At the beginning of this season...

[Coleman]

Buzz made a comment that the Sweet 16 was not good enough anymore. I thought he was nuts, and I thought it was a foolish comment to make. My perspective at that time was that MU would be lucky to make the NCAA tournament, and that's all I wanted. Reaching the Sweet 16 for a third straight time, with this group of players, seemed to me to be quite far-fetched. Exceeding it even more so.

Buzz proved me wrong. He made a ballsy statement, and then followed through. Marquette won the Big East and made the Elite 8. We are in an amazing position for next year, and could very well make the Sweet 16 for the 4th straight time, something that has only been done once, at the height of MU's history in the 1970s under Al McGuire. Even more important, this team could go even deeper and a return to the Final Four is a fair goal.

We are in the midst of something truly special. Something that hasn't happened since the 1970s. This is as close as we've ever been to that golden era of MU basketball.

[setyoursightsnorth]

And the fact that we don't even know what the future holds yet.

We know next year's class is stacked.
JJJ, Burton, McKay, Duane, and Dawson.

What will Buzz bring in for an encore when Blue, Jamil, Ox, and (maybe) Chris leave?
That recruiting class has us set for at least the next two years.

[wadesworld]

I think people need to lay off all of these Final Four statements.  Sure to get there takes the right coaching and talent, but it also takes quite a bit of luck.  Just think about it, we needed 3 desperation 3 pointers in the last minute and a half, plus a very dumb turnover, and a poorly defended final play just to make it out of the first round (sorry play-in games, but you're still just that...play-in games, not an actual round).  We did what we had to do to win the game, but at the same time we needed quite a bit of help doing it.  If that doesn't happen, we're the 3rd biggest upset of the tournament, but the one everyone remembers because everyone predicted it.  We made 3 total 3 pointers in the entire game against Syracuse, yet we made 3 in the final 1:33 against Davidson and still needed a buzzer beater to win that game.  We had 1 3 pointer up until that point in that entire game.

Even if we ran the table in the New Big East, got a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and won 30 games, it is still extremely difficult to make a Final Four.  In another thread someone said "Next year is Final Four or bust."  HECK NO!  Look at the Final Four this year.  It's a 9 seed, 2 4 seeds, and a 1 seed.  There are no guarantees in the NCAA Tournament, when everything is win or go home.  One cold night shooting and you're gone.  One game against a team who just can't miss for a game (or even a single player) and you're gone.

The more fair expectations would be to say we should win X amount of regular season games, or win the NBE, or something that has more to do with than 1 and done situations.  So much unpredictability in the NCAA Tournament.

[Otule's Glass Eye]

And the fact that we don't even know what the future holds yet.

We know next year's class is stacked.
JJJ, Burton, McKay, Duane, and Dawson.

What will Buzz bring in for an encore when Blue, Jamil, Ox, and (maybe) Chris leave?
That recruiting class has us set for at least the next two years.

Looney, and after that Stone.   

[RawdogDX]

I think people need to lay off all of these Final Four statements.  Sure to get there takes the right coaching and talent, but it also takes quite a bit of luck.  Just think about it, we needed 3 desperation 3 pointers in the last minute and a half, plus a very dumb turnover, and a poorly defended final play just to make it out of the first round (sorry play-in games, but you're still just that...play-in games, not an actual round).  We did what we had to do to win the game, but at the same time we needed quite a bit of help doing it.  If that doesn't happen, we're the 3rd biggest upset of the tournament, but the one everyone remembers because everyone predicted it.  We made 3 total 3 pointers in the entire game against Syracuse, yet we made 3 in the final 1:33 against Davidson and still needed a buzzer beater to win that game.  We had 1 3 pointer up until that point in that entire game.

Even if we ran the table in the New Big East, got a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and won 30 games, it is still extremely difficult to make a Final Four.  In another thread someone said "Next year is Final Four or bust."  HECK NO!  Look at the Final Four this year.  It's a 9 seed, 2 4 seeds, and a 1 seed.  There are no guarantees in the NCAA Tournament, when everything is win or go home.  One cold night shooting and you're gone.  One game against a team who just can't miss for a game (or even a single player) and you're gone.

The more fair expectations would be to say we should win X amount of regular season games, or win the NBE, or something that has more to do with than 1 and done situations.  So much unpredictability in the NCAA Tournament.

Relax captain obvious.  People know that 1.2% of basketball teams make the final four, but everything you said could be said about every team.  'Final Four Team' has become a euphemism for 'Potential Top Four Team' or 'Really good team that causes enough match up problems to make a run not shocking'. 

As for using wins, i think predicting seed is the best way to go.  Barring injury, next year will be our first ever 2.

[wadesworld]

Relax captain obvious.  People know that 1.2% of basketball teams make the final four, but everything you said could be said about every team.  'Final Four Team' has become a euphemism for 'Potential Top Four Team' or 'Really good team that causes enough match up problems to make a run not shocking'. 

As for using wins, i think predicting seed is the best way to go.  Barring injury, next year will be our first ever 2.

Probably the best way to do it.

[IrwinFletcher]

 

As for using wins, i think predicting seed is the best way to go.  Barring injury, next year will be our first ever 2.

I was thinking something similar. 

If everyone comes back that we think are coming back, is it possible that Marquette achieves it's first #1 ranking during the season in 40 years?


If we start the year ranked in the Top 10, we get off to a good start, and there are some upsets early, it could actually happen.

[wadesworld]

I was thinking something similar. 

If everyone comes back that we think are coming back, is it possible that Marquette achieves it's first #1 ranking during the season in 40 years?


If we start the year ranked in the Top 10, we get off to a good start, and there are some upsets early, it could actually happen.

Unlikely, but it's always possible.

[joparks]

I don't think it's as much a tempering of expectations because of the difficulty of the goal.  MU has now made 3 straight 16s and this past year an 8.  Consistency breeds Familiarity and Familiarity breeds confidence.  If next year's team has the goal of the final 4 I say great and honestly it should be expected.  You build on your successes no matter if those successes were derived from some sort of luck or not.  We can measure talent and effort but the problem is that luck is a by product of that.  It's not tangible, you can't count on it.  We tend to mis-classify it at times because it falls into the improbability of an outcome without understanding all the other things that went into setting up that chance.  The one thing that Buzz has brought to this program is the sense of work.  He has players that will grind out possessions and he appears to have no interest in players that appear to take their foot off the gas. He wants players who want to get the most out of their talent.  Having a team buy into the need to put in the effort is almost most of the battle.

[Coleman]

I don't think it's as much a tempering of expectations because of the difficulty of the goal.  MU has now made 3 straight 16s and this past year an 8.  Consistency breeds Familiarity and Familiarity breeds confidence.  If next year's team has the goal of the final 4 I say great and honestly it should be expected.  You build on your successes no matter if those successes were derived from some sort of luck or not.  We can measure talent and effort but the problem is that luck is a by product of that.  It's not tangible, you can't count on it.  We tend to mis-classify it at times because it falls into the improbability of an outcome without understanding all the other things that went into setting up that chance.  The one thing that Buzz has brought to this program is the sense of work.  He has players that will grind out possessions and he appears to have no interest in players that appear to take their foot off the gas. He wants players who want to get the most out of their talent.  Having a team buy into the need to put in the effort is almost most of the battle.

Agree completely, and great first post.

[john31]

For me at least MU teams have exceeded expectations every year that Buzz has been head coach. Now next year I think you can make a strong argument that we will see the most talented team in the last ten or so years.

[john31]

Problem with my browser. I wanted to end my post by saying that I can easily see us getting pat the S16 next year beyond that it does take some luck. I think F4 next year, Buzz will have improved as well as Blue, Jamil, Devante, et al.......