Bilas on Wojo/MU

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

But... is he a "lifer"?

Otherwise, what's the point?

[Vander Blue Man Group]

But... is he a "lifer"?

Otherwise, what's the point?

Overall, a great article that makes me even more confident in the future of the program.  

As for whether he is a lifer, it is pointless and counterproductive to even worry about that, IMO (and I certainly had my fears when Crean and Buzz departed).  Ideally, Wojo has great success and stays for a long-time.  

However, even if he departs at some point for Duke to replace Coach K, then that means he has had great success here and I am confident that we would find an excellent replacement.  Hopefully we don't have to worry about that for a long while.  

[Tums Festival]

Great article that balances the possibilities of the coach and the school, unlike Goodman's love letters to Brent.

Also can't wait for the season to start. So happy my cable provider moved Fox Sports 1 to their basic tier.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Very impressed with Wojo so far, his comments, actions, team building, and recruiting have been top notch. If he can couple this with an equal talent for in game coaching and player development....we could be looking at a future great. Obviously, way too early to tell.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Very impressed with Wojo so far, his comments, actions, team building, and recruiting have been top notch. If he can couple this with an equal talent for in game coaching and player development....we could be looking at a future great. Obviously, way too early to tell.

Lets be honest here. If Marquette lands Ellenson everybody here will be praising him as the next Al and without even coaching a game. What he has done since he got here has been nothing short of remarkable.

[Johnny B]

Lets be honest here. If Marquette lands Ellenson everybody here will be praising him as the next Al and without even coaching a game. What he has done since he got here has been nothing short of remarkable.

Ye well no other coach has pulled in a top 4 recruit.

[MU82]

I'm also so impressed with what Wojo says, and I'm very optimistic about the future.

I was less than impressed with Bilas' focus on 'environment' not 'culture' Seems to me that they are exactly the same thing, but Bilas chooses to hang on the word choice. But, that's a frivolous complaint about a solid article.

I agree with all of this. The whole environment vs. culture thing was goofy. Both are fairly meaningless coach-speak cliches. Still, given the shared alma mater of "reporter" and subject, I otherwise thought Bilas did a nice job. And I really like the way Wojo has answered questions pretty much since the day he was hired.

[LAZER]

Other than the fact that Bilas and Wojo are, y'know, both Duke grads, so it's not like Bilas is without bias here...

Oh for sure.  My comment was tongue in cheek.  It will be interesting to see coverage of MU moving forward without Buzz and if Bilas (and what other media members) will continue to cover Wojo and how closely.  I'm guessing if things go well for Wojo at MU, he will get plenty of media coverage given his stature in college basketball.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Really like Wojo's approach.  Gotta give Cords credit in his BBAll coaching hires.

I hope Wojo can take the ball and advance the program like Crean did from deane and like Buzz did from Crean.  I have tremendous confidence that Wojo is gonna elavate us even further.  For those that want to respond that he hasnt coached a game.  Remember just that, that its just a game and its a simple game.  Players play and recruiting is 90% of winning.  Dumb or arrogant basketball coaches always want to take credit for their coaching accumen, good coaches understand winning is done by the players and winning is done by winning in recruiting.  That is why Huggins, mocked Crean by calling him Tommy Naismith.  

(To my point, the reason guys like Huggins, Knight and amny others after huge early success did not win later in their careers is not becuase they became stupid and forgot everything they knew.  It was becuase their recruiting fell off.)

additionally, it is a tremendous pleasure to be able to read an article of this nature and not be immediately bombarded with 15 passive-aggressive posts by a certain banned poster.  hopefully the ban is permanent and we do not have the displeasure of having everything that is good about MU basketball pissed all over by a certain poster, as a feel good post devolves into a back and forth of MU fans and the resident troll who calls himself a fan but finds the need to only focus on the negative or negative possibilities all of the time.  hopefully the mods are reading this and giving it some though.

I'm not banned, if it was me who you were trying to call out.  I've been swamped with travel, work, etc.

Secondly, you just couldn't help yourself with this article...could you?  Great article about Wojo, but you couldn't help yourself....as if we didn't know how you felt about other coaches.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Overall, a great article that makes me even more confident in the future of the program.  

As for whether he is a lifer, it is pointless and counterproductive to even worry about that, IMO (and I certainly had my fears when Crean and Buzz departed).  Ideally, Wojo has great success and stays for a long-time.  

However, even if he departs at some point for Duke to replace Coach K, then that means he has had great success here and I am confident that we would find an excellent replacement.  Hopefully we don't have to worry about that for a long while.  

I was being sarcastic... figured that was apparent. We are in agreement.

[boyonthedock]

Wojo has done everything he possibly could in the time he has been here. He's retaining current kids, recruiting new high level ones at a rate as good or better than we are accustomed to, even tall guys!, and talking a good game to the media. Couldn't be happier with him so far.

Hopefully the product on the floor matches what he has accomplished in his limited tenure so far. When they roll tha ball out there, I hope I still don't have anything to complain about. I have no reason to think I will.

But we will probably suck this year, and I am prepared for that. I expect a .500ish season, and anything above that is gravy. Anything below that like 10-20ish will not cause me to call for his head either. Next year we better be at least knocking on the NCAA door. Year 3 we better be arguing about seeding and "respect" and the relative quality of our cupcakes again.

So in short, keep up the good work.

[tower912]

I do like the way he is embracing the history and all of the players, not differentiating between Al's guys, Hank's guys, Rick's guys, etc.    Making it all one big kumbaya singing "We are Marquette".   Now he needs to start inviting the all of the message board guys.   No 'ners guy' or 'sultan guy' or 'bma guy' or 'chicos guy' or 'dodds guy' or 'ganzer guy'.   Now if he can bring all of THOSE warring factions together......

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I do like the way he is embracing the history and all of the players, not differentiating between Al's guys, Hank's guys, Rick's guys, etc.    Making it all one big kumbaya singing "We are Marquette".   Now he needs to start inviting the all of the message board guys.   No 'ners guy' or 'sultan guy' or 'bma guy' or 'chicos guy' or 'dodds guy' or 'ganzer guy'.   Now if he can bring all of THOSE warring factions together......

Only two kinds of guys -- those that played ball and those that watched.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I was being sarcastic... figured that was apparent. We are in agreement.

I figured that was a strong possibility but there are some interesting viewpoints here from time to time so I wasn't 100% sure. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I do like the way he is embracing the history and all of the players, not differentiating between Al's guys, Hank's guys, Rick's guys, etc.    Making it all one big kumbaya singing "We are Marquette".   Now he needs to start inviting the all of the message board guys.   No 'ners guy' or 'sultan guy' or 'bma guy' or 'chicos guy' or 'dodds guy' or 'ganzer guy'.   Now if he can bring all of THOSE warring factions together......

Peace in the middle east will come sooner.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

This gets me all jacked up.

[Warrior Code]

This gets me all jacked up.

Should have made it JenryJamilJaeJamailJrJaun.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Should have made it JenryJamilJaeJamailJrJaun.

Or Henry, Haanif, Heldt

[Class71]

May wish to see them play before getting too jacked. Otherwise we might see a few bipolar events on the blog.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

May wish to see them play before getting too jacked. Otherwise we might see a few bipolar events on the blog.

youtube.com/watch?v=GF8aaTu2kg0

[Daniel]

Great piece.  Wojo is very thoughtful. I think his focus on player development is huge, and as said, he was a player. He knows the drills.  In terms if being a good games coach, it will take him a bit to get his head coaching legs but he will  you don't hang with clack K as an assistant and not learn a ton.  He will be good.

[T.V. Diener 34]

[LloydMooresLegs]

Touch 'em all, Wojo.

And looking forward to the threads that  turn "sustainable environment" into a meme.

[RushmoreAcademy]

Love it.
I think Wojo could sell me a ketchup popsicle.

[Cooby Snacks]

Touch 'em all, Wojo.

And looking forward to the threads that  turn "sustainable environment" into a meme.

Environmental sustainability is one of the focus areas of the foundation I work for. Maybe we can start funding MU hoops.