What Do Marquette Fans Expect?

[Nukem2]

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.

[unclejohn]

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.

[Marquette]

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.

[IrwinFletcher]

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