Jajuan J breakout

[MU82]

The problem is you are equating change = better.

So, while I agree that (insert line up) or (insert player) struggled, that doesn't mean the guy sitting on the bench is better.

I know we can all sit and say "What do they have to lose?!", but I don't think D1 coaches ever think like that. They are control freaks (for the most part) and rarely try something just to try something. I'm not saying it never happens, but it's rare.

Good coaches are problem-solvers.

Jake was a walk-on but Buzz gave him a scholarship and begged him to stay because Buzz saw a problem -- awful shooting -- that needed solving.

During the season, Buzz saw a problem -- the offense was playing 4-on-5 -- and yet did next to nothing.

I agree with you that we've all been down this road before. I simply reject the hypothesis that "Buzz had no choice." He had choices: Kids he recruited. A few of them -- Dawson and Taylor the couple times he gave them a chance, Burton at the end of the season -- even flourished when Buzz made the choice to play them for more than 1-2 minute stretches.

I consider myself one of the more pragmatic posters, one of the folks least likely to get overly excited about something good or panic about something bad. Hell, I was still sticking up for Buzz in January ... until it became obvious something was very wrong with how he was managing the team.

Saying he was "managing the team the way he always did and nobody complained when it worked," as some apologists here like to do, is not a valid defense. A good coach is a problem-solver who is capable of recognizing when the status quo isn't working.

I actually feel bad for Derrick (and, to a lesser extent, Jake) because he was put in a position where he couldn't succeed, a major no-no for any coach.

Ners goes on and on about this stuff -- bringing it up in any comment stream any time -- so it's easy to dismiss him. But IMHO, he happens to be right about most of what he says on this subject.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Good coaches are problem-solvers.

Jake was a walk-on but Buzz gave him a scholarship and begged him to stay because Buzz saw a problem -- awful shooting -- that needed solving.

During the season, Buzz saw a problem -- the offense was playing 4-on-5 -- and yet did next to nothing.

I agree with you that we've all been down this road before. I simply reject the hypothesis that "Buzz had no choice." He had choices: Kids he recruited. A few of them -- Dawson and Taylor the couple times he gave them a chance, Burton at the end of the season -- even flourished when Buzz made the choice to play them for more than 1-2 minute stretches.

I consider myself one of the more pragmatic posters, one of the folks least likely to get overly excited about something good or panic about something bad. Hell, I was still sticking up for Buzz in January ... until it became obvious something was very wrong with how he was managing the team.

Saying he was "managing the team the way he always did and nobody complained when it worked," as some apologists here like to do, is not a valid defense. A good coach is a problem-solver who is capable of recognizing when the status quo isn't working.

I actually feel bad for Derrick (and, to a lesser extent, Jake) because he was put in a position where he couldn't succeed, a major no-no for any coach.

Ners goes on and on about this stuff -- bringing it up in any comment stream any time -- so it's easy to dismiss him. But IMHO, he happens to be right about most of what he says on this subject.

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that Buzz did a good job last season. He needed to get better performance out of both guard positions. I wanted a mix&match rotation to maximize players strengths (much like Gardner & Otule). Buzz chose a different route.

BUT, I think it's a bit naive to sit here and say that (insert) would've been better than (insert) when fans really see SOOOO LITTLE.  

In previous years, fans on this site were BLASTING trent lockett, Vander, Junior, etc. etc. Turns out, Buzz was rewarded for his loyalty, and he knew his team better than the fans.

I think Buzz was doing the same things last year, and it just didn't work. Hard for me to be THAT upset when he was doing the same types of things that worked for him in the past.

If we didn't like quirky rotations, we should have been complaining about quirky rotations for years.

Turns out that maybe we just don't like losing.

[tower912]

Kids he recruited who weren't ready for big minutes.   Freshmen.  The only one I thought deserved more minutes was Burton, and I was always nervous when he and Gardner were together on the defensive end. 

[NersEllenson]

Kids he recruited who weren't ready for big minutes.   Freshmen.  The only one I thought deserved more minutes was Burton, and I was always nervous when he and Gardner were together on the defensive end.  

Much the same could be said about being nervous when Derrick and Jake were together on the offensive end.  Problem is even the best offensive players only execute successfully 50% of the time against the defense...yet when you have guys so limited offensively...that is with you 100% of the time on the offensive end of the court.  I'd take marginal defenders over total offensive liabilities 100% of the time.

Problem with Buzz last year was he rolled out a lineup of Derrick, Jake, Juan, Jamil and Otule to start games. WTF?  How in God's name is that lineup going to be able to score effectively?

Buzz never should have paired Derrick with Jake for 30 minutes.  Jake could have been situational, if Buzz was convinced Derrick had to be his 30 minute per game PG.  Play Derrick with Todd, Deonte, Jamil and even Otule if you want to have some offense (Gardner) off the bench.  At least in that lineup you have 3 very effective scorers...Gardner and Jake could have come in off the bench together and Jake would help Gardner operate as Jake would help space the floor...but you'd have to have another threat out there with Derrick, Jake and Gardner - Mayo/Jamil/Burton.

[Henry Sugar]

Buzz never should have paired Derrick with Jake for 30 minutes.  

This is my fundamental complaint with last year. Not one. Not the other. But both all the time.

[NersEllenson]

This is my fundamental complaint with last year. Not one. Not the other. But both all the time.

Bingo - Buzz did a disservice to actually both Derrick and Jake - in maxing their minutes together.  That team could have been effective and much better had different rotations been developed.

Derrick, Todd, Deonte, Jamil Otule would have been a nice lineup

Subs:  Gardner, Taylor, Jake  (spot minutes for JJJ and Dawson)

That was another beef - was that Buzz did have different options (even if he didn't want to go to Dawson at PG...fine...but at least alter the minutes among your vets and balance deficiencies.)

[bilsu]

He will be fine. He has the skills, just needs to work on confidence and to a degree cockiness.

Confidence is the key to me. Frankly, I wrote him off at Marquette madness. Not because he missed his open looks, but because you could see his body language change when he missed the shots. I just figured a player like that is not going to play for Wojo. Maybe Wojo will toughen him up, but if he continuously gets down on himself he will not play anymore than he did last year.

[MU82]

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that Buzz did a good job last season. He needed to get better performance out of both guard positions. I wanted a mix&match rotation to maximize players strengths (much like Gardner & Otule). Buzz chose a different route.

BUT, I think it's a bit naive to sit here and say that (insert) would've been better than (insert) when fans really see SOOOO LITTLE.  

In previous years, fans on this site were BLASTING trent lockett, Vander, Junior, etc. etc. Turns out, Buzz was rewarded for his loyalty, and he knew his team better than the fans.

I think Buzz was doing the same things last year, and it just didn't work. Hard for me to be THAT upset when he was doing the same types of things that worked for him in the past.

If we didn't like quirky rotations, we should have been complaining about quirky rotations for years.

Turns out that maybe we just don't like losing.

I am NOT complaining about quirky rotations. I don't know as I ever complained about Buzz's rotations. Others might be commenting about them, but I am not. Hell, I wish he had more rotations involving his backcourt rather than sticking so long with what wasn't working.

I am complaining because he had an obvious problem -- so obvious that he, himself, commented about it many times -- but he refused to even try to come up with solutions.

I am not sure that (insert) would have been better than (insert). But I am 100% sure that what we had in the backcourt was worse than that of any other Big East team.

Let's try this ...

You have an owwie on your finger. Every time you have to reach your hand into your pocket, you aggravate the owwie to the point where it's causing quite a bit of pain. You have three choices:

1. Stop reaching into your pocket. Unfortunately, though, you occasionally need stuff in your pocket, so this isn't practical.

2. Put a Band-Aid on the owwie. This might be only temporary. The Band-Aid might fall off or wear away. You'll have to change the Band-Aid and monitor the owwie. You might still occasionally aggravate the owwie but, for the short term anyway, you might get some relief and get by another day without aggravating the owwie.

3. Do nothing and keep aggravating the owwie, despite the knowledge that it will cause pain over and over and over again.

Buzz could have at least tried a Band-Aid on the owwie. In fact, when he did try it a couple of times, he got some temporary relief. Mostly, though, he kept aggravating that owwie and the pain eventually became insufferable.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I am NOT complaining about quirky rotations. I don't know as I ever complained about Buzz's rotations. Others might be commenting about them, but I am not. Hell, I wish he had more rotations involving his backcourt rather than sticking so long with what wasn't working.

I am complaining because he had an obvious problem -- so obvious that he, himself, commented about it many times -- but he refused to even try to come up with solutions.

I am not sure that (insert) would have been better than (insert). But I am 100% sure that what we had in the backcourt was worse than that of any other Big East team.

Let's try this ...

You have an owwie on your finger. Every time you have to reach your hand into your pocket, you aggravate the owwie to the point where it's causing quite a bit of pain. You have three choices:

1. Stop reaching into your pocket. Unfortunately, though, you occasionally need stuff in your pocket, so this isn't practical.

2. Put a Band-Aid on the owwie. This might be only temporary. The Band-Aid might fall off or wear away. You'll have to change the Band-Aid and monitor the owwie. You might still occasionally aggravate the owwie but, for the short term anyway, you might get some relief and get by another day without aggravating the owwie.

3. Do nothing and keep aggravating the owwie, despite the knowledge that it will cause pain over and over and over again.

Buzz could have at least tried a Band-Aid on the owwie. In fact, when he did try it a couple of times, he got some temporary relief. Mostly, though, he kept aggravating that owwie and the pain eventually became insufferable.

Right, but Buzz did #3 in previous seasons, and it worked out for him... so he opted for #3.

I'm not really disagreeing with you, but I guess it's just a matter of perspective for all of us.

Some people think they are evaluating "coaching", but really, they are just evaluating "winning". When the same coach used the same techniques and won, they LOVED him and made some bold predictions about multiple final 4's. When he lost, they wanted him run out of town.

He's the same coach. The only thing that changed were the wins. Not every move is going to work out, but that doesn't mean the coach suddenly forgot how to coach.

If we're going to evaluate "coaching", then we have to use more criteria than "wins".

(this is directed at you personally, just commentary on some stuff I read around here).

[Lennys Tap]

Let's try this ...

You have an owwie on your finger. Every time you have to reach your hand into your pocket, you aggravate the owwie to the point where it's causing quite a bit of pain. You have three choices:

1. Stop reaching into your pocket. Unfortunately, though, you occasionally need stuff in your pocket, so this isn't practical.

2. Put a Band-Aid on the owwie. This might be only temporary. The Band-Aid might fall off or wear away. You'll have to change the Band-Aid and monitor the owwie. You might still occasionally aggravate the owwie but, for the short term anyway, you might get some relief and get by another day without aggravating the owwie.

3. Do nothing and keep aggravating the owwie, despite the knowledge that it will cause pain over and over and over again.

Buzz could have at least tried a Band-Aid on the owwie. In fact, when he did try it a couple of times, he got some temporary relief. Mostly, though, he kept aggravating that owwie and the pain eventually became insufferable.

Band Aids protect the "owwie" and are, by definition, at least a temporary solution. Where's the evidence that Dawson or JJJ would have been a solution, even a temporary one? Putting a dirty band aid on a cut might make it less painful to put your hand in your pocket but it can also infect the "owwie" and make it much worse. Those blankets we gave the Indians may have temporarily warmed them but they also gave them smallpox. Sometime you have to suck it up and play the hand you were dealt (or in this case the hand Buzz mostly dealt himself). If Buzz would have put a guy like Dawson out there against a team who pressured the ball it would have been a disaster, not a band aid (a year later he had 7 TOs in a brief frackin' scrimmage). Watching JJJ it was clear he wasn't "getting it" either. Dawson and JJJ have a whole year under their belt now. They should be more ready physically, mentally and emotionally. I hope they're both so good that Derrick never sees the floor and Carlino backs up JJJ. We'll see.

[NersEllenson]

Band Aids protect the "owwie" and are, by definition, at least a temporary solution. Where's the evidence that Dawson or JJJ would have been a solution, even a temporary one? Putting a dirty band aid on a cut might make it less painful to put your hand in your pocket but it can also infect the "owwie" and make it much worse. Those blankets we gave the Indians may have temporarily warmed them but they also gave them smallpox. Sometime you have to suck it up and play the hand you were dealt (or in this case the hand Buzz mostly dealt himself). If Buzz would have put a guy like Dawson out there against a team who pressured the ball it would have been a disaster, not a band aid (a year later he had 7 TOs in a brief frackin' scrimmage). Watching JJJ it was clear he wasn't "getting it" either. Dawson and JJJ have a whole year under their belt now. They should be more ready physically, mentally and emotionally. I hope they're both so good that Derrick never sees the floor and Carlino backs up JJJ. We'll see.

Umm, did you not watch the Georgetown game? 

Can Buzz Williams do anything wrong in your opinion?

Did you enjoy watching game after game after game of no on guarding our point guard last season?  Watching the most inefficient Marquette team in years?  Enjoy the 43% FT shooting and 7% shooting from the PG position?  No transition game?  Loss after loss mounting up?  No wins over quality teams? 

And let's get real, Derrick wasn't good at all against stiff ball pressure - yet teams rarely applied it as they knew they could simply play 5 on 4 in the half court set so no need to try to disrupt through applying intense ball pressure.  You'll note WOJO has said this year's team is going to HAVE to apply intense ball pressure to be able to compete due to its size limitations.  MU had an absolute weapon in the post last season, yet teams were able to sag 6 feet off our PG and clog the lane and make it next to impossible to feed the post...yet if it were done Gardner had zero room to operate.

[Lennys Tap]

Umm, did you not watch the Georgetown game? 

One game out of 32 against a team that exclusively played zone.

If you're right that John Dawson was the answer last year as a freshman he'll be a stud as a sophomore and I'll apologize and admit I was wrong. But if he remains behind Derrick on the depth chart there are two possibilities:

1. Our new coach is throwing games
                     or
2. You were wrong.

Time will tell.

[bilsu]

So they just stay the same as they gain more experience? Maybe the magical basketball fairy decides to sprinkle players with improvement as they see fit. Just by walking on the court JJJ would have been just as good as Jake...he really didn't do a whole lot either, save a couple games where he was hot from downtown.

The way I see it is Jake was mid-major talent with high major toughness. JJJ has high major talent with mid-major toughness. Buzz was all about tipping your bottle over and seeing who was tough enough to get up. Wojo was also a tough player. As the saying goes " When the going gets tough the tough get going"  I am not sure JJJ has that mentality. I hope he proves me wrong, but there has to be some reason why Buzz did not play him more. Burton's amount of time increased as the year went on and JJJ's decreased, so saying Buzz does not play freshmen is not the real answer.

[The Lens]

The way I see it is Jake was mid-major talent with high major toughness. JJJ has high major talent with mid-major toughness. Buzz was all about tipping your bottle over and seeing who was tough enough to get up. Wojo was also a tough player. As the saying goes " When the going gets tough the tough get going"  I am not sure JJJ has that mentality. I hope he proves me wrong, but there has to be some reason why Buzz did not play him more. Burton's amount of time increased as the year went on and JJJ's decreased, so saying Buzz does not play freshmen is not the real answer.

I think bilsu and I are on the exact same page with regards to JJJ.  He strikes me as kind of goof ball. 

[bilsu]

Umm, did you not watch the Georgetown game?  

Can Buzz Williams do anything wrong in your opinion?

Did you enjoy watching game after game after game of no on guarding our point guard last season?  Watching the most inefficient Marquette team in years?  Enjoy the 43% FT shooting and 7% shooting from the PG position?  No transition game?  Loss after loss mounting up?  No wins over quality teams?  

And let's get real, Derrick wasn't good at all against stiff ball pressure - yet teams rarely applied it as they knew they could simply play 5 on 4 in the half court set so no need to try to disrupt through applying intense ball pressure.  You'll note WOJO has said this year's team is going to HAVE to apply intense ball pressure to be able to compete due to its size limitations.  MU had an absolute weapon in the post last season, yet teams were able to sag 6 feet off our PG and clog the lane and make it next to impossible to feed the post...yet if it were done Gardner had zero room to operate.

If you were at this year's MU madness it was not even close as to who was better between Derrick and Dawson. The real argument is which Wilson? As the saying goes" every dog has his day". Georgetown was simply Dawson's day just like there was one game as a freshmen when Blue scored around 25 points. You cannot look at a player's best game and say that is how good the player is. I like Dawson and I think he should of played more, but his overall game was not better than Derrick's then or now.

[Texas Western]

I think bilsu and I are on the exact same page with regards to JJJ.  He strikes me as kind of goof ball. 

I really like JJJs spirit and personality and I believe when he gets more minutes it will be infectious on his teammates. JJJ has high major ability and will show it this year .

As to Derrick and Jake , I think we would stars at low level D-1, meaningful contributors at mid major and role players at High D-1. That was obvious by there performance . I would like to see Derick at 12-15 minutes of very intense play. I am ok if he starts and plays 3-4 hard minutes of tough defense at the start. Takes a breather and repeats the process. He should not be in the game at crunch time though.

[bilsu]

I agree he should not be in the game at crunch time.

[NersEllenson]

One game out of 32 against a team that exclusively played zone.

If you're right that John Dawson was the answer last year as a freshman he'll be a stud as a sophomore and I'll apologize and admit I was wrong. But if he remains behind Derrick on the depth chart there are two possibilities:

1. Our new coach is throwing games
                     or
2. You were wrong.

Time will tell.

Zone or man, you are still playing basketball....and have to make shots.  Dawson made some big ones in that game.  Shoots the ball MUCH better than Derrick.  There is no debating that.  Seems to me Dawson would have "earned" at least a little more than 8 minutes the next game against Villanova.  If Derrick were showing improvement over the course of the season, fine..but he wasn't, and may have even regressed.  His last 5 games were AWFUL.

And no, if Derrick plays more than Dawson this season, it doesn't mean Wojo is throwing games..it means that Derrick has improved and he'll be surrounded by a hell of alot better supporting cast than what Buzz insisted on rolling out last season.  Derrick may have been serviceable last year if Buzz played him with guys who could score...yet Buzz didn't..and played the most challenged starting lineup I've seen in recent memory at MU.

I HIGHLY doubt if we once again see teams sagging 6 feet off of Derrick game after game and the team continues to lose, Wojo won't hesitate to bench him.  Hopefully Derrick's hard work this summer pays off and he can be a threat to shoot and score from the perimeter.

[MU82]

One game out of 32 against a team that exclusively played zone.

If you're right that John Dawson was the answer last year as a freshman he'll be a stud as a sophomore and I'll apologize and admit I was wrong. But if he remains behind Derrick on the depth chart there are two possibilities:

1. Our new coach is throwing games
                     or
2. You were wrong.

Time will tell.

I know you and Ners have been having fun on this issue for months and months, so I'll try not to interrupt too much ...

I don't know about others, but I never once floated the "throwing games" theory. It's silly. So whether or not Dawson remains behind Derrick, I won't be warbling that familiar tune, just as I didn't warble it about Buzz.

I never advocated Dawson moving ahead of Derrick on the depth chart last season and I don't advocate it this season. I merely opined that when Derrick was lousy, Dawson should have played a little more; and when Dawson did play, he should have gotten a bit longer leash than a few trips down the court.

The fact is, Dawson WAS a Band-Aid solution and he did cover up that owwie temporarily. Taylor was, too. Burton also was before he earned the right to be more than that late in the season. So it's not some outlandish conjecture to say maybe Buzz should have tried applying Band-Aids a few more times than he did.

I am not sure Dawson is a high-major player. I actually lean toward thinking he isn't -- although the sample size so far is too small. But the sample size isn't too small on Derrick, and I am 100% sure he is not a starting high-major PG.

Derrick should be exactly what he was his first two seasons in the program. And unless he miraculously has improved, I'll be disappointed if Wojo pulls a Buzz and tries to make Derrick something he isn't.

Of course, I'm sure Wojo is really worried about disappointing me ... or any of the rest of us yutzes!!

[Lennys Tap]

Zone or man, you are still playing basketball....and have to make shots.  Dawson made some big ones in that game.  Shoots the ball MUCH better than Derrick.  There is no debating that.  Seems to me Dawson would have "earned" at least a little more than 8 minutes the next game against Villanova.  If Derrick were showing improvement over the course of the season, fine..but he wasn't, and may have even regressed.  His last 5 games were AWFUL.

And no, if Derrick plays more than Dawson this season, it doesn't mean Wojo is throwing games..it means that Derrick has improved and he'll be surrounded by a hell of alot better supporting cast than what Buzz insisted on rolling out last season.  Derrick may have been serviceable last year if Buzz played him with guys who could score...yet Buzz didn't..and played the most challenged starting lineup I've seen in recent memory at MU.

I HIGHLY doubt if we once again see teams sagging 6 feet off of Derrick game after game and the team continues to lose, Wojo won't hesitate to bench him.  Hopefully Derrick's hard work this summer pays off and he can be a threat to shoot and score from the perimeter.

Last year it was almost all about Derrick/Dawson. Now that Wojo has named Derrick a captain and Dawson has struggled in a couple of scrimmages the back peddling has begun. Derrick will be greatly improved (won't Dawson?) and it wasn't just Derrick (it was for you for months last year), it was the lineups he played with, etc.

[Lennys Tap]

I know you and Ners have been having fun on this issue for months and months, so I'll try not to interrupt too much ...

I don't know about others, but I never once floated the "throwing games" theory. It's silly. So whether or not Dawson remains behind Derrick, I won't be warbling that familiar tune, just as I didn't warble it about Buzz.

I never advocated Dawson moving ahead of Derrick on the depth chart last season and I don't advocate it this season. I merely opined that when Derrick was lousy, Dawson should have played a little more; and when Dawson did play, he should have gotten a bit longer leash than a few trips down the court.

The fact is, Dawson WAS a Band-Aid solution and he did cover up that owwie temporarily. Taylor was, too. Burton also was before he earned the right to be more than that late in the season. So it's not some outlandish conjecture to say maybe Buzz should have tried applying Band-Aids a few more times than he did.

I am not sure Dawson is a high-major player. I actually lean toward thinking he isn't -- although the sample size so far is too small. But the sample size isn't too small on Derrick, and I am 100% sure he is not a starting high-major PG.

Derrick should be exactly what he was his first two seasons in the program. And unless he miraculously has improved, I'll be disappointed if Wojo pulls a Buzz and tries to make Derrick something he isn't.

Of course, I'm sure Wojo is really worried about disappointing me ... or any of the rest of us yutzes!!

Agree with everything here except the conclusion that Dawson was a band aid SOLUTION. Much more often than not he was anything but.

[NersEllenson]

Last year it was almost all about Derrick/Dawson. Now that Wojo has named Derrick a captain and Dawson has struggled in a couple of scrimmages the back peddling has begun. Derrick will be greatly improved (won't Dawson?) and it wasn't just Derrick (it was for you for months last year), it was the lineups he played with, etc.

Wow.  A high character kid that played more minutes than anyone else on the team last season was named a captain as a senior?  Shocker.

I'm not confident Derrick will be "greatly improved" (where did I say that?) - I hope he is - and the truth of the matter is it won't take much at all to improve over last season.

And yes, I will stand by my feeling of last season that Derrick was THEE achilles heel on that team.  The level to which he was an achilles heel could have been mitigated if Buzz chose to play him with a better supporting cast - but rolling him out there with a guy who can't make a 2 point FG to save his life, Juan Anderson and Chris Otule wasn't going to get it done - nor did it make any sense when you have guys like Todd Mayo and Deonte Burton on the bench.

But I know...in your twisted view and love for Buzz Williams...you cannot concede he was an awful coach last season, lost the team, and made a bizarre choice for school to move onto from Marquette...and his since revealed he basically was a fraud - had no toughness - and left MU due to feeling he couldn't live up to the expectations of our fanbase due to his previous success.  Wow!  Nice Buzz.

Your defense of Buzz is every bit as passionate and cheesy as has been Chico's of Tom Crean the last 6 years - yet you constantly battle Chico's and belittle Crean's accomplishments.  Why can't you do the same with Buzz?  Call a spade a spade.

[NersEllenson]

Agree with everything here except the conclusion that Dawson was a band aid SOLUTION. Much more often than not he was anything but.

As opposed to the guy in front of him who was given max minutes, consistent playing time, and gave us 1 of 14 from the 3 point line and 43% from the FT line.  For as many close games as we lost...just think if Derrick could have scored the ball a little more...not to mention what it would have done for the other guys on the team if they didn't have to play 4 on 5.  LOL.

[willie warrior]

Wow.  A high character kid that played more minutes than anyone else on the team last season was named a captain as a senior?  Shocker.

I'm not confident Derrick will be "greatly improved" (where did I say that?) - I hope he is - and the truth of the matter is it won't take much at all to improve over last season.

And yes, I will stand by my feeling of last season that Derrick was THEE achilles heel on that team.  The level to which he was an achilles heel could have been mitigated if Buzz chose to play him with a better supporting cast - but rolling him out there with a guy who can't make a 2 point FG to save his life, Juan Anderson and Chris Otule wasn't going to get it done - nor did it make any sense when you have guys like Todd Mayo and Deonte Burton on the bench.

But I know...in your twisted view and love for Buzz Williams...you cannot concede he was an awful coach last season, lost the team, and made a bizarre choice for school to move onto from Marquette...and his since revealed he basically was a fraud - had no toughness - and left MU due to feeling he couldn't live up to the expectations of our fanbase due to his previous success.  Wow!  Nice Buzz.

Your defense of Buzz is every bit as passionate and cheesy as has been Chico's of Tom Crean the last 6 years - yet you constantly battle Chico's and belittle Crean's accomplishments.  Why can't you do the same with Buzz?  Call a spade a spade.

Very nice, Ners. One thing you shaded the wrong way--Buzz left because he was shown the door.

[GGGG]

Very nice, Ners. One thing you shaded the wrong way--Buzz left because he was shown the door.

Keep saying it.  That doesn't make it true.  (It isn't.)