Lindenwood take-aways

[MUfan12]

Caught the first half replay last night. Saw enough.

They're better on handling ball screens. Poor communication in transition led to open looks for LU. A lot of breakdowns came from poor footwork at the point of attack, leading to help situations and corner looks. Correctable things, particularly picking up guys in transition.

[TedBaxter]

A - One exclamation point is plenty there, Hoss.
B - Wojo has had time to recruit and build a roster/program here at MU. Defense is a legitimate concern, and roster construction is as well. Making the tournament last year was great, but it would be even better to see sustained success. So if this year's team regresses and does not make the NCAAs, criticism of the coach and program are going to happen.
C- How much time are you willing to give him to get us back to being Top 25/NCAA regulars?

Because he wasn't hired until April 1st or late into a recruiting year, I would give him 5 years to show progress and with what he has on this roster and with Bailey, Joey Hauser and Morrow joining the team next year, this will be a top 15-20 team in 2018-2019.

[goldeneagle91114]

Jesus H. Christ!!!! Another brilliant opinion from a Marquette fan. 

Maybe I've followed this program longer than most or maybe I have a better understanding of college basketball.  Wojo is building this thing the way he and the Marquette administration would like.  He isn't taking many transfers, other than grad transfers and the recruits who would have made up his senior class are all gone.  He has 1 senior (who didn't play Saturday) and 2 juniors and the future is looking bright, but lets cast off another coach because he doesn't make the program an instant elite program.

Ted, totally respect you and the insight you provide the board, so my questions below are honest.

1. Next year will be Wojo's 5th. How much time should be given for a rebuild?
2. speaking of elite programs and High school ball players today, how long can a program go without an NCAA tournament win before it starts to effect recruiting?
3a. Do you agree with the pieces i think we're missing?
3b. If so, do you see them in next year's class? I think Morrow is our bruiser, but I still think we missing the other 2
3c. If you don't agree, what am I missing?

Again honest questions. I am by no means a basketball expert.

[Galway Eagle]

Ted, totally respect you and the insight you provide the board, so my questions below are honest.

1. Next year will be Wojo's 5th. How much time should be given for a rebuild?
2. speaking of elite programs and High school ball players today, how long can a program go without an NCAA tournament win before it starts to effect recruiting?
3a. Do you agree with the pieces i think we're missing?
3b. If so, do you see them in next year's class? I think Morrow is our bruiser, but I still think we missing the other 2
3c. If you don't agree, what am I missing?

Again honest questions. I am by no means a basketball expert.

Re how long a team can go without a win, that question should be how long can they go without a sweet 16, because nobody really has a banner detailing how many rounds of 32 they've made... except Creighton because they suck in March.

[goldeneagle91114]

If you decide to no longer give Wojo a pass, I am sure he will be sad about that.

Sorry that I don't have deep pockets and that i cant be an influential booster.

However, I have purchased season tickets since I graduated and have only lived in Milwaukee for 2 years since then. the rest of the years i donated the tickets so other can experience the games/atmosphere. Last year was the first time since I've purchased them where I wasn't able to fill my seats for each game.

Sorry "pass" isn't worth much in your eyes.

[TedBaxter]

Ted, totally respect you and the insight you provide the board, so my questions below are honest.

1. Next year will be Wojo's 5th. How much time should be given for a rebuild?
2. speaking of elite programs and High school ball players today, how long can a program go without an NCAA tournament win before it starts to effect recruiting?
3a. Do you agree with the pieces i think we're missing?
3b. If so, do you see them in next year's class? I think Morrow is our bruiser, but I still think we missing the other 2
3c. If you don't agree, what am I missing?

Again honest questions. I am by no means a basketball expert.

Not saying I'm an expert either.  I guess the only real void, if you call it that, may be another guard who can handle the ball.  I'm hoping Howard develops his PG skills and Cain can help in the backcourt.  Still remain very high on Cain's potential.

I don't put much stock into young teams until early January. 

[Mr. Nielsen]

Not sure if anyone said anything about the Wojo postgame comments. He seemed happy that his team got tested. Hear for yourself.
http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=21288559

[bilsu]

A - One exclamation point is plenty there, Hoss.
B - Wojo has had time to recruit and build a roster/program here at MU. Defense is a legitimate concern, and roster construction is as well. Making the tournament last year was great, but it would be even better to see sustained success. So if this year's team regresses and does not make the NCAAs, criticism of the coach and program are going to happen.
C- How much time are you willing to give him to get us back to being Top 25/NCAA regulars?

I will give him a pass until Georgetown passes us up. Wojo is a failure, if Ewing gets Georgetown to top 25 before we do.

[Benny B]

I'm not one to put any stock into an exhibition game no matter the talent level of either team.  Not so much because of the aforementioned examples of Miami, Syracuse, et al, but because coaches approach these games differently.  IOW, I don't believe that D-I coaches always approach an exhibition game with the intent to win.

Sure, this is all anecdotal, but there were two lineups on the floor yesterday that gave me some pause considering the personnel that Lindenwood had on the floor... I attributed this mostly to Rowsey's unavailability; however, there were also at least two instances in the second half where HC was bringing the ball up in the half court and exchanged a look with one of the other players as if to say "what the hell are you doing/why the hell are you there."  The first time it happened, I shrugged it off as HC's intended target being new to the team, but the second time it happened, I realized that HC's intended target was responding to someone (I don't believe it was Wojo) calling out a play or instructions from the bench... which struck me as odd considering that these plays are usually called out to the PG or whoever has the ball at the top of the key, not your 2 or 3 off-the-ball.

Additionally, I gave some additional thought to the botched in-bounds play with 1.0 left... once I got over my initial "WTF are they doing" reaction, I came to the conclusion that Wojo ain't no spring chicken; he knows damn well what you do with 1.0 on the clock (or at the very least what you don't do).  The fact that they did do it tells me Wojo wasn't trying to win the game... he was trying to maximize every opportunity to work on various situations with which they struggled last year.

[GoldenDieners32]

Another thing i saw from the game is that it looks like so far from the UW-Milwaukee scrimmage and the exhibition against Lindenwood is that we might be hyping Jamal Cain up to much. I know they are just scrimmages but I feel like he is the most important freshman and will need him to contribute right away

[DCHoopster]

Another thing i saw from the game is that it looks like so far from the UW-Milwaukee scrimmage and the exhibition against Lindenwood is that we might be hyping Jamal Cain up to much. I know they are just scrimmages but I feel like he is the most important freshman and will need him to contribute right away

Jamal looked like a typical frosh, with a little hesitation in his game and not letting the game flow freely and just play.  He will be fine,  once he makes a shot or two.