Youngest team, smallest team

[GGGG]

Excuses, excuses
They are all Wojos players, getting outplayed by Butlers mid major players. Of course the fall back position is "there is neXT year, when we will be awesome."

What were your expectations for this year?  Mine was NIT.

[tower912]

Excuses, excuses
They are all Wojos players, getting outplayed by Butlers mid major players. Of course the fall back position is "there is neXT year, when we will be awesome."

It is good to have you active again, WW.  And good to know it wasn't just a buzz obsession.  And good to know your perspective remains the same.

[bilsu]

donut in the middle,why is hf shooting threes, he needs to rebound and play d first

He is suppose to be a good three point shooter. He made a three on his first shot, but has probably missed a dozen threes since then. They generally have been wide open threes. At some point they are going to start dropping.

[Daniel]

He is suppose to be a good three point shooter. He made a three on his first shot, but has probably missed a dozen threes since then. They generally have been wide open threes. At some point they are going to start dropping.

I think Harry is 2 for 12 from 3.  Vs Butler was 1 of 2.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I think Harry is 2 for 12 from 3.  Vs Butler was 1 of 2.

Harry is 1-12 from three for the season and was 0-1 against Butler.

[source?]

Excuses, excuses
They are all Wojos players, getting outplayed by Butlers mid major players. Of course the fall back position is "there is neXT year, when we will be awesome."

How do you figure Butler's players are mid-majors? They've been recruiting to the Big East longer than Wojo has.

[willie warrior]

It is good to have you active again, WW.  And good to know it wasn't just a buzlo

How do you figure Butler's players are mid-majors? They've been recruiting to the Big East longer than Wojo has.

How do you figure Butler's players are mid-majors? They've been recruiting to the Big East longer than Wojo has.

z obsession.  And good to know your perspective remains the same.

So that is the new excuse now. Butler recruiting longer than wojo? When the new BEAST was being formed, several on this board argued that Creighton and Butler were mid majors. Both are out performing MU. Wojo with his pedigree should be doing much better. He is not.

[willie warrior]

It is good to have you active again, WW.  And good to know it wasn't just a buzz obsession.  And good to know your perspective remains the same.

I call it as I see it. Wojo's pedigree should be performing at a much higher level. He can recruit, but middle of the pack BEAST is Mediocrity IMO.

[GGGG]

z obsession.  And good to know your perspective remains the same.

So that is the new excuse now. Butler recruiting longer than wojo? When the new BEAST was being formed, several on this board argued that Creighton and Butler were mid majors. Both are out performing MU. Wojo with his pedigree should be doing much better. He is not.

You are making up arguments again.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Excuses, excuses
They are all Wojos players, getting outplayed by Butlers mid major players. Of course the fall back position is "there is neXT year, when we will be awesome."

I think we're awesome this year. I also think we'll be more awesome next year. Losing at Butler is not a bad loss.

[source?]

z obsession.  And good to know your perspective remains the same.

So that is the new excuse now. Butler recruiting longer than wojo? When the new BEAST was being formed, several on this board argued that Creighton and Butler were mid majors. Both are out performing MU. Wojo with his pedigree should be doing much better. He is not.

No excuses,  Wojo is a good coach with a great eye for talent and I've been an avid supporter from day 1. I think he is doing a great job of building the program and believe we are right where we should be at this point. However, calling a Butler team's players, in their 5th year in a power conference,  mid-majors is akin to calling the 2010-11 sweet 16 MU team mid-majors. It is either ignorance or you are being intentionally obtuse.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Excuses, excuses
They are all Wojos players, getting outplayed by Butlers mid major players. Of course the fall back position is "there is neXT year, when we will be awesome."

Butler's "mid-major players" also outplayed Villanova's.  Excuses, excuses from Jay Wright, I'm sure.

[willie warrior]

No excuses,  Wojo is a good coach with a great eye for talent and I've been an avid supporter from day 1. I think he is doing a great job of building the program and believe we are right where we should be at this point. However, calling a Butler team's players, in their 5th year in a power conference,  mid-majors is akin to calling the 2010-11 sweet 16 MU team mid-majors. It is either ignorance or you are being intentionally obtuse.

Neither. Perhaps you should read better. What I said was a number of people on this board called Butler and Creighton mid majors when discussing what teams should be taken into the  reformed Beast. Butler is a good program which seems to outplay MU quite a bit. They do not recruit as good of talent as MU, but continue to beat us. Same with Creighton. Some posters fail to see that. If we have better talent, better resources, "better coaching", then we should be beating these guys more frequently. We are now in Wojo's fourth year, with all his players, middle of the pack BEast is not something that should be accepted, yet here we are. Sorry you have mis-understood the point. Just a guess, but I would suppose that most of us on this board, believe that MU's program is superior to Butler or Creighton, but likely we are fooling ourselves.

[Galway Eagle]

When butler actually was full of mid major players they beat us. Rotnei clark anyone? Maybe tone back the psycho babble and have some perspective that it?s a good program

[GGGG]

Neither. Perhaps you should read better. What I said was a number of people on this board called Butler and Creighton mid majors when discussing what teams should be taken into the  reformed Beast. Butler is a good program which seems to outplay MU quite a bit. They do not recruit as good of talent as MU, but continue to beat us. Same with Creighton. Some posters fail to see that. If we have better talent, better resources, "better coaching", then we should be beating these guys more frequently. We are now in Wojo's fourth year, with all his players, middle of the pack BEast is not something that should be accepted, yet here we are. Sorry you have mis-understood the point. Just a guess, but I would suppose that most of us on this board, believe that MU's program is superior to Butler or Creighton, but likely we are fooling ourselves.

Butler I'll give you.  They are consistent.  But Creighton?  Since Doug McDermott graduated, we are 4-2 against them.

[GGGG]

When butler actually was full of mid major players they beat us. Rotnei clark anyone? Maybe tone back the psycho babble and have some perspective that it?s a good program

Since hiring Barry Collier in 1989, they have had a number of coaches, but all of them served as an assistant at some point. They have a model that a lot of programs should aspire to.  It would be nice if Marquette could build something like that eventually.

[mayfairskatingrink]

I think we're awesome this year. I also think we'll be more awesome next year. Losing at Butler is not a bad loss.

How does a single good win make MU awesome?

Have the expectations for Wojo fallen that far?

[Lennys Tap]

When butler actually was full of mid major players they beat us. Rotnei clark anyone? Maybe tone back the psycho babble and have some perspective that it?s a good program

Rotnei beat us in a basically meaningless preseason tournament. We beat him to advance to the Sweet 16. And they were good that year - maybe better than they are this year.

[tower912]

Rotnei beat us in a basically meaningless preseason tournament. We beat him to advance to the Sweet 16. And they were good that year - maybe better than they are this year.

But that was the lonesome cowboy, so Willie doesn't acknowledge it.

[Lennys Tap]

As you prepare your next round of kvetching for Saturday, keep in mind these two things.    Marquette is the youngest team in the Big East.    Marquette is the smallest team in the Big East.     

To whom do we attribute this fact? Since this is year 4 of the Wojo regime do we assume this was his plan? If not, what went awry? Or shouldn't we "kvetch" about that?

[GGGG]

To whom do we attribute this fact? Since this is year 4 of the Wojo regime do we assume this was his plan? If not, what went awry? Or shouldn't we "kvetch" about that?

No this wasn?t the ideal plan. Ideally Haanif and Traci would have been better and stuck around. But they didn?t.

[Floorslapper]

No this wasn?t the ideal plan. Ideally Haanif and Traci would have been better and stuck around. But they didn?t.

The loss of Haanif, big picture for the program, was good.  Paved the way for more PT for our talented freshman (Cain and Elliott), and freed up a scholarship.

Traci Carter still stings.  In an idea scenario the coaching staff would have been able to sell him on staying, and red shirting THIS YEAR.  For Traci that would have allowed him to not give up the half season of eligibility last year, he gave up, by transferring.  Ultimately he's taking this whole year off at LaSalle any way.  He would have improved tremendously going up against Markus and Rowsey at practice all year.  Next year Rowsey is gone.  Plug in Traci with Markus and we are off.

We would then have Traci as a Junior next year.  Put him on that team with Morrow and now you have two very physical players who are plus defenders. 

[tower912]

To whom do we attribute this fact? Since this is year 4 of the Wojo regime do we assume this was his plan? If not, what went awry? Or shouldn't we "kvetch" about that?

It is scoop, kvetch all you want.   Were Duane, Traci, and Haanif supposed to be here?  Did Henry affect the decisions of other recruits?   JUCO's?   

Wojo has a plan.  He is following it.  Unlike Buzz, he doesn't seem to have an instant plan B when someone leaves or when missing on a recruit.   So, ultimately, Wojo is responsible for not replacing Duane and Traci.  I am curious how the presence of Markus and Rowsey affected the choices of 2017 recruits.

[Lennys Tap]

It is scoop, kvetch all you want.   Were Duane, Traci, and Haanif supposed to be here?  Did Henry affect the decisions of other recruits?   JUCO's?   

Wojo has a plan.  He is following it.  Unlike Buzz, he doesn't seem to have an instant plan B when someone leaves or when missing on a recruit.   So, ultimately, Wojo is responsible for not replacing Duane and Traci.  I am curious how the presence of Markus and Rowsey affected the choices of 2017 recruits.

First of all, as has been pointed out incessantly here, transfers are a reality that every D1 coach faces. Saying that Wojo "has a plan" but it doesn't include having a contingency plan for the inevitable means the plan is flawed.

Secondly, if Traci, Duane and Haanif were still here we would be older but not much taller or better.

[tower912]

We agree on that part of the plan being flawed.   Conversely,  next year could be the tallest, deepest team we have seen in decades.  I think we would be better defensively if those guys were still around.  Probably wouldn't have the top 2 scorers on the Big East, though.