WOJO HAS TO GOJO

[Hards Alumni]

Wojo’s inability to “game coach” was obvious yesterday. He failed to make adjustments. He let Oklahoma State control the tempo to dominate the game. It was disturbing to see Marquette players standing around, not knowing what to do. Their poor play and the inept coaching put a big damper on Friday night’s game.

What is utterly shocking after 7 years, is that he seems to not understand what his team's weaknesses are.  And if he DOES know what they are, nothing seems to be done to compensate for those weaknesses.  Like, last year, clearly we had a defense problem.  Okay, it looks like we solved that... but now we have a massive offense problem.  We don't have a half court offensive game.   How is that something that needs to be worked on at this point?  I get that this has been a messed up year... but is our entire coaching mentality to:

1. Correct problems of last year
2. Work on strength and conditioning
3. Give strange non basketball specific speeches about "out playing them" and "work harder"
4. Be a good respectable face of the University

because that is all I see.  Sounds like 6th place in the BEAST is what we should just expect at this point.

[5DollarPitcher]

What are the odds that Wojo did not know OSU was playing zone?  That would be the most logical explanation for lack of adjustments.  Do we even give him that much credit?

[cheebs09]

I’m worried Wojo recruits talent and tries to cobble together a system. I can’t determine what the identity of a Wojo team is supposed to be.

What seems to be consistent is a team that is not good on defense/creating turnovers and has very little interest in pushing the tempo with a fast break.

[rocky_warrior]

I’m worried Wojo recruits talent and tries to cobble together a system. I can’t determine what the identity of a Wojo team is supposed to be.

What seems to be consistent is a team that is not good on defense/creating turnovers and has very little interest in pushing the tempo with a fast break.

Questioning the identity is fair.  But this team is actually very good at defense - so far.

[5DollarPitcher]

I’m worried Wojo recruits talent and tries to cobble together a system. I can’t determine what the identity of a Wojo team is supposed to be.

What seems to be consistent is a team that is not good on defense/creating turnovers and has very little interest in pushing the tempo with a fast break.

The identity of a Wojo team is and always has been "let's force feed our best player until he pukes - for better or worse".  Carlino, Henry, Rowsey, Markus, now Dawson.  Wojo teams have never had a semblance of balance on offense - making them easy to gameplan for defensively.

The reason this identity is not quite as clear and obvious (yet) with this season's team is that Dawson is a true freshman (not quite on the same level as Henry was coming in), meaning he is unable to fully takeover games the way the aforementioned could.  But make no mistake - Wojo promised him and is grooming him for this role.  For comparison's sake - Markus averaged 9 FGA his freshman season, then 19 FGA by the time he was a senior.  Dawson is averaging 9 FGA through three games as a true freshman this year.  As he becomes more comfortable at the college level, his FGA will only continue to climb as Wojo leans on him to do it all.

Disclaimer:  I am a huge Markus, Henry, Dawson, Rowsey fan.  I thought these guys are/were excellent stewards of our program and unique college basketball talents.  They were just horribly misused to the detriment of the broader team.  In my opinion - the strength of the team is the team ESPECIALLY at the college level.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

What are the odds that Wojo did not know OSU was playing zone?  That would be the most logical explanation for lack of adjustments.  Do we even give him that much credit?

This is the type of bullsh*t statement that causes mods to call you out and the rest of us to ignore you.

[Silent Verbal]

I call Wojo’s system the “all of it, all the time” method.  His star player does not just get some of it, some of the time, or most of it, most of the time.  He gets all of it, all the time.  This is very attractive to recruits and is no doubt the main reason Garcia chose MU—I believe he even said Wojo’s use of Henry was one of the biggest reasons he came here.  Koby clearly wishes he got this treatment, but it’s not his to have.  Only one inmate is allowed to run the asylum; last year it was Markus, this year it’s Garcia.

[Its DJOver]

There are certainly valid criticism of Wojo is this thread, but the whole thing about the best players taking the most shots is ridiculous.  Of course Markus took more shots as a Senior than as a Freshman, of course Dawson is going to be a focal point of the offense, that's how you avoid situations like Jamal taking 14 shots.  If you want to call into question the quality of shots taken, and the number of them that were just iso's rather than set designed plays, that's fair, but just looking at fga in a vacuum is silly.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I think the issue isn't the sheer number of shots Markus got.  I mean, you WANT someone who can shoot like him to take the most shots.  The problem is that it seemed like the offense defers too much to that player instead of just getting them within the flow. 

[Its DJOver]

I think the issue isn't the sheer number of shots Markus got.  I mean, you WANT someone who can shoot like him to take the most shots.  The problem is that it seemed like the offense defers too much to that player instead of just getting them within the flow.

I would agree with this, and it is why this is so puzzling.

Markus averaged 9 FGA his freshman season, then 19 FGA by the time he was a senior.  Dawson is averaging 9 FGA through three games as a true freshman this year.  As he becomes more comfortable at the college level, his FGA will only continue to climb as Wojo leans on him to do it all.

I would hope as Dawson becomes more comfortable at the collegiate level he can shoulder a larger load on the offensive end, and it's kind of hard to do that without taking more shots.

[MUfan12]

I think the issue isn't the sheer number of shots Markus got.  I mean, you WANT someone who can shoot like him to take the most shots.  The problem is that it seemed like the offense defers too much to that player instead of just getting them within the flow.

Dis right here.

Sure he put up insane numbers, but not being asked to run an offense and make plays for others did Markus no favors with his pro aspirations.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Dis right here.

Sure he put up insane numbers, but not being asked to run an offense and make plays for others did Markus no favors with his pro aspirations.

I don't agree with that. His lack of pro aspirations have to do with him not being quick enough for his size.

[Galway Eagle]

The identity of a Wojo team is and always has been "let's force feed our best player until he pukes - for better or worse".  Carlino, Henry, Rowsey, Markus, now Dawson.  Wojo teams have never had a semblance of balance on offense - making them easy to gameplan for defensively.

The reason this identity is not quite as clear and obvious (yet) with this season's team is that Dawson is a true freshman (not quite on the same level as Henry was coming in), meaning he is unable to fully takeover games the way the aforementioned could.  But make no mistake - Wojo promised him and is grooming him for this role.  For comparison's sake - Markus averaged 9 FGA his freshman season, then 19 FGA by the time he was a senior.  Dawson is averaging 9 FGA through three games as a true freshman this year.  As he becomes more comfortable at the college level, his FGA will only continue to climb as Wojo leans on him to do it all.

Disclaimer:  I am a huge Markus, Henry, Dawson, Rowsey fan.  I thought these guys are/were excellent stewards of our program and unique college basketball talents.  They were just horribly misused to the detriment of the broader team.  In my opinion - the strength of the team is the team ESPECIALLY at the college level.

You're wrong that wojos teams have never had balance on offense. right about last two years of Markus and the Carlino and Henry years but the 17 team was extremely balanced and I'd argue The 18 team was fairly balanced between three players.

I wrote on Holyland of hoops that the only way I'd buy into this team is if Koby returns to Utah St Koby, DJ is everything or more than he was at OSU and Dawson is everything he's billed to be. I'd stand by that. It hasn't worked out that way yet but I stand by those three being our best shot at success.

[NCMUFan]

It really seemed that the when the shots stopped falling, everyone got trigger shy except Koby.  And we all know one guy is not sufficient to lead a team to victory.

[5DollarPitcher]

There are certainly valid criticism of Wojo is this thread, but the whole thing about the best players taking the most shots is ridiculous.  Of course Markus took more shots as a Senior than as a Freshman, of course Dawson is going to be a focal point of the offense, that's how you avoid situations like Jamal taking 14 shots.  If you want to call into question the quality of shots taken, and the number of them that were just iso's rather than set designed plays, that's fair, but just looking at fga in a vacuum is silly.

Don't misrepresent my argument to easily knock down the resulting strawman.  There's nothing wrong with one player having more shots than all others on the team.
Certainly not.  In fact this is mathematically inevitable.  You'd hope that your best player is finishing possessions for your team on a regular basis.  It's the volume and percentage of whole that has been disturbing.

Markus attempted 561 FG last year.  That was good for 4th most FGA in college basketball. No other player in the Top 10 of FGA in 2019-2020 played for a Power 6 school.  This isn't just a case of one player being the focal point of the offense.  I would love it if Wojo built an offense around Dawson.  That's just the problem.  He doesn't build an offense AROUND someone - he builds offenses that ARE someone.

The end result is a team that's pretty easy to gameplan for - especially when you know there aren't any wrinkles, adjustments, or counters coming (which is another issue).

[Its DJOver]

I'm not knocking the overall argument, I'm knocking the extremely flawed evidence used to support that argument.  Total FGA without context is a pretty useless stat, especially when you consider the wildly differences in pace and even total number of games played.  You seem more concerned with Dawson's 9 FGA per game than the quality of those attempts.  Given his skillset, he can create a lot of mis-matches.  Creating situations to get those mis-matches is on Wojo, field goal attempts and field goals made are on Dawson.

[5DollarPitcher]

I'm not knocking the overall argument, I'm knocking the extremely flawed evidence used to support that argument.  Total FGA without context is a pretty useless stat, especially when you consider the wildly differences in pace and even total number of games played.  You seem more concerned with Dawson's 9 FGA per game than the quality of those attempts.  Given his skillset, he can create a lot of mis-matches.  Creating situations to get those mis-matches is on Wojo, field goal attempts and field goals made are on Dawson.

What happens if Wojo is not creating mismatches or situations to get those mismatches?  That would be a generous assumption (if you are making it).  The vast majority of the offense I saw last year (and saw again in the OSU game) was dribble dribble dribble, handoff, dribble dribble dribble, handoff, dribble dribble dribble, contested shot with 2 seconds on the shot clock. 

I don't often see creative off ball movement to create these mismatches (which definitely exist and definitely could be exploited).  Do whatever it takes to force the opposing team to switch so that a forward is on Markus or a guard is on Dawson.  Then let them go to work.  If you can do that consistently - I have no issues with however many FGA you want to take.  If you can't do that consistently (which I haven't seen), then you need to coach up a more balanced offense so that defenses can't key in on one player.

[Its DJOver]

See, now that you're moving away from focusing on total FGA you're making more sense.  Yes, I think this is an area that Wojo needs to improve on, creating more consistent mismatches and from a wider variety of sets.  The point still stands that if Dawson can get a 6-2 200lb guard switched on him in the post, he should be getting the ball every time and shooting as much as possible, no matter how many shots he has already taken.  The same way that if Markus could get a 6-10 245lb center switched on him on the perimeter he should be exploiting that match-up as much as possible.  This is why Theo would always set the high ball screen for Markus, not Jamal.  Wojo should be focused on creating better shots for everyone, not the total number of shots that his best players have taken.

[5DollarPitcher]

See, now that you're moving away from focusing on total FGA you're making more sense.

I will also caveat everything I just said with the following:
There is a FGA threshold that, once passed, any coach at any level (even Billy's dad from Catholic grade school) will adjust his defense to double or sometimes triple team that player.  Markus did pass that threshold and continued to shoot at the direction of Wojo.

[MU82]

I don't think Wojo is forcing the offense to go through Dawson. Garcia is almost surely our most talented offensive player, yet he is averaging all of 9 shots a game.

I don't know what Wojo promised Garcia during recruiting, and neither does anybody else here, but so far I don't see very many similarities between how Dawson is being used and how freshman Henry and upperclassman Markus were being used.

[Its DJOver]

I will also caveat everything I just said with the following:
There is a FGA threshold that, once passed, any coach at any level (even Billy's dad from Catholic grade school) will adjust his defense to double or sometimes triple team that player.  Markus did pass that threshold and continued to shoot at the direction of Wojo.

And has anyone approached that threshold in the 20-21 season?  Because looking at the total FGA for this season Jamal could probably afford to shoot a little less (although with his Oboard numbers a lot of his FGA are within 3 ft. context), maybe a few less from Koby (although he's had a few "shot clock" situations as you've noted. context), I'd like to see Theo shoot a little more, little more out of DJ, little more out of Greg (although he doesn't have the minutes yet. context), and even though he's already third on the team in FGA I'd like to see a little more from Dawson.  All dependent on situations and the quality of those shots of course.  Looking at season totals right now, the most obvious issue is how desperately we need to reduce TOs, something that will hopefully come with a little more continuity from the new guys (context), honestly a little surprised that a new thread hasn't been started about it.

[f/k/a humanlung]

You all know my opinion on Who.

But continuing to complain is pointless with the current heirarchy in place.  Until the money stops flowing in, Wojo stays.

A horrible likely truth but a truth nonetheless.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Wojo must have planned to practice against a zone during the 2 week Covid shutdown

[brewcity77]

Last night was a new experience for me. It was a combination of things...the squandered lead, the toddler screaming before halftime that she couldn't go upstairs to brush her teeth unless daddy came along, my personal delayed start to the second half as I prepared dinner after putting the kid to bed, then the lacksadaisical effort I witnessed as I tried to catch up to real time (eventually got there in about the final minute).

Anyway...watching that second half, I just felt demoralized. Once Oklahoma State stretched the lead to 7, all I could think was "why am I bothering?" We had 20 minutes by that point and hadn't shown any ability or willingness to make adjustments. We couldn't establish anyone in the high post to create, we weren't moving the ball, it just felt like a loss. Even though the margin never got insurmountable, I just struggled to care.

I have spent a lot of my time living for Marquette basketball. Not the "dominates all aspects of my life" level we see from guru/iceman, but I spend my spare time writing articles about it, researching teams and tournament profiles, and obviously donating and attending games when that is something we can do. And despite the promise we showed in the first week, it was just tough for me to care last night. I'm sure a 3-game winning streak would get me right back in the fold, but at this point, it really feels like no matter the talent changes or improvements, no matter the promise we display, it's all going to end in heartbreak, so what's the point of investing myself in that, emotionally or financially?

I have tried to be patient with this coach and this staff. I love the players they have brought in, the representatives of the university, and want to get excited, but what's the point when the same chronic ineptitudes crop up year after year?

Being a fan is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be rewarding. It's supposed to offer hope. Last night wasn't fun, rewarding, or hopeful. It was just the slow march of resignation. I want them to turn it around, but it's hard for me to invest in a Wojo team again.

[Eldon]

What are the odds that Wojo did not know OSU was playing zone?  That would be the most logical explanation for lack of adjustments.  Do we even give him that much credit?

LOL