Recruiting JUCO's

[tower912]

Are Buzz and crew recruiting too many JUCO's?   Are they sacrificing long term stability in order to keep the momentum going in the short term? Or, are the three signings this year each a unique situation that should each be judged on its own merits?   After all, Fulce and Butler were both qualifiers out of high school, Fulce would follow Buzz anywhere, apparently, and Butler wanted to build his resume.  Buycks is a Milwaukee kid who had to and has taken care of his academics.  Buycks is apparently in the JM mold, which is cool.   All bring athleticism and versatility.   But again, is this a conscious decision to take juco's?   Is it getting the best athlete available?  Is it in the long term best interest of the program?

[detroitwarrior]

I would be curious to know if Buzz was asked during the interview process for an outline on recruiting goals for the first few years of his tenure, if he mentioned that he might sign a few Jucos, what the reaction to that was, or whether he was given carte blanche to recruit whomever he wanted etc.

[ecompt]

Too many JUCOs and you become Cincinnati. I would prefer we go the recruit-them-as-freshmen route.

[MUCrew]

I prefer the freshman route as well, but maybe he's planning for a future big recruiting class?

[NYWarrior]

I prefer the freshman route as well, but maybe he's planning for a future big recruiting class?

Losing Taylor and Williams may have forced Buzz to more strongly consider a kid like Buycks.......MU stands to be very average (or worse) in 09-10 unless Buzz creatively fills the gaps -- hence, Buycks. 

[detroitwarrior]

The Buycks signing does make sense from the standpoint that assuming he is as good a player as his reviews from HS and Juco, he will be able to play significant minutes in 2009 and it looks like he can play the point a bit so the focus on the anchor point guard can be 2010.

[NCMUFan]

I believe it is circumstances and best player available.  I think he is playing the hand dealt him the best he can.  In a few years with a recruiting history we may be able to answer the JUCO question.  The fact we always lose a year or two of player eligibility deems to make JUCO recruiting less desirable than HS or Prep players.

[MR.HAYWARD]

I think everyone needs to calm down on the whole JUCO thing.  First of all buycks got a 3.6 his first year and second of all Fulce and Butler were qualifiers.  So why the administration would have any problem with that is beyond me.  More specifically in terms of Buzz Williams putting winning basketball teams on the court our ex-coach sort of tied his hands.  After signing the big 3 his recruiting has been poor.  Buzz needs talent that can play immediately and while the posters might like Buzz to sign class presidents with 4.0's that come from the most esteemed backgrounds and also happen to be top 50 recruits you are not recruiting for your coaching life.  Crean signed a bunch of duds and Buzz needs to replace them now or we are St. Johns in 2 years!!   Bottom line is Buzz just replaced scott Christopherson with Buycks, chrsitopherson could never have competed in the BE!!, my goodness the guy could not even dribble with his left hand...or right, or move, or...  Buycks for christopherson equals big time upgrade!!

[ATWizJr]

what's the difference, really, between recruiting Jucos who play for a year or two or recruiting top 10 players, who play for a year or two before turning pro?

Neither is a long term solution.

[nola03]

what's the difference, really, between recruiting Jucos who play for a year or two or recruiting top 10 players, who play for a year or two before turning pro?

Neither is a long term solution.

Way to stretch that out on a limb.

MU doesn't attract top 10 players. We don't have to worry about that. I'm guessing the feeling people have is it would be better to sign a top 75 player like Omari Lawrence at the 2 guard and have him for 4 years rather then sign a JUCO at the 2 guard and have him for 2 years. That way, giving them a season of adjustment, you'd have Lawrence for 3 seasons whereas you only have Buycks for one season.

[ATWizJr]

Fine, nola, but the expectation is that Bucyks would need less acclimatization after two years of JUCO ball than an incoming 12 grader.

[NYWarrior]

I'm guessing the feeling people have is it would be better to sign a top 75 player like Omari Lawrence at the 2 guard and have him for 4 years rather then sign a JUCO at the 2 guard and have him for 2 years. That way, giving them a season of adjustment, you'd have Lawrence for 3 seasons whereas you only have Buycks for one season.

In a more ideal situation, yes.  However, losing TT and NW was a huge hit to the program, effectively gutting the future backcourt leaving the 09-10 team in a world of hurt.  Buzz chose to go for a more mature player  to bridge the gap, and I'd imagine has doubled-down on kids in the 2010 freshman class in response to the Buycks commitment. 

The key here, in my mind, is whether or not Buycks can keep his grades in order and graduate next May from Indian Hills.  If he does, DB can be on campus in one year allowing him more time to prep for the season.  If he struggles to secure the GPA, core courses/credits he needs and can't get to MU until next August, we could be looking at a Jamil Lott or Trend Blackledge situation which could lead to a wasted year. 

It's up to Buycks now.  Get the grades and get to campus on-time.  BTW, Buzz can still go after Lawrence anyway -- he has two more tenders to pass out

[NYWarrior]

.....the expectation is that Bucyks would need less acclimatization after two years of JUCO ball than an incoming 12 grader.

Recent MU history with JUCOs (Trend Blackledge/Jamil Lott, for example) vs. true freshmen (Dominic James/Jerel McNeal/Wesley Matthews) is the counterpoint to your expectation.

[ATWizJr]

good point nyw, but, isn't it pretty much universally accepted that those you reference were not great gets by our former coach?  Again, the hope is that DB is a cut above those or maybe several cuts above.

[The Lens]

Recent MU history with JUCOs (Trend Blackledge/Jamil Lott, for example) vs. true freshmen (Dominic James/Jerel McNeal/Wesley Matthews) is the counterpoint to your expectation.

Yeah but those kids (Lott & Trend) were some of TC's famed 2am drunk hook-ups

[MR.HAYWARD]

Who will help us more in 09-10, Scott Christopherson or Buycks?  Nuff said!!

[NCMUFan]

Right, those were the previous coach's choices of JUCO's.  Lets reserve judgement on our new JUCO transfers till we see them perform.

[Tulsa Warrior]

It's clear when Tyshawn Taylor and Nick Williams were lost due to the Crean exit some recruiting magic was needed to have some first level backcourt players after the Amigos leave.

There's a huge difference between the Buzz JUCO recruits and Crean's.  Buzz knew Joe Fulce and Jimmy Butler for years.  Buycks is a local kid and was clearly in the first tier of Marquette recruiting targets.  Crean's recruits were last minute additions.  Consolation prizes. 

No knock against the Crean JUCO recruits but there is a difference.  Blackledge was heading to a mid major if Marquette hadn't offered.  He worked his but off to qualify at Marquette and it set him back on the court.  Butler had an offer from Kentucky and was a qualifier out of high school.

Buycks and Butler essentially replace Taylor and Nick Williams with more talent to come.  Nice work on Buzz' part for two months on the job.  Buycks being a local kid will be able to have gym time for two summers with the Marquette players.  That time will also make sure he is not put in the academic situation Blackledge had to face.

[bma725]

Buycks being a local kid will be able to have gym time for two summers with the Marquette players. 

His initial plan was to not be in Milwaukee this summer.  He was going to stay at Indian Hills this summer to get as many classes done as possible so that when his regular school year is done next year he won't have to stick around and take classes until August like some JUCOs have to. 

Not sure if that is still the case or not.

[RJax55]

Yeah but those kids (Lott & Trend) were some of TC's famed 2am drunk hook-ups

Agree.

Its unfair to say Buycks won't be successful at MU because of the history of JUCOs that Crean recruited.

[chapman]

Who will help us more in 09-10, Scott Christopherson or Buycks?  Nuff said!!

Maybe, but what is Buycks role going to be?  If you want to look at it as him replacing Christopherson's junior and senior years, you're still looking at two different types of players.  But if Buycks is starting, he's replacing the loss of James or McNeal, not being a key bench player, which was the best case scenario for Christopherson.  If he's going to be a starting guard, he seems to have a lot of improvements to make to come close the the players he's replacing.

[Pakuni]

Recent MU history with JUCOs (Trend Blackledge/Jamil Lott, for example) vs. true freshmen (Dominic James/Jerel McNeal/Wesley Matthews) is the counterpoint to your expectation.

Perhaps, though I'd suggest those adjustments had much more to do with talent than with those players' respective abilities to acclimate to D-I ball.

[77fan88warrior]

I think everyone needs to calm down on the whole JUCO thing.  First of all buycks got a 3.6 his first year and second of all Fulce and Butler were qualifiers.  So why the administration would have any problem with that is beyond me.  More specifically in terms of Buzz Williams putting winning basketball teams on the court our ex-coach sort of tied his hands.  After signing the big 3 his recruiting has been poor.  

I assume you forgot about Lazare!

[MR.HAYWARD]

No i have not fogotten lazar...will he score approx. 45 points 10 assist and 14 rebounds in addition to his current prodcution by his senoir year?  1 player lets say two in trevor in 3 years aint going to get it done in the BE.   Expect Buzz to still go after a good PG and then either a big or another SG.  people seem to think Buycks means no lawrence or another Sg...why would that be they will not even be in the same class by 2 years and we did just recently sign 3 top 100 guards in 1 year.  Iwould not be surprised at all if the next two schollies were given to a sg and a pg.  you can still sign a C in 2010, making that player a freshman when Trevor and otule are a senior and junior.

[tower912]

After a few hours of contemplation, I think this recruit is the result of the fallout of TTaylor's release.     Buycks considers himself a point guard (per Rosiak).   I think the plan is to have an experienced PG with some size in the fold for after the 3 amigos graduation.    This would have been TT's spot, but we all know how that turned out.     I am guessing that Buzz projects Buycks as a starting PG, with Acker and Cub as possible backups.   Now he will work on recruiting a big and a high school PG for the rest of his '09 class.    All conjecture on my part, but it does track.