An absolute master at doing just enough to keep his job...

[BCHoopster]

I look at is as being really happy for pulling out a game they had no right to win after a dismal 30 minutes of basketball.  More fun to pull a game like that out than to win coast to coast by 20.  Life is too short not to celebrate the positive. 

I'm not terribly happy with how they played, but I was very happy that they pulled it out (or that Georgetown gave us the game back, if you prefer).

I have no problem for a team to let off some steam and have some fun after a victory, particularly after 3 loses.  Playing in a cracker box gym with no fans, has to be
challenging to get up for.  They finally woke up in the second half and somehow won considering there poor shooting performance.  Lewis was given the shot at the top
of the key all night and went 0-6.  Other than Cain they shot the ball like 4th graders, bad.  1-17, they should not have even won.  You can blame the coach but bad
shooting is on the players as well.  They were not much better from the free throw line, 9-17, basically a bad night.  But it is better to win ugly, then to lose.  UConn
game can be building block for a better season, we will see.

[Jockey]

I am really serious here:  Why do u people egg this guy on???   Ya keep feeding the damn troll ! ! !  put him on IGNORE, Don't quote him, Don't answer him and he will go away ! ! ! 

Exactly what I have said over the years about engaging with Chico.

These guys, for lack of a better word, are just jerks. As you say, ignore them.

As has been said numerous times: don't argue with a fool, people will not be able to tell the difference.

[Lennys Tap]

I look at is as being really happy for pulling out a game they had no right to win after a dismal 30 minutes of basketball.  More fun to pull a game like that out than to win coast to coast by 20.  Life is too short not to celebrate the positive. 

I'm not terribly happy with how they played, but I was very happy that they pulled it out (or that Georgetown gave us the game back, if you prefer).

Agree 100%. You ALWAYS celebrate a comeback or improbable win even if you played poorly. The most iconic photo of Al (maybe with the exception of him weeping on the sidelines at the end of the National Championship game) was of him standing on the scorer's table after Mo Lucas hit a 20 footer at the buzzer to beat UW. In the background, the Hughes twins Father giving Al the finger, Hank dancing on the court, etc. Didn't matter that we were a huge favorite of that we played a poor game. Victories like that need to be celebrated.

[mu_hilltopper]

Probably should have a poll:

Would you rather ..

A) Continue onward with this season's trajectory, a .500 season, maybe with the right combination of wins get into the dance (or no post-season.)

B) Lose an unequivocal amount of games that MU makes a change and parts ways with Wojo

Short term vs. long term.

[jesmu84]

Probably should have a poll:

Would you rather ..

A) Continue onward with this season's trajectory, a .500 season, maybe with the right combination of wins get into the dance (or no post-season.)

B) Lose an unequivocal amount of games that MU makes a change and parts ways with Wojo

Short term vs. long term.

Basically how I feel about the Bears. I want the Packers to crush them today so ownership might actually clean house which is what is needed for long term success

[PGsHeroes32]

Probably should have a poll:

Would you rather ..

A) Continue onward with this season's trajectory, a .500 season, maybe with the right combination of wins get into the dance (or no post-season.)

B) Lose an unequivocal amount of games that MU makes a change and parts ways with Wojo

Short term vs. long term.

I wanna dance

[BallBoy]

Probably should have a poll:

Would you rather ..

A) Continue onward with this season's trajectory, a .500 season, maybe with the right combination of wins get into the dance (or no post-season.)

B) Lose an unequivocal amount of games that MU makes a change and parts ways with Wojo

Short term vs. long term.

A without a doubt. If MU continues to make the dance we could always have a hot run or just luck into a win or two. For those who actively root against Wojo he might get hired away which would make their day.

There is no plus side for B other than all of the MU "fans" can say they were right that a Duke guy wasn't a good fit which is really all they care about. There is no guarantee the next coach will be any better. Take the Bears analogy, they have had 7 coaches since they last won a Super Bowl (Ditka, Wannstedt, Jauron, Smith, Trestman, Fox, Nagy).  Each had a season at most which gave some hope but in the end it has been 35 years of mediocrity.

[shoothoops]

Y'all, the first half wasn't the result of bad coaching. We got open looks,  we didn't make them. The defense wasn't great but it was passable. We adjusted at half time,  started going inside every possession,  clamped down on defense and won the game. Is it an impressive win?  unnatural carnal knowledge no. But it's hardly a condemnation of Wojo. Oklahoma state was a condemnation of Wojo. Villanova was a condemnation of Wojo. This was just a game.

Believe it or not,  not every bad performance is due to poor coaching. Unless you believe Wojo should be on the court taking the shots.

Sometimes MU's 3's are not in rhythm. Flat footed, chucking 3'a by players that need to take less 3's less often happens sometimes with this team as well. It isn't a great shooting team. Greg is our best shooter, 3's FT's etc...We need more players that can shoot at his level. I'd like to see MU's front court players establish inside first, get to the line, knock em down, and then draw defenders out towards the perimeter after that. Too often MU is doing the opposite.

How many games this year have we seen early 3 clanks from Lewis, Garcia, etc that aren't the best option those times down the floor?

Making the extra pass, less dribble pound, with good spacing happens sometimes but not often enough.

[NickelDimer]

It's true, there were some posts about adjustments, one of which was mine. As nyg pointed out, there were adjustments. They started going to the hoop and cutting down on last-second heaves from downtown. OK, maybe not genius, but  a tactical change for sure - and Wojo gets the credit.
You can't be ragging on a guy when things are going badly and then ignore his input when things change/improve.

As for the win coming because of GT's incompetence, there may be a kernel of truth in the argument, but to chalk the result up to only that is to denigrate the kids' effort and the coach's
direction. GT's miscues down the stretch may very likely be at least partly due to the fact that our team's hard work and the adjustments made by the staff erased a sizeable lead and made things tight.

I find it incomprehensible that people would bad-mouth the team for celebrating a victory. I was certainly happy to see us pull it out, but I'm just a fan who gets to see MU ball 20-30 times a year. Think of all the man-hours that get put into the program by these young men. Training, practices, study halls, film work. They are a well-defined group and spend a lot of time together.
That's true every year, but more so this year given Covid. They've made sacrifices to give up a lot of other social contact to put in the hard work so we have basketball this year. They deserve to celebrate each and every win.

Personally, I don't feel that Wojo has demonstrated satisfactory progress in his developmental curve as a head coach. There seems to have been some progress, but slowly, slowly. The BOT is apparently happy, and carping posters will not have any significant input. I wish him success be-cause I want success for MU, but it's hard to argue that this thread is not aptly named.

Sticky this post and lock the thread. This take is irrefutable.

[5DollarPitcher]

There is no plus side for B other than all of the MU "fans" can say they were right that a Duke guy wasn't a good fit which is really all they care about.

The plus side is that we expedite our needed rebuild and separate ourselves from a guy that has proven (to some or most on this board) that he can't win at the level that we expect (no not Kansas, Nova but much better than what we are now).

There is no plus side to A besides adding a year to the "NCAA tournament appearances" banner. We'll remain in this quagmire until we actually get some confidence and change something. Wojo is probably not taking us to a Sweet Sixteen, DEFINITELY not an Elite Eight or Final Four and he's not winning the Big East regular season or conference tourney any time soon. Anybody that wants to continue to play "wait and see" is free to have that opinion but don't shift the goalposts when we continue to fall short at every season's end.

This is not about me being "right" and saying haha I told you so. If anything people that are hanging onto Projo are praying for that day. I just want to be able to watch an MUBB program that can legitimately compete for something of value. Wojo's teams can't.

[5DollarPitcher]

Basically how I feel about the Bears. I want the Packers to crush them today so ownership might actually clean house which is what is needed for long term success

Aren't you the person that was helping crucify me for not being an MU fan?? Does this make you not a Bears fan?

[Silent Verbal]

Probably should have a poll:

Would you rather ..

A) Continue onward with this season's trajectory, a .500 season, maybe with the right combination of wins get into the dance (or no post-season.)

B) Lose an unequivocal amount of games that MU makes a change and parts ways with Wojo

Short term vs. long term.

If only there was a way they could change the trajectory by winning the next two games against two pretty tough opponents in UCONN and Nova.  UCONN is a long, athletic team with a certified stud in Bouknight.  That will be a tough game, and it's a must win going into Nova, which they'll almost surely lose.  Drop both and they'll be 2-5 in the BE with rematches against UCONN, Seton Hall, and Creighton still to be played.  They'll have very little margin for error against the bottom of the conference.

If MU can't beat UCONN on Tuesday, it truly seems like we'll be trending towards another .500 finish in conference.  Very frustrating.

[Silent Verbal]

There is no guarantee the next coach will be any better.

Come on.  This is the worst reason to keep a coach.  Even the slurpiest of Wojo slurpers will admit that.

[Silent Verbal]

Aren't you the person that was helping crucify me for not being an MU fan?? Does this make you not a Bears fan?

Yeah that post was definitely a head scratcher.

[jesmu84]

Aren't you the person that was helping crucify me for not being an MU fan?? Does this make you not a Bears fan?

I can say I'm ready for the program to move on from Wojo. Whatever results get us to that point is fine by me.

I can also say it's perfectly fine for the players to celebrate a come from 18 points behind road conference win.

You're a bad MU fan if you denigrate the players for celebrating last night's victory.

You're not a bad MU fan if you would have preferred a loss so the program moved toward new leadership.

See the difference?

[jesmu84]

Yeah that post was definitely a head scratcher.

See below.

[5DollarPitcher]

I can say I'm ready for the program to move on from Wojo. Whatever results get us to that point is fine by me.

I can also say it's perfectly fine for the players to celebrate a come from 18 points behind road conference win.

You're a bad MU fan if you denigrate the players for celebrating last night's victory.

You're not a bad MU fan if you would have preferred a loss so the program moved toward new leadership.

See the difference?

Go and find me the post where I "denigrated the players for celebrating a win". I said, in my opinion, Wojo's response to it should've been different to keep a long-term perspective about this season.

Some of you that hate my posts play telephone with the things I say to create an ludicrous strawman that's not even close to what I said in the first place.

See how that's different?

[The Sultan]

Go and find me the post where I "denigrated the players for celebrating a win". I said, in my opinion, Wojo's response to it should've been different to keep a long-term perspective about this season.

Some of you that hate my posts play telephone with the things I say to create an ludicrous strawman that's not even close to what I said in the first place.

See how that's different?

Agreed. Your posts are sh*tty all on their own. No need for people to exaggerate.

[Silent Verbal]

I can say I'm ready for the program to move on from Wojo. Whatever results get us to that point is fine by me.

I can also say it's perfectly fine for the players to celebrate a come from 18 points behind road conference win.

You're a bad MU fan if you denigrate the players for celebrating last night's victory.

You're not a bad MU fan if you would have preferred a loss so the program moved toward new leadership.

See the difference?

I think a loss would've been better for the program in the long term.  We didn't deserve to win that game, and only pulled it out because of Georgetown's poor play, which was some of the worst I've seen from a supposed high major in all my years watching basketball.  Marquette was never going to get rid of Wojo after this season, but losses like last night (if we had lost) would make it harder for the BOT to justify keeping him around.  But we won, and Wojo has once again done just enough to skate by.  Now, if he was able to win the next two (not just UCONN), I might start getting excited again about the prospects for this season.  But it seems like we're again headed for .500ish and middle of the pack in conference.

I don't have a problem with the players celebrating a come-from-behind win, even if it was against a team playing grade school level basketball.  The whole "we haven't won anything yet, so stop celebrating" approach might've worked for Joe Paterno in 1975, but Wojo hasn't earned the right to take that kind of stance with his players.  So the celebration was what it was.  However, I think it's kind of busch league for the social media team to be posting it on Twitter like it was the biggest win we've had in ten years.  I felt the same way when MU posted tweets begging to be let into the NIT during the Ellenson year.  I get it, posting positive stuff on social is the PR team's job, but the product they're trying to sell us is just so...Arby's.

[The Sultan]

Great.

So now we have fans who are openly rooting for the team to lose because they think it's in the beat long term interests of the program.

What a bunch of buffoons.

[Silent Verbal]

Great.

So now we have fans who are openly rooting for the team to lose because they think it's in the beat long term interests of the program.

What a bunch of buffoons.

Someone (one of the moderators) posed the question.  At this point in Wojo's tenure, with the results he's had and the way the team's performed this year, it's probably a valid one to ask.  It would be awesome if Marquette could win the next two and change the trajectory of the season.  We'll see if they can make it happen.

What's it like up there on that high horse, btw?

[wadesworld]

I will never understand why people choose to invest their time in something they know will make them miserable. If your two options are MU wins so you're miserable because the other team sucks and Wojo won't be fired or MU loses and you're miserable because you're sick of what you see from Wojo, why not pick up a hobby or invest your time elsewhere? I just never understand why people would choose to be miserable.

I also don't understand why people would be expecting anything other than middle of the pack in the BE this year and on the bubble. We lost 3 of the top 4 scorers (1 of which was the all time leading scorer in the history of the BE) from a sub .500 BE bubble team. What did you think this year would be?

[The Sultan]

Someone (one of the moderators) posed the question.  At this point in Wojo's tenure, with the results he's had and the way the team's performed this year, it's probably a valid one to ask.  It would be awesome if Marquette could win the next two and change the trajectory of the season.  We'll see if they can make it happen.

What's it like up there on that high horse, btw?

I'm on my high horse for wanting my alma mater to win a basketball game?

[MU24]

The poster of this thread needs to find more meaning in life than depending on 18-20 year olds playing basketball

[5DollarPitcher]

I will never understand why people choose to invest their time in something they know will make them miserable. If your two options are MU wins so you're miserable because the other team sucks and Wojo won't be fired or MU loses and you're miserable because you're sick of what you see from Wojo, why not pick up a hobby or invest your time elsewhere? I just never understand why people would choose to be miserable.

I also don't understand why people would be expecting anything other than middle of the pack in the BE this year and on the bubble. We lost 3 of the top 4 scorers (1 of which was the all time leading scorer in the history of the BE) from a sub .500 BE bubble team. What did you think this year would be?

There's actually three options Wades which is what you can't seem to grasp:
1. MU loses a lot, Wojo fired, rebuild starts (generally happy and hopeful after we get through the mud of several losses)
2. MU wins some, loses several, finishes .500 in conference, first four out or last four in, no tourney run (big time misery, alma mater is now irrelevant nationally, Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill)
3. MU wins a lot, wins a conference tourney OR wins NCAAT games OR is consistently finishing in the top 3 OR wins the Big East regular season title outright (big time happiness, content with the program, MU rah rah)

As you can see option 3 is preferable to all (myself included). Option 3 is impossible for Wojo to pull off, as he's shown. Next best scenario in terms of general sentiment is option 1 with hope for the future. If option 2 equals happiness for you - then our standards for this program do not align which would explain why we are consistently at odds.