Wojos presser

[mu_hilltopper]

This thread is peak Scoop.

All down hill from here.  We had a good run.

[Markusquette]

Talk about blowing all of this way out of proportion.

[tower912]

Yup.   On a 1-10 scale for post game rants, this is about a 3.    Nothing controversial.    A couple minutes where the frustration came out.    Meh. 

[g0lden3agle]

Were you also butthurt when he was robotic with his coach speak?

Please stop driving valuable posters away from the board with your vitriol.

[rocket surgeon]

I finally gave in and watched it...did I have the wrong YouTube link?  What did he say that was so wild?  Cheezus man, I wouldn't mind seeing a little more fire and brimstone.  I like how he took the blame and shielded the players. 

Need to send him to the bill belichek school of post game pressers, that would get some regular viewers, heyn'er?

[wadesworld]

Please stop driving valuable posters away from the board with your vitriol.

If someone is going to call others thin skinned for a pretty dang mild post game press conference and then get "driven away" from a message board when someone calls them out for a stupid post maybe they're the ones with the thin skin.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Wojo just needs to coach better to win.  He has been doing a poor job of preparing the players for games; he has not made good adjustments during games; his defensive schemes are terrible.  In short, he is a good recruiter but a poor coach.  I wish it weren't so.  But, it is.

[Bad_Reporter]

I think many of you are completely missing the point..

Nobody is saying it was a heated argument between him and the student journalist.  Nobody is saying there was a bunch of fireworks and it was crazy!

The point is wojo will constantly say "I'm not going to make excuses, BUT...".  Then makes a million excuses.  A young journalist asked him a legit and great question, wojo completely unraveled and acted like a baby.  Marcus doesn't get to the free throw line, but it's not the refs fault.  We have a young team, and our conference is a monster, blah blah blah.

Here's an idea, take some accountability and don't throw a fit when someone asks you a simple question that you yourself stated in the last post game conference. See his post on Instagram about his dad's birthday today "he taught me don't make excuses". Really?  That's all your last post game conference was, along with the last 3 of them.

Here's a thought, stop being condescending, man up, earn your grossly over paid 2+ million dollar salary, and figure it out. 

It's frustrating when every year it's the same ol excuse.  It's another transfer which is why we're  "so young and every other team is so old".

Creighton, Nova, Providence lose players to injuries and what happens?  Nothing, they continue to win and do well. 

Hang your hat on that top 13 offensive ranking though woj, great job.

[wadesworld]

I think many of you are completely missing the point..

Nobody is saying it was a heated argument between him and the student journalist.  Nobody is saying there was a bunch of fireworks and it was crazy!

The point is wojo will constantly say "I'm not going to make excuses, BUT...".  Then makes a million excuses.  A young journalist asked him a legit and great question, wojo completely unraveled and acted like a baby.  Marcus doesn't get to the free throw line, but it's not the refs fault.  We have a young team, and our conference is a monster, blah blah blah.

Here's an idea, take some accountability and don't throw a fit when someone asks you a simple question that you yourself stated in the last post game conference. See his post on Instagram about his dad's birthday today "he taught me don't make excuses". Really?  That's all your last post game conference was, along with the last 3 of them.

Here's a thought, stop being condescending, man up, earn your grossly over paid 2+ million dollar salary, and figure it out. 

It's frustrating when every year it's the same ol excuse.  It's another transfer which is why we're  "so young and every other team is so old".

Creighton, Nova, Providence lose players to injuries and what happens?  Nothing, they continue to win and do well. 

Hang your hat on that top 13 offensive ranking though woj, great job.

K.

[The Lens]

I don't care that he went off.  Fine. What's a touch bothersome is how the whole thing lacked direction.  He had no idea what he was saying, it was a rambling mess.  Nice name drop on the #13 offense tho.  Always good to know your KenPom stats when you have 10 losses on Feb 4th.

[Markusquette]

Character revealed?

[Daniel]

In the presser, you can tell he was frustrated - frustrated we lost again, frustrated at the coach g question, and tho he said the team did not execute the scouting report/game plan, he went out of the way to say don't blame them - that's on me.  And he is correct and he knows it,  it must be frustrating to be gong through this in his 4th year.  The Big East is a lot more brutal than he anticipated.  But I give him credit for taking the blame and understand his frustrations knowing everyone is on him about this.

What will happen next?  The team gels and rallies around Coach, or they do not.  Coach figures out how to get to them and they gel.   Who knows. I think he is, as he said, "coaching his butt off". 

Get a pg for next year, and what he has brought together could be special.  Go Marquette!

[D'Lo Brown]

Please stop driving valuable posters away from the board with your vitriol.

Ignore list also works.

[GurneeHitchkr]

Like any one of us could sit up there are do a better job?

[GGGG]

I think many of you are completely missing the point..

Nobody is saying it was a heated argument between him and the student journalist.  Nobody is saying there was a bunch of fireworks and it was crazy!

The point is wojo will constantly say "I'm not going to make excuses, BUT...".  Then makes a million excuses.  A young journalist asked him a legit and great question, wojo completely unraveled and acted like a baby.  Marcus doesn't get to the free throw line, but it's not the refs fault.  We have a young team, and our conference is a monster, blah blah blah.

Here's an idea, take some accountability and don't throw a fit when someone asks you a simple question that you yourself stated in the last post game conference. See his post on Instagram about his dad's birthday today "he taught me don't make excuses". Really?  That's all your last post game conference was, along with the last 3 of them.

Here's a thought, stop being condescending, man up, earn your grossly over paid 2+ million dollar salary, and figure it out. 

It's frustrating when every year it's the same ol excuse.  It's another transfer which is why we're  "so young and every other team is so old".

Creighton, Nova, Providence lose players to injuries and what happens?  Nothing, they continue to win and do well. 

Hang your hat on that top 13 offensive ranking though woj, great job.

I completely understand the point.  I don't think his performance in a press conference is a big deal...at all.  Unless the dude flips over the podium, strings together a dozen profanities or has a "I'm a man.  I'm 40" moment, 99% of the fan-base never hears it or moves on.

Of course there will be some who read too much into it and keep a topic going for two days focusing on irrelevant stuff...

[mu_hilltopper]

Like any one of us could sit up there are do a better job?

I would walk up there with my Arby's hat and bag of beef and cheddars and go to town on them reporters.

[muwarrior69]

All down hill from here.  We had a good run.

I am still going to the Seton Hall game. Go Warriors. Maybe you should change your user name to mu_downhiller.

[Loose Cannon]

Goose is gonna put me in your camp as a lifelong Wojo homer, TAMU...but I thought Wojo's reaction was exactly what we should want. At the beginning of the presser, he was calm and collected. Showed perspective and urged patience as to our youth. He stressed the absolute love and belief he has for his guys. He could've ripped apart the players for not executing...AGAIN. He showed restraint and class. Then, when the reporter still seeks the juicy write-up despite all that, what would any of us do in that type of situation? I love that he got pissed and defended himself. He's already defended his team. He's more frustrated than all of us Scoopers combined, and that's "frustrated". But he's a pro. He did it perfectly. The buck stops here, yes. But our guys have to be accountable too. Did it without singling guys out.

Yep lots of Frustration ,by Wojo and the Coaches on this Board as well as many everyday Scoopers.

But my salvation is looking at  the big picture and trying to understand there will be snapshots frustrating losses within that Big picture.

[Floorslapper]

Wasn't a good look from Wojo.  One thing to get defensive and snarky with a professional journalist, another thing to get snarky at a student journalist.  The kid's question was reasonable.

As for what would have made a difference coaching-wise in the Providence game:  There were, as I recall, two ~4 minute segments of the game where we were just getting abused by Providence at the rim - they were scoring at will, and we were struggling on the offensive end.  You look at Providence, their length, strength, and athleticism - and the only guy on our roster who can match that is Theo.  While Theo played 24 minutes, he should have played 30-34.  Also, Cain was underutilized in my opinion.

Entertaining game, team is still fun to watch - BUT Wojo still has a ways to go as a coach.  He's improved, BUT, at best, at present he is an average bench coach.  Not sure he can ever be more than average, which means we will have to get elite talent in order to compete.

[NorthernDancerColt]

Wasn't a good look from Wojo.  One thing to get defensive and snarky with a professional journalist, another thing to get snarky at a student journalist.  The kid's question was reasonable.

As for what would have made a difference coaching-wise in the Providence game:  There were, as I recall, two ~4 minute segments of the game where we were just getting abused by Providence at the rim - they were scoring at will, and we were struggling on the offensive end.  You look at Providence, their length, strength, and athleticism - and the only guy on our roster who can match that is Theo.  While Theo played 24 minutes, he should have played 30-34.  Also, Cain was underutilized in my opinion.

Entertaining game, team is still fun to watch - BUT Wojo still has a ways to go as a coach.  He's improved, BUT, at best, at present he is an average bench coach.  Not sure he can ever be more than average, which means we will have to get elite talent in order to compete.

I just watched the game replay, and I think Wojo coached a pretty good game. Man, the things that went against us were almost uncanny.....
1.MH drives and defender jumps out at and into him (while Gottlieb somehow says he jumped vertically)...no call.
2. Later, Sam is as vertical as vertical can be....foul called.
3. Late in game, Sam does his version of the "Thing", gets defender to bite, and inexplicably doesn't make a shooting motion, instead throws a pass, thus getting only two free throws.
4. Theo (who had an awesome game) for some reason doesn't allow MH's layup to likely spin in, and MH converts 2 frees instead of an &1 situation.

Points 3 and 4 above alone means potentially a tie game. I couldn't find one game situation where Wojo either didn't adjust or made a bad decision. A team like MU is much better in transition after a free throw miss than calling a timeout and drawing up a play in the half court. Just unfortunate MH turned it over after the double team.

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

I think many of you are completely missing the point..

Nobody is saying it was a heated argument between him and the student journalist.  Nobody is saying there was a bunch of fireworks and it was crazy!

The point is wojo will constantly say "I'm not going to make excuses, BUT...".  Then makes a million excuses.  A young journalist asked him a legit and great question, wojo completely unraveled and acted like a baby.  Marcus doesn't get to the free throw line, but it's not the refs fault.  We have a young team, and our conference is a monster, blah blah blah.

Here's an idea, take some accountability and don't throw a fit when someone asks you a simple question that you yourself stated in the last post game conference. See his post on Instagram about his dad's birthday today "he taught me don't make excuses". Really?  That's all your last post game conference was, along with the last 3 of them.

Here's a thought, stop being condescending, man up, earn your grossly over paid 2+ million dollar salary, and figure it out. 

It's frustrating when every year it's the same ol excuse.  It's another transfer which is why we're  "so young and every other team is so old".

Creighton, Nova, Providence lose players to injuries and what happens?  Nothing, they continue to win and do well. 

Hang your hat on that top 13 offensive ranking though woj, great job.

I think this is pretty well said and sort of where I was going with the original post.

I also agree with sultan in that the presser is pretty irrelevant....unless he's letting the pressure he's likely feeling effect his handling of the team.

Didn't expect this to turn into this type of thread but I guess I'm new posting to scoop. Now I know what to expect 

[Disco Hippie]

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe we're just not as talented as everyone thinks we are?  Sure Markus and Rowsey are studs but all opposing teams have to do is shut one of them down and they can pretty much have their way with us.  Wojo knows our weaknesses and did something about in acquiring Morrow, but he's not eligible this year.  I have confidence in the staff, just not the players.  We're way too dependent on the 3 ball and when it doesn't fall we're exposed plain and simple.  It's great to see Theo and Sacar develop, but they're not quite where they need to be yet for us to be a really good team.  At the end of the day, they're just not as good or as experienced as we all want them to be.  By the way I think it's fine to cite our youth as an excuse because in addition to being young, we don't routinely acquire blueblood one and done talent, which candidly is who Wojo has spent the vast majority of his career coaching.  It's a lot more difficult with mediocre players and when they're mostly coming directly out of high school, which was not the case with many of his predecessor's recruits, it's exacerbated even more.  We were very experienced last year yet still incredibly lucky to make the dance as it is.  I like what I see from the frosh and I think we'll be a top 25 team next year with the addition of Joey, Morrow and Bailey.   If we're not, then I would advocate for a change but I think Wojo and staff get a pass until the end of next season.

[tower912]

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe we're just not as talented as everyone thinks we are?  Sure Markus and Rowsey are studs but all opposing teams have to do is shut one of them down and they can pretty much have their way with us.  Wojo knows our weaknesses and did something about in acquiring Morrow, but he's not eligible this year.  I have confidence in the staff, just not the players.  We're way too dependent on the 3 ball and when it doesn't fall we're exposed plain and simple.  It's great to see Theo and Sacar develop, but they're not quite where they need to be yet for us to be a really good team.  At the end of the day, they're just not as good or as experienced as we all want them to be.  By the way I think it's fine to cite our youth as an excuse because in addition to being young, we don't routinely acquire blueblood one and done talent, which candidly is who Wojo has spent the vast majority of his career coaching.  It's a lot more difficult with mediocre players and when they're mostly coming directly out of high school, which was not the case with many of his predecessor's recruits, it's exacerbated even more.  We were very experienced last year and we're lucky to make the dance as it is.  I really like what I see from the frosh and I think we'll be a top 25 team next year.  If we're not, then I would advocate for a change.

It occurred to me long ago.   I have just been saying it differently.     And with the exception of Rowsey and Heldt, I believe all can improve.     So, I don't say (player x) sucks.   I point out there youth and where they can improve.    Be it skill development or muscle development. 

[T-Bone]

Well if he's frustrated, who can blame him?
(didn't watch presser - figured I had a good idea about what he'd say [not a judgement])

[skianth16]

Like any one of us could sit up there are do a better job?

I hate this argument. I hate it for athletes, coaches, politicians, teachers, CEOs, etc etc etc. It's trotted out time and time again when a valid criticism comes up, but the responder doesn't have a great answer to defend whoever is being critiqued.

Just because no one here is able to coach at Wojo's level doesn't mean criticism of him is off base (the merits of this particular thread notwithstanding). Similarly, no one here is able to play basketball at the same level as the MU team. Does that mean we can't point out Rowsey's careless  turnovers at times? Or our big men's propensity for bad fouls?

I'll agree that in general most people can do a better job of trying to respect just how hard it is to compete at this level, but there are still going to be times where critical comments will come up after a poor performance. That's just how it works.