Why MU Lost to Providence - A look into the Weaknesses of Wojo

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

That was an entertaining game to watch from the standpoint of how it was a battle in the trenches.  Lots of hustle, effort, both teams battled hard.

A few things caught my eye.

1. Howard dribbled the ball too much.  - Several times he dribbled into double teams turning the ball over.  As a senior you have to make better decisions than this and have more trust in your teammates.  Eliminate just one of these costly mistakes and the result could be a W.
 
         a.  Howard's constant dribbling into double teams and in traffic stems from a lack of cohesion on offense.  That is Wojo's fault.  The ball should be moving
              around much  more to free up Howard and others.  In the 1st Quarter MU largely had 1 touch on every possession until the 14:00 min mark.  When they
              started to move the ball around, some spots opened up underneath the hoop.  Of course, the offense never tried to focus on this.  It was largely sporadic
              with ball movement, with very few touches.

         b.  The ball never goes into the paint.  Again, you need to move the ball around to keep the defense honest.  MU made it easier for Providence to guard them. 
              Paint touches!!!   MU could have eliminated a few difficult possessions by just moving the ball around.  Again, lost opportunity to coaching.

2.  Huge Mistake by Wojo

      a.  On the last possession in regulation, Providence hit the 3 to tie it.  Wojo would have been better off fouling since Providence had been shaky from the line.  Not
           to mention it forces Providence to foul again.  Odds of winning here, increase dramatically.   Another lost opportunity to coaching.

3.  Recruiting - Jayce Johnson shouldn't be a rotational guy.  He should only be playing in blowouts.  There's no reason why you can't get a 3 star big man than can
      play defense.  Having him on the floor hurts you.  He wouldn't have played on Crean, Buzz, Deane's teams in any of the rotations. 

In Summary, if Wojo preached/enforced a tighter offense and moved the ball more they could have eliminated a few turnovers and gotten some easier looks.  At a minimum, I counted 3 possessions where a more conservative take on offense could have limited Providence in transition and flipped the score a few baskets MU's way.  Furthermore, all Wojo had to do was foul instead of letting Providence get a look at the 3 and put it into overtime.  The game was lost in multiple spots and that's on Wojo's lack of fundamentals.  The defense played well enough to win......the offense let the team down.  The sad thing is that all of these issues are correctable - but here we are in year 6.  This loss should have never happened.  You can put dozens of other coaches in Wojo's chair and the end result is a W.

[jesmu84]

That was an entertaining game to watch from the standpoint of how it was a battle in the trenches.  Lots of hustle, effort, both teams battled hard.

A few things caught my eye.

1. Howard dribbled the ball too much.  - Several times he dribbled into double teams turning the ball over.  As a senior you have to make better decisions than this and have more trust in your teammates.  Eliminate just one of these costly mistakes and the result could be a W.
 
         a.  Howard's constant dribbling into double teams and in traffic stems from a lack of cohesion on offense.  That is Wojo's fault.  The ball should be moving
              around much  more to free up Howard and others.  In the 1st Quarter MU largely had 1 touch on every possession until the 14:00 min mark.  When they
              started to move the ball around, some spots opened up underneath the hoop.  Of course, the offense never tried to focus on this.  It was largely sporadic
              with ball movement, with very few touches.

         b.  The ball never goes into the paint.  Again, you need to move the ball around to keep the defense honest.  MU made it easier for Providence to guard them. 
              Paint touches!!!   MU could have eliminated a few difficult possessions by just moving the ball around.  Again, lost opportunity to coaching.

2.  Huge Mistake by Wojo

      a.  On the last possession in regulation, Providence hit the 3 to tie it.  Wojo would have been better off fouling since Providence had been shaky from the line.  Not
           to mention it forces Providence to foul again.  Odds of winning here, increase dramatically.   Another lost opportunity to coaching.

3.  Recruiting - Jayce Johnson shouldn't be a rotational guy.  He should only be playing in blowouts.  There's no reason why you can't get a 3 star big man than can
      play defense.  Having him on the floor hurts you.  He wouldn't have played on Crean, Buzz, Deane's teams in any of the rotations. 

In Summary, if Wojo preached/enforced a tighter offense and moved the ball more they could have eliminated a few turnovers and gotten some easier looks.  At a minimum, I counted 3 possessions where a more conservative take on offense could have limited Providence in transition and flipped the score a few baskets MU's way.  Furthermore, all Wojo had to do was foul instead of letting Providence get a look at the 3 and put it into overtime.  The game was lost in multiple spots and that's on Wojo's lack of fundamentals.  The defense played well enough to win......the offense let the team down.  The sad thing is that all of these issues are correctable - but here we are in year 6.  This loss should have never happened.  You can put dozens of other coaches in Wojo's chair and the end result is a W.

Lol.

After all your recent rants about wojos terrible defense.

You're such a clown.

[GoldenZebra]

This team misses Sam. Sam was a very legit option besides Markus.

[HowardsWorld]

Let this sink in. Wojo could be here for a decade and not have a tournament win. Thats only 4 years away.

[jesmu84]

Let this sink in. Wojo could be here for a decade and not have a tournament win. Thats only 4 years away.

Let this sink in. Wojo could be here for a decade and have 4 national championships. That's only 4 years away.

Any other hypotheticals you want to discuss?

[MU2007]

This team misses Sam. Sam was a very legit option besides Markus.

This, 100%.

[mileskishnish72]

Glasses, I know you're controversial (and likely trying to be) and I know you provoke people on the board. Sometime I find some gold in your posts, sometimes not.

As to the post:

1. I agree. But poor Markus just does not get any help.
   a. true
   b. true
2. true
3. False.
     It's true that JJ gets backed down more than 4 or 30, but it seems to me that he is a better rebounder and works harder. I shudder when he goes to the FT line. Theo has not developed worth a damn and Ed has had flashes, but not consistent performance. Our big situation is kind of a problem.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

Glasses, I know you're controversial (and likely trying to be) and I know you provoke people on the board. Sometime I find some gold in your posts, sometimes not.

As to the post:

1. I agree. But poor Markus just does not get any help.
   a. true
   b. true
2. true
3. False.
     It's true that JJ gets backed down more than 4 or 30, but it seems to me that he is a better rebounder and works harder. I shudder when he goes to the FT line. Theo has not developed worth a damn and Ed has had flashes, but not consistent performance. Our big situation is kind of a problem.

Why doesn't Markus get help?  Answer: Recruiting

Jayce is MidMajor talent at best.  He's too much of a liability to play in meaningful portions of games.  He costs you on the offensive side of the ball and allows the defense to execute double teams better.

[CountryRoads]

Very odd game for anyone to rip on jayce. He played with effort and actually had some huge plays to keep MU in the game.

He shouldn't be playing? Well, I agree but unfortunately the other two bigs have not been good enough to eat up the 40 minutes.

[warriors141]

Let this sink in. Wojo could be here for a decade and have 4 national championships. That's only 4 years away.

Any other hypotheticals you want to discuss?

this is a joke, right?

[Mr. Nielsen]

MU had one timeout after they went up by 3. You got to foul with around 7 seconds left.

[Marcus92]

Jayce extended 5 possessions with offensive rebounds (9 boards in total) and added 3 assists. He was a positive contributor on the court. One of the few bright spots for Marquette, in my opinion.

[Cfollow]

Has anyone ever heard Wojo give one single piece of specific direction during the times he is mic'd up during a TV timeout?? It's always some BS about toughness or grit or some other useless platitude. Never once have I heard a specific offensive or defensive detail given to a single player or the team as a whole. SMH.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

Jayce extended 5 possessions with offensive rebounds (9 boards in total) and added 3 assists. He was a positive contributor on the court. One of the few bright spots for Marquette, in my opinion.

And he was abused inside when Providence had the ball.  As I stated before, he makes everyone's job tougher on the offensive side.  He needs to go.  Just because every time he grabs a rebound and the Hoosier Soundtrack starts playing in your mind doesn't mean he's good for the team.

[CTWarrior]

Has anyone ever heard Wojo give one single piece of specific direction during the times he is mic'd up during a TV timeout?? It's always some BS about toughness or grit or some other useless platitude. Never once have I heard a specific offensive or defensive detail given to a single player or the team as a whole. SMH.

Tonight I heard him specifically tell his team to move the ball and not just come down and shoot.  That is specific, relevant coaching.  Not that you would hear much he says that is strategy related for obvious reasons.

[CountryRoads]

Has anyone ever heard Wojo give one single piece of specific direction during the times he is mic'd up during a TV timeout?? It's always some BS about toughness or grit or some other useless platitude. Never once have I heard a specific offensive or defensive detail given to a single player or the team as a whole. SMH.

The deal is that during these "in the huddle" moments, coaches deliberately do not give any strategy and just say boilerplate stuff because they have to for FOX. It's dumb and I wish they would stop but it's not something to get worked up about.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

Tonight I heard him specifically tell his team to move the ball and not just come down and shoot.  That is specific, relevant coaching.  Not that you would hear much he says that is strategy related for obvious reasons.

And.......they didn't - because the issue isn't forced in practice.  This is another example of poor coaching. Had they moved the ball around, they would have won tonight. 

[rocky_warrior]

And.......they didn't - because the issue isn't forced in practice.  This is another example of poor coaching. Had they moved the ball around, they would have won tonight.

Like you know what happens in practice...unless you've been talking with Herman...

[skianth16]

This came up a little bit in the game thread, but what was the deal with playing Markus so much in the final 2 minutes? He looked like he was in pain, and there were a few times that you could see his leg give out when he tried to move quickly. I was thinking Wojo would had put in Jamal or Greg to give Markus some rest and eliminate a potential weak link on defense.

I know Greg was banged up today too, but some relief for Markus in the final minutes probably would have given us more energy on defense. Then Wojo could have used the 2 timeouts he had to get Markus back in the game for offense.

[skianth16]

Like you know what happens in practice...unless you've been talking with Herman...

With what we've seen in games so far this year, I'd be very surprised if ball movement and players moving off the ball on offense is a focal point in practice. Those are big time weaknesses right now.

[rocky_warrior]

With what we've seen in games so far this year, I'd be very surprised if ball movement and players moving off the ball on offense is a focal point in practice. Those are big time weaknesses right now.

Yeah...no.  I'm pretty sure even in a couple of the mic'd huddles that have been widely criticized, Wojo has screamed "MOVE THE BALL.  LOOK FOR THE OPEN MAN"

[skianth16]

Yeah...no.  I'm pretty sure even in a couple of the mic'd huddles that have been widely criticized, Wojo has screamed "MOVE THE BALL.  LOOK FOR THE OPEN MAN"

It just seems weird that the team would so regularly do the exact opposite of what is being drilled into them in practice then. It's not like we have stretches where we struggle with this. It's a constant issue. It really does seem like something the guys aren't used to doing.

[jonny09]

And he was abused inside when Providence had the ball.  As I stated before, he makes everyone's job tougher on the offensive side.  He needs to go.  Just because every time he grabs a rebound and the Hoosier Soundtrack starts playing in your mind doesn't mean he's good for the team.

Exactly!!   He is not the type of player you win with.  If people can't see this they don't know basketball.  His cons outweigh his pros. It's not a winning recipe.

[rocky_warrior]

It just seems weird that the team would so regularly do the exact opposite of what is being drilled into them in practice then. It's not like we have stretches where we struggle with this. It's a constant issue. It really does seem like something the guys aren't used to doing.

I get it.  We see these glimpses of them playing as a team, and they look awesome.  So, we figure "why can't they always play that way".  But watching a LOT of college hoops, you realize most teams are like that.  Moment's of awesomeness, and lots of doing things that aren't very good decisions.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

Like you know what happens in practice...unless you've been talking with Herman...

If you can't control what your players do on the court, especially when your star player is a senior.....then you're not a good coach.  The message isn't getting across to players for some reason or another.  Not enough is being done.