The story after Villanova is a familiar one. Why do other teams seem to get more foul shots than MU. Its not an excuse or random occurrence. Wojo is right. Something tilts these shots away from Marquette. In the Villanova game they shot 24 we shot 12, but 9 of those shots were a result of "#the thing". A nearly blind official could have called those! Absent those 9 shots the table turns to 24 for them 3 for us mostly in the paint. Wojo's press conference was a plea for some officiating balance.
The other rant on MU is our lousy defense. and it is related. All of those "nickle dimer" fouls in the first half result in 4 Marquette players in foul trouble in the late game. They don't have a long enough bench to play hard defense when the game is on the line.
Good coaches work the officials and get results. I am a fan of Wojo but he's not getting his share.
I'm not a big stats or analytics guy, but it seems pretty obvious to me...
Our offense focuses on the 3 ball, and so we don't get into the lane as much to draw fouls. And, our guys don't, for whatever reason, seem to seek contact when driving.
Our defense is porous and our opponents rightfully attack gaps and get into the lane, where they are likely to be fouled.
Yes there have been missed calls (both for and against MU), but to be surprised that our opponents take a lot more free throws than us seems odd.
It has been said in other threads, but one of our most prolific penetrators (Markus) very clearly avoids contact when he drives...often contorting his body to stay away from the defender. That's a marked contrast to a guy like Jalen Brunson, who absorbs contact. If Markus wants to get to the line more - and he could be there all day - he has to learn not to lean away from defenders when he drives.
The fact that so many of our shots are from the perimeter doesn't help, either.
Maybe we should bring out the football blocking pad during layup practice like the buzz days
Howard avoids contact. I don't think Rowsey or Cain or Elliot do that much. We need more drives and slashes to the basket in general - to score and to draw more fouls. But we generally don't get calls even when we do drive, and some were obvious in Villanova game. Nonetheless, just have to play better D to avoid us getting a ton of fouls and being forced to sit down our best players.
It's much easier to drive for contact when you're 6'2 like Brunson and can draw contact and still get a look at the hoop. Markus doesn't have that luxury, so he scores by creating space. I just don't think that will change at his height.
Here's a theory.
Most of the refs are my age.
Guys my age remember Wojo when he played.
Guys my age HATED Wojo when he played.
Therefore they still hate Wojo.
Therefore Wojo doesn't get any extra calls.
Quote from: WarriorFan on January 30, 2018, 11:34:51 AM
Here's a theory.
Most of the refs are my age.
Guys my age remember Wojo when he played.
Guys my age HATED Wojo when he played.
Therefore they still hate Wojo.
Therefore Wojo doesn't get any extra calls.
Honestly, not a bad theory. I have met plenty of fans who have told me that they now hate Marquette because Wojo is the coach. I think refs are almost completely impartial but it's not crazy to think that on a subconscious level there is still some Wojo hate in the refs.
DISCLAIMER: Please don't take this as blaming the refs or thinking there is an anti Marquette conspiracy among officials. Just pointing out that refs are human and humans can make seemingly impartial decisions while being influenced by subconscious factors. I pointed out in another thread that refs probably miss calls sometimes because they were daydreaming about the leftover bbq waiting for them in their hotel fridge.