After trying first season, Wojo promises Marquette will get better
It had been 20 years since Steve Wojciechowski experienced a losing season. His freshman year at Duke didn't go the way anyone anticipated, as Mike Krzyzewski missed most of the season after back surgery and the Blue Devils went from playing in the national championship game the year prior to a 13-18 record.
The 1994-95 season turned out to be an aberration for Duke, as it has returned to form with 20 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
While Marquette isn't on the level of Duke, it is a proud program not used to losing. After the Golden Eagles (13-19) experienced their first losing season since 1998-99 and their first season with at least 19 losses since 1963-64, Wojciechowski is hoping his first season as a head coach is looked back on as a blip on the radar, much like his first year as a collegiate player is.
"My first year in college basketball," Wojciechowski responded when asked if he remembered his last losing season. "And in hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened to me as a player.
"Even though we didn't get as many wins as we would like this year, the wins we do get in the future will be a result of the foundation that they laid."
It was just two years ago that the Golden Eagles were preparing to begin what was a run to the Elite Eight. A lot has changed since Marquette fell just one win short of a return to the Final Four.
After a disappointing 2013-14 season, Buzz Williams shocked the program by bolting to Virginia Tech. Wojciechowski was hired in April and immediately had to try to restore order to a program that already had lost three starters to graduation.
Williams took two members of his recruiting class with him, leaving Sandy Cohen III as the only incoming freshman. It was too late to fill out the class, but Wojciechowski did land graduate transfer Matt Carlino from BYU in late April and Loyola Marymount transfer Gabe Levin in June.
Surprisingly, none of the nine returnees had left the program in the immediate aftermath of the coaching change. That changed in late July when Todd Mayo, the team's returning leading scorer, opted to forgo his senior season to pursue a professional career.
That left role players Juan Anderson and Derrick Wilson as the only returning members of the senior class.
"12 months ago, their life -- less than 12 months ago, their life changed a lot," Wojciechowski said. "When life throws curveballs at you, you have the choice on how to handle it, and I thought our seniors handled it as well as you possibly can. I hope I always have a senior class like this."
Marquette began Wojciechowski's first season with just nine available scholarship players. None of those were over 6-foot-7, as Levin left the school before playing a game and sophomore center Luke Fischer was ineligible until December after transferring from Indiana the year before.
Just as Fischer was about to suit up for the first time, sophomores Deonte Burton and John Dawson announced their intentions to transfer in early December. Dawson was overmatched in the Big East, but Burton's decision to leave came as a surprise.
The Golden Eagles were left just eight scholarship players and were forced to add a pair of walk-ons in case of an emergency. Transfer Wally Ellenson was able to practice this season, but Marquette was still unable to go five-on-five with scholarship players.
Unlike Williams' final season, the Golden Eagles entered the season with no expectations. With no preseason all-league picks on its roster, Marquette was picked to finish seventh in the Big East.
The non-conference schedule went about as expected, with the exception of an embarrassing home loss to Omaha in late November. Marquette hung with Big Ten powers Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin and picked up wins over power conference teams Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Arizona State.
A win over Providence followed by a close loss at Georgetown and a game-winner to beat Creighton left Marquette at 10-6 and 2-2 in the Big East on Jan. 14.
However, the window of opportunity to return to the postseason was slammed shut by the Golden Eagles losing 12 of their next 13 games. Four of five losses on a six-game losing streak were decided by either four points or fewer or in overtime.
Carlino was forced to miss four games in February due to a concussion, leaving an already punch-less Marquette offense without its leading scorer.
The Golden Eagles simply didn't have enough firepower to compete at a high level in Wojciechowski's first season. Early in conference play, Marquette would hang with more talented teams until its lack of depth proved to be too much to overcome.
With just eight, and sometimes seven, scholarship players available, the Golden Eagles wore down as the season dragged on. By the end of the season, they really struggled in a league that sent six of its 10 teams to the NCAA tournament.
"It's an unforgiving league," Wojciechowski said. "It's an older league. There are excellent coaches, tremendous basketball traditions and home courts. It never stops. The waves keep coming. There's not a bad team in our league. There are no gimmes."
It is unfair to judge Wojciechowski on his first season because of what he had to endure. Williams left the cupboard bare. If Carlino didn't transfer in, the Golden Eagles may not have won a league game.
What can be said about this Marquette team is it always played hard and never quit, especially when circumstances would have made giving up an easy thing to do. Wojciechowski had tall odds facing his team, but he never made excuses.
Program building blocks like Fischer, Cohen and Duane Wilson flashed signs of why they were highly touted recruits. Jajaun Johnson and Steve Taylor Jr. showed they can be role players on a good team.
This season required Marquette fans to exhibit patience. It helped that they could look forward to an incoming recruiting class considered among the nation's best by multiple outlets. It is too early to judge Wojciechowski as a head coach, but he has proven he can recruit.
Led by one of the top prep players in the nation in Henry Ellenson, Marquette has a five-star recruit, three four-star recruits and a three-star recruit signed for next season. Wojciechowski also has two available scholarships to pursue more immediate help in the form of a graduate transfer or a junior-college player.
Order will be restored and the talent level increased, but the process of rebuilding a program takes time. Marquette should take a step forward in Wojciechowski's second season but just how big of a step will depend on the development of Duane Wilson, Fischer and Cohen and just how ready Ellenson and the group of freshman are to contribute.
The Golden Eagles will have to replace the scoring load Carlino, a second-team All-Big East pick, shouldered. Reserves on Marquette's NCAA tournament teams, Anderson and Derrick Wilson were forced to play bigger roles than their talent level dictated. That said, their leadership through a year of transition can't be understated.
"We'll look at everything," Wojciechowski said. "There are obviously things that are in our control that we can do better, and we'll work like crazy to improve on those things. We also had some injuries, things that were out of our control, that we hopefully won't have to deal with in the future.
"So we're always working to get better, and we will. We will."
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