Did we underperform?

[ATWizJr]

Long time fan but am wondering, the last two seasons our roster contained a first round and two second round picks. Yet, we maxed out in the round of 32 and the Sweet16.

And we were seeded much higher than where we finished. Shouldn’t we have at least made the Elite 8 both years? 

[PointWarrior]

Not this shiit again...     the horse is plenty dead...

[tower912]

I would look at the overall record the last two years.    From that perspective, no.  IMO, sweet 16 is never underachieving.  Neither is a Big East championship.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Did Marquette over achieve by beating a Colorado team with the 10th, 18th and 42nd overall picks this year, despite having no first rounders on the roster?

[tower912]

4-31.   Don't have a crap shooting night against a hot team.

[Scoop Snoop]

Long time fan but am wondering, the last two seasons our roster contained a first round and two second round picks. Yet, we maxed out in the round of 32 and the Sweet16.

And we were seeded much higher than where we finished. Shouldn’t we have at least made the Elite 8 both years?

Go back two years ago and look at how the #1 seeds fared in the tourney. It took Purdue multiple tourneys to get to the championship game with Zach Edey. One year they were ambushed by mighty St. Peters. While all teams have to deal with injuries, take into consideration Kolek's injury in the Vermont game. We will never know how the MSU game might have turned out with Kolek healthy. Maybe we would have won. Maybe not. 

At least an EE? We are talking about college basketball, right? No guarantees.

[Uncle Rico]

Anything less than a natty is a lost year

[wadesworld]

The NCAA Tournament always goes as it is seeded. Except for MU. The team picked to finish 9 out of 11 teams in the BE losing in the second round underachieved.

[ATWizJr]

Not this shiit again...     the horse is plenty dead...

then don't beat it, arse_ _ _ _.

[DoctorV]

This one is pretty easy.

Overachieved in the regular season, underachieved in the NCAA tourney.

Part A is the main reason why the roster contained the NBA kids, part B is part of the reason why those kids- mainly TyKo and Oso- weren’t drafted a bit higher

[bilsu]

Long time fan but am wondering, the last two seasons our roster contained a first round and two second round picks. Yet, we maxed out in the round of 32 and the Sweet16.

And we were seeded much higher than where we finished. Shouldn’t we have at least made the Elite 8 both years?

This year UConn had four starters drafted with two of them in the top 10. May of been 5 starters, if the 5th starter did not withdraw from the draft.

[MU82]

Anything less than a natty is a lost year

Yessir. I can’t believe Shaka-Dukiet is still employed.

[tower912]

Shaka should have recruited France harder.

[MU82]

Not this shiit again...     the horse is plenty dead...

Somebody once mentioned that O’Tule has a glass eye. And Marcus is only 17!

[THRILLHO]

This year UConn had four starters drafted with two of them in the top 10. May of been 5 starters, if the 5th starter did not withdraw from the draft.

Sounds like they did a better job developing players than Shaka

[We R Final Four]

Any #1 seed who doesn’t make a FF underperforms.

[duanewade]

Clearly Shaka's first team with six future NBA prospects in Justin Lewis, Darryl Morsell, Omax, Kolek, Kam, and Oso hugely underperformed with all that talent. 

All the geniuses here were all proclaiming a NIT bid was our best case scenario that season. 

Only I and few others knew better and were not surprised by our mid-season surge only to later inexplicably stink it up down the stretch that year. 

This year's team could be very good too, but I'm afraid Shaka's loyalty to seniors like David Joplin could hold us back.  I think we'll be much better defensively and more explosive in transition when the cream of crop rises among Owens/Lowery/Amadou and one or two of them get more of those minutes than Joplin does. 

Joplin is a great kid from a great family... certainly he's had some very good games and moments.
 However, I think the team is best served when he's our sixth or seventh option.  He's just too limited athletically, with inconsistent play and decision making for us to overcome the roster losses of both Kolek and Oso.  Those are obviously two huge losses for any team but they were also both very intelligent players and leaders that kept dumb play and mistakes by the team to a minimum.  Without them I'm afraid Joplin's mistake prone play could even get amplified.     

The only silver lining of Joplin being Joplin and taking up a lot of minutes again next year is it could hide Damarius Owens from the NBA scouts for another year.  Damarius already has a NBA body that is both very long and muscular... along with NBA athleticism to boot.  Based on the what I've seen of him already on video it's a matter of when he goes to the NBA and not if he'll be good enough.  Hopefully we get him for two years and he helps us win a lot of games before he bolts.  I love the upside of Lowery and Amadou too, but I just think Owens just has all the NBA traits GM's want and will be hard to keep him in Milwaukee very long.   

The 2025-2026 team, assuming Owens doesn't blow up and go, with all its length, speed and depth could be the team that finally breaks through and makes a run for a natty!  I really like the potential of that roster if all the best players stay and become the best they can be!

[MU82]

All the geniuses here were all proclaiming a NIT bid was our best case scenario that season. 
Only I and few others knew better and were not surprised by our mid-season surge only to later inexplicably stink it up down the stretch that year. 

Yes, I clearly remember you correctly predicting the result of every game that season.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Clearly Shaka's first team with six future NBA prospects in Justin Lewis, Darryl Morsell, Omax, Kolek, Kam, and Oso hugely underperformed with all that talent. 

All the geniuses here were all proclaiming a NIT bid was our best case scenario that season. 

Only I and few others knew better and were not surprised by our mid-season surge only to later inexplicably stink it up down the stretch that year. 

This year's team could be very good too, but I'm afraid Shaka's loyalty to seniors like David Joplin could hold us back.  I think we'll be much better defensively and more explosive in transition when the cream of crop rises among Owens/Lowery/Amadou and one or two of them get more of those minutes than Joplin does. 

Joplin is a great kid from a great family... certainly he's had some very good games and moments.
 However, I think the team is best served when he's our sixth or seventh option.  He's just too limited athletically, with inconsistent play and decision making for us to overcome the roster losses of both Kolek and Oso.  Those are obviously two huge losses for any team but they were also both very intelligent players and leaders that kept dump play and mistakes by the team to a minimum.  Without them I'm afraid Joplin's mistake prone play could even get amplified.     

The only silver lining of Joplin being Joplin and taking up a lot of minutes again next year is it could hide Damarius Owens from the NBA scouts for another year.  Damarius already has a NBA body that is both very long and muscular... along with NBA athleticism to boot.  Based on the what I've seen of him already on video it's a matter of when he goes to the NBA and not if he'll be good enough.  Hopefully we get him for two years and he helps us win a lot of games before he bolts.  I love the upside of Lowery and Amadou too, but I just think Owens just has all the NBA traits GM's want and will be hard to keep him in Milwaukee very long.   

The 2025-2026 team, assuming Owens doesn't blow up and go, with all its length, speed and depth could be the team that finally breaks through and makes a run for a natty!  I really like the potential of that roster if all the best players stay and become the best they can be!

TLDR

[rocky_warrior]

TLDR

This week I was reminded of the following email I got from duanewade in 2010...

I just received a ban for personal attacks email under duanewade after pointing out the nice play of the new recruit. The last time I posted before this was several weeks ago where people called me a "prick" and an "idiot" because they disagreed with what I said.   I in turn took the high ground and didn't respond back.

Clearly it was a mistake and I expect to be reinstated asap with an apology.

If I am not I will forward this email to my attorney who is also a MU grad to monitor my legal rights and will follow up with the president, the AD, Buzz Williams and the various MU alumni who work with alumni like myself who have leaned on me greatly in the past for my network, knowledge and money. If I have to go to this level I will take it all the way and make sure the person/people behind this outrageous ban are reprimanded, discilpined and potentially fired.

To which I replied....

I don't give a rats ass about how important you perceive yourself to be.  In fact, I suggest you do call your attorney so that he can explain to you that MUScoop is a website run by a private individual - myself.  He can then explain to you that, within the law, I am free to do what I like with this website.

Banning you is certainly within the law.  You want me fired?  Oh really.  It's not a job, genius!  Myself and 3 other friends have poured several thousands of dollars and hours into MUScoop - and we don't sell advertising or ask for anything in return.  It's a money losing proposition but we do it because we love to talk Marquette hoops with other fans.

So what happened with your account?  We banned another user and apparently also included some IP addresses on the AT&T network, you managed to use one of those, so it showed up as a ban on your account.

Normally, I would apologize for something like this.  But since you can't seem to craft a respectful e-mail asking me what happened (like other users have in the past), I'm actually going to give your account a 2 month ban.

That should give you plenty of time to talk to your attorney, the AD, Buzz Williams and various MU alumni to figure out how to stop the tyranny.

[Uncle Rico]

This week I was reminded of the following email I got from duanewade in 2010...

To which I replied....

I want to meet his lawyer

[NotAnAlum]

I would argue that all 3 of Shaka's seasons here his teams have exceeded expectations based on their raw talent level during the regular season.   I believe this is a result of coaching keeping the team focused on each game.  However when we get into the NCAA tournament and every player is highly focused and motivated MUs advantage gets equalized.  It can't be an accident that 2 years in a row MU has played horribly against a team they would likely have beaten if they played them during the regular season. 

[rocky_warrior]

I would argue that all 3 of Shaka's seasons here his teams have exceeded expectations based on their raw talent level

I generally agree, but to think his first team had 5 future NBA guys, wow.

[DoctorV]

So D’Ow (D, Ohh) should be more valuable to this years team than Jop?

If that happens it’s either a trip to the FF or a major problem, more than likely the latter.

I came down HARD on Jop after the NCAAt game and I regret it. He sucked, but he knows that more than most and he’s out there working his ass off so that crap wasnt fair.

Jop should be a 13ppg+ talent this year, ever with all the options, if Shaka’s vision proves true. Not what Shaka hoped this deep in his career, but still effective.
He’s still a homegrown kid that defines everything Shaka and this program wants, so it’s hard to now pull for him.

D’Ow is going to be great, but not better than Joplin this season. If he’s close we have a problem.
That said, I do think he can pass BGold as the meat eaters favorite “next” nba stud within months, even though BG is growing on me and I love me some Zaide2NBA

[rocky_warrior]

So D’Ow (D, Ohh)

Oh. Owens.  Man, took me while to even translate.  Are "people" saying he'll be a factor?