Wojo

[keefe]

Dude needs to get his sh1t together. I don't give a rat's ass about excuses.

Show me the f#cking money.

[wadesworld]

Sure.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Dude needs to get his sh1t together. I don't give a rat's ass about excuses.

Show me the f#cking money.

What excuses are being given? We lost a game badly and then lost a close one. It sucks. Let's see how the rest of the season goes.

[manny31]

In a couple of years I hope we can all chuckle at our alarmism, but I feel it is getting late. The lack of player development is a problem, that and just not being very good. Tick tock....

[keefe]

What excuses are being given? We lost a game badly and then lost a close one. It sucks. Let's see how the rest of the season goes.

This season is make or break for this coach. Thus far we are not competitive. At all. That is entirely on the coach.

I am also a Michigan grad but what I saw last night was disgusting. Head to head I pull for Marquette but i took no pleasure in Michigan's win. And blowing the game against Pitt gives me serious pause as to the direction and progress of the Marquette program under this coach.

Beilein's team was ready to play. Can the same be said for our coach's?

[real chili 83]

Yesterday was tough to swallow.

[Babybluejeans]

No way around it, we've seen two VERY poorly coached games in a row. And while we weren't beating Mich anyway, coaching 100% lost that game to Pitt. Simply put, Buzz and TC were further along than Wojo at this point (and mostly with less overall talent), which suggests Wojo lacks some instinctive coaching ability that the other two had (in admittedly different doses).

I really hope this NY tournament serves as the turning point for Wojo to fix what needs fixing. He's got the tools to be a good coach, and he's got the players, so he has simply GOT to overcome whatever deficiencies are holding him back right now. I still think he'll figure it out but he has to realize the "Duke way" is not the "Marquette way." We gotta scrap.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This season is make or break for this coach. Thus far we are not competitive. At all. That is entirely on the coach.

I am also a Michigan grad but what I saw last night was disgusting. Head to head I pull for Marquette but i took no pleasure in Michigan's win. And blowing the game against Pitt gives me serious pause as to the direction and progress of the Marquette program under this coach.

Beilein's team was ready to play. Can the same be said for our coach's?

We blew a high major team out by 30. We blew another team out by 30. We got blown out by a high major team. We lost by 3 to a high major team. I see a team that's competitive but inconsistent. I don't sh*t myself over 1 bad loss and 1 close loss to two high major teams.

I don't think we were well prepared for Michigan. But I also think Michigan had better players than us. Not an excuse, just is. To beat a team with better players you either need to outcoach, your players need to be playing near their ceiling, their players need to be playing near their floor, or some combination. Wojo got outcoached, their players were playing near their best, and our players were playing near their worst. A perfect storm leading to a blowout. It sucks. Didn't enjoy it. Was even worse being there live. But its one game. Until its a pattern with this team, I'm not willing to hit the panic button. Just like I didn't hit the panic button against Vandy, Florida, or Dayton when Buzz was the coach.

[GGGG]

Again the problem I have isn't the losing.  It isn't really even the blow out.  Anyone can get blown out.

Its the fact we are losing games the same way for going into the third season now.  It makes me believe he can't correct mistakes.

[Herman Cain]

My position on Wojo remains that he is good at recruiting and is mediocre at coaching. The reason he is mediocre at coaching is he is not capable of earning the respect of his players. He is not the kind of coach a player will run through a wall for.  When times get tough the players do not feel Wojo has their back and thus they play tense.

Compare Wojo to Coach Izzo. Coach Izzo screams and yells and is tough on kids, but to a man they will all tell he has their back and they know he has their best interests at heart.

Coaching is more than X and Os it is leadership and people management.

[GGGG]

My position on Wojo remains that he is good at recruiting and is mediocre at coaching.

Agreed.

My position on Wojo remains that he is good at recruiting and is mediocre at coaching. The reason he is mediocre at coaching is he is not capable of earning the respect of his players.

Uh...what?  Evidence?

[Goose]

This program has a lot of work ahead to become what I would love to see them be. It is make or break for Wojo in my opinion. Thus far this year looks like another big project.

[4everwarriors]

Ta me its da lack of talent. Secondly, da kids aren't developin' or complementin' each utter in a normal development, hey?

[GGGG]

And I am going to bluntly honest about Wojo's future.

The Marquette administration is going to hope that he grows into the job.  They have to.  They have invested in him through 2020.  He's been given a long leash so he can build the program from the ground up.  Getting rid of him now is simply going to set Marquette basketball back even further.  The Buzz-esque, Juco quick fix option isn't apparently available. 

Now we can Monday morning quarterback it and say we should have hired Cuonzo, or someone else, instead of Wojo.  And we can also lament his coaching shortfalls.

However he is going to be here next year regardless of what happens this year.  (He may be "asked" to make some changes IMO if this year goes down the crapper.)  Likely even the year after that.

[muwarrior69]

No way around it, we've seen two VERY poorly coached games in a row. And while we weren't beating Mich anyway, coaching 100% lost that game to Pitt. Simply put, Buzz and TC were further along than Wojo at this point (and mostly with less overall talent), which suggests Wojo lacks some instinctive coaching ability that the other two had (in admittedly different doses).

I really hope this NY tournament serves as the turning point for Wojo to fix what needs fixing. He's got the tools to be a good coach, and he's got the players, so he has simply GOT to overcome whatever deficiencies are holding him back right now. I still think he'll figure it out but he has to realize the "Duke way" is not the "Marquette way." We gotta scrap.

I am not convinced of that. All this talk of "great shooters" and we know who they are is just that, talk. Our defense is non-existent and the team just does not know how to win. You can be the best coach in the country, but if your players can't execute what you try to teach them it becomes an exercise in frustration. I saw that on Wojo's face the last two games.   

[GGGG]

The problem I have is that we aren't really running an offense that gets our shooters open.  I am hardly an expert on basketball offensive systems, but when I look at how Michigan runs a motion offense that gets their shooters open with clean looks, while ours doesn't do that, I wonder if the system needs a change.

[DUNKS45]

Our execution was very poor on D, bad rotation on ball screens, but just 12 assists boys. Wow that is terrible, the way we lost it in the second half was tough to watch. I don't want to over react yet. This will be a telling year.

[79Warrior]

We blew a high major team out by 30. We blew another team out by 30. We got blown out by a high major team. We lost by 3 to a high major team. I see a team that's competitive but inconsistent. I don't sh*t myself over 1 bad loss and 1 close loss to two high major teams.

I don't think we were well prepared for Michigan. But I also think Michigan had better players than us. Not an excuse, just is. To beat a team with better players you either need to outcoach, your players need to be playing near their ceiling, their players need to be playing near their floor, or some combination. Wojo got outcoached, their players were playing near their best, and our players were playing near their worst. A perfect storm leading to a blowout. It sucks. Didn't enjoy it. Was even worse being there live. But its one game. Until its a pattern with this team, I'm not willing to hit the panic button. Just like I didn't hit the panic button against Vandy, Florida, or Dayton when Buzz was the coach.

Come on, Vandy is now our big win. They are a mess and will finish in the bottom of a weak SEC. Good grief.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Come on, Vandy is now our big win. They are a mess and will finish in the bottom of a weak SEC. Good grief.

The only reason you think they are a mess is because they got blown out by us. You think the season is over after four games. Good grief.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

I really have little issues with the offensive end, too much focus ends up there anyway.  My issues are defensively, 3 years 3 sets of pretty different players.  All 3 years atrocious defense. The amount of absolutely wide open shots and layups has been horrifying.  Defense it all about toughness, wojos teams have shown none.

[keefe]

The only reason you think they are a mess is because they got blown out by us. You think the season is over after four games. Good grief.

The frame of reference is not 3 games but three seasons. We are watching the same crap over and over.

I am not an alarmist. But I have not witnessed the progress I expect from an enterprise that enjoys such significant investment from its shareholders.

The Michigan tilt was not Wojo's third game but the dismal start of his third season.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The frame of reference is not 3 games but three seasons. We are watching the same crap over and over.

I am not an alarmist. But I have not witnessed the progress I expect from an enterprise that enjoys such significant investment from its shareholders.

The Michigan tilt was not Wojo's third game but the dismal start of his third season.

Yes, it's the start of the season. Just like blowouts to Dayton, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Florida were the starts to various Buzz seasons that ended pretty well. Not saying the season is going to be seashells  and balloons. Just saying that 4 games into the season is a little early for fans to be collectively pissing themselves.

[Eldon]

Agreed.


Uh...what?  Evidence?

Cutting Wally (see DuWil's tweet referencing this):
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=51574.0

Making players feel like idiots for buying into the white t-shirt strategy (which Wojo called a gimmick):
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=49970.msg790087#msg790038


Any deep respect that he had from his players is gone, IMO.  I'm not saying they have abandoned all respect for him in the sense that they outright disrespect him, but I certainly agree with the post above that said that the players will not run through a wall for him.

We hired a rookie coach.  He is (still) making rookie mistakes.  And that sucks.  The amount of money that MU spends on hoops is the clearest sign of its importance to the university's brand.  MU is bearing the cost of Wojo's growing pains, and we have yet to see the benefits.  Frankly, I'm not sure we ever will. 

[GGGG]

Cutting Wally (see DuWil's tweet referencing this):
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=51574.0

Making players feel like idiots for buying into the white t-shirt strategy (which Wojo called a gimmick):
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=49970.msg790087#msg790038

That's not evidence.  Those are actions that you THINK might lead to no respect for the coach.  But is there actual evidence that the players don't respect the coach?

[MattyWarrior]

Who is the defensive guru on the staff? Wojo praising Pitt seniors instead of really talking about
the issues on his squad, it seems like team chemistry is lacking, players don't know their roles.
Lack of development in the three years of some presumably high major talent is troubling.