Big 3 underachieved?

[Marquette84]

Tom Creans absolute inability to recruit capable big men will forever cause the 3 amigos to be deemed underaceivers. 

And yet, a player eqivalent to Ousmane Barro would easily be starting this year, and would be projected as the starter next year.  Given that we have no more scholarships, that means the earliest Buzz can recruit a better big than the Amigos had will be the 2011-12 season--the year after Butler and Buycks leave.

That means you must feel that Buzz Williams absolute inability to recruit bigs has resulted in Butler, Hayward, and Buycks to be forever deemed underachievers.

[damuts222]

The saddest thing to me whenever these types of strings come up about the 3 amigos is that it seems they all focus on them underacheving.  We ll i dont think they underacheived, i think their head coach underacheived them.  Had the 3 amigos not been forced to play with the worst front court in the Big East their last 3 years none of this underacheiving talk would go on.  Tom Creans absolute inability to recruit capable big men will forever cause the 3 amigos to be deemed underaceivers.  

I actually see it differently,  i think they over acheived despite the absolute pathetic results of a coach to construct a collge basketball team.  i think the fact that they were #8 in the country and 9-0 in the Big East with the worst front court in the league speaks to how much those guys were over acheiving before DJ got hurt.  problem once again tho was once he got hurt we had no backup.  Creans inability to construct a lineup of BE caliber players was a joke, and enraged me, others saw him as infallible, i saw one none big east recruit after another and a poorly coached team.  he is indianas problem now.  Our administration did not have the balls to demand better from him, thanks God Indiana saved us, and we had buzz fall in our laps.  

 I love Buzz, but w/o Crean he wouldn't be as fortunate as he is and was. Before Crean we had better talent in the regime before him?? Give credit where credit is due and enough with the underlying agenda already. This discussion is the same old story brought up in another topic, MARQUETTE'S inability as a whole in being unable to recruit bigs in recent history, end of story.

 And Buzz didn't fall on our laps Crean brought him here.

[MerrittsMustache]

If the Big Three had Tim Duncan and Shaq on the team, they would have been unstoppable.

[TallTitan34]

Last year's team was a much better team.  I'd love seeing their senior year be against this years Big East.

That being said, I believe this year's team has the abilty to make a deeper run in the tournament than last year's team.  With their ability to hit the three ball, they are never out of a game.

And in no way did the three amigos under achieve.  

[MR.HAYWARD]

And yet, a player eqivalent to Ousmane Barro would easily be starting this year, and would be projected as the starter next year.  Given that we have no more scholarships, that means the earliest Buzz can recruit a better big than the Amigos had will be the 2011-12 season--the year after Butler and Buycks leave.

That means you must feel that Buzz Williams absolute inability to recruit bigs has resulted in Butler, Hayward, and Buycks to be forever deemed underachievers.

absolutely a terrible terrible comparison.  Yes Mu had Barro but not for their last year but barro was not that good.  Mu had the worst front court in the BE the 3 amigos 4 years.  hwthere they had Barro or not they were the worst front court every night in the BE.

Now you are holding Buzz to having a poor front court when he was left with nothing?  Unless you are UNC you need time to develop a rotation of bigs.  He brought in Otule despite Crean wanting nothing to do with him and Buzz begged crean to give him a chance.  he brought in Mcorrow, and Mboa.  these guys cannot be judged until they are juniors.  A good programs brings in one a year ala Pittsburgh or Wisconsin or even a Uconn and by the time they are juniors or seniors they are ready to contribute, as freshman and SOphs they ride pine lift weights and practice.

  So your are holding Buzz to a lack of a front court becuase Crean left him with zero bigs in adevelopment program?  I never had a problem with the bigs crean signed or his development of them.  the problem was near the end he simply was not signing any of them.  Apart form mbakwe he did not sign any bigs in his last 3 or so year. Simple abandonment of his duties, gave the air of someone looking to bail or of someone incompetitent.  I would say probably 50/50.   Buzz will get it done in a year or two the bigs will be juniors and he will have another big or two in the program at the end of the becnh biding their time.  that is how its done. 

[DJO's Pump Fake]

Dumbest Thread of the Year

[flash]

The big three did not underachieve.  They kept our program in the national spotlight for four consecutive years.  However, 2 NCAA tournament wins in 4 years is very dissapointing. 

[ErickJD08]

Dumbest Thread of the Year

I was at post number 20 and thought the same thing.  I don't know where to start.  First, Buzz got this team last year and its obvious his mindset was to not reinvent the wheel.  The way the team plays this year in comparison to last year is night and day.  I think this year's team gives us an idea of how Buzz is trying to build his teams.  Second, we didn't have a rotation last year where there were 5 players part of the offense.  Outside the major 4 contributors, the others thought pass first before they thought dribble or shoot.  Now, we have a rotation (maybe two) where all the players fit into the offense.  It makes a big difference.  You really can't compare "achievements" last year to this year.  We can compare styles of play but records and everything else is pointless.

To answer the question though, its that the Big three overachieved.  Love Hayward but with the Big three, he was a role player.  Basically, our season records and tourney appearances were all due to those three.  Every game we played, it was the Big 3 and 2 guys currently on the floor v. the other team.  And last year's BE conference was the best conference I can remember in a while.  Three 1 seeds, and I think 3 or 4 made the elite eight, and I think at one point 8 teams from the BE were ranked.  And we were in the mix all year long.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I guess they didn't underachieve.  I appologize to all of the MU fans I offended.  I do not use drugs.  

You are an epic underachieving apologist!!!


Just kidding Rocco, having some fun with you.

[Marquette84]

absolutely a terrible terrible comparison.  Yes Mu had Barro but not for their last year but barro was not that good.  Mu had the worst front court in the BE the 3 amigos 4 years.  hwthere they had Barro or not they were the worst front court every night in the BE.

Now you are holding Buzz to having a poor front court when he was left with nothing?  Unless you are UNC you need time to develop a rotation of bigs.  He brought in Otule despite Crean wanting nothing to do with him and Buzz begged crean to give him a chance.  he brought in Mcorrow, and Mboa.  these guys cannot be judged until they are juniors.  A good programs brings in one a year ala Pittsburgh or Wisconsin or even a Uconn and by the time they are juniors or seniors they are ready to contribute, as freshman and SOphs they ride pine lift weights and practice.

  So your are holding Buzz to a lack of a front court becuase Crean left him with zero bigs in adevelopment program?  I never had a problem with the bigs crean signed or his development of them.  the problem was near the end he simply was not signing any of them.  Apart form mbakwe he did not sign any bigs in his last 3 or so year. Simple abandonment of his duties, gave the air of someone looking to bail or of someone incompetitent.  I would say probably 50/50.   Buzz will get it done in a year or two the bigs will be juniors and he will have another big or two in the program at the end of the becnh biding their time.  that is how its done. 

Next year we'll have three seniors--Fulce, Buycks and Butler--all of whom Buzz was responsible for recruiting.

Explain to me why the lack of a big in the Senior (or Junior) class is all Crean's fault. Shouldn't Buzz have looked at his roster, realized what he needed, and landed a transfer (as he did with Buycks, Butler, DJO, Crowder etc.)?

[WhereisGeraldPosey]

4 straight NCAA bids, something that has not been done @ MU since the 70's; yeah, they underachieved...To paraphrase a line from Bill Madison, this may be the dumbest thread I have ever read and we are all dumber for reading it.

[Doctor V]

I actually think they overachieved. None of them were superior talents. The fact Matthews has made it in the NBA is a matter of circumstance and opportunity. McNeal was one of the worst decision makers I've seen at Marquette -- probably ever -- and James was just a horrendous shooter. These guys are near the top of our all time lists because they played the most games. The fact of the matter is, they had to play a ton as freshman because there was nobody else to play.

If you ask me, James is the most overrated player in Marquette history, with McNeal somewhere in the top 5. Matthews was solid and I'm not just saying that because he's continued his career. He was always the only one of the three that seemed to "get it."

I understand that they were decent guys and "good" players. But they were not great.

I also agree with Chicos. The NCAA is a crapshoot. You need look no further than our game against Holy Cross in 2003.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this year's team is more enjoyable to watch because they make a fraction of the boneheaded plays that last year's team did. What did we have, 4 turnovers against UCONN this year? McNeal would have that many in a half.

ABSOLUTE ABSURDITY.