Somewhat skeptical of portal success

[rgoode57]

I am, like every other MU fan, glad that Shaka has finally seen the necessity of using the transfer portal. I truly wish that Shaka's approach of not using the portal had worked. But, I admit that you simply cannot ignore the portal in the college bb world of today.

That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix all this team's shortcomings. While that could be the case, I have to be somewhat skeptical given Shaka's track record of identifying, recruiting, and developing high level players. You may think I'm crazy, but consider the following:

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

2. Shaka's recruiting classes have, so far, produced five good players: Ross, Gold, Parham, Stevens, and James. (I am excluding Sean Jones since injuries never really let us see what kind of player he would become.) But, his recruiting classes have also included Hamilton, Owens, Clark, and Norman - all less than stellar recruits so far though Shaka touted all of them very highly when he first secured their services. And, his recruits have also included Itejere and Ellis who both had very short stays at MU and rarely saw the floor.

3. That's less than a 50% success rate on Shaka's own high school recruits. Plus, he has had a total whiff on finding a serviceable big.

Maybe a 50/50 rate on high schoolers is about average. I really don't know. But, given that performance of identifying and securing basketball talent, I am trying not to get overly excited about Shaka using the portal. Your success rate in the portal should be better since you can see howe players have performed against competition better than high-school ball. Even D2 bb is a big step above high-school. But, you still have to identify the right players - and then get them. I sincerely hope Shaka does get a couple of really good transfers, especially a big, but...

[Uncle Rico]

I am, like every other MU fan, glad that Shaka has finally seen the necessity of using the transfer portal. I truly wish that Shaka's approach of not using the portal had worked. But, I admit that you simply cannot ignore the portal in the college bb world of today.

That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix all this team's shortcomings. While that could be the case, I have to be somewhat skeptical given Shaka's track record of identifying, recruiting, and developing high level players. You may think I'm crazy, but consider the following:

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

2. Shaka's recruiting classes have, so far, produced five good players: Ross, Gold, Parham, Stevens, and James. (I am excluding Sean Jones since injuries never really let us see what kind of player he would become.) But, his recruiting classes have also included Hamilton, Owens, Clark, and Norman - all less than stellar recruits so far though Shaka touted all of them very highly when he first secured their services. And, his recruits have also included Itejere and Ellis who both had very short stays at MU and rarely saw the floor.

3. That's less than a 50% success rate on Shaka's own high school recruits. Plus, he has had a total whiff on finding a serviceable big.

Maybe a 50/50 rate on high schoolers is about average. I really don't know. But, given that performance of identifying and securing basketball talent, I am trying not to get overly excited about Shaka using the portal. Your success rate in the portal should be better since you can see howe players have performed against competition better than high-school ball. Even D2 bb is a big step above high-school. But, you still have to identify the right players - and then get them. I sincerely hope Shaka does get a couple of really good transfers, especially a big, but...

Well, if he fails putting a roster together this year, there likely won't be a next year for him.

[Jay Bee]

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

[/b]

#FakeNews #Lies

[Pakuni]

I am, like every other MU fan, glad that Shaka has finally seen the necessity of using the transfer portal. I truly wish that Shaka's approach of not using the portal had worked. But, I admit that you simply cannot ignore the portal in the college bb world of today.

That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix all this team's shortcomings. While that could be the case, I have to be somewhat skeptical given Shaka's track record of identifying, recruiting, and developing high level players. You may think I'm crazy, but consider the following:

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

2. Shaka's recruiting classes have, so far, produced five good players: Ross, Gold, Parham, Stevens, and James. (I am excluding Sean Jones since injuries never really let us see what kind of player he would become.) But, his recruiting classes have also included Hamilton, Owens, Clark, and Norman - all less than stellar recruits so far though Shaka touted all of them very highly when he first secured their services. And, his recruits have also included Itejere and Ellis who both had very short stays at MU and rarely saw the floor.

3. That's less than a 50% success rate on Shaka's own high school recruits. Plus, he has had a total whiff on finding a serviceable big.

Maybe a 50/50 rate on high schoolers is about average. I really don't know. But, given that performance of identifying and securing basketball talent, I am trying not to get overly excited about Shaka using the portal. Your success rate in the portal should be better since you can see howe players have performed against competition better than high-school ball. Even D2 bb is a big step above high-school. But, you still have to identify the right players - and then get them. I sincerely hope Shaka does get a couple of really good transfers, especially a big, but...

You make some fair points, but ...
1. Joplin was a Shaka recruit
2. Shaka has had success using the portal previously (one reason some of us couldn't understand why he chose to totally abandon it). Until proven otherwise, I think it's fair to give him the benefit of the doubt that he can succeed at it again.

[Galway Eagle]

Umm Joplin was a shaka commit to Texas.

Oso was recruited by Shaka at Texas, he at least gets credit for identifying even if it it didn't work out.

Also, lumping Owens in with Norman and Hamilton is nuts. You forgot Lowery as well.

[GoldenEagles03]

I am, like every other MU fan, glad that Shaka has finally seen the necessity of using the transfer portal. I truly wish that Shaka's approach of not using the portal had worked. But, I admit that you simply cannot ignore the portal in the college bb world of today.

That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix all this team's shortcomings. While that could be the case, I have to be somewhat skeptical given Shaka's track record of identifying, recruiting, and developing high level players. You may think I'm crazy, but consider the following:

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

2. Shaka's recruiting classes have, so far, produced five good players: Ross, Gold, Parham, Stevens, and James. (I am excluding Sean Jones since injuries never really let us see what kind of player he would become.) But, his recruiting classes have also included Hamilton, Owens, Clark, and Norman - all less than stellar recruits so far though Shaka touted all of them very highly when he first secured their services. And, his recruits have also included Itejere and Ellis who both had very short stays at MU and rarely saw the floor.

3. That's less than a 50% success rate on Shaka's own high school recruits. Plus, he has had a total whiff on finding a serviceable big.

Maybe a 50/50 rate on high schoolers is about average. I really don't know. But, given that performance of identifying and securing basketball talent, I am trying not to get overly excited about Shaka using the portal. Your success rate in the portal should be better since you can see howe players have performed against competition better than high-school ball. Even D2 bb is a big step above high-school. But, you still have to identify the right players - and then get them. I sincerely hope Shaka does get a couple of really good transfers, especially a big, but...

Heavy disagree on the best 6.

OMax, Morsell, Justin Lewis would all like a word.

[Badgerhater]

" That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix ALL this team's shortcomings."

No one is saying that.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I am, like every other MU fan, glad that Shaka has finally seen the necessity of using the transfer portal. I truly wish that Shaka's approach of not using the portal had worked. But, I admit that you simply cannot ignore the portal in the college bb world of today.

That said, many MU fans seem to think that a couple of good portal players will fix all this team's shortcomings. While that could be the case, I have to be somewhat skeptical given Shaka's track record of identifying, recruiting, and developing high level players. You may think I'm crazy, but consider the following:

1. The six best players Shaka had at MU in his first four years were certainly Tyler, Oso, Stevie, Kam, Chase, and David Joplin.  But, Tyler and Chase are the only ones identified and recruited by Shaka. The others were Wojo recruiting holdovers.

2. Shaka's recruiting classes have, so far, produced five good players: Ross, Gold, Parham, Stevens, and James. (I am excluding Sean Jones since injuries never really let us see what kind of player he would become.) But, his recruiting classes have also included Hamilton, Owens, Clark, and Norman - all less than stellar recruits so far though Shaka touted all of them very highly when he first secured their services. And, his recruits have also included Itejere and Ellis who both had very short stays at MU and rarely saw the floor.

3. That's less than a 50% success rate on Shaka's own high school recruits. Plus, he has had a total whiff on finding a serviceable big.

Maybe a 50/50 rate on high schoolers is about average. I really don't know. But, given that performance of identifying and securing basketball talent, I am trying not to get overly excited about Shaka using the portal. Your success rate in the portal should be better since you can see howe players have performed against competition better than high-school ball. Even D2 bb is a big step above high-school. But, you still have to identify the right players - and then get them. I sincerely hope Shaka does get a couple of really good transfers, especially a big, but...

Not sure why you're bringing high school recruiting into this conversation. 

Kolek, Omax, Morsell, and Kuath were all transfers.  All were successes. 

I'm confident Shaka and staff can identify players to fill the gaps on this team.

What we don't know is how NIL will impact the process because we haven't seen it previously. 

[#UnleashThePortal]

Marking Gold as a good player is well.. something.

[JakeBarnes]

I will address this in my new thread "Somewhat Bullish of Portal Success" where I highlight the home runs of Tyler, Morsell, Kur and O-Max and how Marquette won the Big East in 2023 based on Shaka's ability to identify talent (and leadership) in the portal and fill the right gaps for the team and how I believe Shaka will focus on finding the right complimentary players for this current roster.

And then my third thread "Entering Portals? What are we, wizards?" where I will highlight my skepticism of the concept of portals in general. They are dangerous, lead to alternative universes, and could lead to the downfall of society as we know if a time-rift is created by entering one.

[BM1090]

O Max and Morsell were better than Chase.

[Galway Eagle]

Three categories:

Wojo: Elliott, Lewis, Oso, Kam, Stevie

Transfer: Morsell, Kuath, Omax, Kolek, Wrightsill

Recruits: Amadou, Itijere, Jones, Gold, Ross, Ellis, Lowery, Norman, Hamilton, Clark, Parham, Owens, Stephens, James, Philips, Walker, Militic, Johnston, Egbuono, Pearson, arguably Oso fits in here as well depending on what the context of the argument is.

Of high school talent he recruited:

Hits: Ross, Parham, Stephens, James, Jop, Oso

Ok: Gold

TBD: Owens, Philips & the others still to play 

Misses: Amadou, Itijere, Jones, Ellis, Lowery (at least there was a moment of hope), Norman, Hamilton, Clark

[UWW2MU]

Misses: Amadou, Itijere, Jones, Ellis, Lowery (at least there was a moment of hope), Norman, Hamilton, Clark

I don't know if it's fair to call Hamilton and Clark misses yet.  For example, if Hamilton has been doing as well in practice as they say but couldn't translate it into a game, then maybe something really could materialize next year.  Clark has an even stronger case as this was his first year in games.

[Jay Bee]

I don't know if it's fair to call Hamilton and Clark misses yet.  For example, if Hamilton has been doing as well in practice as they say but couldn't translate it into a game, then maybe something really could materialize next year.  Clark has an even stronger case as this was his first year in games.

Pass it, my boi!!!

[BM1090]

I'm willing to throw Clark in the TBD bucket. Hamilton is what he is. A pretty good passer and no other real skills.

[Scoop Snoop]

I don't know if it's fair to call Hamilton and Clark misses yet.  For example, if Hamilton has been doing as well in practice as they say but couldn't translate it into a game, then maybe something really could materialize next year.  Clark has an even stronger case as this was his first year in games.

Your second sentence should have been posted on April 1.

[rgoode57]

Sorry about my failure to include Omax, who was certainly a success at MU. Did not mean to short Shaka or Omax on that one. And, I suppose you are also correct that Joplin was a Shaka recruit and not Wojo's. I tend to exclude Morsell and Kuath since they were both one year "just field a team" kind of transfers. Apologies.

Still, the tally stands at about 50/50 during Shaka's tenure. My general point is that, in the portal, you cannot be 50/50. If you bring in two transfers, they both have to be hits. If you bring in three, you have at least hit on two of them if not all three.

[MU82]

I will address this in my new thread "Somewhat Bullish of Portal Success" where I highlight the home runs of Tyler, Morsell, Kur and O-Max and how Marquette won the Big East in 2023 based on Shaka's ability to identify talent (and leadership) in the portal and fill the right gaps for the team and how I believe Shaka will focus on finding the right complimentary players for this current roster.

This is far too reasonable for much of Scoopdom.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Sorry about my failure to include Omax, who was certainly a success at MU. Did not mean to short Shaka or Omax on that one. And, I suppose you are also correct that Joplin was a Shaka recruit and not Wojo's. I tend to exclude Morsell and Kuath since they were both one year "just field a team" kind of transfers. Apologies.

Still, the tally stands at about 50/50 during Shaka's tenure. My general point is that, in the portal, you cannot be 50/50. If you bring in two transfers, they both have to be hits. If you bring in three, you have at least hit on two of them if not all three.

Shaka has a hit rate of 80% in the portal so far. And the 20% that missed was due to an offseason career ending injury, not due to talent evaluation.

[Galway Eagle]

I don't know if it's fair to call Hamilton and Clark misses yet.  For example, if Hamilton has been doing as well in practice as they say but couldn't translate it into a game, then maybe something really could materialize next year.  Clark has an even stronger case as this was his first year in games.

Clark I'll give you.

Hamilton? 3/5 of his college career and he's been a complete bust, not even "flashes are there" like there were/are Owens or Lowery or Gold. Maybe he materializes into a serviceable backup by year 5... and is still say we sunk way too much time & money to get such a little return. Rooting for him to prove me wrong since he's seemingly coming back.

[#UnleashThePortal]

Clark I'll give you.

Hamilton? 3/5 of his college career and he's been a complete bust, not even "flashes are there" like there were/are Owens or Lowery or Gold. Maybe he materializes into a serviceable backup by year 5... and is still say we sunk way too much time & money to get such a little return. Rooting for him to prove me wrong since he's seemingly coming back.

I can't wait for a worse Matt Heldt in year 5 from Hamilton!

[Tha Hound]

I don't know if it's fair to call Hamilton and Clark misses yet.  For example, if Hamilton has been doing as well in practice as they say but couldn't translate it into a game, then maybe something really could materialize next year.  Clark has an even stronger case as this was his first year in games.

It's definitely fair to say they're misses.

[UWW2MU]

There must have been a basis for Fetch though, right?!   Why would they have pushed it so hard?

[Pakuni]

Shaka has a hit rate of 80% in the portal so far. And the 20% that missed was due to an offseason career ending injury, not due to talent evaluation.

Given his pedigree, Wrightsil was always more likely to be a miss than a hit. We'll never know for sure, of course.

[Galway Eagle]

Given his pedigree, Wrightsil was always more likely to be a miss than a hit. We'll never know for sure, of course.

I don't know if that's completely true, NPOY in any division is someone who can definitely play. Not saying he was going to be setting the world on fire.