.."we left a potential final 4 team at Marquette"....

[tower912]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9509924&categoryid=2378529

Crean feels he left a potential final 4 team at MU, if Mbakwe, Christopherson, and Taylor had all stayed.    I'm not saying he is wrong.   

[real chili 83]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9509924&categoryid=2378529

Crean feels he left a potential final 4 team at MU, if Mbakwe, Christopherson, and Taylor had all stayed.    I'm not saying he is wrong.   

Interesting.

I predict this thread goes 1.5 pages before the lock.

IN BEFORE THE LOCK!

[wadesworld]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9509924&categoryid=2378529

Crean feels he left a potential final 4 team at MU, if Mbakwe, Christopherson, and Taylor had all stayed.    I'm not saying he is wrong.   

You might not be saying he's wrong, but I am. Maybe if all of those players were the 25 year old seniors they became in that same season (some exaggeration there, but not much), then he'd have a point. Otherwise no way. And even if they were they still aren't.

[tower912]

Without Mbakwe, Christopherson, or Taylor, that team was a Dominic James broken foot away from being a FF contender.   MU was #8 in the country when DJ went down.   Marked improvements from the amigos and Lazar, as well as the out-of-nowhere emergence of a JUCO SG as an effective big man had MU rolling.    DJ turning into a lockdown defending, pass-first PG was huge.   Ironically, the last shot he took before he broke his foot was a nothing-but-net 3.     
    I guess the question is, would the amigos have raised their game under Crean?    Would Mbakwe have given as a sophomore as much as JFB did?  (No Buzz, no JFB)    Would Ty Taylor been ready to step in and lead when DJ went down?    Would Crean have 'unleashed' Wes?   

[ChicosBailBonds]

Reading way too much into it.  Key is "potential Final 4 team".  This is why Wadesworld is wrong...every team is a potential final four team.  That's simply a true statement.  Would they have made it...only 4 teams do, chances are they wouldn't.  Did he claim they would be a Final 4 team...nope.

Potential Final 4 team....every team that makes the NCAA tournament is, in fact every team before their last game of their conference tournament is as well...as long as you have a breath and can earn an autobid, or whatever, you are technically a potential final four team.  That would have been a very nice MU team with those youngsters and the seniors that year.  Depth everywhere.  Would have been a lot of fun.

[TinyTimsLittleBrother]

This is why Wadesworld is wrong...every team is a potential final four team. 

Only for the overly pedantic.

Do you think Crean would have said the same thing had he left Alabama A&M instead of Marquette?  No.  He obviously brought some semblance of realism into the discussion.

[77ncaachamps]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9509924&categoryid=2378529

Crean feels he left a potential final 4 team at MU, if Mbakwe, Christopherson, and Taylor had all stayed.    I'm not saying he is wrong.   

Seriously?

No way. Christopherson couldn't do much until he got to ISU; Trevor was hurt (Crean pushed him into playing instead of sitting out with a medical); and Taylor was good at KU but not dominant.

More horse puckey.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Only for the overly pedantic.

Do you think Crean would have said the same thing had he left Alabama A&M instead of Marquette?  No.  He obviously brought some semblance of realism into the discussion.

No, I don't, then again how many people said Florida Gulf Coast University would be one game away from playing for a Final Four this year?  How many in 2009 would say that about Butler?  George Mason in 2006?   

But let's just use a little common sense as well.  That team, even without Mbakwe, et al, was a damn good team and a "potential final four contender".  Even without those guys.  So adding those guys doesn't make them any less a "potential final four contender".

[ChicosBailBonds]

No way. Christopherson couldn't do much until he got to ISU; Trevor was hurt (Crean pushed him into playing instead of sitting out with a medical); and Taylor was good at KU but not dominant.

You sure about that?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-03-01/sports/0802290633_1_marquette-leg-knee


Taylor would have been a freshman, a future NBA player who would have been a very nice backup to DJ.

[77ncaachamps]

What Trevor says refutes what I posted.
Fine. I was incorrect.

But on a waste of a season for Trevor, Crean should have used better judgment and said, "Guess what, big guy, you were just cleared medically AND I think you're only at 75% fitness. We'll need you full bore next year."

He let a player call it. He shouldn't have especially if he was "looking out for the player's career" and recommended surgery.

8 min vs Pitt
14 vs SJU
12 vs Rutgers
7 vs Nova
14 vs gtown
11 vs FGCU
17 vs Cuse
9 vs SHU BET
4 vs ND BET
4 vs Pitt BET
0 vs Kentucky NCAA
1 vs Stanford NCAA

That special season wasn't savored as he barely averaged 3 min per game in the post season, not even logging minutes into one.

[4everwarriors]

No way that team sniffs the FF with Coach Clover at the helm.

[Dr. Blackheart]

"I am doing great. I have been thinking about you alot since last weekend. A whole lot. How are you doing?"

[wadesworld]

No way that team sniffs the FF with Coach Clover at the helm.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Maybe he's right that the talent could've been there, but unless they were all staying while Crean left, the coaching wasn't going to be.

[ChicosBailBonds]

No way that team sniffs the FF with Coach Clover at the helm.

You saying lightning only strikes once?

[4everwarriors]

We've all seen enough of Crimson and Clover's coachin' to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[ChicosBailBonds]

author=4everwarriors link=topic=39346.msg507266#msg507266 date=1374979116]
We've all seen enough of Crimson and Clover's coachin' to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Big Ten title, first in 20 years over coaches like Izzo, Beilein, Matta, Ryan, etc.  Anything can happen in one game, but over the course of the season he won his league's title.

So lightning only strikes once...cuz Crean already has a Final Four under his belt.   

[Lennys Tap]

Reading way too much into it.  Key is "potential Final 4 team".  This is why Wadesworld is wrong...every team is a potential final four team. 

You simply love to point out as "fact" things that are light years from reality.

In your world Buzz Williams left a potential Final Four team at New Orleans to become an assistant. "Technically" true, totally foolish in the real world we live in.

What's the point?

[4everwarriors]

Big Ten title, first in 20 years over coaches like Izzo, Beilein, Matta, Ryan, etc.  Anything can happen in one game, but over the course of the season he won his league's title.

So lightning only strikes once...cuz Crean already has a Final Four under his belt.   

In Crean's case, he's playin' with house money. Thank you DWade.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

First off, there's no "we" with I4. The only cat more in love with himself is the current president.

2nd. I4 couldn't take 2lottery picks out of the S16.  Had that MU team advanced, it would have been in spite of,rather than because of, I4.

[4everwarriors]

Eloquent man, simply eloquent.

[Dr. Blackheart]

You saying lightning only strikes once?

Let's ask Mike Davis. So, serious question Chicos: Are the IU faithful happier with the Big Ten title after a 20 wait but an early exit after a preseason #1 ranking...or the 2002 Championship game appearance under Davis?  And btw, it was NOT Indiana's first B1G title in 20 years...they also won it in 2002.

This is many here's problem with the guy.  He takes MU to the Final 4, but keeps the GAS banner up hanging next to it and the National Championship banner. He likes to revise history, but has no sense of it due to his insecurities.  Just like in this case...he mentions the players/recruits that left Marquette right after him, but leaves off the Amigos+Lazar, his two recruits who stayed with Buzz, and Nick Williams who followed CTC to IU and then got House Creaned.

Just odd. Like his victory celebration that fell flat and his ridiculous hand shake behavior.  The guy needs a shrink, IMO. Maybe this need for self-validation comes from not having a dad growing up, but being a Harbaugh ain't helping him as he is looking bad trying to hang his hat on every little thing or successful personality that comes along.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Big_Ten_Conference_men's_basketball_regular_season_champions

[MU82]

Crean built himself a Final Four team this past season.

Lower leg, meet urine.

[The Lens]

Tyshawn Taylor was never coming to MU.  LOI or not.  Crean's firing was an easy way out for Bob Sr. but he would have gotten his way either way.

[TinyTimsLittleBrother]

Tyshawn Taylor was never coming to MU.  LOI or not.  Crean's firing was an easy way out for Bob Sr. but he would have gotten his way either way.

I don't think so.  No evidence to suggest that is the case.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Crean built himself a Final Four team this past season.

Lower leg, meet urine.

Not really, very little depth ad young team.  If guys stay, which is hard to know, the team in 2 years will be better than this past year's team, but that depends who stays and who leaves or goes early into the draft.

As for that MU team, it would have been pretty loaded.  Certainly more talent than the Butler team that made it, the George Mason team, the Wichita State team, etc.  It's  crapshoot, anything can happen, but potential to be a Final Four team...of course.  Potentially, anyway.