If you are reading this blog, you have probably related a bit too much with his A-tier Tweet at some point.
In the moment, Marquette’s result affect my mood, my appetite and pretty much the rest of my day. It’s probably unhealthy, but it’s the truth.
And yet as time progresses, I find that the general ups and downs of a given season are usually replaced by the foggy memories we hold on to, whether good or bad. Which is weird right. I can spend a whole week riding high after a big win, and 3 years later all I’ll remember was the bad result at the end of the season.
So in order to best capture the vibes of any given week, I figured I’d start a running log using the least emotional measurement everyone uses. KenPom. I’ve taken the Adjusted Efficiency Margin he basis his ratings on from every Monday back through 2017 in order to give us some context.
This Year
Although a 1-1 week where you barely beat the team that is just as bad as you despite being up double digits and fail to capitalize on a career game from your star freshman isn’t exactly a great one, from a vibes perspective the mood feels much different.
Getting that first Big East victory out of the way, as ugly as it was, is a boon for the old psyche. As bad as things may have been or might yet be, at least they didn’t go winless. These cinematic recaps don’t hit the same when we are commemorating snapping a long losing streak, but they are still extremely well done.
And that game against Nova felt like significant progress. Sure, they came up short so no use in celebrating moral victories, but in a lost season, I am not above being encouraged at not looking like a mid major.
From a numbers perspective, Marquette barely moved compared to last week which felt a bit surprising since it was an 8 point underdog to Nova in KenPom’s rankings, but it was also a 3 point favorite vs Xavier, so it all washes out.
Needless to say, it looks like the freefall has ended, for now, and Marquette has stabilized around an AdjEM of 5. Again, that’s not something to be happy about in and of itself, but it sure beats the descent of the first 8 weeks.
NCAA Tournament Odds
LOL, remember when I thought this was worth tracking? Marquette has to win the Big East Tournament, so basically 0%.
Player Impact
To make up for removing the NCAA Tourney section, here’s a new part, updating the player performances as measured by Hoop-Explorer’s Player Impact grade in my 2026 dashboard.
As you’d expect with a statline as gaudy as Nigel James’ was on Saturday (31 points on 7/9 from 3), that was the best performance of the season by far, from any Marquette player.
It is a bummer he didn’t get a chance to touch the ball on the last possession, as hot as he was all game, but that doesn’t diminish any of the shine on this season’s brightest spot.
Shaka’s Tenure
Of course, even though this is meant to highlight a given week’s ups and downs, I still want to throw some context in there. Here’s a look at how Marquette has graded out in KenPom each week of Shaka’s tenure.
(The horizontal “Top XX” lines are set not at any given year, but at what the averages for the 10th, 30th and 50th ranked teams are.)
Marquette is currently at the lowest point in Shaka’s tenure by over 4 points.
Program History
And going back a bit further than that…
(The horizontal “Top XX” lines are set not at any given year, but at what the averages for the 10th, 30th and 50th ranked teams are.)
As of 1/12/26, this is currently the 3rd lowest point in recent Marquette history, only trailing the first week of the 2015 season, when it lost to Belmont, went to OT with IUPUI and was shellacked at home by Iowa and then last week. That low point was 4.91, and this team is sitting at 4.97.
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