Originally Posted by
duke09hms
I find this topic to be very interesting, and I don't think it to be an easy open and shut case. Nor does it boil down to a blanket statement like "Wojo is a great/terrible big man coach."
Here are a few of my observations:
1. Let's put it to bed - you don't need to be a big man to coach big men. It doesn't matter that Wojo was a guard.
2. Because he was the only coach they over had, Wojo gets full credit for the development of Zoubek and LT who became defensive and rebounding beasts AND learned not to foul.
3. Given observation #2, neither Zoubek nor LT developed a reliable post game, mostly scoring on put-backs. Never truly could create their own shot, especially against physical big post players.
3. The quotes a few entries up between Brian's dad and Wojo doesn't really add much because they've only ever had Wojo. Perhaps with the average big man coach out there, the could have been a lot better or a lot worse. No one knows - we only know Wojo helped them become essential pieces to a national championship.
4. Prior to this year, Mason, Miles, and Ryan showed great rebounding, good interior defense, but no real dependable post offense - similar to Zoubek and LT before them.
5. This year, Mason and Ryan (Miles a little bit) have displayed greatly improved post offense. Mason with his hook shot, ability to create and seal post position, and be a reliable creator of offense in the post. Ryan with his almost Kevin McHale-like post moves in his arsenal to go along with his inside/outside abilities.
6. This year also marks Coach Capel's arrival to the Duke staff.
I think these are the conclusions we can draw:
Wojo can certainly coach defense and rebounding out of the bigs - no small feat given how important those skills are to team success, especially when we see so many teams that are lacking in those areas. However, up until this year, none of our post players showed the ability to consistently score the ball in the post. Seems like the big question is: Are Mason's and Ryan's improvements due to the 3-year cumulative effects of Wojo's coaching, or is the main reason they finally took a huge leap forward this year because of Coach Capel coming on board?