Better coaching job?

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

So we could go 0-31, have a miraculous 5 wins in 5 days at MSG, and win 2 games in the NCAAs and it'd be a successful season?

0-31 and seven post season wins would arguably be the 2nd most historic team in Marquette history. It would likely make magazine covers and would be a team talked about year after year after year. So, yes. That would be a successful season.  Maybe even "iconic."

You guys need to understand something. There is one "iconic" person in the history of Marquette basketball. His name is on our jerseys and our practice facility. Wade is not "iconic." Butch Lee is not "iconic." Bo Ellis is not "iconic." And sure as hell James, McNeal and Matthews are not iconic. If anything, they were a collective disappointment.

[Hoopaloop]

0-31 and seven post season wins would arguably be the 2nd most historic team in Marquette history. It would likely make magazine covers and would be a team talked about year after year after year. So, yes. That would be a successful season.  Maybe even "iconic."

You guys need to understand something. There is one "iconic" person in the history of Marquette basketball. His name is on our jerseys and our practice facility. Wade is not "iconic." Butch Lee is not "iconic." Bo Ellis is not "iconic." And sure as hell James, McNeal and Matthews are not iconic. If anything, they were a collective disappointment.

You have your opinion, others have theirs.  Why bash people for having opinions.  By the way, I don't think those guys are iconic either.  I also don't agree with your conclusion that Jimmy Butler is better than Wes Matthews.  We can all have opinions, no need to rip people for having legitimate opinions.

[ErickJD08]

I guess you're right.  Wasn't that the year where Jimmy kept hitting last-second shots to win games?  I can't believe my memory is so foggy already

I think that was Jimmy's senior year when he hit a couple game winners like St Johns and UConn (I think).  My memory is a little foggy too.

[hairy worthen]

0-31 and seven post season wins would arguably be the 2nd most historic team in Marquette history. It would likely make magazine covers and would be a team talked about year after year after year. So, yes. That would be a successful season.  Maybe even "iconic."

You guys need to understand something. There is one "iconic" person in the history of Marquette basketball. His name is on our jerseys and our practice facility. Wade is not "iconic." Butch Lee is not "iconic." Bo Ellis is not "iconic." And sure as hell James, McNeal and Matthews are not iconic. If anything, they were a collective disappointment.

You have your opinion, others have theirs.  Why bash people for having opinions.  By the way, I don't think those guys are iconic either.  I also don't agree with your conclusion that Jimmy Butler is better than Wes Matthews.  We can all have opinions, no need to rip people for having legitimate opinions.

Explain how prn is bashing anyone in the above post. Like you said people have their opinions, Just because they don't agree with you dosen't mean they are bashing.  

[brewcity77]

I think that was Jimmy's senior year when he hit a couple game winners like St Johns and UConn (I think).  My memory is a little foggy too.

The runner @ UConn was his junior year, when we won his senior year at UConn, it was DJO taking over late in the second half and overtime. The St. John's game was also his junior year, we lost to SJU at home last year when he was a senior. The SJU game was the middle game of a three-game road swing (@ Cincy, SJU, and SHU) where we won all three in overtime and pretty much cemented ourselves as a tourney team.

But they do tend to run together as we age... 

[Golden Avalanche]

Fracking mess 90% of the time? Really?

Really. 

I understand people have memories the length of an ant but the team didn't beat anybody of note in non-conference and underperformed relative to talent (using PRN's standards) finishing 9-9, which included some crap stompings and an alarming number of blown double digit leads.

Hey, beating Cuse was a surprise and astounding and it allowed many to remove the stain of the previous 35 but they still got pounded in their last game of the season.


P.S. Should I go on and mention a second straight December with a player departure and the unnecessary topic of off-the-court issues?

It wasn't a smooth 110 days.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I also don't agree with your conclusion that Jimmy Butler is better than Wes Matthews. 

"Was," not "is." Obviously, at this point, Wesley has had more of an opportunity in the NBA. But in my opinion Jimmy Butler was a better college player than Matthews and I really liked Wesley's game. Butler may have been the smartest player we've had in the last 25 years and the only other player I recall consistently hitting big shots was Travis Diener. Incidentally, I'll also DJO over McNeal every day of the week.

[Canadian Dimes]

I voted the 9-10 year... Like others have said we lost a ton of scoring and experience.  We had to rely on a ton of new or untested players and had injury n transfer issues to boot.
No knock on buzz this year I think he has done a outstanding job.  I just think this year we are so much more experienced with 4 returning starters and so much more deep and talented than we were in 9-10
Just my opinion ,  I think buzz is a great coach and it is a compelling argument

[Canadian Dimes]

To attempt to diminish the careers of the 3 amigos is ignorant.  They were great players and ambassodors for the program.  Wes is a longtime pro, jerel the all time leading scorer and DJ may be the best athlete I'm MU bbal history .. Probably the best defensive pg I have ever seen.
To define them due to heartbreaking injuries n subsequent early NCAA departures is sad.  My great frustration then and still today is Crean to incompitent to surround them with any size or talent.  Those three were icons n superstars unfortunately 3 players doesn't a team make.

[hairy worthen]

Really. 

I understand people have memories the length of an ant but the team didn't beat anybody of note in non-conference and underperformed relative to talent (using PRN's standards) finishing 9-9, which included some crap stompings and an alarming number of blown double digit leads.

Hey, beating Cuse was a surprise and astounding and it allowed many to remove the stain of the previous 35 but they still got pounded in their last game of the season.


P.S. Should I go on and mention a second straight December with a player departure and the unnecessary topic of off-the-court issues?

It wasn't a smooth 110 days.

No not smooth, but not sure I would call it a mess 90% of the time. Still won 20 some games, and a NCAA tournament appearance 9 and 9 in conference sounds average, but the big east was a beast that year.

BTW I can't even imagine what would have happened if we didn't have the three amigos. Not sure iconic is the right word but their contribution should not be diminished

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

To attempt to diminish the careers of the 3 amigos is ignorant.  They were great players and ambassodors for the program.  Wes is a longtime pro, jerel the all time leading scorer and DJ may be the best athlete I'm MU bbal history .. Probably the best defensive pg I have ever seen.
To define them due to heartbreaking injuries n subsequent early NCAA departures is sad.  My great frustration then and still today is Crean to incompitent to surround them with any size or talent.  Those three were icons n superstars unfortunately 3 players doesn't a team make.

They were all nice players, none of them were outstanding. Is that fair? You cannot point to Matthews NBA career as proof of him being "iconic" any more than you can point to Leuer's professional career and claim he's an iconic player in Madison.  McNeal passing GT for the all time points lead is great for him. A hell of an accomplishment. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that he also had more turnovers than any player in Marquette history. If you going to talk about his scoring, why not talk about his turnovers? His horrible decision making and repeated defensive lapses? As for James, you're right. He was a great athlete. Can't argue with you there. It's hard for me to consider a player "iconic" when every time he rose off the floor to take a jump shot the entire arena groaned.  

You wanna know how I "define" them? Not the NCAA losses. It's the poor decision making, horrible shooting and, yes, injuries (both real and dramatized.) I watched these guys. In fact, it's almost a shame that Matthews is lumped in with the other two because he was a very unique player who always stayed within the framework of the rest of the team.

Again...they were all nice players and had nice careers. They were also handed an unheard of amount of minutes as freshmen simply because the cupboard was completely bare. The fact is, this is why they're so high on all of our "all time" lists.

Again...very nice careers...but suggesting they're in any kind of pantheon of Marquette greats (I think McNeal is the only one who even earned a first team all conference nod in 4 years) is absolutely and completely ridiculous.

[karavotsos]

Great question.

Voted 9-10 simply for degree of difficulty.  Open question because you have no idea how good this team will be yet.

Based on everything that Buzz says and Homer's talks with Orr, MU 3.0 is exactly how Buzz wants to play.  09-10 was probably the exact opposite of how Buzz wanted to play.  Yet he did it because that was the only way to win.  I just think back to the WVU game at WVU.  I know MU didn't win, but they played the only way they could win.  They played half-court.  Spread the court everywhere as far as they could and hit their threes.  And should have beat a final four team on the road.

Buzz had that team doing everything they could to win in a style that was not the style he wanted to coach.  That is top-notch coaching.  I forget the exact one or two games, but Buzz put Mbao on the top of a 1-2-2 zone to put height and pressure on the ball.  That is how far Buzz will go to try things to win.

[Warriors 79]

Great Question and the answer is all and none of the above as the focus should be in Buzz's evolution as a coach and his amazing learning curve and ability to get the best out of every player he inherits or recruits.  Examples: The Senior seasons of Matthews, Cooby and Mo Acker plus all his 2-3 star blue collar rejects ending here with DJO and Jae. (Anyone want to bitch about JUCO transfers after Jimmy, DJO and Jae?)

 Plus his ability to get Vander to play as a team stud without high-fiving everyone and never smiling.  Mayo, too. And keep the Twinkies out of Ox's mouth.  And keep up Otule's spirit.  And green light Junior to shoot, drive and score.

Like General Omar Bradley, Buzz is the consummate player's/ soldier's coach.  Here's to his evolution and to the team NO one want to play in the first round (or later rounds, too) of the Dance.  These guys embody pure Buzz: They just don't quit. Ever.