I've always been a big Wroten fan. He's still flawed, but he will play in the NBA for a long time. The team he was on should have been a lot better and was probably Romar's worst coaching job.
It really is a disgrace to not make the tourney with 2 first rounders.
Usually yes.
But Tony Wroten was a fucking terrible basketball player as a freshman. The biggest issue with that season is Romar had no guard depth so he had no choice but play Wroten and couldn't bench him even after the 23rd time he decided to completely not play defense or fire a no look pass into the third row. I wasn't one who said "we'll be better since Wroten is leaving" since he assuredly would have matured some as a sophomore and that team would have had more backcourt depth to motivate Wroten to gaf if he wanted to play, but he was a really, really bad basketball player as a frosh.
Winning the conference with that dreck was a pretty decent accomplishment as far as Romar's career is concerned.
Romar's had much worse coaching jobs than that.
And yet Wroten made first team Pac 12. He wasn't bad at all. I've never agreed with anyone who said that. There were plenty of games where he was the best player on the floor.
"You new here?" potd.
Ty Willingham was coach of the year.
Subjective awards don't mean shit.
Yadda yadda yadda.
Yes there were games he was the best player on the court (Duke in particular). There were as many or more where he was the worst.
He was never the worst. He was really good for a freshman. He was All PAC 12 because he was one of the best players in the conference.
That's also not a huge bar to set when the winner of the pac12 didn't make the tourney
Wroten was a freshman. Only IT was as good their freshman year, and IT was on a much better team. He was better than Gaddy, Wilcox, and even Ross their freshman years. Ross never played defense either. He didn't go for lazy steals as often as Wroten, but he was overrated. He was passive and everything was either a dunk or three. He has/had a limited game off the dribble.
Everyone gets stuck on Wroten's flaws. He was out of control sometimes, played lazy defense, and couldn't shoot. Other than the shooting, it's as much an indictment on Romar than Wroten. He was good. Everyone just sees his talent and says he should have been better. That isn't the point. It's stupid. It's really FS to say he was a terrible basketball player as a freshman. The bigger issue with that team was having no bigs who could score. Somehow Wroten gets most the blame.
I will remember him fondly for going into McKale and leading us to an improbable victory with amazing play after amazing play including a huge block down the stretch.
Wroten was a freshman. Only IT was as good their freshman year, and IT was on a much better team. He was better than Gaddy, Wilcox, and even Ross their freshman years. Ross never played defense either. He didn't go for lazy steals as often as Wroten, but he was overrated. He was passive and everything was either a dunk or three. He has/had a limited game off the dribble.
Everyone gets stuck on Wroten's flaws. He was out of control sometimes, played lazy defense, and couldn't shoot. Other than the shooting, it's as much an indictment on Romar than Wroten. He was good. Everyone just sees his talent and says he should have been better. That isn't the point. It's stupid. It's really FS to say he was a terrible basketball player as a freshman. The bigger issue with that team was having no bigs who could score. Somehow Wroten gets most the blame.
You'll get no argument from me or DNC on romar was FS for his mgt of that years team. He's not a terrible player overall, and I don't htink i've found one person to say as such. He was a terrible defender(almost always), a unbelievably good true scorer, a gifted passer who regularly didn't know when to make the unreal pass and when to be normal, and one of the worst shooters i've seen in college bball(for someone with that amount of athletic skill.
Nobody is arguing against his freshman resume' vs other freshman. He was obviously on a different level. That being said, so are many 5* guys. He should have been above the level of gaddy, wilcox and ross b/c he had more pure talent.
It seemed pretty obvious to me Wroten had the mindset of one-and-done which led to the selfish play. It's hard to counter that as a coach but Romar still gets some of the blame.
Comments
Everyone gets stuck on Wroten's flaws. He was out of control sometimes, played lazy defense, and couldn't shoot. Other than the shooting, it's as much an indictment on Romar than Wroten. He was good. Everyone just sees his talent and says he should have been better. That isn't the point. It's stupid. It's really FS to say he was a terrible basketball player as a freshman. The bigger issue with that team was having no bigs who could score. Somehow Wroten gets most the blame.
Nobody is arguing against his freshman resume' vs other freshman. He was obviously on a different level. That being said, so are many 5* guys. He should have been above the level of gaddy, wilcox and ross b/c he had more pure talent.