Duke Beat Writer on 1250

[Niv Berkowitz]

They just interviewed the beat writer for Duke. I was driving but the top-line info was:

Pros

• Very professional and knowledgeable.
• Basically led practice, along with Capel. Coach K oversees the practice
• They allow the assistants to 'scout' their games. So basically, every 4th game, Wojo was the one in charge of a full-on game plan.
• One of the most prepared-to-take-on-a-head-coaching job; has been almost doing it already
• Has a great pedigree
• One of the reasons he took this job is that MU is so similar to Duke in how it spends $ on the hoops program; he's not going to be nickel/dimed

Cons

• And this is the biggest one....Capel was the main guy that recruited Parker and three of their other four 5-star guys of late.
• Capel is the main recruiter there, overall

In short, everything he's said and that I've read about him is solid. But, the key to college success as we all know is recruiting and that's my biggest concern.

While he has a ton of hoops knowledge, he's the one that now has to get kids to sign on the dotted line for MU and truthfully, it's not hard to recruit at Duke anyway. They "select". They don't "recruit". So...he's going to have to learn to judge talent AND sell MU to them. Time will tell how he does there. Obviously, the staff he puts together is going to be key.

My own opinion is that kids don't necessarily have to know who Wojo is. It would help, but they don't have to know that. The AAU and high school coaches are the ones that probably know anyway, given his age, so that is a good thing since those guys have a ton of sway on where kids wind up. Impress and get a good relationship w/those guys, the kids will follow.

So....I'm warming up to this, as I have to and have no choice. Being optimistic as possible. But, I do like what I hear. Time will tell if we found a diamond or coal.

[Niv Berkowitz]

I meant to say, kids don't have to know who Wojo WAS. Unlike Howland, he's not an established brand-name coach or former NBA player. There's a work-around to that given he has the Duke pedigree. That's where the relationships w/the coaches come in. I think he'll get their respect first and foremost. He has too.

[reinko]

I'd rather have had Wardle than this.

[bilsu]

Win games and recruiting is easy. Lose games and recruiting is hard. His job was to coach, not to recruit. It does not mean much that he was not the lead recruiter. Simply indicates that K saw his coaching ability as more important. I rather have a coach that spends most of his efforts developing players than off running around the country trying to recruit players. The assistants should recruit and the head coach should be the closer.

[Eldon]

Didn't some report list him as the 17th best recruiter?  That's pretty low, IMO.  But everyone has their relative weaknesses

In any case, with the resources that we devote, if we can surround him with some top assistants, I'm sure we'll be okay on the recruiting front.

[Groin_pull]

Didn't some report list him as the 17th best recruiter?  That's pretty low, IMO.  But everyone has their relative weaknesses

In any case, with the resources that we devote, if we can surround him with some top assistants, I'm sure we'll be okay on the recruiting front.

A report based on what?

[Eldon]

A report based on what?

I don't know.  But somewhere in one of the threads, someone posted a link to some report/website that ranked recruiters and WoJo was listed as 17th.  Not sure how you measure something like that, but it's out there, buried deep in the belly of Scoop

[starting5]

Didn't some report list him as the 17th best recruiter?  That's pretty low, IMO.  But everyone has their relative weaknesses

In any case, with the resources that we devote, if we can surround him with some top assistants, I'm sure we'll be okay on the recruiting front.

get some great assistants that is who does the majority of the recruiting.  The HC jsut comes in to make it a #donedeal

[WarriorPride68]

Saw this on deadspin:

Only at Duke can you lose to a mid major in the first round of the tourney with the number 1 or 2 pick in the draft along with another lottery player and have your assistant coach hired by a major program ....

I guess I never thought of it that way before.


#WojoWarriors

[Spotcheck Billy]

Capel has only been back what, 3 years now?

[frozena pizza]

The more I read about Wojo, the more I like him.  I take back my initial comments.  I think we will be fine and he will bring in a staff that can recruit at a high level.  As much as Duke is an established brand that can get access to every player out there, the Marquette brand carries some weight too.  He will be able to leverage that to keep a strong pipeline of talent coming in.  #wojomojo

[Litehouse]

Capel has only been back what, 3 years now?

It seems like such a long time ago we were worrying about Buzz to Oklahoma.

[Niv Berkowitz]

Dude!!! Check out Hunt.

Mike Hunt is just soooo sloppy.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/253482281.html

[Blackhat]

Duke was traditional city for awhile there before Nate James and Capel joined up.

[Spotcheck Billy]

I always loved his fire and that Wojo was a Defensive Player of the Year

[EnderWiggen]

Mike hunt?

[MU82]

Saw this on deadspin:

Only at Duke can you lose to a mid major in the first round of the tourney with the number 1 or 2 pick in the draft along with another lottery player and have your assistant coach hired by a major program ....

I guess I never thought of it that way before.


#WojoWarriors

If we hired Shaka, would someone have found some way to point out that he has managed to have less and less postseason success, ultimately losing to a 12 seed in Shaka's first NCAA tournament as a favorite?

Any critic can find something to criticize.

[Tugg Speedman]

Saw this on deadspin:

Only at Duke can you lose to a mid major in the first round of the tourney with the number 1 or 2 pick in the draft along with another lottery player and have your assistant coach hired by a major program ....

I guess I never thought of it that way before.
#WojoWarriors

Then same can be said of Hopkins at Syracuse should BC hire him (Cuse lost to mid-major Dayton).

The problem with this thinking is it all comes back to making an emotional decision based on your last tourney game. 

As was pointed out here before, hiring the coach from the mid-major that upset one team (see John Groce and Andy Enfield) is a bad idea. 

Besides if you're going to take advice from Deadspin (which is often more inaccurate than the stories they criticize) you deserve what comes next.

[frozena pizza]

Only at Marquette can you go 17-15 and not even make the NIT and your coach lands a job in the more prestigious ACC.

[UticaBusBarn]

I don't know.  But somewhere in one of the threads, someone posted a link to some report/website that ranked recruiters and WoJo was listed as 17th.  Not sure how you measure something like that, but it's out there, buried deep in the belly of Scoop

ESPN

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Only at Marquette can you go 17-15 and not even make the NIT and your coach lands a job in the more prestigious ACC.

*Basement of the ACC.

[Windyplayer]

Only at Marquette can you go 17-15 and not even make the NIT and your coach lands a job in the more prestigious ACC with a better TV deal.

Fixed.

[mr.MUskie]

I don't know.  But somewhere in one of the threads, someone posted a link to some report/website that ranked recruiters and WoJo was listed as 17th.  Not sure how you measure something like that, but it's out there, buried deep in the belly of Scoop

There are lots of college recruiters out there. 17 out of 200? 300? aint bad.

[Benny B]

There are lots of college recruiters out there. 17 out of 200? 300? aint bad.

There are 349 teams in D-I with at least one recruiter on each staff.

Let's say the 172 low major schools have only their HC as a recruiter, the 76 mid-major schools have an average of 2 recruiters per team, and the 96 major schools have an average of 3 recruiters per team.  That's a total of over 600 recruiters in D-I basketball.

17 out of 600 is the 97th percentile.  I'd be perfectly happy with that.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

There are 349 teams in D-I with at least one recruiter on each staff.

Let's say the 172 low major schools have only their HC as a recruiter, the 76 mid-major schools have an average of 2 recruiters per team, and the 96 major schools have an average of 3 recruiters per team.  That's a total of over 600 recruiters in D-I basketball.

17 out of 600 is the 97th percentile.  I'd be perfectly happy with that.

So Wojo is 17th @ one of the premier schools in NCAA.  How much does the MU program take him down, in terms of his ability? 

I'd like to know what Collins, Capel, and Ammaker were ranked when @ Duke and see what their rankings dropped to at their new programs.  I think this measure will find us a ballpark level of what we can expect Wojo recruiting to be like @ MU.