2025 Transfer Portal

[muwarrior69]

NIL is a slow motion train wreck that will likely look different several years from now. It is not a sustainable model and will probably be modified.

I am not concerned where MU is nationally in 2 or 3 years. The administration is fully supportive of the program and we are hardly alone. The hand wringing over using the portal(or not) is ridiculous.

I trust Shaka and Broker know what they are doing. They are making the best decisions with what we have as a program.

It has nothing to do with the portal. The question is will Marquette have the financial resources to compensate our athletes at the same level as other high major programs. No one knows the answer to that as of now, not even our AD.

[TedBaxter]

I did a little research last night that really surprised me and I'm not saying my research is 100% accurate.

At this point, the three Big East players with the most career games entering 2025-26 are Alex Karaban (111), Ben Gold (107) and Chase Ross (102).  Josh Dix, who is transferring to Creighton from Iowa has (97).  Karaban is deciding whether he is coming back as he redshirted as a freshman.

Last year the Big East had a number of players who were 23, 24 and 25 years old who ended up playing 140-169 career games. Diarra (169), Kalkbrenner (169), Ashworth (167) were the top 3.  Karaban could approach 150 if he comes back.

What I'm alluding to is that 2024-25 was a different animal with experience and physical maturity.  Marquette will now be on par with almost every school in the Big East next year with age and experience.

[panda2.0]

Year 1 to field a team......not Shaka's long term approach obviously. Its not that hard to understand really.

Care to address Kolek and omax?

Seems like two consecutive 2 seeds is just a minor detail to overlook.

[We R Final Four]

Care to address Kolek and omax?

Seems like two consecutive 2 seeds is just a minor detail to overlook.

I already did.......shaka needed players to field a team and he went and got these two.
As you have seen, he has not and apparently is not going out and looking for transfers who just completed their freshman year of bball. You can keep shouting from the mountaintops that this is the only way to do it.......Shaka believes otherwise.

[panda2.0]

I already did.......shaka needed players to field a team and he went and got these two.
As you have seen, he has not and apparently is not going out and looking for transfers who just completed their freshman year of bball. You can keep shouting from the mountaintops that this is the only way to do it.......Shaka believes otherwise.

That's a very odd way of glossing over a very successful span of Marquette history.

Hey - I'll use your logic with this team. Shaka just needs a big to field a team, he went and got one and it significantly raised the ceiling of this team.

[We R Final Four]

That's a very odd way of glossing over a very successful span of Marquette history.

Hey - I'll use your logic with this team. Shaka just needs a big to field a team, he went and got one and it significantly raised the ceiling of this team.

Since we haven't seen Clark play one minute....unlike you I will reserve judgment on if the kid can contribute over the next several years. Writing him off before he steps on the court....now that is odd.

[Viper]

So does everyone here dumbass.

seriously? Harsh...and probably not something you'd say in person. I'm cool with disagreement, but not that.

[79Warrior]

It has nothing to do with the portal. The question is will Marquette have the financial resources to compensate our athletes at the same level as other high major programs. No one knows the answer to that as of now, not even our AD.

what do you think is causing the issue??? The portal

[Viper]

As of today, no need to fix what isn't broken.

so, last season was ok? Pick up this fall where things left off? 🤔

[Viper]

Just another day.

...in your world of participation trophy mediocrity

[Viper]

How did Shaka build these successful rosters over the last few years?

2024-25 season a team success? Won +20. Made the ncaa tourney...so all good?

[Viper]

Agree. Some Scoopers claiming they want to win more than other Scoopers do - with some even suggesting they want to win more than Shaka does - is pretty damn insulting and unnecessary.

your acceptance of 'what is' is insulting.

[We R Final Four]

2024-25 season a team success? Won +20. Made the ncaa tourney...so all good?

Nope....wholesale changes are the only answer.

[panda2.0]

Since we haven't seen Clark play one minute....unlike you I will reserve judgment on if the kid can contribute over the next several years. Writing him off before he steps on the court....now that is odd.

The fact he couldn't help with out front line situation as it was this year tells me all I need to know about him.

Nigel James is going to be a stud and I expect him to push and ultimately start over Sean. We're still missing that piece in the middle to match up with zuby, Reed, freeman/mcandrew, sorber etc.

[We R Final Four]

The fact he couldn't help with out front line situation as it was this year tells me all I need to know about him.

Nigel James is going to be a stud and I expect him to push and ultimately start over Sean. We're still missing that piece in the middle to match up with zuby, Reed, freeman/mcandrew, sorber etc.

Sean is transferring.

[Zog from Margo]

Should Marquette recruit from the same pool as Boise state?

If MU gets good players, guys that develop into good players, and wins, why should I care? MU was in the doldrums when Shaka arrived. Since he's arrived, they've won the BE and the BE tournament, finished in the top half of the BE every season, made the NCAA every year, and made a Sweet 16. I see little evidence that Shaka cannot identify and develop talent. Like every team in the country, they could have better players at some position. News flash: Every team has weaknesses whether they use the portal or not.

[Uncle Rico]

...in your world of participation trophy mediocrity

lol

[panda2.0]

Sean is transferring.

Sweet response. Can't handle the debate so you default to the lowest common dominator insult. Very telling...

[Tha Hound]

Easily one of worst threads in recent scoop memory, and there's been no shortage of contenders.

[We R Final Four]

Sweet response. Can't handle the debate so you default to the lowest common dominator insult. Very telling...

1. Sean is transferring.
2. Nigel James will start at PG.
3. Josh Clark is a bust because he didn't play during his redshirt year.
You are on a roll.

[The Sultan]

seriously? Harsh...and probably not something you'd say in person. I'm cool with disagreement, but not that.

I don't care.

[panda2.0]

1. Sean is transferring.
2. Nigel James will start at PG.
3. Josh Clark is a bust because he didn't play during his redshirt year.
You are on a roll.

Doubling down on the lowest common dominator insults I see...

1 I chose to share a tidbit which was true. Query - do people change their minds or is everything set in stone?

2 James is an incredible talent playing against a very high level of competition (higher probability of predicable success @zogster) He will push Sean every step of the way and I'm predicting he will ultimately start/play more minutes than Sean next year. Competition breeds success.

3 if a big on the roster couldn't help the team last year, I don't see how they could possibly ever contribute. Personal opinion that isn't very controversial.

[panda2.0]

If MU gets good players, guys that develop into good players, and wins, why should I care? MU was in the doldrums when Shaka arrived. Since he's arrived, they've won the BE and the BE tournament, finished in the top half of the BE every season, made the NCAA every year, and made a Sweet 16. I see little evidence that Shaka cannot identify and develop talent. Like every team in the country, they could have better players at some position. News flash: Every team has weaknesses whether they use the portal or not.

The probability of hitting on unranked recruits is astronomically low.

The probability of hitting on higher ranked recruits is much higher.

Not rocket science. 

[muwarrior69]

what do you think is causing the issue??? The portal

It is also the court decision on player compensation and revenue sharing that is also a factor. Sure, the portal, NIL they're all factors. The portal is just another word for free agency which the players now have.  Will MU have the resources, be it from revenue sharing or NIL to keep players from going elsewhere if we're not going to acquire "free agents" or even recruit highly talented HS players who are looking for that pay.

[The Equalizer]

If MU gets good players, guys that develop into good players, and wins, why should I care? MU was in the doldrums when Shaka arrived. Since he's arrived, they've won the BE and the BE tournament, finished in the top half of the BE every season, made the NCAA every year, and made a Sweet 16. I see little evidence that Shaka cannot identify and develop talent. Like every team in the country, they could have better players at some position. News flash: Every team has weaknesses whether they use the portal or not.

The issue isn't whether Shaka can identify and develop talent.

It's the fact that his stated approach to NIL eliminates him from competing for recruits in three talent-rich pools.

First, in the post-NIL era, top-ranked HS players rightly expect an NIL package. Shaka's public statements on the topic state that if a player has that expectation, he won't recruit that player. That leaves us out of the running for players at the talent level of guys like Liam McNeely, Jackson McAndrew, or Kon Kneuppel.

Second, couple NIL with the immediate eligibility of transfers, and there is now a strong pool of late-bloomers that don't get high major offers out of HS, but after a year or two emerge with solid high-major potential.  And there is a market rate for these players as well, and because those players expect NIL at market rates, they're off the table for Shaka. Ironically, guys like Kolek and Prosper would fall into this category today.

Third, you have the transfers from high major programs that are going through a coaching change. For better or worse, the sport is 100% invested in the notion that players sign with the coach, not the school, and if the coach leaves it's just expected that the roster will jump en masse to the portal. Obviously, once again there is a market price for these players, taking them out of consideration for MU.

The only pool Shaka can recruit if he sticks with his "no NIL for newcomers" approach is the borderline top 100 who aren't quite good enough to command an NIL package, but where an MU offer is likely the best they'll see.

The situation is no different than other self-imposed restrictions that MU placed on itself in the past--no prop 48s, no players from academically suspect programs, no JUCOs (or only 1 at a time), etc.  When you take away a potential pool of talent, you remove one of the tools that can be used to succeed.

That's not to say that Shaka can't develop players or doesn't know what he's doing. It's the observation that when you limit the talent pool, you self-limit your potential for success. 

Nobody's saying that Shaka has to go full Pitino and buy the best players on the market every year.  But when we see teams like Creighton and UConn and Xavier succeed by blending a mix of top-ranked recruits, lower rated development players, and transfers, it's only natural to wonder whether they have a better approach.

If you start with a belief that Shaka is a better coach and developer of talent than McDermott or Hurley--which I think most here believe--the only rational explanation as to how those teams finished ahead of MU in the standings is a difference in talent.