Scholarship table
I ended up at on a group email with a bunch of 70's alums. I have met one of them out here several times and he always sends out game time reminders and TV location.One of the alums in the group has been going to the end of the season team banquet forever. He apparently talked to the Hauser parents and they somehow inferred that things were going to be better next season without Marcus. He said he was confused because despite rumors heard no official announcement of Marcus going pro and thought nothing of it until the Hauser's announced their transfer. (Along those lines.)
The weird part of Scoop.Love: Joey Hauser, Sam Hauser and the Hauser parentsHate: Markus Howard, Kaitlin Reinhardt, Koby McEwenWondering if this is more of an image issue then anything else.
Unless they are personal friends of the Hausers, I'm not sure why any Scoopers would fervently defend a family that quit on our alma mater.
Lenny, we are closer on this than it appears. I think he knew there was issue, letter or no. I think he thought he could manage it, that it was just another inevitable conflict that could be worked out. I think he mis-read the level of antipathy. There are rumors of a yelling match and him-or-us ultimatums in the days after the season. I think that until they actually pulled the trigger, he thought that it could be managed. Again, underestimated the level of resentment. And because Wojo is not as nimble a recruiter as Buzz, he wasn't able to fill the holes. He tried with Jayce, but Morrow simply wasn't a 3. A year later, he landed Garcia and Lewis.
I think the reason some of us don't "hate" the Hausers is that we broadly agree with their complaint. Markus was an immense talent, but his usage rate was too high. A more balanced scoring attack would've been ideal. We had a first team All American last year....and finished 8-10 in conference. Seriously, how often does a team with a first team AA finish under .500 in conference? What a waste.Depending on what the letter said, I have no issue with them writing it. If it said "Hey Wojo you suck, double our shots or we quit" then sure, slag away. If it said "hey, a more balanced scoring attack would be better" then who am I to criticize? I agree with that. For seven years we've heard a litany of excuses as to why Wojo hasn't succeeded here. People blame the Hausers for the collapse two years ago when we lost 6 of 7....but then the exact same thing happened last year. Maybe the Hausers were whiny babies, but the responsibility ultimately lies with Wojo.
Usage is certainly a topic that can be argued in depth but the Hausers still had chances. And they failed. Often. The last two weeks of that season, and it's subsequent collapse, responsibility was shared and the Hausers were half the problem.
When did Reinhardt change genders?
And I've got no problem calling out anyone who played poorly during that stretch, Hausers included. The second straight collapse showed that there were problems bigger than them since they'd already left.
The problem in that stretch is they played the tri-conference champions (played them all tough) and lost two one possession games in addition to that. Those are the breaks. They weren't getting destroyed every night. They weren't totally outclassed. Still comfortably an NCAA team. They played tough competition and lost tight games. Also didn't help that the second option on the team wasn't exactly a consistent player. Two collapses in a row makes it easy for people to only blame one guy since the personnel changed. That's short-sighted. It also then allows for some to claim Wojo "learned" since they finished this season without a collapse. But is that the case?
I don't think after a seven year body of work that any judgement of Wojo is short-sighted.
Ah. Our conversation was based on the two years in a row collapsing issue. But now you've stopped that and changed the subject. No worries.
The defensive collapse was UCLA going straight at Joey when he was on the floor. Not the first team to do that.
I am clearly not a fan of Joey. I didn't get to watch the game... but how did he end up deciding the game when he played 16 minutes?Was it really that bad every time he was in, or were you just joking?
UCLA definitely went at him. I'm talking NBA-style clearouts so Jacquez could go at him one-on-one.But no, Joey didn't decide the game. He didn't help, but I'd say there were bigger culprits, the biggest being Izzo's coaching.