ugh.
You'd have hoped he would have learned the downside of setting unrealistic expectations.
Underpromise and overdeliver, Shaka, not the other way around.

[Scoop Snoop]

Ugh.
You'd have hoped he would have learned the downside of setting unrealistic expectations.
Underpromise and overdeliver, Shaka, not the other way around.

Yep. Shaka just jinxed the guy. He would have had great passing and vision. but now it's gone. No worry though-he can grow it back. 

Edit: Oops. I see Tower's correction. Yay! Nash will be fine.

[tower912]

Tre said it, not Shaka.


And, coaches are supposed to hype their players.   

[swoopem]

Ugh.
You'd have hoped he would have learned the downside of setting unrealistic expectations.
Underpromise and overdeliver, Shaka, not the other way around.

If I read the posts correctly, Tre was the one hyping Nash. Not Shaka

But I agree with other posters, it's probably not hard to look good in practice going against our own guys

[Pakuni]

Tre said it, not Shaka.


And, coaches are supposed to hype their players.   

If it was Tre, my mistake.

But no, coaches are not supposed to hype players. Coaches are supposed to protect players. Setting unrealistic expectations for a player only serves to increase the scrutiny and criticism of the player if he underperforms. It's setting up  a kid for failure.
The lasting memory of Caedin Hamilton's time at Marquette likely won't be anything he did on the court, it will be 10,000 hook shots and "well-embedded moles." And that's on Shaka.

[tower912]

Frustration has fried your logic circuits and given you the long term perspective of a goldfish.  Coaches have always boosted their players.
Shaka hyped Oso, Omax, TKo, Stevie, Kam, Joplin, Justin,  too.  Remember?

But, completely moot in this instance.  It was Tre singing Nash's praises.

[We R Final Four]

Ugh.
You'd have hoped he would have learned the downside of setting unrealistic expectations.
Underpromise and overdeliver, Shaka, not the other way around.

Tre said that.

[Pakuni]

Frustration has fried your logic circuits and given you the long term perspective of a goldfish.  Coaches have always boosted their players.

Tower resorting to personal insults?
Bless your heart.
Inflating expectations for players incapable of meeting them is coaching malpractice.

[tower912]

And bless yours.

[UWW2MU]

Inflating expectations for players incapable of meeting them is coaching malpractice.

You've got some weird takes sometimes.  How do you really know if he's incapable of meeting them?  And maybe, just MAYBE the kid actually does show the potential but has difficulty putting it together at game time and supporting him publicly is to try and demonstrate Shaka's confidence in him?  Oooorrrr... any other of a million reasons Shaka had for pumping him up?? 

Nah, you probably know best since I'm sure you're around them for every practice, every scrimmage, every training session, etc.

[tower912]

I believe Hamilton was the hardest worker during the offseason.  I don't believe Shaka was engaged in some sort of long con.  Clearly, it didn't trabslate to games this season.  But, as I posted above, Shaka also hyped Oso, TKo, Omax, Stevie, Kam, Justin.  Not coaching malpractice

[Pakuni]

You've got some weird takes sometimes.  How do you really know if he's incapable of meeting them?

Is this a serious question?

Andrei at Paint Touches had the exact same take a few weeks ago. Hope you let him know how weird it was.

So while I will get into some of the stats in a minute, I want to try and emphasize that a lot of the hate going towards Caedin isn't even basketball related. Shaka and the staff have done a very poor job of protecting him. They set unreasonable expectations early on and have unintentionally made him the face of the season by continuing to start him as the losses mount.

https://painttouches.com/2026/01/07/greska-the-caedin-hamilton-conundrum-marquette-shaka-smart/

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I think Tower and Pakuni both have valid points.  I don't think it's as black & white as either of them are making it, though. 

Coaches should always boost their players and build confidence in private, with the team, etc.

I think doing so publicly can depend on the individual player, how they're wired, and how accurate the praise is. 

The offseason praise for Caedin ultimately probably did him a disservice.  But for guys like a Kam or a TKO or maybe a Nigel or Royce going forward, that could the right way to go.   

[Shooter McGavin]

Really good take VBMG. 

[tower912]

It ultimately didn't work as well with Caedin as it did with the aforementioned now legends.  However, on a related note, Shaka took NJ and AS to NYC for the Big East media event, breaking tradition and (gasp) hyping them.

[Pakuni]

I think Tower and Pakuni both have valid points.  I don't think it's as black & white as either of them are making it, though. 

Coaches should always boost their players and build confidence in private, with the team, etc.

I think doing so publicly can depend on the individual player, how they're wired, and how accurate the praise is. 

The offseason praise for Caedin ultimately probably did him a disservice.  But for guys like a Kam or a TKO or maybe a Nigel or Royce going forward, that could the right way to go. 

I think this is fair.
I'm also all for offseason praise. If a kid is working hard, showing commitment, that's awesome. Say so.
But I think there's a big difference between praising effort and suggesting a player has undergone a "massive transformation." The latter sets an expectation that, if unmet, is going to lead to harsher criticism. And in Caedin's case, it obviously wasn't true.
Given his play, Caedin was always probably doomed to be a pinata for how the seasons played out. But I think the preseason expectations created by the staff made it much worse.

[Pakuni]

It ultimately didn't work as well with Caedin as it did with the aforementioned now legends.  However, on a related note, Shaka took NJ and AS to NYC for the Big East media event, breaking tradition and (gasp) hyping them.

You sure?

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/10/17/mens-basketball-2025-big-east-media-day-attendees-announced.aspx

[brewcity77]

I think Tower and Pakuni both have valid points.  I don't think it's as black & white as either of them are making it, though. 

Coaches should always boost their players and build confidence in private, with the team, etc.

I think doing so publicly can depend on the individual player, how they're wired, and how accurate the praise is. 

The offseason praise for Caedin ultimately probably did him a disservice.  But for guys like a Kam or a TKO or maybe a Nigel or Royce going forward, that could the right way to go.   

I think it comes down to accurate evaluations. When Shaka came in, added Tyler Kolek, and almost immediately started comparing him to Travis Diener, my thought was "okay, let's slow this train down." A couple years later it was more like "might have been an understatement."

The problem isn't putting a Sean into Cousy Award comparisons or saying Caedin will be a major impact guy if that's actually the case. But when that evaluation is off base it makes it easy for the fanbase to turn on those players. Especially when the team is arguably the worst in a generation, which usually leaves fans looking for someone to blame and those overhyped players being convenient scapegoats.