Can Wojo put together a team across four classes?

[Pakuni]

A couple of comments...

One of the major reasons Wojo was hired was to restore roster stability to the program.

This has been stated repeatedly here, but who in authority actually ever said this?

[willie warrior]

I think 99% of Scoopers agree with this.  To me, the NCAA was always a difficult achievement for this team.  Next year and the year after, it should be an expectation.  In fact by Howard and Sam's senior season, they should be contending for the BE title and at least the S16,

No, we should be contending for Beast title now, Wojo's 4th year
But at best it will be another middle of the pack year. Time to turn up the hrat. What is getting old is the mantra that we will be good next year or the year after.

[Lennys Tap]

It's been said time and time again but I think it bares repeating: Wojo inherited a literal dumpster fire of a roster.
That 14-15 team, my senior year, set basketball back many years.  And while some will argue that we had a budding star in Deonte eventually leave that team, after his mom passed there was nothing we could do to keep him.  So I don't even count his first year here because even his predecessor couldn't do crap with that team.

Wojo comes back in year 2 with a great freshman class and a promising young team, albeit with no postseason relevance to show for it, but then Henry heads to the NBA.  While getting Henry was vital in landing Markus and Sam (which led to landing Joey, which was supposed to lead to landing QG), imagine Henry on last year's team at the 4 (something many of us argued should have been the case in him staying 2 years).  That team could end up going down as one of the greatest offenses college basketball has recently seen with Henry in the mix.  While we still had a really nice year and peaked late, our potential was there to make a DEEP run last year with Henry.  And even though Henry didn't accomplish much of anything while here, it established that Wojo can get guys to the league after 1 year: something that already has and will continue to pay dividends in his recruiting.  In all, a very successful year in my mind.

So now we're in year 4, having just graduated 3 key players and losing another to transfer (death aside, a comparable situation to that of Deonte), and I think most of us still really liked where we were a week ago.  So let's cool it on the "sky is falling" narrative after a win in which a lot of signs pointed to it being a crap game (Maui hangover, Monday night game against a meh opponent, first game without a veteran leader who hours earlier had left the team).  While I am obviously concerned about our depth, especially until Harry is eligible, we're right in line with what I was hoping for this season: Sam has emerged as "the guy", our freshmen are making serious strides already, and if we can get to conference play with just 2/3 losses we put ourselves in a great position to have an 'at-large' resume.

I agree that the annual turnstile is getting tiresome, and is a troubling trend that role players aren't willing to buy into said role, but we are bringing in much more talent than is jumping ship.  Once we get that stability next season (Harry, Ed, Joey all KEY parts of our success and only losing Heldt the year after), then I will start to get worried if departures affect our depth.  There's no excuse from that point on IMO, but I still like Wojo's trajectory to this point.

Lot's of hyperbole, some downright fake news.

[tower912]

No, we should be contending for Beast title now, Wojo's 4th year
But at best it will be another middle of the pack year. Time to turn up the hrat. What is getting old is the mantra that we will be good next year or the year after.

Admit it, Willie.   You miss Buzz.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This has been stated repeatedly here, but who in authority actually ever said this?

I don't know that Wojo was brought into bring back "roster stability" but I do know that he sold MU on a 5 year rebuilding plan with year 5 featuring a team capable of winning the BEast and a foundation for future successful teams.

So far, he seems to be on track. While it's still a long way until the start of next season, I like the look of the roster a lot. I think QG was the final piece that is now missing. Losing Haanie hurts us this season, but I honestly don't think it hurts the long term vision because I think HC was likely the odd man out if QG had signed up. I expect we will go after another player to fill in that piece very aggressively because no one wants to make this deadline more than Wojo. I don't know who that last piece is yet, I'm open to anything as long as they can play next season.

Though I do have to say, I think no matter who that last piece is, I don't think we are winning the BEast next season. Villanova is a top 5 team this season with 0 seniors....think about that for a second. If Brunson and Bridges don't go pro, they should be the favorite to win it all next season.

[Small Orange Soda]

Lot's of hyperbole, some downright fake news.

Kinda hard to say the cupboard was bare when clearing out the cobwebs is the reason we're projected to backslide this year.

[BallBoy]

I don't see how you guys look at this analysis and don't see a problem.  Wojo became the coach in 2014 and inherited the guys that were on the team.  He is responsible for transfer statistics from 2012 until now.  At the same time you must throw out the stats from 2017 (these guys haven't even been at MU for more than a few months) and 1 of 2016 who isn't here yet.  So for the players he is responsible for 5 of 15 have stayed on the roster.  People that is terrible even in an age of transfers.  You can rationalize this all you want by saying he is upgrading talent etc.  But one of the reasons Wojo was brought in was to bring stability to the program so.  Buzz was shown the door in part because we feared he was turning MU into a "basketball mill" which relied on 2 year "rental" Jucos.  But so far the program under Wojo has had less stability then Buzz and its not like Buzz is the gold standard.  I don't think there is anything wrong with admitting that experience would indicate that there is something in player retention that needs to be fixed.

This was already called out in the post above.  Wojo is really only accountable for 2014-2017.  We don't know about 16 and 17 because they are Freshman and Sophomores as was called out.  That leaves only 14 and 15.  See the asterisk stating that 16 and 17 weren't included in the counts.  Reading is fundamental.  NOT INCLUDING 16 and 17, MARQUETTE HAS HAD MORE PLAYERS TRANSFER THEN USE THEIR FULL ELIGIBILITY SINCE 2003. 

2012 is Jamal Ferguson and Steve Taylor.  Jamal never played for Wojo.  Steve Taylor was rumored to be ready to transfer ever year so are we surprised he left at year 4?
2013 - Duane, JJJ, McKay, Burton, Dawson - Buzz's marquee class.  JJJ stayed.  Mckay never played for Wojo or Buzz.  Dawson though on the roster for both never played until he transferred in Wojo's first year (Can't say that was Wojo)  Duane stayed until 2016 and grad transferred.  Burton left 6 games into Wojos first year(again can't say that was Wojo).
2014 - Cohen - Buzz recruit who was ready to leave and then Wojo convinced him to come to Marquette only to transfer later
2015 - 2 of 5 stayed.  One left for the NBA.  Two supposedly left for personal reasons. 

You eliminated 2 of Wojo's classes but included 3 of Buzz's.  Of the players that Wojo is responsible for 9 of 12 are still on the roster.  1 left for the NBA so let's eliminate that one so 9 of 11.

[onepost]

Kinda hard to say the cupboard was bare when clearing out the cobwebs is the reason we're projected to backslide this year.

I have maintained, whether on this board or in person, that I thought we'd have a comparable year to last year: bubble team but with enough firepower to make the tourney.  And it's one thing to comment on inheriting first-year player Duane Wilson, pretty much-first year player in Luke Fischer, and second-year player Jajuan Johnson (among Carlino, Deonte, and scrubs), and making note that losing the three of them as graduating seniors can be challenging for a young team.  They all improved and were absolutely a big part of our success last year.

[onepost]

Lot's of hyperbole, some downright fake news.

Certainly guilty of hyperbole (albeit grounded in logic), but where the fake news?