[Cracked Sidewalks] Portal Kombat: Choose Your Fighter

[willie warrior]

Good point. I'd much rather have Hamilton and Clark as our back centers.

How about none of that. Fru starts with Parham and Clark as backups, and or small ball.

[Viper]

I believe in science, so I know that's a problem

absolutely. In fact, science supports my nondenominational evangelical Christian faith.

[MU82]

Good stuff, brew.

I got a kick out of the assessment of Mack: "He made the court look like it was a slip 'n slide and spent as much time falling down as he did on his feet."

Hey, OMax did that for MU for two seasons, and he recently signed a nice NBA contract!

Gold would be a great addition to this roster, if there's some way that could happen.

[GoldenEagles03]

The more they advertise Hamilton, the less interest I have in this team.

We need another big so badly.

https://x.com/i/status/2048506843983495284

[MarquetteMike1977]

The more they advertise Hamilton, the less interest I have in this team.

We need another big so badly.

https://x.com/i/status/2048506843983495284

Agree since Sheek was a consensus Top 50 recruit and Caedin was near the bottom.
Feel Sheek understands how to play basketball better than Caedin. Caedin was a bottom 2% player according to the overall efficiency ratios I have seen and feel Sheek would be in the top half of these ratios.

[tower912]

Moot.   Glad to see Caedin put in the work.  I hope it finally pays off for him.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We need another big so badly.

Need? No. Would be great to have? Absolutely.

Very few teams have been kept from greatness because of the quality of their backup center.

[GoldenEagles03]

Need? No. Would be great to have? Absolutely.

Very few teams have been kept from greatness because of the quality of their backup center.

?

[BM1090]

Need? No. Would be great to have? Absolutely.

Very few teams have been kept from greatness because of the quality of their backup center.

I'd agree with you if we had a quality backup at the 4, but right now our only viable option for bench minutes is to go small. And if Royce and Fru are in foul trouble or hurt, it's going to get ugly.

They need someone who can backup the 4, 5, or both. Doesn't need to be a great player, but it needs to be better than what's on the roster.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

The more they advertise Hamilton, the less interest I have in this team.

We need another big so badly.

https://x.com/i/status/2048506843983495284

Thoughts and prayers, snowflake.

[GoldenEagles03]

Thoughts and prayers, snowflake.

Lol. Nice.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

?

I'm not sure what there's to be confused about. The roster on paper is good enough to make the tournament with a single digit seed. We don't need any additions. More additions are of course welcome.

Caedin and Josh were bad last season. I hope we find a better option to be our backup C. But thinking a team will be bad because of their backup C is like thinking an nfl offense will be bad because of the backup TE. Would it be nice to have a better one? Of course. If there's an injury to the starter will it be devastating? Yep. But acting like the whole season hinges on it is silly.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I'd agree with you if we had a quality backup at the 4, but right now our only viable option for bench minutes is to go small. And if Royce and Fru are in foul trouble or hurt, it's going to get ugly.

They need someone who can backup the 4, 5, or both. Doesn't need to be a great player, but it needs to be better than what's on the roster.

I believe you were part of the "playing like a bubble team since winter break" crowd. So who was our backup 4 last season? Did we lose them?

If last year's team could be a top 60 team after the great winter break recalibration, despite having Josh/Caedin as the only backups at the 5 and DO being the only backup at the 4, then why wouldn't next year's team be able to be even better when, on paper, we improved at literally every position?

1: SO Nigel > FR Nigel
2: SO Adrien > FR Adrien
3: Nolan >/= Chase
4: JR Royce > SO Royce
5: Fru >>> Ben
Backup 1 Nash ? Tre (Can't be much worse)
Backup 2/3 SO Phillips/Miletic > FR Phillips
Backup 3/4 JR Damarius/Egbuono > SO Damarius
Backup 5: JR Caedin/SO Clark / SO Caedin/FR Clark

[Uncle Rico]

I'm not sure what there's to be confused about. The roster on paper is good enough to make the tournament with a single digit seed. We don't need any additions. More additions are of course welcome.

Caedin and Josh were bad last season. I hope we find a better option to be our backup C. But thinking a team will be bad because of their backup C is like thinking an nfl offense will be bad because of the backup TE. Would it be nice to have a better one? Of course. If there's an injury to the starter will it be devastating? Yep. But acting like the whole season hinges on it is silly.

Not many college basketball teams are equipped to handle season ending injuries to a player expected to be among the top 3 contributors.

[brewcity77]

Need? No. Would be great to have? Absolutely.

Very few teams have been kept from greatness because of the quality of their backup center.

Maybe historically, but this is a different era. You say greatness, and the Final Four was Illinois, the longest team in the country, UConn, who had length all over and a borderline 5-star as their backup, and the Michigan & Arizona teams whose frontcourt depth was the focus of the CBB world all season long.

A lack of quality bigs seems like exactly what is holding teams back from greatness.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Not many college basketball teams are equipped to handle season ending injuries to a player expected to be among the top 3 contributors.

Correct. An injury to a bench player or maybe a 4th or 5th starter can be overcome if you have some bench depth. If you lose a top 3 player, you are taking a big step back regardless of who is on your bench.

[GoldenEagles03]

I'm not sure what there's to be confused about. The roster on paper is good enough to make the tournament with a single digit seed. We don't need any additions. More additions are of course welcome.

Caedin and Josh were bad last season. I hope we find a better option to be our backup C. But thinking a team will be bad because of their backup C is like thinking an nfl offense will be bad because of the backup TE. Would it be nice to have a better one? Of course. If there's an injury to the starter will it be devastating? Yep. But acting like the whole season hinges on it is silly.

They'd need way too much to go right. They have no backup PG and no backup C. The starting lineup should be awesome and they did a great job grabbing Fru and Minessale but to not fill the last 2 roster spots with a true PG and C would be insane after what took place last year.

Hamilton and Clark should not see 1 single minute in a meaningful game ever again at Marquette.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Maybe historically, but this is a different era. You say greatness, and the Final Four was Illinois, the longest team in the country, UConn, who had length all over and a borderline 5-star as their backup, and the Michigan & Arizona teams whose frontcourt depth was the focus of the CBB world all season long.

A lack of quality bigs seems like exactly what is holding teams back from greatness.

I don't think one year makes a "different era." Yes, Michigan won starting three bigs. The year before Florida won with three guys under 6'4" and a PF 15lbs lighter than Royce. UConn won two years in a row starting noted finesse big Karaban at the 4 and being backed up by two 6'6" wings. Before that Kansas won with one guy in the rotation taller than 6'8." Before that Baylor started 4 guys under 6'5". Before that Virginia won with a guy 2lbs lighter than Royce at the 5.

Yes a strong backup C would be great and can help. But if you miss the tournament, I promise you that you had much bigger issues than who your backup C was.

[rgoode57]

I am a long-time fan of MU basketball and follow the team closely. As much as I would like it to be true, I cannot believe that anyone thinks this team, as currently constructed, can be a single-digit seed for next year's tournament. Yes, the starting lineup will be better, but there is no depth, especially behind Fru, James, and Parham. All three of these guys have to get rest during games - not to mention foul trouble and possible injury or illness.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I am a long-time fan of MU basketball and follow the team closely. As much as I would like it to be true, I cannot believe that anyone thinks this team, as currently constructed, can be a single-digit seed for next year's tournament. Yes, the starting lineup will be better, but there is no depth, especially behind Fru, James, and Parham. All three of these guys have to get rest during games - not to mention foul trouble and possible injury or illness.

There's plenty of depth. We will see how good it is. You only need an 8 man rotation. We have a clear starting 5. Then we have 8 other players. We need one of those 8 to turn into a legitimate 6th man and we need two others to not just be liabilities on the court. I think betting on 3/8 is not an unreasonable gamble.

Yes, if we have an injury to a top player we are going to be in trouble...like every other team in the country. Fortunately, those are rare in college basketball. IIRC, in the last two coaches, we've had one starter miss more than 3 games in a season due to injury (TKO missed 6 game in 2024), two if you believe Wrightsil was going to be a starter.

[Jay Bee]

Post xmas break I think we went 7-12 playing in a weak BEast. The glorification of this time frame continues to be weird. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

They'd need way too much to go right. They have no backup PG and no backup C. The starting lineup should be awesome and they did a great job grabbing Fru and Minessale but to not fill the last 2 roster spots with a true PG and C would be insane after what took place last year.

Hamilton and Clark should not see 1 single minute in a meaningful game ever again at Marquette.

What kind of quality of player do you think is going to come here strictly as a backup PG to play 8-10 MPG?

[The Sultan]

Post xmas break I think we went 7-12 playing in a weak BEast. The glorification of this time frame continues to be weird. 

Right. I think people are getting excited because post-Christmas was clearly better than pre-Christmas, and of course we were lead by a nice young nucleus of players, but Marquette was still not a very good basketball team.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Post xmas break I think we went 7-12 playing in a weak BEast. The glorification of this time frame continues to be weird. 

You know your stats so I'm honestly curious,  do you not buy into BartTorvik or is it being misapplied? To me underlying efficiency is more predictive than W/L record.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Post xmas break I think we went 7-12 playing in a weak BEast. The glorification of this time frame continues to be weird. 

No one is glorifying it.