Notes: Wojciechowski, Martin share professional relationship, friendship
GREENVILLE, S.C. - When the bracket was unveiled to show the possibility of a second-round game between Marquette and Duke in the NCAA Tournament, the possible matchup of Steve Wojciechowski against his former coach and mentor, Mike Krzyzewski, naturally became a talking point around the country.
What's been less talked about, though, is that Wojciechowski's Golden Eagles will first have to play against another coach who has played a mentoring role in his life. That coach is South Carolina's Frank Martin.
"From afar I always respected him," Martin said, mentioning how he always enjoyed watching Wojciechowski as a player at Duke. "And then the first day he got put on the road as an assistant by Coach K, him, Hugs (Bob Huggins) and I were at the same event and Andy Kennedy, all four of us, out recruiting. We spent the whole day together and just conversations on the first day on the road. We kind of hit it off."
After that, Martin and Wojciechowski started building both a professional relationship and friendship. They shared scouting reports and batted ideas back and forth. Martin says when Wojciechowski got hired at Marquette in 2014, they talked about Martin's first season at Kansas State and some of the challenges he faced and experiences he had there.
Part of those discussions included the fact Wojciechowski needed to hire a director of sports medicine for his staff. There happened to be someone at Kansas State who certainly was qualified — athletic trainer Brandon Yoder.
"That's probably when we spent the most time as far as personally speaking about things," Martin said regarding his conversations with Wojciechowski. "And he hired Brandon Yoder, a dear friend, who is an unbelievable trainer. And I think who Brandon has been for Wojo and their program has created unbelievable trust towards me and us.”
For Yoder, that's created a difficult situation for Friday's game.
"It's awkward to be on the other side from those guys," he said, referring to Martin and his staff. "They're all really good friends of mine. Frank was one of the guys that really gave me a start in college basketball. It's bittersweet. I'm excited for Marquette but it's always tough to have a friend on the other side. But on Friday, roll the ball out and see what happens."
Since then, Wojciechowski and Martin have watched each other's team from a distance, not knowing they were on a collision course for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with each in his first trip with his respective team. In a profession where coaches often mechanically regard their counterparts with high esteem, the words spoken by these coaches come across as sincere.
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"Well, it's really been fun for me to study South Carolina, obviously," Wojciechowski said. "I have utmost respect for Frank Martin, and in learning more about them, they play exactly like a Frank Martin team, what you would expect them to play — they play incredibly hard."
Martin added: “And I've got a lot of respect for Woj. He's a star in this business. He's great for kids. Watching his team play, it's a machine. ...
"They're fun to watch. I'm not enjoying watching them on tape right now. And it's not going to be any fun guarding them, but I'm excited for him, excited for what he's building.”
Rowsey rematch: South Carolina spent the past week watching film on Marquette and going over scouting reports for the Golden Eagles' players. They didn't need to spend as much time on Andrew Rowsey.
"I didn't have to say a word to our players," Martin said. "Our guys, they remember."
What they remember is Rowsey going off for 30 points, including 6 three-pointers, against the Gamecocks on Nov. 26, 2014, when Rowsey was a sophomore at UNC-Asheville. It was one of many standout performances for Rowsey, who turned his knack for scoring into an opportunity to transfer to Marquette and play at a higher level.
In his first year playing with the Golden Eagles, the redshirt junior has adjusted well to the higher competition. A late-season addition to the starting lineup, Rowsey is averaging 11.5 points per game while shooting 45.4% on three-pointers and finishing the season with the best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) of any of Marquette's primary ball-handlers.
"He's got that confidence going," Martin said. "He's aggressive. He's got that unbelievable knack to get to the foul line with his shot fakes. And if you're late on any coverage, that ball's in the net."
Rowsey, who expects to have plenty of friends and family at Bon Secours Wellness Arena considering he is playing about five hours away from his hometown of Lexington, Va., and about an hour away from Asheville, also remembers the 2014 game against South Carolina. However, he's not looking to totally duplicate what happened.
"I played against them my sophomore year and did pretty well against them but we lost," he said. "So hopefully we'll try to switch that and win the game this year."