Oso planning to go pro
Re-using or paraphrasing some earlier comments, but in my order:Shaka—incomplete but all the right things happening. Already on top in my bookCrean—he put MU back on the map as a program with FF, entry into BE, getting the Al built. Probably knows now that I4 was a mistake. Had he stayed could have had it for a good, long time. He now knows his ambitions were greater than his skills. Buzz—Big BE title, very good three season NCAA run. Was never sustainable. Too much dysfunction.KO—Was never going to stay, but fit MU perfectly at the time and had he not had such lofty ambitions could have been "the guy".Majerus—wrong place, wrong time, big shadow, shoes too big to fill. Somebody had to follow Al, noone was ever going to be Al.Dukiet / Wojo / Deane - the dark days of MU basketball. Dukiet was not serious and not very good, Wojo was just bad at everything, and Deane would have been a great assistant but never a head coach.
your order is my order, and agreed on why. (btw and imo, if MU had paid KO, he’d have taken MU to a F4…although he seemed to have a nomadic soul. Majerus? Shirtless on Schroeder beach…yikes. Wojo is a great guy..too bad it didn’t work out)
Shaka has no shot at 1. Can’t beat RED!
Crean - Final 4 team was result of some inspired recruiting and his "culture" was great set up for Buzz - his amigos were tough as nails, with no big man depth his teams had to be - other than the bad optics of the whole its IU its IU thing his handoff to Buzz allowed for a practically seamless transition, left the program in great shape for Buzz - if it weren't for some poorly timed injuries he could have had a 2nd final 4 team.Buzz - Created a culture of realism/extreme toughness that produced diamonds ultimately from coal - very much like Al in some ways. Place him slightly behind Crean because he left the program a near wreck. Underrated game Coach - best pure game coach since AL imo..Shaka - Will be no. 1 soon. Incredible fit for Marquette, we are so fortunate. The way he is building a program in the NIL era is so well thought out for the long term IMO. He is the best overall program builder and coach in the country as of this moment I think and he will have more post season success as time goes on. Could and will I predict replace Al as the greatest all time coach at Marquette.KO - A good Marquette coach, got a lot out of players, teams generally better than sum of their parts. Didn't have the imagination to see what Marquette could become, left too early but at least he left MU in a place where they were well positioned to build off what he built. If Hank were in this - I would put him here above KO.Deane - superior game coach, quirky personality - wasn't much of a recruiter tho and if you can't recruit there is no path to elevating the program. Good job by admin to see that and move on despite his ability to win 20 games a year consistently.Wojo - underrated recruiter by MU fans - and by that I mean he was almost a unicorn to recruit the way he did while he was at Marquette. Got multiple McD AAs - I truly thought that would never happen again. His other recruits were generally terrific young basketball players with high ceilings. His program was not one to tap that potential which really underlines his weakness as a head coach. He brought Marquette to the point where it could aspire to be top 5 but then you had defections and other payers not reaching their ceilings etc. That being said he won some great contests and had some really fun teams to watch.Majerus - had recruiting misses and just couldn't get his teams over the hump to even true bubble territory. Wrong time. Dukiet - I became a fan in Dukiets first year. He was probably in an impossible situation in some ways - I would have been interested in seeing what he could have accomplished with Corey Floyd and some of the other players MU wouldn't admit in his last recruiting class - but the move to KO was the spark that allowed MU to move beyond the old Independent paradigm which wasn't a set up for success and doomed Majerus and Dukiet I think.
1. KO - I don't think he gets enough credit for saving us from the brink of mid-majordom.2. Buzz - tournament success best since Al.3. Crean - Final Four worth a lot, if he could've gotten a good big to play with the Amigos he'd be number 14. Shaka - If he keeps it up, he'll be number 1 in a few years. I love everything about him so far5. Deane - Great coach, but didn't bring in talent6. Hank - Precipitous drop under his watch in a very short amount of time7. Wojo - Very good recruiter, we didn't win anything of importance with him (one regular season game)8. Dukiet - His ineptitude is why I have KO at number 1I had a tough time 1-3 and I really think Shaka is going to be my number 1 when he is through
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Hank was a much better coach than Deane and Wojo. As I recall, Hank made the NCAAs every year and the field was only 32 teams. The 1977-78 was a top 5 team that got screwed by Pete Pavia. That team also did not benefit from seeding in the tournament. Hank was dealing with a changing landscape: the addition of at-large conference teams to the NCAA; the formation of the Big East; and the general fall of independents. I am sure Hank’s budget was nowhere near what Wojo enjoyed, even adjusted for inflation. Hank wasn’t a salesman and he had far bigger shoes to fill than any other MU coach. Wojo had two seasons with a winning conference record over seven years. Deane had no ambition.
1) Shaka2) Buzz3) KO4) Crean5) Raymonds6) Deane7) Wojo8) DukeitProgram never had earned a 2 seed prior to Shaka's arrival, and Shaka did it back to back. Yes, you'd hope for deeper runs with a 2 seed but he did win a Big East conference title outright, and a Big East Tournament Championship, when no previous coach got beyond the semi-finals.A little difficult to rank Crean 4th, yet Buzz was a better coach, and the cupboard after Year 1 was EMPTY. To go S16, S16 and Elite 8 trumps 1 Final Four with a generational talent.KO inherited an absolute trainwreck of a program, far worse than what Crean inherited from Deane, which is why KO ranks higher IMO.
I know you have some looney takes, but you can't possibly think that the program was in a worse place when Crean left than it was when he arrived, can you? You're just trolling at this point, right?
Agreed, that's a ridiculous take, especially because of the situation around it. After Year 1 (so year two) Crean left three starters in Hayward, Cubillan, and Acker. In addition, Joe Fulce and Chris Otule were already committed to Marquette under Crean. So were Nick Williams and Tyshawn Taylor, both of whom went on to have productive high-major careers.Yes, Crean was able to bring Williams along with while Buzz couldn't keep Taylor, but there was at least some foundation there, and Buzz offset those losses with Buycks and DJO. Had Crean not left, the cupboard wasn't remotely bare, and Buzz had a solid foundation for year two as indicated by 3 starters leftover from Crean and a 6-seed that year.
Crean left a potential Final Four team for Buzz along with future starters. No first-year coach at Marquette other than Hank inherited the talent level Buzz got.