Problem Wojo or Markus?

[NickelDimer]

It would be great if BD or someone with a real story posts some plausible details but to join the speculation train...

I think it's incredibly telling that Sam didn't specifically thank Wojo in his "I'm out" twitter, instead just going with the overly generic "everyone involved with the Marquette basketball program". Basically Wojo got the same thanks as the ticket sellers. It seems if it wasn't Wojo there would be been a "Thanks to Coach Wojo and all the coaching staff..." or something along those lines. It's a conspicuous and I'm sure deliberate omission.

That said, a number of us here have been harping about Markus' hero ball all season (even when it was working well). Certainly plausible to think it bothered those guys as well.

And here's the thing, Wojo's "give the keys to my guy and hope for the best" strategy isn't new this year. It was the same with Rowsey to a large extent last year. And with Hank.

Like I've been saying this move is personal. This goes beyond touches, shots, etc.

[avid1010]

Your argument was that Sam wants to win.  Marquette was expected to win a lot next year.

So clearly, its not that.

You can't call someone else's post stupid...and then post this.  Extremely plausible that Sam and Joey don't feel Wojo can win. 

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I was informed of a few more notes last night away from Scoop and this whole thing sounds more and more like the Maymon family situation.

[MU82]

I was informed of a few more notes last night away from Scoop and this whole thing sounds more and more like the Maymon family situation.

Go on ...

[burger]

More like .....How WOJO "handles" Markus.....

So 1 + 1 does equal 2 in this case......

[Avenue Commons]

I want to say that I generally support players' right to transfer and control their own destiny.

I'll let others color between the lines about what happened. And I wasn't there so I'm a bit reluctant to draw big conclusions. But based on what I know there's an unfair amount of blame to the coach and teammates among the fan base. The Hausers chose to quit Marquette because their feelings were hurt. Bailing on a top 5-10 team over hurt feelings strikes me as a bit dramatic.

[4everwarriors]

This is a simple sorry. Quit looking for zebras. Hausers didn't want to play with Markus. Felt Wojo gave him the green light and this ultimately was the reason for the end of season collapse. Sam and Joey know that wasn't going to change next season.

[Silent Verbal]

Wojo needed to make it work between the Hausers and Howard, and he was out of his depth.  Losing them is an embarrassment and damaging as hell to recruiting going forward, especially in the state of WI.  Wojo is a dead man walking.

This is why you can't look to the future in college sports, which is what so many posters on here have been trying to do to rationalize Wojo's failures.  You have to win *this* year, every year, because you might not get the same chance again with the same players.

[lawdog77]

This is a simple sorry. Quit looking for zebras. Hausers didn't want to play with Markus. Felt Wojo gave him the green light and this ultimately was the reason for the end of season collapse. Sam and Joey know that wasn't going to change next season.

The bolded part is simply not true. There was absolutely nobody else on this team this year that could/would create off of the dribble. Sacar occasionally would, but seemed to settle for the corner three. Next year, Koby can do that. So Sam and Joey didn't believe it would change, possibly. But they have no idea of knowing...My opinion, if they don't want to be here, they are dead to me. Next Warrior up.

[StillAWarrior]

You can't call someone else's post stupid...and then post this.  Extremely plausible that Sam and Joey don't feel Wojo can win.

This is kind of the point I was trying to make in another post.  Sam and Joey were on a team that was ranked in the Top 10 in the country and saw it completely implode.  If they believed that this was Wojo's fault, it's also not unreasonable to think that they don't believe Wojo can live up to those expectations for next year.

I'm not saying that they're right...who the hell knows?  But, it's quite possible that they believe that Wojo just can't take a team to that level.  Personally, I doubt they'd be walking away if they truly believed it was a legit final four contender.  I suspect they fear that the same problems that caused a really good team to turn into a train wreck would still be present and would make next year a huge disappointment too.

At this point, I really hope that they're wrong.  I hope that they were the problem, and that the team will outperform everyone's recently lowered expectations.  Gotta admit that I have my doubts.

[StillAWarrior]

Next Warrior up.

Hear, hear!

[mug644]

The bolded part is simply not true. There was absolutely nobody else on this team this year that could/would create off of the dribble. Sacar occasionally would, but seemed to settle for the corner three. Next year, Koby can do that. So Sam and Joey didn't believe it would change, possibly. But they have no idea of knowing...My opinion, if they don't want to be here, they are dead to me. Next Warrior up.

While somewhat true, they've seen Koby and Greg in practice all year, and should have a clear sense of what they will bring. Maybe what was up in the air and somehow scary to them (especially Joey) was that they didn't know for sure how Wojo would allocate playing time. Perhaps Joey implicitly knows that he was under pressure from Bailey at the end of the season, and worries about the impact of 2 more guys worthy of playing time.

[Goose]

Joey Hauser is not sitting on the bench for anyone on the current MU roster. He is highly skilled player and was going to be a starter every year MU.

[Skip Intro]

I was informed of a few more notes last night away from Scoop and this whole thing sounds more and more like the Maymon family situation.

Probably not to the same extent (or tone) as Tim Maymon, but I do think this was a family-driven decision.  And once one member is unhappy (Joey, IMO, all season), they all have his back.  I think they see Joey as an eventual draft pick, and he wasn't being "showcased" as such.  We live in a world where Aunt Becky will pay $500k to cheat her daughter's way into college - parents of these "special" athletes want to see their kids' dreams come true.

This is probably the Ellenson family 2.0 - lets all remember that they had unrealistic expectations as to what Wally brought to the table, and Wojo didn't cave to them just to keep them happy.  Wojo shouldn't be promising anyone anything in the way of minutes, touches, offensive scheme, etc. 

I find it interesting that Harry Froling is one of the people backing up the Hausers via Twitter.  His circumstances were similar - he had outsized dreams of an NBA career, and he wanted it now.  When things didn't work out as planned, he bolted.

At the end of the day, I don't really blame Wojo for this.  You can't coach to personal expectations.

[frozena pizza]

I'm sorry, but Joey is not going to get more exposure or better opportunities anywhere else.  If he goes to a better program, he will always have to prove himself to get minutes.  The other option is to go play at UWM knowing they will never land a higher rated recruit than him but nobody on a national level is going to pay any attention.  He got the minutes he deserved last year, no more or less.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Probably not to the same extent (or tone) as Tim Maymon, but I do think this was a family-driven decision.  And once one member is unhappy (Joey, IMO, all season), they all have his back.  I think they see Joey as an eventual draft pick, and he wasn't being "showcased" as such.  We live in a world where Aunt Becky will pay $500k to cheat her daughter's way into college - parents of these "special" athletes want to see their kids' dreams come true.

This is probably the Ellenson family 2.0 - lets all remember that they had unrealistic expectations as to what Wally brought to the table, and Wojo didn't cave to them just to keep them happy.  Wojo shouldn't be promising anyone anything in the way of minutes, touches, offensive scheme, etc. 

I find it interesting that Harry Froling is one of the people backing up the Hausers via Twitter.  His circumstances were similar - he had outsized dreams of an NBA career, and he wanted it now.  When things didn't work out as planned, he bolted.

At the end of the day, I don't really blame Wojo for this.  You can't coach to personal expectations.

What I was told was pretty much this.  Someone mentioned here some grad students knew several weeks ago?  The Parents told Wojo either Marcus or my kids.  The parents thought Marcus was declaring. 
Someone can probably confirm that everyone looked close, together and happy at the Awards Banquet as I think the players do really get along? 

[tower912]

If that was the case, the coach cannot fold.  It may cost him his job in this case, but the coach cannot give in to extortion.

[Its DJOver]

I understand the desire to assign blame in a situation like this, but the reality is, that unless you know the entire story and have all the facts, you can't accurately do that.  My guess is that no one is completely clean in this situation.  Sam, Joey, Markus, Wojo, Hausers parents all likely contributed to this.

[NavinRJohnson]

Joey Hauser is not sitting on the bench for anyone on the current MU roster. He is highly skilled player and was going to be a starter every year MU.

I believe this is probably accurate, but in order for it to be true, it would almost necessarily mean that Sam would subsequently end up having to come off the bench. Howard, McEwen (possibly Elliott instead) and John were starting for sure next year. That leaves 2 spots for Joey, Sam, and Sacar. To think that Sacar would automatically go to the bench in favor of the Hausers is far from a safe assumption. He is more athletic and better defender than both. From where I'm sitting, the writing was on the wall...one of teh Hausers was no longer going to be s starter, and both were going to see their roles reduced. Throw in Elliott, Bailey, etc., and Hausers' roles get diminished even more. Wojo was rightly unapologetic about it, and the Hauser family decided it was best to go elsewhere. Still only 200 minutes in a game, and it is difficult to get NBA scouts attention when you are third or fourth fiddle, and spending time on the bench. For those reasons, I have no problem with the decision made by either Wojo or the Hausers.

[lawdog77]

I believe this is probably accurate, but in order for it to be true, it would almost necessarily mean that Sam would subsequently end up having to come off the bench. Howard, McEwen (possibly Elliott instead) and John were starting for sure next year. That leaves 2 spots for Joey, Sam, and Sacar. To think that Sacar would automatically go to the bench in favor of the Hausers is far from a safe assumption. He is more athletic and better defender than both. From where I'm sitting, the writing was on the wall...one of teh Hausers was no longer going to be s starter, and both were going to see their roles reduced. Throw in Elliott, Bailey, etc., and Hausers' roles get diminished even more. Wojo was rightly unapologetic about it, and the Hauser family decided it was best to go elsewhere. Still only 200 minutes in a game, and it is difficult to get NBA scouts attention when you are third or fourth fiddle, and spending time on the bench. For those reasons, I have no problem with the decision made by either Wojo or the Hausers.

And this is why it's a lock for them to be Badgers. UVA can get better recruits. MSU as well.

[warriorfred]

This is a simple sorry. Quit looking for zebras. Hausers didn't want to play with Markus. Felt Wojo gave him the green light and this ultimately was the reason for the end of season collapse. Sam and Joey know that wasn't going to change next season.

Preach it.

[Goose]

lawdog

Once again you are off target. The Hauser boys can play anywhere in the country.

[MUfan12]

This isn't an Ellenson or Maymon situation. They are far from helicopter parents, Dave was a college player, and a HS coach. He knows the lines. There's no AAU coach being an intermediary. Yes, they believe Joey can be a pro. But nothing about MU, or how he was used would keep him from progressing to that goal.

The decision was not made weeks ago, and may not have been by the banquet. Joey was gonna follow whatever Sam decided, and ultimately Sam thought it was best to move on.

I wish I could get into more detail, but I was told it in confidence and have to respect that. It's just a shame that there wasn't stronger leadership in place, as this outcome could have been avoided.

Also, please don't rip Markus for this. He's a great kid and they're still friends. He plays the way he knows how, and hasn't been coached hard enough to change it.

[The Lens]

I was informed of a few more notes last night away from Scoop and this whole thing sounds more and more like the Maymon family situation.

And I have heard it is the opposite.  And it is from the same people that were telling it was true hours before Scoop knew, so I find some reason to believe them.

But either way, it's bad. 

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

lawdog

Once again you are off target. The Hauser boys can play anywhere in the country.

They most certainly can.  But things are a bit different at places like MSU or UVA.  Sam will definitely get his wherever he goes as a senior, but teams may be hesitant to make a 1 year player the focal point of their offense.  Joey will likely also be a great player wherever they land, but at places like MSU and UVA he is going to re-recruited over every single season and is going to need to earn his minutes.  If he was butt hurt about not being the focal point of MU's offense as a freshman due to a 2nd team AA guard being on his team, I can't imagine how he's going to feel when he has multiple top 50 recruits to battle against each season that actually play his position.