What Do Marquette Fans Expect?

Two years ago in the 2013-2014 season Marquette had 6 members of the team who are still playing college basketball and that doesn't include Jameel McKay, who left that fall. The 6 were Deonte Burton, John Dawson, JaJuan Johnson, Steve Taylor and redshirts Duane Wilson and Luke Fischer. So JaJuan Johnson is the only player who logged minutes left from the 2013-2014 team who is still at Marquette.

The 2014 recruiting class included Sandy Cohen, Ahmed Hill, Satchel Pierce and Marial Shayok. Only Cohen remains at Marquette.

Let's get real folks. This is a team of freshmen, sophomores and 3 relatively inexperienced juniors since JaJuan logged minor minutes as a freshman and Fischer and Wally only saw spot time at Indiana and Minnesota respectively. Johnson played in 21 games two years ago. Compare that with an Xavier team where Reynolds, Farr and Davis played in 96 games in 2013-2014 and I could do the same thing with Villanova and Butler. Archi, Hart, Ochefu, Jenkins and Reynolds played in 155 games for Villanova. Dunham and Jones played in 72 games combined back in 2012-2013 for Butler.

Are people really getting down on this program given the relative inexperience? C'mon people. Do you think a grad transfer would look at a UConn and Louisville before Marquette last summer given the experience returning? I would have. Did you want the staff to fill the roster with a couple of JUCO kids, thus eliminating the the 2016 recruiting class?

Come on Ted. We know it's a rebuilding season. We know it's an inexperienced team. But this is the 2nd game in a row wherein they looked awful for long stretches while losing a 20 point lead. They make the same mistakes over and over. It's frustrating. I'm not calling for Wojo's head. He clearly needs to get not only his players in place, he needs his own experienced players. That does not, however, mean we cannot acknowledge the team's shortcomings or the incredibly craptacular home non-conference schedule.

We have different expectations I guess.

I expect improvement, and they've been repeating their mistakes all season long.

I don't know who that is on, but it's getting really old.

I expect them to be getting better. I expect them to have something that is their core competency. Something that would identify who they are that the team could hang their hat on and build from. But we can't shoot. We can't defend consistently. We don't block out/rebound well (See Sandy Cohen stare at a ball weakside as a guy jumped over him for a rebound put back?...Henry rebounds well on the defensive end). We don't value the ball. How many stupid turnovers have we had this year? We don't play smart. And we are not tough. And we are overall not fundamentally strong.

So I wish we did something well Ted. Maybe it will come. But right now it's a mess. If we were a great defensive team or a team that was very tough, you could live with the other shortcomings.

I just don't know what this group gels into once it matures. A lot depends on Henry of course. But I still support Wojo and the team. I do think if we win that DePaul game somehow, things are a lot different around here.

Get that win vs. Butler and maybe the team will find it's identity. This has to be driving Wojo and the staff nuts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MUfan12

I expect improvement, and they've been repeating their mistakes all season long.

I don't know who that is on, but it's getting really old.

---

I have seen great improvement from Duane, JJ and Cheatham.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TedBaxter

Is it really that hard for people to understand this is a rebuilding season?

---

Wojo seems to think differently:
"It's maddening, because we can look so good then it's like we've been taken over by demons." —*@steve_wojo after tonight's game

Wojo ... "We go in and out. We go in and out. I need to do a better job of finding answers."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TedBaxter

Two years ago in the 2013-2014 season Marquette had 6 members of the team who are still playing college basketball and that doesn't include Jameel McKay, who left that fall. The 6 were Deonte Burton, John Dawson, JaJuan Johnson, Steve Taylor and redshirts Duane Wilson and Luke Fischer. So JaJuan Johnson is the only player who logged minutes left from the 2013-2014 team who is still at Marquette.

The 2014 recruiting class included Sandy Cohen, Ahmed Hill, Satchel Pierce and Marial Shayok. Only Cohen remains at Marquette.

Let's get real folks. This is a team of freshmen, sophomores and 3 relatively inexperienced juniors since JaJuan logged minor minutes as a freshman and Fischer and Wally only saw spot time at Indiana and Minnesota respectively. Johnson played in 21 games two years ago. Compare that with an Xavier team where Reynolds, Farr and Davis played in 96 games in 2013-2014 and I could do the same thing with Villanova and Butler. Archi, Hart, Ochefu, Jenkins and Reynolds played in 155 games for Villanova. Dunham and Jones played in 72 games combined back in 2012-2013 for Butler.

Are people really getting down on this program given the relative inexperience? C'mon people. Do you think a grad transfer would look at a UConn and Louisville before Marquette last summer given the experience returning? I would have. Did you want the staff to fill the roster with a couple of JUCO kids, thus eliminating the the 2016 recruiting class?

---

Good points, but I just think with having a one and done lottery pick type player like Henry here there was hope for an NCAA run.
I think one other concern is that Henry will be done after this year, so after he leaves, will we be so much better next year that we should be an NCAA team?

This is a program that 3 years ago won the last year of the previous Big East Conference and went to the Elite 8.

This is a program that had previously gone to the NCAA tournament 8 years in a row, never finishing below .500 in conference play.

This is a proud program, I think a lot of fans are surprised by the amount of time it looks like it will take to get back to that standard because for the last 3 years we've been just plain bad. Buzz's seamless transition probably set Wojo to an unrealistic standard, but when you're funding a program like a top 5 program, you expect success.

The most bitter pill to swallow is with the conference entering a new chapter with the realignment, we had a golden chance to establish ourselves right at the top of it, finishing first the previous year and being picked 1st in preseason polls. Now I'm not sure you can call us among the top half. The silver lining is there is a lot of young talent on the roster, hopefully it eventually "clicks".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TedBaxter

Two years ago in the 2013-2014 season Marquette had 6 members of the team who are still playing college basketball and that doesn't include Jameel McKay, who left that fall. The 6 were Deonte Burton, John Dawson, JaJuan Johnson, Steve Taylor and redshirts Duane Wilson and Luke Fischer. So JaJuan Johnson is the only player who logged minutes left from the 2013-2014 team who is still at Marquette.

The 2014 recruiting class included Sandy Cohen, Ahmed Hill, Satchel Pierce and Marial Shayok. Only Cohen remains at Marquette.

Let's get real folks. This is a team of freshmen, sophomores and 3 relatively inexperienced juniors since JaJuan logged minor minutes as a freshman and Fischer and Wally only saw spot time at Indiana and Minnesota respectively. Johnson played in 21 games two years ago. Compare that with an Xavier team where Reynolds, Farr and Davis played in 96 games in 2013-2014 and I could do the same thing with Villanova and Butler. Archi, Hart, Ochefu, Jenkins and Reynolds played in 155 games for Villanova. Dunham and Jones played in 72 games combined back in 2012-2013 for Butler.

Are people really getting down on this program given the relative inexperience? C'mon people. Do you think a grad transfer would look at a UConn and Louisville before Marquette last summer given the experience returning? I would have since my goal would be to play in the NCAA's. Did you want the staff to fill the roster with a couple of JUCO kids, thus eliminating the the 2016 recruiting class?

Is it really that hard for people to understand this is a rebuilding season?

---

Good points, but I just think with having a one and done lottery pick type player like Henry here there was hope for an NCAA run.
I think one other concern is that Henry will be done after this year, so after he leaves, will we be so much better next year that we should be an NCAA team?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bleedbluegold03

This is a program that 3 years ago won the last year of the previous Big East Conference and went to the Elite 8.

This is a program that had previously gone to the NCAA tournament 8 years in a row, never finishing below .500 in conference play.

This is a proud program, I think a lot of fans are surprised by the amount of time it looks like it will take to get back to that standard because for the last 3 years we've been just plain bad. Buzz's seamless transition probably set Wojo to an unrealistic standard, but when you're funding a program like a top 5 program, you expect success.

The most bitter pill to swallow is with the conference entering a new chapter with the realignment, we had a golden chance to establish ourselves right at the top of it, finishing first the previous year and being picked 1st in preseason polls. Now I'm not sure you can call us among the top half. The silver lining is there is a lot of young talent on the roster, hopefully it eventually "clicks".

---

Reality is that Buzz's departure after the loss of Gardner/Wilson/Otule/Thomas
to graduation and the departures of Burton/Dawson/Mayo/Taylor due to the coaching change and the loss of signees in Hill/Paige/Shayok and the subsequent graduation of Anderson/D.Wilson have turned the roster upside down and inside out along with a new culture with the new staff.

That's a lot of change and this is really Year 1 as last year really was a washout due to the timing of all of the above.
Obviously, MU and Wojo want to rebuild the roster primarily through recruiting HS players as opposed to Jucos/transfers/5th year preps/international guys. We need to be patient and that can be hard to do in this world of instant gratification. Took KO and Crean several years to get things going. This is no different. Listening to Jimmy Mac on the post-game shows tells me how hard it can be with a young & inexperienced team. Yes, we are 2/3's of the way into the season and there should be improvement. But that's true of every other team, so that's all relative.

Given all this, this team lacks identity at this point and a lot of that can be lack of confidence especially when the offense slows. And, this team has some missing pieces due to the transition. Time for some folks to get off the ledge. Enjoy the roller coaster ride.

I did not expect anything from this team at the beginning of the year. Seriously. I did not know whether this team would be good or bad. In light of their youth, I expected them to be inconsistent, and they surely have been. Perhaps mine is the minority opinion. I do see improvement from the beginning of the season, and I see some good things developing, like fighting back, albeit unsuccessfully from being down 20 on the road. But then there are games like last night. I kind of feel that there is a corner they are not too far from turning, and that will make a big difference. But maybe they do not turn that corner this season.

What would I expect? Midway through year 2 I would expect to know Wojo. Not buddy like, but generally. With Crean you knew who he was right away. Booming personality who had high hopes for the program and ran with it. A few months into his first year you knew who he was and where he was headed. You may have loved him or you made have hated him but you knew who he was.

Then came Buzz Williams. From day 1 we all knew the hard luck underdog story. The way he got into coaching and how it was his team against the world. You listened to every interview because you never knew what he was going to say next, hamburger vs steak, butcher baker & candlestick maker. It was very entertaining and the basketball was too. Buzz was a character and we ate it all up.

1 1/2 years into Wojo and I have no idea who he is. We all know that he grew up in a blue collar family and played and coached at Duke under K, but who is he? I always listen to the post game show in the car but I can't tell anything about him from his post game interviews or listening to the Wojo show other than he is direct and to the point, only takes 3 questions and never talks freely. Has anyone other than the staff or high dollar donors gotten to know him? I don't mean know him personally but I feel like I should know my coach and I really don't feel like I know Wojo at all.

Why do you feel you should know your Coach? How does that parlay into winning games and players getting better?