What you have here is a response to the commitment of local top-50 prospect Tyler Herro of Whitnall to Wisconsin. Young man would have been a great addition at Marquette who actively recruited him. He felt Wisconsin was a better fit for him. Who is anyone that isn't him to say otherwise?
Recruiting is a weird thing. Following it is even weirder. I sort of followed loosely back in the day if I saw a blurb in the news but largely ignored it. Once Brian invited me to write here, I paid attention a little closer but would never pay any of the guru sites actual money to get "insider" info. It's a scam with almost all the information being speculation with a lean to homerism.
Twitter and social media changed this in the information is more readily available about where coaches are going to recruit and who. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to follow the crumb trails if you wanted to know about where a kid could be leaning. All in all, it's weird and creepy
Now back to Mr. Oates who boldly mocked Iowa for losing to Jay Wright, wildly successful coach and well-respected nationally. Tommy chimed in with this beaut today which was a direct shot at Marquette and Steve Wojciechowski.
It's true. Marquette hasn't made the dance the last 3 seasons. I've written about the mess the previous regime left. Wojo could have gone for the quick fix and chased jucos like Buzz did after taking over for Tom Crean. Instead, Wojo stuck with the plan he laid out in his interview for building a program. It's not dissimilar to what Crean did when he took over for Mike Deane. Whether Marquette fans like it or not, that's the choice that was made.
Quick aside...bemoaning no NIT is silly. The parameters are different than when Crean took over but that's another story.
The part that's patently false is the part about developing players. If the assumption is Greg Gard played a hand in developing players at UW, which he certainly did play a part in, then it's absurd to say Wojo didn't at Duke being the assistant head coach from 2008-14.
He became an assistant at Duke in 2000 but if we just take the time from 2008 to when he left, 13 players went into the NBA. And before we point to the one and dones, big men that Wojo coached that played until senior year include the Plumlee brothers, Ryan Kelly, Lance Thomas and Kyle Singler. All 5 have played in the NBA. Wojo was the big man coach at Duke.
Media coverage at the college level in this state is amateurish and weirdly homerish. I guess it includes trolling, too. Well, it does include trolling. Also, it's just wrong. It's why the "basement dwelling bloggers" of the world have gotten so popular.
Next time I wonder why people get so worked about a high school kids decision from these parts, I'll just remember, they're following the lead of their media
