News came rolling across the internet yesterday that brand new Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski will be meeting with Marquette signee Sandy Cohen at some point today. The Wisconsin native had previously thought that he had been released from his national letter of intent, but it is Marquette policy to not release any recruits until a new coach is hired.
Obviously, given his indication that he would like to be released, Cohen is leaning towards at least wanting his release to see what else is out there, regardless of how today's meeting goes.
And that's fine.
Yesterday Nick Noskowiak ended his verbal commitment to Marquette, which he is allowed to do without any penalty from Marquette, the Big East, or the NCAA. He's not able to sign a letter of intent with any school until this coming November, and Noskowiak didn't rule out landing at Marquette eventually, either. And yet, it seemed that some people took this as a personal offense. Combine that with a tweet zipping through the #mubb tag that contained the text "Very quiet on the [Ahmed Hill] front. Im getting a bit scared," and people reading WAAAAAAAY too much into an essentially blind tweet from Jajuan Johnson, it's clear that everyone is way too wound up about Marquette's future roster.
Let's bring a special guest in to go into detail about what guys transferring or electing to take their release means for Marquette:
Look, we're talking about 16, 17, or 18 year old kids who are trying to make the best decision for themselves that will drastically impact the next 4-6 years of their lives. It's absurd to think that they should listen to anyone other than their families and whatever coaches are recruiting them.
On top of that, as Mr. Kensington pointed out right after Buzz Williams departed for Virginia Tech: Marquette is bigger than any one recruit or even one recruiting class. The future of Marquette's basketball program or the university in general does not hinge on whether or not Marial Shayok decides to enroll and put on a pair of blue and gold shorts. If you want to see Coach Wojciechowski get Marquette to the next 10 Sweet 16s, you have to realize that he's going to make that 10th one with players that are currently in third through sixth grade. Think about that. We're talking about 10 successive excellent recruiting classes that develop into excellent players. You have to think big picture here.
So everyone just relax. Coach Wojciechowski will talk to all of the guys that are currently signed, and together they'll make a decision about where to go from there. Just leave the kids alone. They're just kids, trying to make their own way in the world.