Stop and think about the difference between playing a team like St John's, versus playing a team like Wisconsin.  Wisconsin of course will get a high seed, probably a 3 or 4, but that would be a 4 seed I would love to see us play.

St John's is an absolute load physically, athletically - they've got length, strength and skill.

Wisconsin?  Nowhere near as physical or challenging to defend.

End of the day, if the refs allow a physical game, St. John's will go a LONG way in the NCAA.

If SJU could play every game at MSG, they would be national champs.

Quote from: Elonsmusk on March 14, 2025, 08:14:30 PMStop and think about the difference between playing a team like St John's, versus playing a team like Wisconsin.  Wisconsin of course will get a high seed, probably a 3 or 4, but that would be a 4 seed I would love to see us play.

St John's is an absolute load physically, athletically - they've got length, strength and skill.

Wisconsin?  Nowhere near as physical or challenging to defend.

End of the day, if the refs allow a physical game, St. John's will go a LONG way in the NCAA.

Shaka Slurper.

Ps...thanks for getting Wojo fired.

Quote from: Elonsmusk on March 14, 2025, 08:14:30 PMStop and think about the difference between playing a team like St John's, versus playing a team like Wisconsin.  Wisconsin of course will get a high seed, probably a 3 or 4, but that would be a 4 seed I would love to see us play.

St John's is an absolute load physically, athletically - they've got length, strength and skill.

Wisconsin?  Nowhere near as physical or challenging to defend.

End of the day, if the refs allow a physical game, St. John's will go a LONG way in the NCAA.

Pitino has the blue ribbon recipe. They'll be really good for as long as he's their HC. It's good for the BE, in my opinion. HOF coach. NYC. MSG. Media central. I think the conference is going to be very good over the next few years. DePaul might have a good coach, finally. Cooley will continue to improve GTown. McDermott, Hurley, Miller...they'll continue to be stout. Hopefully Shaka's approach around retention and culture pans out. I just feel that to match Pitino and Hurley, force in the paint and shooters are a requirement. MU finished 3-7 this season vs the top 4.

Need more data.
Let's see how we do next year.

Unless Shaka goes to the portal I think next year will be ugly.  They are only
returning their 4th and 5th best players.

Gold cannot cut it at the BE level...
Beyond him and Ross, they have a bunch of completely unproven and unreliable very young players.

Meanwhile, UCONN and SJU and others will reload

Gold will be serviceable, but there won't be any BE teams losing any sleep about having to face him.
I can say that pretty confidently at this point, even if he goes off and hits 10 3s in the NCAAt to help Marquette get to the E8

Btw it was impressive to see Zuby step out and not allow him to get a shot off, and then guard Kam in space in the same possession, and then dominate everyone on Marquettes interior defense on the other end, and never really get gassed.

Ben was too passive today, he had the dribble drive available a few times because everyone on StJ steps out to the 3 to guard aggressively. He didn't look alive at all.
Zaide did. He failed some and he succeeded some, but he was alive to the drive

Quote from: Mu8891 on March 14, 2025, 09:45:46 PMUnless Shaka goes to the portal I think next year will be ugly.  They are only
returning their 4th and 5th best players.

Gold cannot cut it at the BE level...
Beyond him and Ross, they have a bunch of completely unproven and unreliable very young players.

Meanwhile, UCONN and SJU and others will reload

Forgot my second point

Ben will be serviceable, Chase will be all BE team caliber, though not sure which of the 3 teams (I'd guess 3rd at this point)
Zaide will be very good, and so will Parham, assuming both return. Future star potential as a Sr and Jr respectively in the following year imo.
I think DO makes the leap to top 3 scorer on the team, just don't know how he finds his way, but I can see the star potential people saw in Ben much more in DO.

Next year will be VERY reliant on first year contributors though, much more than this year.
What I mentioned above is very weak sauce return talent compared to what we have in Kam/Stevie/Jop, who pretty much were guaranteed 27+ minutes falling out of bed, not to mention Chase.

Other than Chase there is no guaranteed 30 mins guy next year, so a lot more up for grabs than years past.
Even Ben, Parham, Zaide need to perform much better than this season to get that much run.
So, between Clark, Amadou, James, Miletic, Stevens, Phillips, and Tre/Caedin who I will lump in with the above as "new" options, 2-3 will really have to step up and play a huge role.

If Shaka doesn't see that, he will shop and some will drop and then the beat goes on.

It will be a transition year, undoubtedtly

Quote from: Mu8891 on March 14, 2025, 09:45:46 PMUnless Shaka goes to the portal I think next year will be ugly.  They are only
returning their 4th and 5th best players.

Gold cannot cut it at the BE level...
Beyond him and Ross, they have a bunch of completely unproven and unreliable very young players.

Meanwhile, UCONN and SJU and others will reload

While Gold and Ross have experience, they've been who they are: average players that aren't poised to make a big jump in production. If Shaka believes they can be competitive without adding some talent, maybe (hopefully) he knows something we don't.

Quote from: Warrior of Law on March 15, 2025, 07:56:54 AMWhile Gold and Ross have experience, they've been who they are: average players that aren't poised to make a big jump in production. If Shaka believes they can be competitive without adding some talent, maybe (hopefully) he knows something we don't.

They're not? How do we know this?

I think we make the tourney next year. Top half of BE. Being a fairweather fan I  don't think about it till November.

There are so many question marks about next that I don't think of us really know what to expect. It is likely to be a frustrating but entertaining season as young players try to step up to major college basketball. After watching Gold and Ross for three years, we pretty much know what they are. Parham can obviously play at a high level but will have to take on a lot more scoring and rebounding responsibility. Everything else is a crap shoot. Can Norman play a major role or does he decide to move on? Is Owens actually a real player or just a very athletic guy? Who will become the team leader? Can Sean Jones be effective in the BE as a starting pg? Etc, etc, etc.

Quote from: DoctorV on March 14, 2025, 10:02:12 PMForgot my second point

Ben will be serviceable, Chase will be all BE team caliber, though not sure which of the 3 teams (I'd guess 3rd at this point)
Zaide will be very good, and so will Parham, assuming both return. Future star potential as a Sr and Jr respectively in the following year imo.
I think DO makes the leap to top 3 scorer on the team, just don't know how he finds his way, but I can see the star potential people saw in Ben much more in DO.

Next year will be VERY reliant on first year contributors though, much more than this year.
What I mentioned above is very weak sauce return talent compared to what we have in Kam/Stevie/Jop, who pretty much were guaranteed 27+ minutes falling out of bed, not to mention Chase.

Other than Chase there is no guaranteed 30 mins guy next year, so a lot more up for grabs than years past.
Even Ben, Parham, Zaide need to perform much better than this season to get that much run.
So, between Clark, Amadou, James, Miletic, Stevens, Phillips, and Tre/Caedin who I will lump in with the above as "new" options, 2-3 will really have to step up and play a huge role.

If Shaka doesn't see that, he will shop and some will drop and then the beat goes on.

I wonder how Chase, Zaide and DO will find distinct and complementary roles next year, as they have similar sizes and skillsets. At this point, I don't quite see how all three of your bolded points will come to fruition.

If we don't bring in an impact transfer, I have a hard time seeing us in the top half of the BE next year. Ross and Gold are nice players, but not enough to keep us at the level we were at this year. Everyone else is pretty unproven. I'm most optimistic about Zaide as he made some nice strides this year and Parham also has potential. Owens, Norman and Hamilton could all turn out okay but currently make too many mistakes on both ends to stay on the floor for very long.

Quote from: rgoode57 on March 15, 2025, 08:27:30 AMThere are so many question marks about next that I don't think of us really know what to expect. It is likely to be a frustrating but entertaining season as young players try to step up to major college basketball. After watching Gold and Ross for three years, we pretty much know what they are. Parham can obviously play at a high level but will have to take on a lot more scoring and rebounding responsibility. Everything else is a crap shoot. Can Norman play a major role or does he decide to move on? Is Owens actually a real player or just a very athletic guy? Who will become the team leader? Can Sean Jones be effective in the BE as a starting pg? Etc, etc, etc.

Yes.  As it has always been.  Seniors and stars leave.  Questions abound.  Who will step up?  Who will make the leap?  This is the circle of life in college basketball.  If every single  player left and Shaka had to get 10 players out of the portal, the questions would be the same.

Quote from: tower912 on March 15, 2025, 09:01:46 AMYes.  As it has always been.  Seniors and stars leave.  Questions abound.  Who will step up?  Who will make the leap?  This is the circle of life in college basketball.  If every single  player left and Shaka had to get 10 players out of the portal, the questions would be the same.

I dont understand why scoopers don't understand this. Because DO didn't average 15 and 8 this year......doesn't mean he can't next year. Freshman watch. Sophs contribute. Juniors and Seniors play.

Quote from: Viper on March 14, 2025, 09:19:18 PMPitino has the blue ribbon recipe. They'll be really good for as long as he's their HC. It's good for the BE, in my opinion. HOF coach. NYC. MSG. Media central. I think the conference is going to be very good over the next few years. DePaul might have a good coach, finally. Cooley will continue to improve GTown. McDermott, Hurley, Miller...they'll continue to be stout. Hopefully Shaka's approach around retention and culture pans out. I just feel that to match Pitino and Hurley, force in the paint and shooters are a requirement. MU finished 3-7 this season vs the top 4.

You are absolutely correct. BEast keeps improving most of their teams, but which direction is MU going after this year. St. Johns getting way better is good for Beast, but Rick is still a sleazeball. When it comes to competing in BEeast, it feels like MU is fading after this years disappointment, and no bangers coming in. Questions  l;ike these need to be considered.

Shaka seems way too competitive to take a gargantuan step back and finish below 5th in the conference.  I think he will do what needs to be done to field a competitive team next year.

Quote from: Viper on March 14, 2025, 09:19:18 PMPitino has the blue ribbon recipe. They'll be really good for as long as he's their HC. It's good for the BE, in my opinion. HOF coach. NYC. MSG. Media central. I think the conference is going to be very good over the next few years. DePaul might have a good coach, finally. Cooley will continue to improve GTown. McDermott, Hurley, Miller...they'll continue to be stout. Hopefully Shaka's approach around retention and culture pans out. I just feel that to match Pitino and Hurley, force in the paint and shooters are a requirement. MU finished 3-7 this season vs the top 4.

You are absolutely correct. BEast keeps improving most of their teams, but which direction is MU going after this year. St. Johns getting way better is good for Beast, but Rick is still a sleazeball. When it comes to competing in BEeast, it feels like MU is fading after this years disappointment, and no bangers coming in. Questions  l;ike these need to be considered.

Quote from: Mu8891 on March 14, 2025, 09:45:46 PMUnless Shaka goes to the portal I think next year will be ugly.  They are only
returning their 4th and 5th best players.

Gold cannot cut it at the BE level...
Beyond him and Ross, they have a bunch of completely unproven and unreliable very young players.

Meanwhile, UCONN and SJU and others will reload

SJU doesnt need to reload they have 4 starters back. U Conn will do what they always do. Compete. Creighton also. Xavier keeps improving as does De Paul. Villanova wiil get better. How about us? Are we moving in that direction? Does not feel like it.

Top 5 in the Big East again next year for sure.  Love the talent on the roster, its easy to project nice leaps for some of them.  Its going to look a lot different not having this senior class anymore, but we've got a lot of nice pieces on this roster next year.

I also would not rule out Shaka using the portal for the right piece.  His comments about the portal get headlines, but at the end of the day he's too competitive to not add someone if he thinks we have a need somewhere on the roster.

Quote from: willie warrior on March 15, 2025, 09:14:20 AMU Conn will do what they always do. Compete. Creighton also. Xavier keeps improving as does De Paul. Villanova wiil get better. How about us? Are we moving in that direction? Does not feel like it.

Ya, I just wish we would "compete" and "improve" like all these teams listed above.

Quote from: Warrior of Law on March 15, 2025, 07:56:54 AMWhile Gold and Ross have experience, they've been who they are: average players that aren't poised to make a big jump in production. If Shaka believes they can be competitive without adding some talent, maybe (hopefully) he knows something we don't.

I'm pretty confident that Shaka knows a whole lot that Scoop doesn't. 

Quote from: NCMUFan on March 14, 2025, 09:22:38 PMNeed more data.
Let's see how we do next year.

Yes, there is always next year.

Quote from: Warrior of Law on March 15, 2025, 07:56:54 AMWhile Gold and Ross have experience, they've been who they are: average players that aren't poised to make a big jump in production. If Shaka believes they can be competitive without adding some talent, maybe (hopefully) he knows something we don't.

I think Ross is capable of making a jump, but I don't think Gold is capable of more than a slight step up, and his minutes since February have reflected that. He's more suited to the role he had last year.