Neither "great," nor a "disaster" -- final grade still to come

[MU82]

Hi again everybody.

I decided to take a few days off from Scoop after our Warriors ended the regular season with a thud. I felt plenty bad already, and I didn't think I needed to punish myself even more.

I haven't gone back and read much Scoop since I was last on the site -- nobody deserves that kind of punishment -- but I did go back and read the entire "Hell of a regular season" thread.

That was an interesting one, because we had 6 pages in which folks stated that 2018-19 has been anything from a "great" to an "unmitigated disaster" (and everything in between).

Being both an optimist when it comes to MU hoops and a pragmatist in my overall thought processes, I reside somewhere in the middle of those extremes.

As I sit here today, three days removed from our 4th straight loss and two days before our BEast tournament opener, I'd label the season "good." Certainly not great, obviously not a disaster. Mostly, I'd rate it "incomplete," because there are still chapters to be written.

I have gotten a lot of joy and excitement from watching this season's Warriors. I also have been frustrated at times, like all of us have been. All in all, for me anyway, the thrills have vastly outweighed the spills.

Here's a quickie look at the principal parties of MU hoops ...

Markus: I think he got tuckered out, and I hope the 5-day stretch between games rejuvenates him. I agree with everybody who wishes he was better at finding his teammates, especially when he's closely defended, but it just isn't who he is. So I look it as having to take the little bit of bad with the considerable good.

Sam: I wish he'd play in the post a little more. Very effective down there, and gets him more involved. He's too good to just stand at the 3-point line, like our version of Danny Green or Kyle Korver. He's had a very good all-around season, as we all knew he would. Still, he did have a chance to hit big 3s in each of our 4 losses but couldn't do it. This just in: He's human!

Joey: Nowhere near the player the second half of the season that he was in the first half. I'm at least a little buoyed by the way he confidently stepped into that big 3 at the end of the GT game; maybe a sign of things to come this March? I still think he's going to be a stud during his time at MU, probably as early as next season.

Theo: Quite a defensive force when he avoids the silly fouls. Can get a lot better as he learns when not to go for fakes, when not to foul while reaching for rebounds he can't get, etc.

Sacar: Had a nice stretch where he looked like a great backcourt complement to Markus, but lately has maybe settled a little too much for the outside shot while not doing quite as much driving. Improved a ton this season, though.

Ed: Has played very well the second half of the season. Not a great finisher, but a beast on the boards.

BB: Has definitely improved his all-around game. Could be a wild card for us in the tournaments.

Wojo: Some consider results of close games to be one way to measure a coach; we won a ton of 'em the first half of the season, lost 5 in the second half. He and his assistants never could get Markus to have more of a "PG mentality." Has maximized the center position. Our defense is so much better this season the difference is staggering. I could go on and on with the pluses and minuses, so I'll stop and just say that at this point I give Wojo a solid B -- to me that means he's been "good," like the rest of the team. I can understand why some might grade him a little lower because he still hasn't really delivered anything tangible in 5 years (no BEast title, no NCAA tourney wins). I have a harder time with those who think he rates a D-minus; they're letting frustrations take over.

To me, it's almost been 3 different seasons:

++ The first 5 games, during which we got blown out at Indiana and blew a big lead against Kansas -- resulting in many Scoopers losing their shyte and proclaiming that the program never would go anywhere under Wojo.

++ The next 22 games, in which our only losses were to St. John's, we reached as high as #9 and it looked like we had a chance to get a 2-seed (and no worse than 3). We beat numerous ranked teams, including hated F%cky and the defending champs. We won 3x with Markus scoring 45+, and we won at GT with Markus playing only 3 minutes. We won with Sam and Joey playing so well that Scoopers proclaimed their "love" of all things Hauser, and we beat Nova despite the SPASHers combining for only 4 points. We had a couple of "lucky" wins but also plenty of impressive ones. We finally could beat teams with our defense. We had a lot of different heroes, and many of our biggest arguments were about SOTG. Some of Wojo's harshest critics conceded that he was doing a good job, and the handful of Scoopers who tend to only show up to beyotch when things are bad had fallen silent.

++ The last 4 games. Ugh.

Believe me, I do understand the frustrations of many Scoopers. I thought Lenny's post in the "hell of a season" thread -- about how expectations naturally change over the course of a season -- was spot-on. It's impossible for any even semi-objective observer to not be disappointed by the last 2 weeks; I can see why "Yeah, but we were 23-4" is of little consolation.

Like many of you, I have been watching sports as a pretty close observer for a long, long time. In every sport at every level, I have seen seasons that looked like trash get turned around, and seasons that looked great turn to trash. I also have seen seasons that had several stretches of greatness and trashiness. In a thread a little while back, many of us had a great discussion about Al's championship season -- that team was almost left for dead in February.

We obviously are still a pretty talented, competitive team. If not, we wouldn't have been close enough in those last 4 games (especially the 3 turnover-filled ones) to be in position to lose at the end. I am NOT saying it's OK that we lost at the end, just stating my opinion that those results do not necessarily mean that all is lost.

We had a lively thread last week about Seton Hall's chances against Nova. So many Scoopers were so convinced that SH had ZERO chance to win that game. That discussion reinforced in my mind that many of us aren't very good at predicting outcomes. It also reinforced how close, top-to-bottom, this conference is this season.

So while I'm not quite optimistic enough (and too pragmatic) to predict that the Warriors will go on our third 8-game winning streak of the season -- which would put us to the national title game -- I don't think it's overly optimistic to believe March could still be fun and exciting for us.

There is still every reason to believe we are as good as any team in this conference (and better than most), and therefore it's realistic to believe we can win the BET. And we will be favored in at least our first NCAA tournament game.

So put me in the "cautiously optimistic" category about the rest of this season. And I'm sure as heck not ready to hand out my final grade.

[fjm]

Well said.

I also took a break from scoop.
Yep. 4 straight losses sucks.

But the rest of the season has been a real solid success. The team might not find their footing again this year and that would really really suck.

But I’m very hopeful! I’ll be in NYC rooting them on

[Lennys Tap]

Good post, Mike. Agree with virtually everything.

Season was an "A". After flunking some quizzes/test our 96 average has dipped to an 86. But the BET and the NCAA tournaments await and count for 30-50% of our final grade depending on one's opinion. We still can get the "A". Or not. TBD.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Thought you got banned for posting nonsense on the Superbar?

[Shooter McGavin]

Great post.  I share your cautious optimism for this post season but not betting the farm on it.

[Goose]

I agree on holding out grades until this season is complete. At this point, I believe they exceeded my expectations in regards to record and by hefty margin. If season ended last Saturday, they would get an A from me. That said, I am looking at this in bigger picture view and I would go Wojo's program a C or C-. IMO, there are many pieces to the puzzle still missing. More troubling to me, this is five years into his time here.

I was thinking over the weekend that I am still not sure of what type of team/style Wojo is putting together here. Every great program seems to have an identity, from full court press, to run and gun, to slowdown offense and the list goes on and on. To me, Wojo has put together a three point shooting identity, but if so, has not fully bought into his own style. To be a three point shooting team you need a slew of guys capable of making them (Bucks for example) and Mu does not have that. Again, if someone asked me to describe Wojo's team style/identity I could not provide a real solid answer aside from he recruits good kids.

I would be curious to hear other thoughts on Wojo's style of ball. Again, I think you need to have a style and recruit kids that fit that style. At this point I am not sure who should be recruiting besides a big time PG.

[tower912]

I agree on holding out grades until this season is complete. At this point, I believe they exceeded my expectations in regards to record and by hefty margin. If season ended last Saturday, they would get an A from me. That said, I am looking at this in bigger picture view and I would go Wojo's program a C or C-. IMO, there are many pieces to the puzzle still missing. More troubling to me, this is five years into his time here.

I was thinking over the weekend that I am still not sure of what type of team/style Wojo is putting together here. Every great program seems to have an identity, from full court press, to run and gun, to slowdown offense and the list goes on and on. To me, Wojo has put together a three point shooting identity, but if so, has not fully bought into his own style. To be a three point shooting team you need a slew of guys capable of making them (Bucks for example) and Mu does not have that. Again, if someone asked me to describe Wojo's team style/identity I could not provide a real solid answer aside from he recruits good kids.

I would be curious to hear other thoughts on Wojo's style of ball. Again, I think you need to have a style and recruit kids that fit that style. At this point I am not sure who should be recruiting besides a big time PG.

He is still playing Duke style with Marquette players.     As the recruits and players improve, so will the product on the floor.   

[MU82]

Thought you got banned for posting nonsense on the Superbar?

Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you thought wrong.

[Goose]

Tower

Duke style? I must be missing something.

[fjm]

Goose,

Decent synopsis.
I would give this season an a had we won last weekend.
I now have us at a B with a solid possibility to move to a A- 

Having a BEast championship slip away is painful. And I get that Kenny states expectations shift as the season moves on. But my season Hope was almost exactly what we have now. 2nd in the BEast and a 5-6 seed for the NCAA.

I would say a lot of people would have taken that before the season started. The problem is no one expected 4L’s to end it.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I took a break until today also to cool off myself.

Cautiously optimistic.  I hope Wojo gave the team a few days off to clear everything  Kind of like baseball when a player is in a hitting slump and they only way to reboot him is to just sit him out a few days and let him come back refreshed with a new mind set.
We'll see Thursday.

[tower912]

My expectations going into the season were 22-24 regular season wins, top 3 in the Big East, 5 seed in the dance.    So, my expectations were spot on.    So far, IMO, Wojo is closer to Crean than Buzz in coaching ability.     Let me try to explain.   Looking back, barring injuries,  Crean's teams either met expectations or came up just short, based on the talent he had.  Crean only won one tourney game without Wade on his team in 9 years.    Solid regular season records.    His recruiting classes were erratic, rarely two good ones in a row.  (Matthews, Bell, Mason, Christian?!?!?!)   I have written it elsewhere, but in hindsight, he was a 'paint by numbers' coach.    Only rarely was a true spark of genius seen (Grimm on Tucker).

Buzz's teams seemed to outperform expectations.   We all loved Gardner, Cadougan, Lockett...   hell, Buzz got to the postseason with a backcourt of Acker and Cubillan and no starter over 6'6.  IMO, he had a superior ability to make the team greater than the sum of its parts.    He was an artist or an alchemist.     He made lack of size a virtue and.... forced Huggins into playing differently than he wanted to....    faked out Brad at the end of the MU/Butler tourney game.... made Crowder matched up against Drummond an advantage for MU.    Rarely developing HS players and a wandering soul were his problems.    As well as not being in sync with administration. 

Every year under Wojo, the team has met my expectations.   No better, no worse.    Either I am getting better at assessing talent, or Wojo has not yet developed the ability to make his teams greater than the sum of their parts.    To me, he seems to be like Crean in that regard.   I think he still has room to grow, though.   

This season has been a B.    The final regular season record was what I expected.    How it came to be was both more exhilarating (20-2!) and more painful (giving up what felt like 20-2 runs to each team at the end) than I anticipated.     I have seen enough from Wojo to want to keep him.   He is recruiting good players and good citizens.     I have not yet seen what I would characterize as 'magic'.

[MU82]

I agree on holding out grades until this season is complete. At this point, I believe they exceeded my expectations in regards to record and by hefty margin. If season ended last Saturday, they would get an A from me. That said, I am looking at this in bigger picture view and I would go Wojo's program a C or C-. IMO, there are many pieces to the puzzle still missing. More troubling to me, this is five years into his time here.

I was thinking over the weekend that I am still not sure of what type of team/style Wojo is putting together here. Every great program seems to have an identity, from full court press, to run and gun, to slowdown offense and the list goes on and on. To me, Wojo has put together a three point shooting identity, but if so, has not fully bought into his own style. To be a three point shooting team you need a slew of guys capable of making them (Bucks for example) and Mu does not have that. Again, if someone asked me to describe Wojo's team style/identity I could not provide a real solid answer aside from he recruits good kids.

I would be curious to hear other thoughts on Wojo's style of ball. Again, I think you need to have a style and recruit kids that fit that style. At this point I am not sure who should be recruiting besides a big time PG.

Interesting post, Goose.

I'd say this year is close to the style he wants to play defensively: competitive, mostly fundamentally sound, with a rim protector and good rebounders. Not as athletic as we need, especially at the wings, to be to completely implement it, but very good progress toward it.

Offensively, he has not had a true high-major PG in 5 years so it's not easy to determine what he wants our identity to be on that end of the court. That's on Wojo, of course, because he's the guy in charge of personnel. I think he wants to be able to go inside-out, with several outstanding shooters and capable posts. That, of course, gives him a lot in common with many other coaches.

When we were at our best offensively the previous 2 seasons, with Rowsey facilitating, Sam and Markus (and Rowsey and sometimes Reinhardt and JJJ) hitting 3s, occasionally getting out on the break, etc, that's close. But those teams had defensive shortcomings due to personnel, and no amount of offense could overcome them.

I think he has been a good recruiter but not great, because I agree with you that we aren't quite athletic enough. I am one who believes Sam is more athletic than many give him credit for, and Markus, BB and Theo are good athletes in their own way. Next season, we add 2-3 pretty athletic perimeter players (depending upon what Symir does), and we (hopefully) benefit from improvement of Joey, BB and Theo. Hopefully one of the newcomers can give us a true PG, and hopefully Wojo seals the deal with a couple of the big recruits that the Crystal Bowel say we've got a great shot at. That's a little more "hope" than I wish we were talking about, but I'm optimistic.

Although I can understand the frustration with it "taking too long," I still do think Wojo is on the right path and I am bullish long-term on Marquette basketball.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

...........seals the deal with a couple of the big recruits that the Crystal Bowel say we've got a great shot at.

Make your own joke here............

[Spotcheck Billy]

I agree on holding out grades until this season is complete. At this point, I believe they exceeded my expectations in regards to record and by hefty margin. If season ended last Saturday, they would get an A from me. That said, I am looking at this in bigger picture view and I would go Wojo's program a C or C-. IMO, there are many pieces to the puzzle still missing. More troubling to me, this is five years into his time here.

I was thinking over the weekend that I am still not sure of what type of team/style Wojo is putting together here. Every great program seems to have an identity, from full court press, to run and gun, to slowdown offense and the list goes on and on. To me, Wojo has put together a three point shooting identity, but if so, has not fully bought into his own style. To be a three point shooting team you need a slew of guys capable of making them (Bucks for example) and Mu does not have that. Again, if someone asked me to describe Wojo's team style/identity I could not provide a real solid answer aside from he recruits good kids.

I would be curious to hear other thoughts on Wojo's style of ball. Again, I think you need to have a style and recruit kids that fit that style. At this point I am not sure who should be recruiting besides a big time PG.

Perhaps Wojo is catering the style of play to the types/abilities of the players on the roster each year. No singular style because the strengths/weaknesses of each year's roster. Last year they couldn't defend so it was outscore opponents with Rowsey and Markus.

[Goose]

MU82

While I often point the need for better athletes on the team, there is a bigger need for athletic basketball players. Being athletic is great, but being a baller is equally as important. IMO, a great program picks a style and recruits players that fit style. It looks to me that Wojo is picking guys with different skill sets and unable to blend them together.

If I was him, I would pick my preferred style of play and build around it. That probably is my biggest gripe with him and state of program. Aside from everyone saying we have 8-9 guys back next year and the will improve over the summer, I do not see a program building plan in place. To coach up 8-9 guys, all with different needs for improvement, vs. picking a style and coaching up aspect of the game, seems like a lot of work and wasted time.


While Wojo provided a knockout PPT to the brass, I do not see any long term blueprint for sustainability within the basketball team. The thing that sticks out to me the most over his five years is that he has had three big time chuckers of the ball. Other than that and having good kids on the team, I do not see one common thread in type of player recruited that builds a real foundation.

Lastly, we are in year five and how many games did they need one or two guys to score 50, 60, 70% of their points to win a close game. That is not great recruiting or coaching, that is flat out luck.

[KampusFoods]

Perhaps Wojo is catering the style of play to the types/abilities of the players on the roster each year. No singular style because the strengths/weaknesses of each year's roster. Last year they couldn't defend so it was outscore opponents with Rowsey and Markus.

This is what high school coaches do, because they don't (usually) get to recruit their players. They base their style of play on the kids who make the team. Two 6'8" guys this year? Let's pound it inside. No one over 6'3 this year? Let's light it up from deep. And so on. They keep some basic principles but generally cater their playbook to the personnel, and not vice versa.

This shouldn't be the case for a high major college coach because he gets to recruit whatever type of player he wants. We seem to have some good puzzle pieces, but they don't exactly fit together.

That said, we're close to being really good. I think we had a pretty good year. I predicted 22-9 and a 7 seed in the preseason, and that's when I thought Chartouny had value.

Next year should be better, but the book isn't closed on this season yet. Win Thursday and things can change in a hurry.

[Goose]

Kampus Foods

I would argue that is what good high school programs used to do. Now, with youth programs good coaches are using youth teams to play their style of ball. You want to be great defensive team, recruit defensive players...want to be chuckers, recruit chuckers, really makes no difference on what the style is, just embrace it. IMO, the only common bonds between the Hausers, Howard, Theo and pick anyone else is they are good kids and play basketball at MU. In addition, they really do not compliment each other a whole lot on the court. The Hausers compliment each other, but who else makes other guys better?

Furthermore, it is not like each of these kids were recruited to fit a final piece of championship run team. It seems to me that Wojo recruits a thousand kids and takes who he can. Proof of that to me, the guy they brought in this year to play PG. Everyone gets on me for negative, but really, I just want to see a repeatable plan.

[Silent Verbal]

My favorite part of the OP is that you actually acknowledged those who are frustrated and said you understand where they’re coming from.  If you ask some people on here, there’s absolutely nothing to be concerned about, and even the slightest suggestion that Wojo might not be the man for the job will get you ridiculed and shouted down.  It’s frustrating when people can’t look at things objectively, so I appreciated your fairly objective take.

For me, I want to see Wojo win at least one tournament game this year.  I could care less if it’s a crapshoot or that we were 23-4 at one point and are trending upward as a program and might have a good 2020 recruiting class and Buzz cheated and whatever else someone wants to say to steer the conversation in another direction.  Tournament wins are arguably the best measure of a program’s success, if only because March is when college basketball is most visible.  I want to see Wojo get his first NCAA victory.  Anything less, even if we win the BET, will be a disappointment for me.  After five years at the helm, I don’t think that’s too much to ask of our coach.

[Goose]

Research Report

I am definitely in the minority on this, but I would sacrifice March success for long term success. Winning a game or two this March would be great, but I would rather have a system in place that is close to surefire for next season and beyond. I think this team is better than last year, but not as much as record indicates. Next year, they might be a tad better and have record, but not going to be world beaters.
 
Building a program is a hard job and I do not feel Wojo, or any Duke alum, were well suited for that job. They have never seen anything other than cherry picking recruits and winning big. Someone mentioned we play Duke style and he might be right. Unfortunately Wojo is cherry picking Joe C at PG and hoping Theo John can play 20 minutes without fouling out.

[Shooter McGavin]

MU82

While I often point the need for better athletes on the team, there is a bigger need for athletic basketball players. Being athletic is great, but being a baller is equally as important. IMO, a great program picks a style and recruits players that fit style. It looks to me that Wojo is picking guys with different skill sets and unable to blend them together.

If I was him, I would pick my preferred style of play and build around it. That probably is my biggest gripe with him and state of program. Aside from everyone saying we have 8-9 guys back next year and the will improve over the summer, I do not see a program building plan in place. To coach up 8-9 guys, all with different needs for improvement, vs. picking a style and coaching up aspect of the game, seems like a lot of work and wasted time.


While Wojo provided a knockout PPT to the brass, I do not see any long term blueprint for sustainability within the basketball team. The thing that sticks out to me the most over his five years is that he has had three big time chuckers of the ball. Other than that and having good kids on the team, I do not see one common thread in type of player recruited that builds a real foundation.

Lastly, we are in year five and how many games did they need one or two guys to score 50, 60, 70% of their points to win a close game. That is not great recruiting or coaching, that is flat out luck.

Goose,

Great post.  You and I have the same concerns for the direction of the program under Wojo.  This still could go either way.  My hope is that with some success at getting to the NCAA tournament and hopefully winning a game or two with a flawed roster will lead to better roster construction and a better vision of how he plans for us to succeed at the highest level.  The shorterm success he required for some cache on the recruiting trail (despite the last four losses in a row) started to accelerate this year and will continue into next.  If he takes advantage and the recruiting to the next level, it will be a great ride.  If not, your fear (and many others) of a lack of direction may be accurate. 

[Silent Verbal]

Goose,

Those are all good points and I agree that it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what style or type of player Wojo is all about.  With Buzz, it was obvious.  Athletic switchables who were tough as nails.  Not great shooters, for the most part, but they’d almost always win the “rock fight” type of games. 

Like you said, programs such as Duke, Kansas, and UNC can just cherry pick the best players.  MU will never have that luxury.  I think most of us are realistic enough to realize that, so style of play and type of player recruited become more important.

Now all that being said, a tourney victory for me would at least be something positive to build on for next year and help the program’s mojo going forward.  It’s been six years since we’ve won an NCAA game, and we badly need some success in that regard.

[Cheeks]

My favorite part of the OP is that you actually acknowledged those who are frustrated and said you understand where they’re coming from.  If you ask some people on here, there’s absolutely nothing to be concerned about, and even the slightest suggestion that Wojo might not be the man for the job will get you ridiculed and shouted down.  It’s frustrating when people can’t look at things objectively, so I appreciated your fairly objective take.

For me, I want to see Wojo win at least one tournament game this year.  I could care less if it’s a crapshoot or that we were 23-4 at one point and are trending upward as a program and might have a good 2020 recruiting class and Buzz cheated and whatever else someone wants to say to steer the conversation in another direction.  Tournament wins are arguably the best measure of a program’s success, if only because March is when college basketball is most visible.  I want to see Wojo get his first NCAA victory.  Anything less, even if we win the BET, will be a disappointment for me.  After five years at the helm, I don’t think that’s too much to ask of our coach.

Don't agree at all with your statement in first paragraph.  There is ALWAYS something to be concerned about, I don't care if you are Kentucky, Duke, UNC, MU or Gonzaga.  We get why the old timers see things differently, but we also don't understand why the old timers haven't also realized the world changed.  I consider myself a bridge having worked in the department knowing some of the people that got us to the mountain, but also working in what became of college basketball and athletics in general. 

I have no doubt in my mind if Scoop was around in the 70's the bitching and gnashing would be every bit as crazy.  We had some epic burnouts that people seem to forget.  Some losses that NEVER should have happened if using the logic of today back then....especially back then considering the talent.

We have four RSCI guys on this team, none of them better than 50th if I recall.  We have talent, but we still don't have the talent many other programs have.  You have to win and prove it before adding to that talent....patience is not a strong suit of this board because we have been at the top of the mountain decades ago and because there are those that don't care about clean program, they just want results.  Thus, they see other programs turn the corner quicker with lesser standards and say why not us.  Sorry, but MU isn't going that direction.  They want winning and clean, and that's the deal.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I hope Wojo gave the team a few days off to clear everything  Kind of like baseball when a player is in a hitting slump and they only way to reboot him is to just sit him out a few days and let him come back refreshed with a new mind set.
We'll see Thursday.

This guy had a different method.

[MU82]

Good conversation.

Goose, I agree with much of what you say, but I disagree that Wojo is incapable of building a consistent winner here. I know you didn't say that exactly, but it is what you seem to be suggesting.

Danny Manning, whom many wanted, is about to get fired after 5 piss-poor years at Wake Forest, a historically decent-to-good basketball school in a great conference. Buzz Williams went to Va Tech and turned things around pretty quickly. Again, those are extremes; most coaches fall in the middle. I would argue that Wojo is in the upper end of that middle -- about equal to or a notch above Shaka. I do believe Wojo has improved as a coach in every phase and will continue to do so.

I think that early on, some Scoopers decided that Wojo probably wouldn't get it done while some felt he would. And those in the first camp look at this season as proof that he won't get it done while those of us in the second camp look at this season as a sign that he can. And those different viewpoints are the most interesting thing about the conversation.

As for the recruits Wojo has brought in and sought ...

He has gone after several 5-stars and has missed on all but the one whose brother he brought in. But his backup plans were pretty decent: Howard, whom many felt would have been a 5-star (or high-4) if he had made it known he would graduate HS at 17; both Hausers, one of whom was obviously under-recruited and one whom was recruited as if a 5-star; Theo, a big man who could be coached up, etc.

If I'm not mistaken, you have repeatedly voiced your love for the Hausers, to the point of saying you think they will be NBA players, but now they're not adequate enough for Marquette? If that's not at all what you are suggesting, I sincerely apologize in advance.

I still maintain that the inability to recruit a real PG has hurt a lot to date. He has had to make do with mediocrities (Derrick, Traci), tiny gunners forced to play out of position (Rowsey, Markus), not-ready-for-prime-time grad transfers (JCS), etc. Again, I'm not absolving him -- he's the CEO of this operation and he brought those guys in (all but Derrick) -- but it's a fact.

If McEwen is as good as some claim, and if Symir is as good as he looks -- 2 big ifs -- that could help a lot. Two athletic, taller, real PGs to run the offense and defend the other team's PG.

Obviously, we both want what's best for the program. I am very realistic -- we will NEVER get back to the Al days, but I do think Wojo can get us to the level of success we had under Buzz. You seem to feel that is highly unlikely, and that's your prerogative.

On this, I sure hope I'm right and you're wrong because starting over in 2-3 years with a new coach is not a very attractive prospect IMHO!