RIP Marquette 2025-2026 Men's Basketball Season

[Hards Alumni]

Firings happen when you're not doing the job at the expected level. The admin acknowledged that with the buy out..

Yes, they acknowledged it when the donors forced them.  lmao, what are we doing here.

[Billy Hoyle]

Thanks! Wife vetoed all Irish names for both girls except Maeve (maebh) and then our neighbor took that right before girl 1 so no Irish names here sadly

Have to defer to the wife in the end!

While my wife and I never ended up having kids, we two Irish had names picked out if we did - Eamon and Fiona.

[#UnleashThePortal]

2015 final record 13-19: You're saying day to day you weren't even a bit excited when we beat Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and ASU? Hell we were 10-6 (2-2) midway through January and I was still hopeful we could turn it into something despite the Omaha debacle.

2021 final record 13-14: You weren't the least bit excited when we beat Wisconsin on the Justin Lewis put back? I think it was Pakuni who said we were still considered a bubble team in December after the big Creighton win. I don't recall this necessarily but the point is the season wasn't over before Christmas.

2026: Day to day what did we get excited about? Blown out by IU, PU, and UW? Choking repeatedly against Dayton OU and Maryland? My daughter was born 12/10, we were in the hospital and my wife asked if I wanted to turn the Purdue game on jokingly because the season was already over.

If the ultimate goal is entertainment and fan engagement then the first two bad seasons are less bad fails than this past one.

We beat #4 uconn on senior night. Were you not hyped?

We were "bubble" talent after losing to Villanova away in a close game according to half of scoop.

All the seasons were utter failures.

[panda]

That's a whole different thing from what I was talking about, but Marquette fans were angry.  Apathy would have been the next phase, and that's how you end up like Georgetown, BC, or DePaul.

Your original quote - "IF tickets arent being sold, or there is zero excitement then he's gone"

My first response - "Interest didn't drastically dip during Wojo's downturn. The results did and we changed course."

Ticket sales didn't drop, interest levels didn't severely drop. Performance levels did so a change was made.

[#UnleashThePortal]

Not sure where you got that. The point is that a self-inflicted program collapse, putting one of the worst teams in MU history on the floor, should not be viewed as just a blip. This season was attributable to a string of problems. First, there were numerous recruiting mistakes and failures to assess talent levels. Second, there was a failure to recognize that this team wasn't very good and do something about it before the program collapsed. Finally, there was the inexcusable defensive performance by returning players early in the season. Will all be forgiven if the ship is righted? Sure. But this season was a dumpster fire.

What's not clicking for you?

Shaka attempted the RGV strategy where he hoped that the chemistry between the team would be much better then that of teams who bought players.

It became apparent early on that it didn't work.


Shaka went against the grain in year 1 of free agent ball.

Now if he rights the ship, this will be nothing more then a "oh ya, we need to compete in the transfer portal, remember 25-26?

[BM1090]

If this is was a blip, then yes. If they rebuild through the portal, reinforcing the core 3, and are back in single digit seed, fighting for protected seed territory next year, then yes. However that is clearly not a given and this season has shown that Shaka no longer gets the benefit of the doubt.

If we're 25-10 (14-6) after finishing top-3 in the league and playing on Saturday in the BET at this time next year, great. But if we're 17-16 (7-13) and dropped our first BET game while never seriously getting close to the bubble, then Shaka will be gone and deservedly so.

If he backs up the worst season in many of our living memories with success, he'll be back. But if he follows it up with more failure, he'll be gone. And it's absolutely crazy that you of all people don't see that clear as day.

I don't disagree with this, but I do think it's interesting that we had a lot of people comparing Wojo's trajectory with Jay Wright, insisting it takes time to build a program. I was actually onboard with some of these arguments even though it never materialized.

Shaka's first five years here mirror Nova from 06-12, minus the one final four. 13-19 season with a young but talented core in 2012, improved to 20-14 the following year, then the elite run started after that.

If Shaka misses the tournament next year but it's a 19-13 kind of year and it's pretty clear we'll be better the following year, he should be retained. As long as we see a willingness to change his strategy from what got us to this year, there's no reason to move on. He's a good coach that's brought us to regular season heights that I hadn't seen in my lifetime.

[Hards Alumni]

Your original quote - "IF tickets arent being sold, or there is zero excitement then he's gone"

My first response - "Interest didn't drastically dip during Wojo's downturn. The results did and we changed course."

Ticket sales didn't drop, interest levels didn't severely drop. Performance levels did so a change was made.

Sorry, forgot who I was engaging with here.

Have a good one.

[panda]

I don't disagree with this, but I do think it's interesting that we had a lot of people comparing Wojo's trajectory with Jay Wright, insisting it takes time to build a program. I was actually onboard with some of these arguments even though it never materialized.

Shaka's first five years here mirror Nova from 06-12, minus the one final four. 13-19 season with a young but talented core in 2012, improved to 20-14 the following year, then the elite run started after that.

If Shaka misses the tournament next year but it's a 19-13 kind of year and it's pretty clear we'll be better the following year, he should be retained. As long as we see a willingness to change his strategy from what got us to this year, there's no reason to move on. He's a good coach that's brought us to regular season heights that I hadn't seen in my lifetime.

not with the jay wright stuff again lol - especially given the completely different dynamics in college sports now.

[panda]

Sorry, forgot who I was engaging with here.

Have a good one.

Once again - someone who can't face the music when I present them with their own words. smh

[BM1090]

2015 final record 13-19: You're saying day to day you weren't even a bit excited when we beat Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and ASU? Hell we were 10-6 (2-2) midway through January and I was still hopeful we could turn it into something despite the Omaha debacle.

2021 final record 13-14: You weren't the least bit excited when we beat Wisconsin on the Justin Lewis put back? I think it was Pakuni who said we were still considered a bubble team in December after the big Creighton win. I don't recall this necessarily but the point is the season wasn't over before Christmas.

2026: Day to day what did we get excited about? Blown out by IU, PU, and UW? Choking repeatedly against Dayton OU and Maryland? My daughter was born 12/10, we were in the hospital and my wife asked if I wanted to turn the Purdue game on jokingly because the season was already over.

If the ultimate goal is entertainment and fan engagement then the first two bad seasons are less bad fails than this past one.

I agree on 2015. There was some hope there. The team just ultimately didn't have enough talent.

2021 I was pretty checked out. The Wisconsin win was fun. So was the win at Creighton shortly after that. But it was so clear we were never going to be anything more than an average BE program under Wojo by that point that the excitement felt muted.

We were stuck. Despite this bad year, it doesn't feel like we're stuck. It kind of feels like a new beginning. We know Shaka can get us to where we want to be because he's done it already. He just needs to alter his plan, and I can't imagine he won't do that.

[Galway Eagle]

We beat #4 uconn on senior night. Were you not hyped?

We were "bubble" talent after losing to Villanova away in a close game according to half of scoop.

All the seasons were utter failures.

By then it was pointless. I think you're missing the focus on the night of the win. Beating UConn as the second to last game of the year to go 12-19 was pointless. These are not equal situations. The question should be whether you were as engaged in the season on 1/13 after losing to SJU to drop to 6-12 (1-6) as you were on 1/14/15 after beating Creighton to go 10-6 (2-2). Yes as a season both of them are fails, but one still had a reason to be interested the other was long since over.

[BM1090]

not with the jay wright stuff again lol - especially given the completely different dynamics in college sports now.

To be clear, I don't like the comparison at all. I'm not comparing them. I'm just saying I think it's interesting that Wojo got those comparisons from some and Shaka, whose trajectory matches Wright more than Wojo, isn't getting the same from the same people.

[BM1090]

By then it was pointless. I think you're missing the focus on the night of the win. Beating UConn as the second to last game of the year to go 12-19 was pointless. These are not equal situations. The question should be whether you were as engaged in the season on 1/13 after losing to SJU to drop to 6-12 (1-6) as you were on 1/14/15 after beating Creighton to go 10-6 (2-2). Yes as a season both of them are fails, but one still had a reason to be interested the other was long since over.

I'd argue beating UConn and playing like we did for the last month of the year is far more meaningful to the health of the program than beating Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Wisconsin in Nov/Dec

[Galway Eagle]

I agree on 2015. There was some hope there. The team just ultimately didn't have enough talent.

2021 I was pretty checked out. The Wisconsin win was fun. So was the win at Creighton shortly after that. But it was so clear we were never going to be anything more than an average BE program under Wojo by that point that the excitement felt muted.

We were stuck. Despite this bad year, it doesn't feel like we're stuck. It kind of feels like a new beginning. We know Shaka can get us to where we want to be because he's done it already. He just needs to alter his plan, and I can't imagine he won't do that.

100% I'm only debating that all fails aren't equal. Definitely agree about the trajectory during/post 20-21 season, I'm only including it because someone had mentioned we were a bubble team halfway through it. It's 2015, 2016, 2014, 2018 (and 2005) I am much more passionate about those being lesser fails than this past crapshow.

[#UnleashThePortal]

2015 final record 13-19: You're saying day to day you weren't even a bit excited when we beat Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and ASU? Hell we were 10-6 (2-2) midway through January and I was still hopeful we could turn it into something despite the Omaha debacle.

2021 final record 13-14: You weren't the least bit excited when we beat Wisconsin on the Justin Lewis put back? I think it was Pakuni who said we were still considered a bubble team in December after the big Creighton win. I don't recall this necessarily but the point is the season wasn't over before Christmas.

2026: Day to day what did we get excited about? Blown out by IU, PU, and UW? Choking repeatedly against Dayton OU and Maryland? My daughter was born 12/10, we were in the hospital and my wife asked if I wanted to turn the Purdue game on jokingly because the season was already over.

If the ultimate goal is entertainment and fan engagement then the first two bad seasons are less bad fails than this past one.

Secondly

Georgia Tech went 12-19 (3-15) in 14-15

Tennessee went 16-16 (7-11)

Asu went 18-16 (9-9)


Two of these games were neutral sites, the other was at home. None of those teams went to the tournament.

All 3 were bad teams. The only excitement from those games was the hype that they were part of power conferences.

[Billy Hoyle]

We beat #4 uconn on senior night. Were you not hyped?

We were "bubble" talent after losing to Villanova away in a close game, according to half of the scoop.

All the seasons were utter failures.

just as hyped as I was when we beat #4 Cincy in 1999, which evened our record at 12-12.

[BM1090]

100% I'm only debating that all fails aren't equal. Definitely agree about the trajectory during/post 20-21 season, I'm only including it because someone had mentioned we were a bubble team halfway through it. It's 2015, 2016, 2014, 2018 (and 2005) I am much more passionate about those being lesser fails than this past crapshow.

If we are just isolating the seasons and not analyzing health of the program and the why behind those seasons, I agree with you.

[panda]

To be clear, I don't like the comparison at all. I'm not comparing them. I'm just saying I think it's interesting that Wojo got those comparisons from some and Shaka, whose trajectory matches Wright more than Wojo, isn't getting the same from the same people.

Wojo's mediocrity lent itself to lots of what if scenarios.

Shaka completely self torpedoed his roster for two seasons which led to this atrocious year. I don't think he deserves much leeway for that.

[Galway Eagle]

Secondly

Georgia Tech went 12-19 (3-15) in 14-15

Tennessee went 16-16 (7-11)

Asu went 18-16 (9-9)


Two of these games were neutral sites, the other was at home. None of those teams went to the tournament.

All 3 were bad teams. The only excitement from those games was the hype that they were part of power conferences.

First, we didn't know that going in as I recall.

Second, I'd take winning those game vs losing to:

Maryland: 12-21 (4-16)
Oklahoma: 19-14 (7-11)
IU: 18-14 (9-11)

Not exactly a who's who of killers this year.

[Zog from Margo]

What's not clicking for you?

Shaka attempted the RGV strategy where he hoped that the chemistry between the team would be much better then that of teams who bought players.

It became apparent early on that it didn't work.


Shaka went against the grain in year 1 of free agent ball.

Now if he rights the ship, this will be nothing more then a "oh ya, we need to compete in the transfer portal, remember 25-26?

Shaka didn't just go against the grain. He recruited poorly and failed to recognize it until it was too late. RGV might have worked if the junior class wasn't a total strikeout and the sophomore class had more than one player who demonstrated he was capable of playing in the BE. The team defense was also horrendous given that all of the early year starters were returning players. How could they not have been prepared to play defense to start the season after being in the system multiple years?

The portal gives Shaka a chance to correct things quickly and I'm sure he'll use it. That said, he must do a much better job evaluating the talent of the players he brings in through the portal than he did when bringing in Jones, Norman, Lowery, Hamilton, and, to some extent, Owens.

If MU doesn't make the tournament next season, I expect that this past season will weigh much more heavily in the determination of Shaka's future than just a blip season in which MU missed the tournament. I hope it's a moot point.

[MUDPT]

Your original quote - "IF tickets arent being sold, or there is zero excitement then he's gone"

My first response - "Interest didn't drastically dip during Wojo's downturn. The results did and we changed course."

Ticket sales didn't drop, interest levels didn't severely drop. Performance levels did so a change was made.

Technically, ticket sales did drop significantly the last year of Wojo. MU had one? home game with fans.

But ticket sales are already way down. Plenty of lowers and uppers available for the UConn game.

[#UnleashThePortal]

Technically, ticket sales did drop significantly the last year of Wojo. MU had one? home game with fans.

But ticket sales are already way down. Plenty of lowers and uppers available for the UConn game.

Technically, ticket sales did drop significantly the last year of Wojo. MU had one? home game with fans.

But ticket sales are already way down. Plenty of lowers and uppers available for the UConn game.

I know at least 15 tickets that were unused by season ticket holders for the uconn game.

[BM1090]

Wojo's mediocrity lent itself to lots of what if scenarios.

Shaka completely self torpedoed his roster for two seasons which led to this atrocious year. I don't think he deserves much leeway for that.

Depends if he shows that he learned or not. We'll know more in a few months.

If we largely roll it back, which I don't expect, then I agree. But if he shows he's willing to adjust his strategy when needed, he is probably going to do great here long term and making a change would be short sighted.