Colton Crowdis committed.

[JakeBarnes]

Here I was worried we had too many people and not enough minutes

[The Sultan]

Can't make quality players transfer to MU with offers of reserve minutes and reserve pay. 

We most certainly could have gotten better front court options than the two back-ups we have now.

[lawdog77]

We most certainly could have gotten better front court options than the two back-ups we have now.

I am too lazy to look. Names?

[The Sultan]

Here I was worried we had too many people and not enough minutes

We have too many people who are not proven at all at this level or who haven't shown anything multiple years into their career.

We have five, experienced, plus-level players right now. James, Stevens, Royce and the two transfers.

Other than that, we have a couple who have flashed some potential. The rest are simply not at this level or are incoming freshmen.

[The Sultan]

I am too lazy to look. Names?

Get less lazy and read some of the stuff that PT wrote and brew posted.

[Zog from Margo]

It's good this team was so solid last season that it can add to its number of project players.

[lawdog77]

Get less lazy and read some of the stuff that PT wrote and brew posted.

I did read the PT article, which said this: The answers so far haven't matched to what Marquette is looking for. There simply weren't many true bigs in the portal this year, let alone late in the game, and that scarcity drove prices and desperation up.

I couldn't find any actual names for viable options-ones with decent stats who were willing to be a backup-direct me there if you could.

[muwarrior69]

It's good this team was so solid last season that it can add to its number of project practice players.

FIFO

[SchnitzelBoy]

I'd like a bit more depth, but at some point you need to trust that one or two of these developmental pieces will pan out. It's not like ONLY 5-star recruits and transfers end up being good. Every year, mid-major players transfer up and end up on Final 4 squads. Many of those are ranked far behind the recruits Shaka has been getting recently. He had consecutive recruiting classes either underwhelm (3-star guys like Chase, Ben, and Sean were so injury-bitten) or bust (Al, Tre, Zaide, Caedin) which hurt the team. But you can see the caliber of recruit getting better each year where we're averaging 4-star recruits like Royce, Owens, Sheek, MPIII and Egbuonu all come with tremendous upside. If you don't see how the potential of some of these NBA bodies then you're not actually watching.

[panda]

There is a world where a couple of freshmen make an unexpected splash and take this team from bubbly ceiling to tournament lock. There is a more realistic world where the freshmen are freshmen, foul trouble/injuries exist and we struggle when a modicum of depth is needed to deal with adversity. For the third year in a row, self inflicted roster building puts a cap on our success.

[SchnitzelBoy]

I think frontcourt depth will be something to watch. Josh Clark is the one we need to really to make a jump because he's 7'2" and springy. Should be adding more weight and conditioning this summer. I think we Egbuonu, MPIII and DO can fill in at the 4 because I guess they've grown a bit and are all 6'7" + adding weight. MPIII looked bigger in the recent social media post and I think he'll be able to be a reliable stretch-4. But we need 15-17 minutes at center to spot Fru. It'll be done by committee.

What will also be done by committee is backup PG. Minessale, Nash, Adrien, and Colton Crowdis are our options. I think Minessale is the best option because we have plenty of options at SF. When I look at PG and SG, we need as many of those 80 minutes covered by Nigel, Minessale, and Adrien as possible. I'm hoping Nash (recovering from injury but practicing) and give us minutes next season and handle the ball + hit threes.

Here's where some of the criticism is frankly ridiculous. "What if Nigel gets hurt? Why don't we have a superstar backup PG?" Basically NO ONE has that... Close to ZERO teams have enough depth to cover losing their best player.

BUT I do see a world where Nigel can miss a few games and Marquette rolls with lineups with Minessale and Adrien at the PG where our squad might be able to hang with lower level Big East teams and even scrap a win. That would also require big games from Royce, Damarius, MPIII, and Fru but that's entirely possible.

[The Sultan]

I'd like a bit more depth, but at some point you need to trust that one or two of these developmental pieces will pan out. It's not like ONLY 5-star recruits and transfers end up being good. Every year, mid-major players transfer up and end up on Final 4 squads. Many of those are ranked far behind the recruits Shaka has been getting recently. He had consecutive recruiting classes either underwhelm (3-star guys like Chase, Ben, and Sean were so injury-bitten) or bust (Al, Tre, Zaide, Caedin) which hurt the team. But you can see the caliber of recruit getting better each year where we're averaging 4-star recruits like Royce, Owens, Sheek, MPIII and Egbuonu all come with tremendous upside. If you don't see how the potential of some of these NBA bodies then you're not actually watching.

Yes, I am glad after 17 years of being a head coach, six of which have been at Marquette, that Shaka is finally figuring out how to recruit.

[Jay Bee]

Choosing 18 over Sheek is dangerous but not surprising from SS. It is what it is (insane).

Our hope is we see someone do much more than reasonably projected -- e.g., DO or Alex.

Otherwise...

#LastYear

[Pakuni]

Here's where some of the criticism is frankly ridiculous. "What if Nigel gets hurt? Why don't we have a superstar backup PG?" Basically NO ONE has that... Close to ZERO teams have enough depth to cover losing their best player.

Literally no one has said this.

[Pakuni]

And yet other programs can? We weren't the only team that needed to add depth. LSU and NC State added depth pieces that would've benefitted us. Providence and Seton Hall grabbed guys late that would've helped us.

There are guys that won't be starting elsewhere that could've been pursued by Marquette, but once Sheek left, we basically played turtle and pulled into our shell within a few days. If you're going to be active in the portal, which is what the staff statement ahead of the Xavier game said, then you need to continue to be active through the difficult times of missing out on players and losing others.

If only college basketball programs could employ a person to oversee portal strategies, player compensation and roster logistics, and create action plans to address a range scenarios, so that the coaching staff wouldn't be caught unprepared and unable to react when the unexpected inevitably occurs.
They could call this person ... oh, I don't know, the manager of general things?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Bottom line, I think this is where we saw the staff's inexperience in the portal shine through. They went in with a plan to add a big man, a wing, and a combo guard. But when Tylen Riley went elsewhere and Sheek Pearson entered the portal, they didn't have backup plans to solidify the bench.

They wanted to add depth, but convinced themselves it wasn't worth it and painted themselves into the corner of "it's too late, and is anyone out there really any better than Caedin" which leaves us at risk if we have injuries to significant players.

Kam and Stevie were never fully healthy down the stretch in 2025. Tyler missed six games in 2024. We saw what happened with a run-down Howard in 2019. Little injuries happen and a competent bench is often the difference between successfully weathering those stretches and collapsing in critical stretches of the season. I would've liked to see better planning in that regard.

Tylen and Nolan were always an either/or not a both/and.

The staff didn't sit on their hands after Sheek left. They targeted multiple transfers. They determined that most weren't fits/ weren't better than what we have,  and the few that were wanted far more money than wear the staff thought they were worth. We'll see if their evaluations end up being right.

[wadesworld]

If only college basketball programs could employ a person to oversee portal strategies, player compensation and roster logistics, and create action plans to address a range scenarios, so that the coaching staff wouldn't be caught unprepared and unable to react when the unexpected inevitably occurs.
They could call this person ... oh, I don't know, the manager of general things?

The good thing is it sounds like Marquette employs that person under a different title.

[wadesworld]

I'd imagine Fru plays 30 mpg against high majors.  Royce moves over to the 5 for 5-7 mpg when Fru is on the bench.

An injury to your potential BE POY is always going to make wins hard to get.  There are enough ball handlers on this team that I'm not worried about the 7 mpg Nigel goes to the bench, at least in terms of getting into the offense.

[jfp61]

Bottom line, I think this is where we saw the staff's inexperience in the portal shine through. They went in with a plan to add a big man, a wing, and a combo guard. But when Tylen Riley went elsewhere and Sheek Pearson entered the portal, they didn't have backup plans to solidify the bench.

They wanted to add depth, but convinced themselves it wasn't worth it and painted themselves into the corner of "it's too late, and is anyone out there really any better than Caedin" which leaves us at risk if we have injuries to significant players.

Kam and Stevie were never fully healthy down the stretch in 2025. Tyler missed six games in 2024. We saw what happened with a run-down Howard in 2019. Little injuries happen and a competent bench is often the difference between successfully weathering those stretches and collapsing in critical stretches of the season. I would've liked to see better planning in that regard.

They miss evaluated the talent on their own roster again this year.

They don't self scout hard enough.

Great programs are running bad players off faster.

At least owens and hamilton stay in their bench roles. And we see if phillips, 
egbuonu, walker, or miletic are good enough to play last years bench less. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

And yet other programs can? We weren't the only team that needed to add depth. LSU and NC State added depth pieces that would've benefitted us. Providence and Seton Hall grabbed guys late that would've helped us.

There are guys that won't be starting elsewhere that could've been pursued by Marquette, but once Sheek left, we basically played turtle and pulled into our shell within a few days. If you're going to be active in the portal, which is what the staff statement ahead of the Xavier game said, then you need to continue to be active through the difficult times of missing out on players and losing others.

Who did LSU grab that isn't starting or would help us? Bashir and Ugochukwu are going to start, Nunez isn't a high major player.

Who did NC State grab that would help us? Jacari Brim 1.2  ppg at app state? Comeh Emuobor whose BPR is 2 points lower than Hamilton's?

Seton Hall? I think Wol and Williams are going to start for them. Nwuli, maybe you grab him on potential, but on paper, he's not as good as Owens, Phillips, or Egbuono.

Providence, Bannarbie looks like a great depth piece for PC. Good on them. If Hodgson stays at PC (big if I think)...they could be a lot of trouble.

I'm not trying to claim that there were zero players out there who may have accepted a bench role and may have been good enough to help us, that's not true. But it's not true that we "played turtle." Those guys were identified and talked to. They either weren't a match for what we were looking for or their salary demands were beyond what we were willing to give them.

Some coaches thrive in environments where their relationships with their players is strictly a business relationship. Our coach isn't that. That's not a judgement good or bad. It's just an acknowledgement that different coaches succeed in different ways. Our coach for better or worse, succeeds by recruiting players who buy into his style of coaching/culture. He's never going to be a guy who recruits a guy solely because of his basketball talent. If he did, he wouldn't be successful. Again, I don't care how a coach does it, I just want to win and not be in the newspaper for the wrong reasons. But expecting Shaka to coach in a way that he can't be successful just doesn't make sense.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

They miss evaluated the talent on their own roster again this year.

They don't self scout hard enough.

Great programs are running bad players off faster.

At least owens and hamilton stay in their bench roles. And we see if phillips, 
egbuonu, walker, or miletic are good enough to play last years bench less. 

The season doesn't start for 5 months and you know they've already misevaluated?

[Pakuni]

The season doesn't start for 5 months and you know they've already misevaluated?

If they're relying on Caedin for 10ish minutes a game, then yeah, pretty good chance they've already misevaluated.
Maybe this is the year the long-promised big leap from Hamilton actually happens, but fool me thrice?

[MU82]

As one with zero inside MU hoops connections, I appreciate the conversation that brew and TAMU are having. I like and respect both of these fine Scoopers, and I am grateful to pick up some knowledge.