Big East outlook

[tower912]

The season was pretty much what I expected.   (I picked 10-14 wins preseason.  Honestly, I was expecting closer to 10)
Wojo +'s: 
Got the team to compete every night.
Landed a really good recruting class his first time out.
Showed adaptability, giving up the full court pressure, the exclusively man defense, trying different zones.
Established himself as the leader of the program and laid the groundwork for the new culture he is trying to instill.
Wojo's -'s
I am concerned about the experience of his assistants.  Too many similar backgrounds.  The former head coach was not that good as a head coach.
Technicals at bad times.   See Sultan's post.
Other coaches made better adjustments.  (again, Sultan has the right of it.   Unclear which way the causality goes)
K is a master of taking the air out of the ball down the stretch.   Wojo is not. 
Never met a cliche he doesn't like.
Committed to skill building rather than conditioning over the summer.    It did not translate on the court and most of the players looked scrawny.    All with less than a year under the previous regime looked weak. 

I am not going to judge him until I see what he does with his own recruits.    As the exodus of Buzz's players continues, a caveat needs to be added that we will not know if Wojo can coach until he has had his own recruits and they have had a couple of years to gain experience.   


               

[GGGG]

The season was pretty much what I expected.   (I picked 10-14 wins preseason.  Honestly, I was expecting closer to 10)
Wojo +'s: 
Got the team to compete every night.
Landed a really good recruting class his first time out.
Showed adaptability, giving up the full court pressure, the exclusively man defense, trying different zones.
Established himself as the leader of the program and laid the groundwork for the new culture he is trying to instill.
Wojo's -'s
I am concerned about the experience of his assistants.  Too many similar backgrounds.  The former head coach was not that good as a head coach.
Technicals at bad times.   See Sultan's post.
Other coaches made better adjustments.  (again, Sultan has the right of it.   Unclear which way the causality goes)
K is a master of taking the air out of the ball down the stretch.   Wojo is not. 
Never met a cliche he doesn't like.
Committed to skill building rather than conditioning over the summer.    It did not translate on the court and most of the players looked scrawny.    All with less than a year under the previous regime looked weak. 

I am not going to judge him until I see what he does with his own recruits.    As the exodus of Buzz's players continues, a caveat needs to be added that we will not know if Wojo can coach until he has had his own recruits and they have had a couple of years to gain experience.   


               

Some real good points here, especially on the strength and conditioning aspect.

Look, in a year we will have a much better idea where this is heading.

[jesmu84]

The season was pretty much what I expected.   (I picked 10-14 wins preseason.  Honestly, I was expecting closer to 10)
Wojo +'s: 
Got the team to compete every night.
Landed a really good recruting class his first time out.
Showed adaptability, giving up the full court pressure, the exclusively man defense, trying different zones.
Established himself as the leader of the program and laid the groundwork for the new culture he is trying to instill.
Wojo's -'s
I am concerned about the experience of his assistants.  Too many similar backgrounds.  The former head coach was not that good as a head coach.
Technicals at bad times.   See Sultan's post.
Other coaches made better adjustments.  (again, Sultan has the right of it.   Unclear which way the causality goes)
K is a master of taking the air out of the ball down the stretch.   Wojo is not. 
Never met a cliche he doesn't like.
Committed to skill building rather than conditioning over the summer.    It did not translate on the court and most of the players looked scrawny.    All with less than a year under the previous regime looked weak. 

I am not going to judge him until I see what he does with his own recruits.    As the exodus of Buzz's players continues, a caveat needs to be added that we will not know if Wojo can coach until he has had his own recruits and they have had a couple of years to gain experience.   


               

It was somewhat obvious Buzz recruited the athletes and then turned them into super athletes while at MU. I wonder if Wojo felt he had to focus on skills this summer d/t his preference for those types of players. Hopefully that would mean going forward he would recruit the skills/fundamental players of out HS, thereby allowing more time with conditioning while at MU.

[79Warrior]

Yes and no.

I'd like to see a coach have a run at getting his own guys and having his own seniors before I really place a stamp on him. (he sucks vs he's great) (4 to 5 years).

HOWEVER

In the modern world of college basketball, after 2 or 3 recruiting classes, we have a pretty good indication of the incoming talent, and hopefully after 3 seasons have a decent idea of the coaching abilities.

I'm not saying 3 seasons is DEFINITELY enough, but an AD who is observing closely should have a pretty good idea of where things are headed after 3 seasons... especially at MU. Wojo is building a team and a culture, but he's not really rebuilding the program (like DePaul). A lot of stuff at MU is already in place (faculties, budget, plane, staff, etc.).

I agree with this. By the end of season three we will have an awfully good idea what we have.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I agree with this. By the end of season three we will have an awfully good idea what we have.

We'll have an idea from a macro level.

From a mico-level, anything can happen. If Vander misses that lay-up against Davidson, is Buzz a bad coach? If Wojo loses some close games next year, does that mean he's a bad coach?

Sometimes fans (including me) get hung up on the micro stuff and miss the big picture stuff.

Here is the big picture stuff (no particular order):

#1 Can wojo identify and sign talented players? (looks like yes, but need to see)
#2 Can wojo develop and retain those players? (need to see)
#3 Can wojo develop a wining strategy and implement it (both pre-game and in-game)? (saw some good and bad)
#4 Are the players graduating and do they fit the vision that Marquette has for it's student athletes? (looks good, but need to see more)

The number of wins, blown wins, close losses, last second shots, missed free throws, etc. etc. etc. are all too granular unless we have enough data or a pattern to make them significant (ie MU loses 20 close games in 3 years)

[Litehouse]

K is a master of taking the air out of the ball down the stretch.   Wojo is not.           

Taking the air out of the ball to shorten the game works a lot better when you have players that can score when necessary, or at least get off a decent shot.  When you have as many offensively-challenged players as we had this year that struggle to get off a shot, you need to score any way you can.

[HutchwasClutch]

No change to my post to start this thread, St. John's and DePaul remain in the Have Not category after their two stupid hires.

[HutchwasClutch]

Speaking of the Have Nots, could someone please wake up the powers that be at Seton Hall, and tell them they have lousy coach who needs to get replaced? What is wrong with them?