Podcast - Nova can win the Big East

[That Guy]

Lol

 

[gtcam]

@navery12 I'm not down on Marquette, I just think they overachieved last year. My opinion is skewed a bit by perhaps overweighting the beat down we gave them here. I just see them 3-6 in the Big East next year which would still have them an NCAA team but sweating out selection Sunday. Comes from my gut rather than evidence based.

They have Shaka Smart and he instills confidence. Marquette may not win the NBE in 2023-2024 but they will be returning the NBE POY/best PG and that in itself is worth a ton.
They will be fine. Nova - thats another story because Neptune is a HUGE question mark.

 

[gtcam]

I think you spelled it out. We won a national championship beating all comers by double digits, I think we had the better team, I'd take our team over theirs in a heartbeat on paper, we have multiple players turning pro, and a 7'2 phenom freshman. They have none of that yet they beat us twice. Isn't that the epitome of over achieving? Otherwise, aren't you arguing they were the better team?

Marquette beat UConn in the most meaningful game of the 3 - BET semis . I agree that UConn had, on paper, the better team but Marquette was by far more consistent. UConn beat every team that was placed in front of them to win the NC. Were they the best teams in the country? No but to win the NC you have to win all your games and UConn did that and as you said, by double figures.
Marquette beat UConn because they have the leagues best PG and they are disciplined on their approach. They lost their one match up to UConn because UConn was the better team that one night.
Marquette was the best team in the NBE last season - you cant argue that.

 

[gsmooth]

We’ve matched up very well with them over the last few years. We should’ve been 2-0 against them in conference.

And against Creighton and taken at least 1 of 2 vs Xavier.

 

[Ricker]

Preseason, Marquette was picked in the lower half of the Big East and finished first, and beat the national champions twice. I don't know why it is arguable that they over achieved vs the expectations for the team or why it is a 'peak' boneyard take. It seems obvious to me that they got more out of their roster than conference coaches saw on paper preseason. All I said was that I'm personally not sold that they will be as good in 2023-2024. Plenty of teams return large portions of their lineups and don't do as well the next year. (UNC?) I'm not trying to influence anybody else's opinion about Marquette. I like the team, I like Shaka, I just think they did better than their bonafide talent.

 

[AntG168]

Marquette beat UConn in the most meaningful game of the 3 - BET semis . I agree that UConn had, on paper, the better team but Marquette was by far more consistent. UConn beat every team that was placed in front of them to win the NC. Were they the best teams in the country? No but to win the NC you have to win all your games and UConn did that and as you said, by double figures.
Marquette beat UConn because they have the leagues best PG and they are disciplined on their approach. They lost their one match up to UConn because UConn was the better team that one night.
Marquette was the best team in the NBE last season - you cant argue that.

You can absolutely argue it. Marquette never touched UConns Best last season. UConn was better at the beginning and the end of the season. The mid season slump fogged up the truth. UConn was the best team in the country last season

 

[auror]

You can absolutely argue it. Marquette never touched UConns Best last season. UConn was better at the beginning and the end of the season. The mid season slump fogged up the truth. UConn was the best team in the country last season

They did beat us at the end of the season on a neutral court.

 

[REB1094]

I see no reason why Marquette won't compete for back to back BE titles. Is anybody transferring out or are they literally bringing back EVERYONE except OMax?

I don't want to downplay the impact of losing him, but if you return your top scorer, your COY, your BE POY, most of your depth, and give them all 1 more year of development, that team will be a really good team. I like Stevie Mitchell a lot, deserved more attention for BE DPOY. If he can develop consistent shooting, he'll be a great starter for them. Maybe they won't repeat, but they should be among the top of the conference

I don't really see UNC in this team. They had a couple of early losses (one of which was by 5 to Purdue) but were elite starting in December. Just fell flat vs. Michigan State

I'll have to listen to the pod to hear the reasoning, but I think there's no reasonable way to predict Villanova will sniff winning the BE next year. They have players now, but really hard for me to hand them the crown while there's still UConn, Creighton, Marquette headed for great seasons

 

[AntG168]

They did beat us at the end of the season on a neutral court.

I’m not judging it based on head to head matchups, as that’s not normally the best way to judge who has the better overall team. I’ll say this though. That first win was gifted to them by Hurley. We should’ve beaten them both times in conference play. Imo we were clearly the better team in both games. It’s why we all wanted to be on their side of the bracket in the BET. Kolek just did what really good guards do in the BET sometimes.

 

[August_West]

You can absolutely argue it. Marquette never touched UConns Best last season. UConn was better at the beginning and the end of the season. The mid season slump fogged up the truth. UConn was the best team in the country last season

Oy gevalt

 

[NJHoops]

 

[Scrutineer]

Any reason you don't like Marquette next year? They return everyone except Maxence-Prosper from a team that won the Big East and bring in a solid recruiting class

Nice lineup, still young, but coaches are key in college basketball.

While he won the NIT in 2019 with a 21-16 overall record, Shaka Smart hasn't made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament since 2011.

Nine NCAA appearances since 2011 for a total of three wins.

It's interesting there's been no drumbeat of comments about his inability to win in the tournament, whereas JC was beaten up for years for his "failure to win the big games".

 

[metsfan2323]

We know the Big East refs will give them an advantage.

 

[navery12]

Nice lineup, still young, but coaches are key in college basketball.

While he won the NIT in 2019 with a 21-16 overall record, Shaka Smart hasn't made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament since 2011.

Nine NCAA appearances since 2011 for a total of three wins.

It's interesting there's been no drumbeat of comments about his inability to win in the tournament, whereas JC was beaten up for years for his "failure to win the big games".

Young? Their starting lineup is gonna be 2 seniors and 3 juniors. The only team with an older starting lineup will be Villanova

 

[ucp990411]

They did beat us at the end of the season on a neutral court.

And our starting backcourt went 4-21 in that game.

 

[Matt1010]

What are we even talking about here? Marquette finished 4 games ahead of us in the BE regular season and beat us h2h on the way to winning the BET.

 

[ucp990411]

You can absolutely argue it. Marquette never touched UConns Best last season. UConn was better at the beginning and the end of the season. The mid season slump fogged up the truth. UConn was the best team in the country last season

Our A game was better than anyone else’s A game. We were the best team in the country

 

[NJHoops]

Marquette was great last season. Shaka got his extension and money.

UConn was great last season.

UConn was greatER when it mattered the most.

 

[Umami Zen]

I'm sure Dan's agent was almost as happy with Shaka's package as Shaka and his agent were.. BET trophy $ vs Championship banner $.. A point of discussion at the next contract review meeting I am sure.

 

[Scrutineer]

Young? Their starting lineup is gonna be 2 seniors and 3 juniors. The only team with an older starting lineup will be Villanova

You asked Ricker his thoughts on Marquette for next year and he and someone else responded, with a focus on the players.

I chose to focus on the coach, while you've chosen to focus on one word in my seven line post about the coach.

My post was about how poorly Smart's teams have performed in the post season and how much more kindly he's been treated than JC was here when people said he couldn't win the "big one" and get to the Final Four.

Marquette was a two seed this year and for the ninth straight time Shaka Smart failed to get his team past the second round of the tournament. In those nine appearances his teams have won a total of three games. Imagine what the Boneyard would be like if that was the case here.............

So how will Marquette do in 2023-2024? If they have all the time in the world to game plan, like they do in the league, they'll again finish high in the league. NCAA? History says they won't go far.

 

[ucp990411]

My son in law is a Texas grad and a hoops fan. People in Texas dislike Shaka very much. Seems like he wears out his welcome pretty quickly. Yes, they had a very good year but let’s see what he does now before we anoint him. I am not sold.

 

[August_West]

Marquette was great last season. Shaka got his extension and money.

UConn was great last season.

UConn was greatER when it mattered the most.

Don’t bother. You can’t call any other basketball team on the board good, because we won a natty