Wojo...what the hell

[skianth16]

I'm surprised this wasn't a bigger talking point for the guys calling the game. I know they try not to be critical, but they usually still offer some sort of commentary on "unique" plays/calls like that.

[WhiteTrash]

Not trying to by 'NoJo'. But Wojo is still learning the game coaching part of his job. Hopefully it will get better.

[Johnny B]

Were you watching the game?  They scored on 6 of their last 7 possessions.  I would not have bet on a stop there.  I have no problem with Wojo not betting on a stop there.  Besides it worked out.  If we don't foul our best outcome is OT and we got OT.

You just dont intentionally make yourself down on the scoreboard. The odds of being tied and getting a stop to force ot or win are alot better than intentionally fouling and being down hoping to score and tie it.

[Osiris]

This is not a "two schools of thought" situation.  It's never under any situation the right move and I'm confidant it wasn't an intentional move made by Wojo.  My guess is he does a mea culpa and owns it.  Simply lost track of time and score.  It's brutal but I can forgive that sooner than I can forgive not running the pick and pop with Marcus and Bailey the last 20 minutes of gametime.

[CTWarrior]

You could make this case. Get your point, yet I don't think I've ever seen a coach employ that strategy in a tie game.

Definitely defies conventional wisdom...if it was intended. Or did he have a brain fart?  Based on the reaction of Bailey - he looked at Wojo as if to say you signaled me to foul...

I never saw it before either.  Given how the game was progressing, I thought there were solid reasons to do it.  It took guts.  Don't get me wrong, I am not happy with the way Wojo coached down the stretch, but our decision to revert to hero ball with about two and a half minutes to go cost us the game, on top of our failure to counter with any kind of gimmick to slow down Baldwin.

[Eldon]

lol. Because Koby pulled a shot out of his a$$?  Get out with that sh*t. Fouling a 85% shooter is dumb. Period.

And with Bailey (having a decent game), to boot

[muguru]

Ben Steele
@BenSteeleMJS
·
49s
Wojo: I let the team down.  I made a mistake. Confusion on bench. I apologized to team. #mubb.

[DiaperDandy]

A prediction:    Wojo will say he did it to make sure MU had the last shot, or some variation thereof.    Instead of letting Butler hold for the last shot, foul early, get the ball back with time to make a play.     Didn't ultimately cost MU the game.   Certainly was unusual.   

If this is his response than any reporter with half a brain would reply, "If this was truly your strategy, why didn't you go 2 for 1 when you had the ball with 42 seconds to go..."

[tower912]

Good call on the Valvano reference.    Probably the only other time I can remember a coach doing it.   

[CTWarrior]

You just dont intentionally make yourself down on the scoreboard. The odds of being tied and getting a stop to force ot or win are alot better than intentionally fouling and being down hoping to score and tie it.

Based on how they were scoring at will, I would say our odds of getting a stop were significantly less than 50%.  I think our odds of scoring a basket with 20 seconds were a lot better than our odds of stopping Butler, which is why it was OK with me.  I understand it is completely unorthodox but I was actually glad he did it, because I thought we were dead even though it was tied because I personally had zero confidence with us getting a stop there.

[The Sultan]

Ben Steele
@BenSteeleMJS
·
49s
Wojo: I let the team down.  I made a mistake. Confusion on bench. I apologized to team. #mubb.

So there goes the "Wojo is playing 3 dimensional chess" argument.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

It's not that uncommon in European pro leagues.   The idea is to get the last shot and have a chance to win.  It's like a football coach choosing to go for 2 when they trail by 1.

It's a gamble.  It may not work.  As long as Wojo owns the strategy I'm fine with it.

Now, failing to make a defensive adjustment on Baldwin's ball screen play is awful.   The offensive sets down the stretch, awful.  Wojo was very bad in crunchtime.

[CTWarrior]

If this is his response than any reporter with half a brain would reply, "If this was truly your strategy, why didn't you go 2 for 1 when you had the ball with 42 seconds to go..."

Now this is a great argument.

[mu03eng]

lol. Because Koby pulled a shot out of his a$$?  Get out with that sh*t. Fouling a 85% shooter is dumb. Period.

Timeout, that was the second possession MU had after the foul. Markus jacked a 3 with 9 seconds left with MU down 1 after Baldwin missed his second FT. Ballsy call and I wouldn't have done it but it definitely could have worked

[skianth16]

I never saw it before either.  Given how the game was progressing, I thought there were solid reasons to do it.  It took guts.  Don't get me wrong, I am not happy with the way Wojo coached down the stretch, but our decision to revert to hero ball with about two and a half minutes to go cost us the game, on top of our failure to counter with any kind of gimmick to slow down Baldwin.

It didn't take guts. It was a bad call. We only ended up in OT because their 85% FT shooter missed a shot and then Koby hit a prayer. I'm guessing the odds of the last 20 seconds playing out the way they did would be under 5%. The odds of us getting a stop on the last possession without the foul is much, much higher.

[WhiteTrash]

Were you watching the game?  They scored on 6 of their last 7 possessions.  I would not have bet on a stop there.  I have no problem with Wojo not betting on a stop there.  Besides it worked out.  If we don't foul our best outcome is OT and we got OT.

Dumbest post of the year?

Seriously man, Wojo did not know it was a tied game. Plain and simple. It will not get him fired, so why make stupid excuses. You look foolish.

[RJax55]

Ben Steele
@BenSteeleMJS
·
49s
Wojo: I let the team down.  I made a mistake. Confusion on bench. I apologized to team. #mubb.

Yep. The rationalizing here on this is nuts. I do give Wojo credit for owning it. Could have made some lame excuse.

[tower912]

Well, at least he owned it. 

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Markus was obviously leg dead as shots were short. Perfect time to decoy him and let BB and Sacar take their chances.

[Boston Warrior]

The valvano foul was so much better... he had the guy foul a freshman not the key player... he also didn't have a good shooter foul out.

[The Sultan]

Timeout, that was the second possession MU had after the foul. Markus jacked a 3 with 9 seconds left with MU down 1 after Baldwin missed his second FT. Ballsy call and I wouldn't have done it but it definitely could have worked

Dude Wojo admitted he fucked up...

[CTWarrior]

Dumbest post of the year?

Seriously man, Wojo did not know it was a tied game. Plain and simple. It will not get him fired, so why make stupid excuses. You look foolish.

I'm not making excuses.  Even if he did do it by mistake, I still didn't hate it.  The way we were playing defense, I am confident we lose that game in regulation if he doesn't do it.  And it did not end up hurting.

[The Sultan]

I'm not making excuses.  Even if he did do it by mistake, I still didn't hate it.  The way we were playing defense, I am confident we lose that game in regulation if he doesn't do it.  And it did not end up hurting.

Lol. Ok. Whatever. 🙄🙄🙄

[skianth16]

It's not that uncommon in European pro leagues.   The idea is to get the last shot and have a chance to win.  It's like a football coach choosing to go for 2 when they trail by 1.

It's a gamble.  It may not work.  As long as Wojo owns the strategy I'm fine with it.

Now, failing to make a defensive adjustment on Baldwin's ball screen play is awful.   The offensive sets down the stretch, awful.  Wojo was very bad in crunchtime.

Not close at all. It's more like a football coach allowing a team to score when the game is tied, with the hopes that he gets the ball back and can score and then go for 2 to win. Wanting the ball in your hands last makes some sense, but it should never be so important that you intentionally give the other team the lead. It's a bad decision.

[tower912]

It's not that uncommon in European pro leagues.   The idea is to get the last shot and have a chance to win.  It's like a football coach choosing to go for 2 when they trail by 1.

It's a gamble.  It may not work.  As long as Wojo owns the strategy I'm fine with it.

Now, failing to make a defensive adjustment on Baldwin's ball screen play is awful.   The offensive sets down the stretch, awful.  Wojo was very bad in crunchtime.

He messed up.   He owned it.      But I almost wish he had done it on purpose.    Like letting a football team have a touchdown in the last minute in order to get the ball back for your quarterback.     That would have been a helluva debate.