Marquette ranked 7th in preseason Sporting News for next season

[brewcity77]

By the end of his fifth season, it was quite clear that Wright had Nova moving fast into the upper echelon of college bball programs. By then, he had tangible success that he could use to recruit/continue to build his program, which he did.

By the end of Jay Wright's fifth season as a head coach, he had one NIT appearance & zero NCAA trips. By the end of K's fifth season, he also had one NIT appearance & zero NCAA trips.

[Silent Verbal]

By the end of Jay Wright's fifth season as a head coach, he had one NIT appearance & zero NCAA trips. By the end of K's fifth season, he also had one NIT appearance & zero NCAA trips.

Yeah, and Wright was at Hofstra.  Different expectations.  Not to mention that in years 6 and 7, he was his conference’s COY and led Hofstra to the NCAA tourney both years.  But sure, you can omit that if you like.

[MU82]

What’s tiresome for me is the ardent Wojo supporters who’ll tear down or ridicule anyone who doesn’t like him.  I’m a fan of Marquette basketball.  I’m not a fan of Wojo.  Just because I don’t like him doesn’t mean I don’t support the program, and it doesn’t mean my opinion is less valid than those who don’t share my beliefs.

I can't speak for others, but I try to reserve my ridicule for those who make ridiculous statements.

Your statements about the Wojo/Wright comparisons are not ridiculous. I might disagree with the facts you pick to make your argument, but I don't think your statements are ridiculous. It's a difference of opinion, and discussing such stuff is what these fanboards are for.

Those who say he already has proven we'll never win with him as coach, or those who say he "de-motivates" players, or those who think the team hasn't improved under him, or those who think he's a bad recruiter because he doesn't get every player he pursues, or those who say hiring him "proves" we're a mid-major, etc ... that stuff is ridiculous and the people saying them deserve ridicule IMHO.

[brewcity77]

Yeah, and Wright was at Hofstra.  Different expectations.  Not to mention that in years 6 and 7, he was his conference’s COY and led Hofstra to the NCAA tourney both years.  But sure, you can omit that if you like.

I didn't omit anything. First five years is first five years. And I fail to see how winning COY in years 6-7 is remotely relevant when we're talking about the first 5. Talk about shifting the goalposts...

[Cheeks]

At the same point of their careers?  Wojo’s been here for five years.  In his fifth year at Nova, Wright went 28-6, got a #1 seed, and went to the Elite 8.

Coach K didn’t achieve great success at Duke until year 6, when Duke went 37-3 and played in the National Championship game.  Duke made the Tournament the two years prior to that.

So by your logic, Wojo is well behind Wright in terms of accomplishments, and will need to make the NC game in year 6 to match Coach K.  No sweat, right?

What are your expectations for next year, assuming Howard returns?  If MU is in fact a top 10 team going into the season, wouldn’t anything less than a top 10-15 ranking all year and a 1-3 seed in the Tournament be a huge disappointment?

So you agree that you would fire Coach K then after his fifth year?

Yes, anything less than a top 3 seed would be a disappointment next year assuming we pull all that off....but didn’t you say you are fine with him gone NOW?

Thank you on the correction of Wright. 

[Cheeks]

Jon Fanta says all indications are he is staying, which is likely the kiss of death and means he is gone.

[Silent Verbal]

I didn't omit anything. First five years is first five years. And I fail to see how winning COY in years 6-7 is remotely relevant when we're talking about the first 5. Talk about shifting the goalposts...

You quoted RJax55’s post.  He was responding to my post, where I clearly stated I was talking about Wright’s first five years at Nova.

As for moving goalposts, fine, forget what I said about years 6 and 7 at Hofstra.  I was talking about Wright’s first five years at Nova, and said so in the post RJax was responding to.

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

How is markus even in the discussion on going pro after the run to end the season????

I thought his pro chances went from slim to none after that for this year.   

Hes going to end up in europe or asia so why declare early?

[Dr. Blackheart]

How is markus even in the discussion on going pro after the run to end the season????

I thought his pro chances went from slim to none after that for this year.   

Hes going to end up in europe or asia so why declare early?

If Europe, then he likely could get $200k, maybe $120k after taxes (and VAT). 

If Markus returns, then he'd be on the cover/opening webpage of every publication and tops in social media.  His reward is a college degree (and maybe more) plus a chance at championships. 

Henry was an easy choice.  For Markus, all that exposure and hype may be worth a lot more if he were to stay.  Exploring your choices is a no-brainer.

[brewcity77]

You quoted RJax55’s post.  He was responding to my post, where I clearly stated I was talking about Wright’s first five years at Nova.

As for moving goalposts, fine, forget what I said about years 6 and 7 at Hofstra.  I was talking about Wright’s first five years at Nova, and said so in the post RJax was responding to.

I quoted the most salient part of his post, but he opened it by saying he was sick of Jay Wright comparisons. While I understand the basis of that, people comparing Jay Wright in years 8-12 as a coach to Wojo in years 1-5 aren't making a fair comparison, and the reason coaches like Wright and K are brought up is because they had relatively little success at the same point of their coaching careers.

When you look at year 5, Wojo is ahead of both of them in terms of the level of program he's at and the results he's produced. Is that because he started at a bigger program? Maybe, but he's ahead in terms of winning percentage, number of winning seasons, & postseason berths.

I'm not 100% sold on Wojo. I have serious concerns and would really like a few more sentinel moments to point to in order to say "yeah, he's got this." But as far as meeting expectations thus far, he's done okay. If he can continue meeting & incrementally increasing expectations, he'll get there, though it will almost certainly take longer than we'll like.

[Its DJOver]

How is markus even in the discussion on going pro after the run to end the season????

I thought his pro chances went from slim to none after that for this year.   

Hes going to end up in europe or asia so why declare early?

At the beginning of the year I thought that it would be a mistake for Markus to leave early, and I still think that, but I don't think the last 7 games really did anything to effect his stock one way or the other.  NBA scouts don't really look at whether or not your team is winning, they look at you potential, and that hasn't really changed between the end of February and now.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

If Europe, then he likely could get $200k, maybe $120k after taxes (and VAT). 

If Markus returns, then he'd be on the cover/opening webpage of every publication and tops in social media.  His reward is a college degree (and maybe more) plus a chance at championships. 

Henry was an easy choice.  For Markus, all that exposure and hype may be worth a lot more if he were to stay.  Exploring your choices is a no-brainer.

Spot on

[wadesworld]

Yeah, and Wright was at Hofstra.  Different expectations.  Not to mention that in years 6 and 7, he was his conference’s COY and led Hofstra to the NCAA tourney both years.  But sure, you can omit that if you like.

So knock the expectations because it’s a midmajor program but then flaunt the midmajor COY.

Reasonable.

[IrwinFletcher]

If Europe, then he likely could get $200k, maybe $120k after taxes (and VAT). 

If Markus returns, then he'd be on the cover/opening webpage of every publication and tops in social media.  His reward is a college degree (and maybe more) plus a chance at championships. 

Henry was an easy choice.  For Markus, all that exposure and hype may be worth a lot more if he were to stay.  Exploring your choices is a no-brainer.

Aaron White from Iowa has made $300,000+ playing in Europe.  I would think Markus could get as much if not a bit more.

And who is to say that Markus doesn’t have his degree already?

[Cheeks]

Not sure if folks saw the video yesterday of the rope and chain pull with Wojo vs Sam.  Markus was right there working out.

[Galway Eagle]

Not sure if folks saw the video yesterday of the rope and chain pull with Wojo vs Sam.  Markus was right there working out.

But I saw a Hauser humiliating wojo, clearly because his parents told him to.

[Cheeks]

But I saw a Hauser humiliating wojo, clearly because his parents told him to.

He clearly had extra motivation to beat the old man and show him who is boss.

[MomofMUltiples]

Marquette also number 8 in USA Today's way-too-early rankings.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/04/09/preseason-college-basketball-top-25-rankings/3381228002/

[🏀]

But I saw a Hauser humiliating wojo, clearly because his parents told him to.

Hopefully this news makes it out to Seattle.

[🏀]

Not sure if folks saw the video yesterday of the rope and chain pull with Wojo vs Sam.  Markus was right there working out.

Yeah, but the team was cheering Sam only. Wojo had Nelson cheering. Clearly Wojo is gone.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Thanks to everyone for posting the links to these rankings.  Definitely amused to see the disparity in rankings among the experts. I was struck by the gaps in Villanova's rankings. From 6th in several to unranked in others.

[wadesworld]

Of the 16 teams that made the Sweet 16, only 2 teams (Houston - no votes - and Texas Tech - others receiving votes) were not in the preseason AP poll.

Of the 25 teams ranked in the preseason AP poll, only 4 (West Virginia, TCU, UCLA, Clemson) didn't make the NCAA Tournament, and only West Virginia was ranked above 20 in that group.

Of the top 4 seeds/16 teams, only 2 (Texas Tech and Houston) were not ranked in the preseason AP poll.

There's a reason a team is ranked highly in the preseason.  They're good, and they usually prove it throughout the season.  I don't know why anyone would hope we wouldn't have high expectations/be ranked highly.

[willie warrior]

Forget 7.  ESPN has us at #2.   So it will be the most Marquette thing ever for Markus to leave because being a Marquette fan feels like perpetual disappointment just when you think you might be on the verge of something amazing.

Yup. Really, really really, really good next year. Will be #1 by mid year.

[Cheeks]

Yup. Really, really really, really good next year. Will be #1 by mid year.

Willie, would you rather have the basketball community think we are a potential top ten team next year or not on the radar at all?  We all know you will be absent with every win, but vocal as hell with any loss. 

[Galway Eagle]

Willie, would you rather have the basketball community think we are a potential top ten team next year or not on the radar at all?  We all know you will be absent with every win, but vocal as hell with any loss.

Imagining how amazing a season would be where we'd go undefeated and there'd be no illogical Guru or Willie rants