Scholarship table
What concerns me is there's no identity to this team. We've heard for years how tough Marquette guys are. The pros wear it as a badge of honor. I don't see that in this group. Traci is the one guy that plays with an edge.Maybe that will come as guys get older. Say what you will about Brent, but you knew his guys were gonna be tough SOBs that competed. This group lets a few bad trips down the floor derail them.
That said, I'm not ready to give up on Wojo or start wondering about his "leash" but, as I've stated before, I'd really like to see a grizzled, experienced coach added to the staff.
Wojo was noted as an excellent developer of talent at Duke. Whether he can translate that with lesser rated players at Marquette in the head role remains to be seen, but I did like that last year, both Carlino and Derrick had their best seasons as collegiate players. Juan and Steve both went from minimal contributors to solid rotation guys. The results may not have been fantastic, but all four of those guys had their best seasons last year under Wojo. I have to think that's a good sign.Last year reminded me of the woeful 76ers when Evan Turner & MCW would put up garbage stats because they played so much & had nobody else to replace them.Carlino played 5 more min then ever before and raised avg 1.3 pts (13.7 to 15.0), lowest ast total ever, lowest FG %.Derrick played career high in mpg & raised avg from 5 ppg to 5.6 & ast from 4.2 to 4.7Juan jumped from 13 mpg to 29 mpgSteve jumped from 10 mpg to 23 mpg (3 ppg / 3 reb to 6 ppg / 5 reb)
You're looking at the wrong numbers.Carlino had his highest offensive efficiency, highest eFG%, and highest 3PFG%. Assist rate was down, but that's because he was the secondary PG.Derrick had his highest offensive efficiency, highest eFG%, highest 3PFG%, highest 2PFG%, and highest assist rate.Juan had his highest offensive efficiency, highest eFG%, highest 3PFG%, and highest 2PFG%.Steve is the only one you could really make a case against, as he was more efficient his freshman year, but last year was definitely his most consistent season.As has been noted, normally as minutes and usage go up, efficiency goes down. For those guys, that wasn't the case. In my eyes, that's still a good sign and not worth dismissing.
And that was all thanks to Wojo?
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
This thread reminds me of a point someone else made a while ago. I think it was on a cracked sidewalks podcast. Henry Ellenson was the best and worst thing to happen to Wojo. On the plus side, he is a major talent, will be in the NBA soon, and was a major recruiting coup. On the negative, it artificially accelerated everyone's expectations for this team. I think most of us were reserved to have another down rebuilding year. When Henry signed we thought "We got a burger boy! Anything less than a sweet 16 is a failure!" Without realizing that the rest of the roster is still incomplete.
We've got some soft players.
There seems to be a disconnect somewhere. We were told that Wojo emphasized the rebounding disparity from the last SH game in preparing for this one. Either the team doesn't listen, isn't capable of doing what needs to be done, or the staff that is capable of recognizing the problems are unable to teach how to correct the problem. I'm leaning towards "isn't capable."
Also I think some of the problem will go away next year when Cheatham has a year under his belt. I like Cheatham a lot. but he is telegraphing everything he does. The other teams know it. Never looks to pass and as such is a turnover machine. I think he will be more secure in his position next year and thus be a more effective team player. Right now he has a classic freshman attitude that he has to do it all himself. Needs to let the game come to him more. When that happens we will be able to take advantage of our team quickness more which will offset the toughness issue .
I agree with this. He has a high IQ - which to me, means he understands the game very well for a freshman. This doesn't mean he makes the right decision all the time, but it leads me to believe he will be coachable, and will make big strides in his career.
Win any day, ai na? Next few games a tough stretch. The melt down on Scoop will be a Wojo Fondue.
Despite his recent struggles, Sandy is definitely a better player than he was last season. Duane, Luke and JJJ are all improved as well.
Player development is a multi-year task. For those of you on the "Wojo isn't developing guys" bandwagon, look at how much better Matt Heldt is vs. the summer games. Yes, it's limited minutes, but a massive improvement in his physique and his capability. JJJ's shot is fixed. Buzz never tried, but now it's a technically correct shot and he's a good threat to shoot or drive. Luke's improvements seem to be injury/recovery related, but I look for more from him as he gets time to build muscle. My only criticism of Wojo is that he brought ACC players into the Big East. I'm sure he's already figured this out, but it can't be fixed mid-season!
Me spinning it? LOL. You're the spinmeister. The idea that MU fans were disappointed at any time in Al's first two years is true only in your imagination. Freshman weren't eligible when Al started coaching so in his first year he was stuck with nothing but the dumpster fire Ed Hickey left behind (a 6-21 team). So the first year was a total mulligan while we waited for Al's first recruiting class to become eligible - but even with that, there was improvement (to 8-18). In his second year (with that first recruiting class eligible) we jumped to 14-12 - and every MU fan knew that the best player on the campus (George Thompson) was eligible the next year. Marquette fan's attitudes back then were curiosity that became unbridled optimism by year two). I was one of those unbridled optimists. Maybe you've seen something in Wojo's first two years that you think warrants unbridled optimism. I haven't. So you're still wrong on Al and Wooden in spite of your spinning. And if you can name 10 coaches who struggled early but eventually succeeded, I can probably name 100 who struggled early and failed. I like Wojo and hope for the best - but any MU fan who isn't a little concerned isn't paying attention.
I don't think the starting line of a few games ago was a problem in a game that was lost in the last ten minutes.