[Matt Velazquez] Wojciechowski not anxious to fill roster spot

[mu-rara]

Wojo and this program is a mess. You cut a kid like Wally who could contribute next year bc you are targeting two other PFs and you miss on both. Meanwhile you cut all ties with the Ellenson family after Hank had one of the most memorable frosh seasons in history. Very disappointing.

Embarrassing.

[ChicosBailBonds]

You're right. Those were nice wins! Good for the resume, HOWEVER, he didn't build off of them... instead he lost to Belmont, Depaul and an average creighton team at HOME. not acceptable. you win those games and you might make the tourney.

That's what happens when you have the 7th least experienced team in the country.  Why is this a surprise?  I honestly don't get it.  You will win games that make you go wow, and lose games the same way.

[muhoops1]

Wojo and this program is a mess. You cut a kid like Wally who could contribute next year bc you are targeting two other PFs and you miss on both. Meanwhile you cut all ties with the Ellenson family after Hank had one of the most memorable frosh seasons in history. Very disappointing.

One Wally was a spot player AT BEST.  You are also absolving The Ellesnsons of ANY responsibility for this split.  Just because Holly tweeted something doesn't make it so...I'll give Wojo the benefit of the doubt here

[willie warrior]

Same here, Wojo is in over his head. He needs to figure this whole thing out pretty quick, the program is slip, slip, slipping away.

maybe he could figure it out with a powerpoint demonstration that blow all the doubters away.

[UticaBusBarn]

Wally got the 8th most minutes (almost 15 mpg behind Sandy) on a team that only loses 1 player. So, starting with last year's roster, assume the best case that he's the 7th best returning player. Solid contributor off the bench, right? Except for the fact that...

Transfers Rowsey and Reinhardt have each logged 6x more playing time in their careers. They have years of starting experience between them. They're both better shooters. Simply put, they're both better players than Wally. Oh yeah, and Reinhardt is 6'6" and plays the same position as Wally. With that, Wally drops to the 9th best returning player. Okay, no problem. He could still get some minutes in the regular rotation, unless...

Freshman recruit Sam Hauser enters the Marquette program as a Top 100 prospect and high school state champion. Like Reinhardt, he's 6'6" tall with a good handle and excellent range. Well, how about that, he also plays the exact same position as Wally. Only better. So another drop on the depth chart, this time to 10th. Playing time might still be a possibility, only...

There's returning sophomore Sacar Anim. A former Minnesota state champion and player of the year, Wojo called him the hardest-working player on the team. At 6'5", he could play 2 or even 3 positions. Including the same one as Wally. There's every chance that Sacar leapfrogs Wally on the bench this year, leaving Wally at #11. Hmmm, minutes are really getting hard to come by. And then...

We can't forget about returning sophomore Matt Heldt. At 6'10" and somewhere around 250 pounds, he's got the size to hold his own in the paint and earn some court time in Henry's absence. Probably enough to surpass Wally, who moves down to #12. Is that it? Not quite...

Marquette signs Markus Howard — another Top 100 prospect. While he doesn't play Wally's position, Markus is a better outside shooter and a better player overall. Wally, why don't you slide down to the very end of the bench. You might just get a minute or two when we're blowing out DePaul at home in revenge for last year's loss. A senior night start? We'll see.

The decision for Wally to leave the team seems pretty simple. Even after losing Henry, Marquette has gotten a major injection of new talent. Who would Wally have outplayed? Absolute best case, he's ahead of Hauser, Anim and Heldt — but I don't believe that to be true. At least not this season.

I think Wojo probably laid everything out to Wally something like this, explaining he would be 13th on the depth chart — behind Katin, Sandy, Sacar and Sam at the 3 spot — not 7th as he probably assumed. On top of that, Wally wasn't willing to commit himself to improving his game this spring and summer to prove that he deserves playing time.

It might not have been Wally's decision. I don't pretend to know exactly what happened. And I have no idea what Wojo's thinking in terms of playing style or minutes. But it may just have been the best decision for the team.

Spot on!

What I do not understand is how fans over-look the deference Coach Wojo seemed to give to the entire Ellison family. An exhibition was scheduled so all three brothers could be on the court together. He admitted to letting Henry play and shoot outside even though he was more effective inside. Coach Wojo did all in his power to highlight Henry in the context of his future in the NBA. Henry and Wally were room-mates, which must a unique and wonderful experience. Wally was one of the stars of the track and field team. etc. How much more could one family ask from a major University?

[Jay Bee]

While I am happy with the Howard commitment and think he'll have a great career in blue and gold, he's still a young guard on a VERY guard heavy team. Not sure how much of an impact he'll have on the team next year and the team NEEDS to win next year. 

You will be sure of his impact soon enough.

[Tugg Speedman]

Wally got the 8th most minutes (almost 15 mpg behind Sandy) on a team that only loses 1 player. So, starting with last year's roster, assume the best case that he's the 7th best returning player. Solid contributor off the bench, right? Except for the fact that...

Transfers Rowsey and Reinhardt have each logged 6x more playing time in their careers. They have years of starting experience between them. They're both better shooters. Simply put, they're both better players than Wally. Oh yeah, and Reinhardt is 6'6" and plays the same position as Wally. With that, Wally drops to the 9th best returning player. Okay, no problem. He could still get some minutes in the regular rotation, unless...

Freshman recruit Sam Hauser enters the Marquette program as a Top 100 prospect and high school state champion. Like Reinhardt, he's 6'6" tall with a good handle and excellent range. Well, how about that, he also plays the exact same position as Wally. Only better. So another drop on the depth chart, this time to 10th. Playing time might still be a possibility, only...

There's returning sophomore Sacar Anim. A former Minnesota state champion and player of the year, Wojo called him the hardest-working player on the team. At 6'5", he could play 2 or even 3 positions. Including the same one as Wally. There's every chance that Sacar leapfrogs Wally on the bench this year, leaving Wally at #11. Hmmm, minutes are really getting hard to come by. And then...

We can't forget about returning sophomore Matt Heldt. At 6'10" and somewhere around 250 pounds, he's got the size to hold his own in the paint and earn some court time in Henry's absence. Probably enough to surpass Wally, who moves down to #12. Is that it? Not quite...

Marquette signs Markus Howard — another Top 100 prospect. While he doesn't play Wally's position, Markus is a better outside shooter and a better player overall. Wally, why don't you slide down to the very end of the bench. You might just get a minute or two when we're blowing out DePaul at home in revenge for last year's loss. A senior night start? We'll see.

The decision for Wally to leave the team seems pretty simple. Even after losing Henry, Marquette has gotten a major injection of new talent. Who would Wally have outplayed? Absolute best case, he's ahead of Hauser, Anim and Heldt — but I don't believe that to be true. At least not this season.

I think Wojo probably laid everything out to Wally something like this, explaining he would be 13th on the depth chart — behind Katin, Sandy, Sacar and Sam at the 3 spot — not 7th as he probably assumed. On top of that, Wally wasn't willing to commit himself to improving his game this spring and summer to prove that he deserves playing time.

It might not have been Wally's decision. I don't pretend to know exactly what happened. And I have no idea what Wojo's thinking in terms of playing style or minutes. But it may just have been the best decision for the team.

This is exactly correct but it misses the point.

By cutting Wally, it was taken as a strong signal that the coaching staff was highly confident they had another better player lined up.  Then Gill and Young went elsewhere. 

So now we have an open spot on the team because Wojo misjudged.  That was unnecessary.  If nothing else Wally would have been an asset in practice, now they don't even have that.  At worse, cutting Wally with no one coming in, makes the rest of the team feel Wojo is cut throat, in a not so nice way.

So this is about Wojo misjudging recruits intention, dumping a contributor to last year's team to make room for someone who decided to not attend MU.

And again, the same thing happened last year with Miller and Lee.  Big Daddy, who is close to the program, posted that the coaching staff thought they had one or both.  They honestly thought it was going to happen.  It did not.  They could not get either to even make a visit.

Their is a distributing trend of Wojo misjudgment recruits and now it cost Wall his spot when it was not necessary.

Note - I like Wojo, I believe in Wojo.  I'm just pointing out a glaring problem and keeps happening.

[wadesworld]

This is exactly correct but it misses the point.

By cutting Wally, it was taken as a strong signal that the coaching staff was highly confident they had another better player lined up.  Then Gill and Young went elsewhere. 

So now we have an open spot on the team because Wojo misjudged. That was unnecessary.  If nothing else Wally would have been an asset in practice, now they don't even have that.  At worse, cutting Wally with no one coming in, makes the rest of the team feel Wojo is cut throat, in a not so nice way.

So this is about Wojo misjudging recruits intention, dumping a contributor to last year's team to make room for someone who decided to not attend MU.

And again, the same thing happened last year with Miller and Lee.  Big Daddy, who is close to the program, posted that the coaching staff thought they had one or both.  They honestly thought it was going to happen.  It did not.  They could not get either to even make a visit.

Their is a distributing trend of Wojo misjudgment recruits and now it cost Wall his spot when it was not necessary.

Note - I like Wojo, I believe in Wojo.  I'm just pointing out a glaring problem and keeps happening.

Wojo didn't misjudge anything. You misjudged (and continue to) the situation. Which is nothing new.

It's pretty sad how foolish you'll make yourself look just to get a little attention on a Marquette basketball forum.

[forgetful]

This is exactly correct but it misses the point.

By cutting Wally, it was taken as a strong signal that the coaching staff was highly confident they had another better player lined up.  Then Gill and Young went elsewhere. 

No it doesn't send that strong signal.  That is one of many many possibilities and I have very good reason to believe that that was not the motivation in this case.  It was a small element in a more complex situation.

Wojo made the decision for what was in the best interests of the MU family, not the Ellenson family; that is the bottom line.

It just also happened to open a spot that could be used if we could find a good option.

[Tugg Speedman]

Wojo didn't misjudge anything. You misjudged (and continue to) the situation. Which is nothing new.

It's pretty sad how foolish you'll make yourself look just to get a little attention on a Marquette basketball forum.

Cutting Wally and leaving the schollie open is a good plan?  Face reality, it's a signal of a screw up.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Cutting Wally and leaving the schollie open is a good plan?  Face reality, it's a signal of a screw up.

It's a sign of a recruiting miss. Every coach has them. Why do you make a big deal out of every one of them?

[Tugg Speedman]

It's a sign of a recruiting miss. Every coach has them. Why do you make a big deal out of every one of them?

Because other coaches know the process of recruiting is uncertain.  They don't cut players to make room and then have nothing.  The don't tell people close to the program (Big Daddy) that graduate transfers are looking good and then not only don't they come, they don't even make a visit.

He seems to be counting his chickens before they hatch.

Many here are willing to paper over every flaw because our guy is perfect.  See the tortured logic used with Buzz here. 

I still like and believe in Wojo.  And I was ok with him cutting Wally PROVIDED THAT WAS TO MAKE ROOM FOR SOMEONE BETTER.  I'm just willing to point this out about Wojo.

[rocket surgeon]

I think Heldt is better than people think. 

We want to get project bigs in here, and then when we get them, we don't have the patience enough to let them...you know...be projects.

i agree 100%.  it's like people either have forgotten about him or are just writing him off as the guy who would give either fish or HE a breather(hate the term blow for obvious reasons).  he looked awfully poised the little bit he played.  wojo et.al. see him practice every day.  i am much more comfortable with him as a sophomore than an incoming 3 star freshman. 

i loved the hustle of wally but we lose out to an unproven 3 star from the basketball hotbed of canada and we're a mess? 

[tower912]

De-commits, transfers, coaching changes, assistant coaching changes.      Lots of stuff to still play out.   

[rocket surgeon]

" At worse, cutting Wally with no one coming in, makes the rest of the team feel Wojo is cut throat, in a not so nice way."

  i'm glad you qualified this statement heisy and it's probably accurate, but understand, coaches make "cutthroat" decisions every day.  it's just that not many, or very few of them are this public.  behind the scenes, these guys can be real major league pr1cks.  the key is however,  there is a fine line between being a pr1ck and making pr1ckly decisions while maintaining the respect of your players.  or picking up the turd from the clean end-heyn'er?

[wadesworld]

Because other coaches know the process of recruiting is uncertain.  They don't cut players to make room and then have nothing.  The don't tell people close to the program (Big Daddy) that graduate transfers are looking good and then not only don't they come, they don't even make a visit.

He seems to be counting his chickens before they hatch.

Many here are willing to paper over every flaw because our guy is perfect.  See the tortured logic used with Buzz here. 

I still like and believe in Wojo.  And I was ok with him cutting Wally PROVIDED THAT WAS TO MAKE ROOM FOR SOMEONE BETTER.  I'm just willing to point this out about Wojo.

Walter's decision to leave the basketball program had nothing to do with whether another player was joining the program or not. That is your fatal flaw in this situation.

[Tugg Speedman]

Walter's decision to leave the basketball program had nothing to do with whether another player was joining the program or not. That is your fatal flaw in this situation.

Your fatal flaw is in thinking it was Wallys idea to leave.  Stop protecting Wojo.

[Herman Cain]

Because other coaches know the process of recruiting is uncertain.  They don't cut players to make room and then have nothing.  The don't tell people close to the program (Big Daddy) that graduate transfers are looking good and then not only don't they come, they don't even make a visit.

He seems to be counting his chickens before they hatch.

Many here are willing to paper over every flaw because our guy is perfect.  See the tortured logic used with Buzz here. 

I still like and believe in Wojo.  And I was ok with him cutting Wally PROVIDED THAT WAS TO MAKE ROOM FOR SOMEONE BETTER.  I'm just willing to point this out about Wojo.

I understand the points you are making here.  Let me give you a different side of the issue that you may not have considered.

As you know, because you post on it frequently, Wally is a top level high jumper.  What if Wojo decided not to renew Wally's basketball scholarship( that is what actually happened he was not cut)  only when he had another bird in the hand. Wojo had no way of knowing when that would happen. What if it happened the weekend Wally was at the NCAA track championships. It would have been a shock to Wally for sure and potentially screwed up the intense focus and preparation he needed to compete for a national championship.  How fair would that have been to Wally? 

I am not a Wojo Slurper or apologist by any means., but in this case I believe part of the consideration among the coaching staff and administration  was that it would be most fair to Wally  and best to deliver the bad news up front as part of the regularly scheduled review process. This way he had plenty of time to digest it and move on .

Wally also limited his own options by not being in a position to graduate by the end of the summer.

[Tugg Speedman]

I understand the points you are making here.  Let me give you a different side of the issue that you may not have considered.

As you know, because you post on it frequently, Wally is a top level high jumper.  What if Wojo decided not to renew Wally's basketball scholarship( that is what actually happened he was not cut)  only when he had another bird in the hand. Wojo had no way of knowing when that would happen. What if it happened the weekend Wally was at the NCAA track championships. It would have been a shock to Wally for sure and potentially screwed up the intense focus and preparation he needed to compete for a national championship.  How fair would that have been to Wally? 

I am not a Wojo Slurper or apologist by any means., but in this case I believe part of the consideration among the coaching staff and administration  was that it would be most fair to Wally  and best to deliver the bad news up front as part of the regularly scheduled review process. This way he had plenty of time to digest it and move on .

Wally also limited his own options by not being in a position to graduate by the end of the summer.

This is a reach as the NCAA meet is mid-June.  Plenty of time to wait until someone actually committed and then drop the hammer on him before the big track meets. 

Also Wally would probably be more understanding if someone better committed and he was odd man out as opposed to, "go away because an unused scholarship is better than having you on this team next year."  That effectively what Wojo is saying.

Given your rationalization, Wojo picked the worst possible option.

------

And I agree that Wally should be able to graduate by the end of summer school so he could grad transfer but apparently he cannot.  That is on him.

[GooooMarquette]

Your fatal flaw is in thinking it was Wallys idea to leave.  Stop protecting Wojo.

And your fatal flaw his in assuming Wojo cut Wally. As Marcus92 indicated above, it may have been nothing more than Wojo telling Wally he wasn't going to get the minutes he expected.   Likewise, Holly's tweet might simply have been about Wojo telling Wally his minutes were going to go down, and may not have had anything to do with Wally being "cut."

Unless you were part of the conversation and want to tell us differently…

[Tugg Speedman]

And your fatal flaw his in assuming Wojo cut Wally. As Marcus92 indicated above, it may have been nothing more than Wojo telling Wally he wasn't going to get the minutes he expected.   Likewise, Holly's tweet might simply have been about Wojo telling Wally his minutes were going to go down, and may not have had anything to do with Wally being "cut."

Unless you were part of the conversation and want to tell us differently…

Yes, let's torture logic to protect Wojo.  How can he tell Wally what his minutes are going to be in November in March?  Does he have a crystal ball that tells him who is going to commit, transfer out, injuries, Wally progression, everyone else's progression?  That is a conversation you have in October, not in March a few weeks after the season ended.

The simplest explanation is the most reasonable, he thought he had Gill or Young and wanted to advertise an open spot.  Wojo misjudged. 

Now Tower is correct, Wojo could be bailed out of this blunder at anytime if another decent transfer calls him or a mid-season transfer in December pops up.  But that is getting lucky, not good planning.

[Dawson Rental]

De-commits, transfers, coaching changes, assistant coaching changes.      Lots of stuff to still play out.

No, no, no.... don't you realize that Hiesenberg will assume that you're talking about Marquette?  Since it would be bad news, he'll be sure that it's true.

[Tugg Speedman]

No, no, no.... don't you realize that Hiesenberg will assume that you're talking about Marquette?  Since it would be bad news, he'll be sure that it's true.

I was the one that started a thread in March noting the last transfer was Steve Taylor in March 2015.  And this was the first time since Crean that MU went 365 days without a transfer (unless Wally leaves).  I gave major props to Wojo for FINALLY stabilizing the program.  Then we get this self-inflicted wound.

Again I like Wojo, and believe in him, but I'm not going to torture logic to paper over his blunders.  This was a blunder.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

They don't cut players to make room and then have nothing.  The don't tell people close to the program (Big Daddy) that graduate transfers are looking good and then not only don't they come, they don't even make a visit.

Yes they do. They do all the Fing time.

I understand your argument about Wally, its completely flawed and factually incorrect, but I can at least understand it. But you seriously need to let the Big Daddy thing go. Someone in the basketball program told Big Daddy "We think we got a chance with either Lee or Miller." Thats it. You are the only one who took it as a sign from God that Wojo must be 100% certain that Lee or Miller was going to commit.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Again I like Wojo, and believe in him, but I'm not going to torture logic to paper over his blunders.  This was a blunder.

You do realize that very few recruits would be willing to talk to a coach who has zero scholarships to give. Very few coaches oversign, instead, they cut the worst player (Wally) from the team to clear up space and help facilitate the conversation. Cutting Wally wasn't a blunder. The potential of landing Gill, Young, or a future player is much more valuable than anything Wally was going to bring to the program.

And as other's have said, the conflict with the Ellensons was not about Wally's scholarship. It was about the fact that Wojo saw him as a benchwarmer and the Ellensons saw him as the starting PF for this next season.