Poll: Grade Buzz's First Year

[Tugg Speedman]

I decided to wait until the next day to let the emotion of the loss wear off a bit. 

Note: Their is another poll to grade the entire season, this is just to grade Buzz

[BrewCity83]

It's still too soon.  I'm still recovering.

B.

[ChuckyChip]

Having a dysfunctional roster (i.e no decent big men), losing Mbakwe right before the start of classes, injuries to Otule and Fulce basically wiping out their seasons, and the late season injury to DJ, I'm not sure that we could have expected anymore than we got - being seconds away from the sweet 16.  Therefore Buzz gets an "A" in my book.

[Rollout-the-Barrel]

Had to get to the sweet sixteen to get an A in my book.  Solid B with props for covering his mouth while swearing at the refs!

[jaybilaswho?]

Had to get to the sweet sixteen to get an A in my book.  Solid B with props for covering his mouth while swearing at the refs!

That was great.

[ecompt]

He was basically screwed by the refs all year because he was coaching against guys who have earned the calls. Maybe next year he starts getting a few of those calls. He had no center and no bench to work with. If there were a B+, that's what I would have gone with.

[lurch91]

He was basically screwed by the refs all year because he was coaching against guys who have earned the calls. Maybe next year he starts getting a few of those calls. He had no center and no bench to work with. If there were a B+, that's what I would have gone with.

+1

[Niv Berkowitz]

I think you HAVE to give him a B grade this season. He played the cards he was dealt and did a good job with them. Now, could/should any of us been able to get 20-wins out of this team? I say "yes"...but then...you step back from the arrogance and you look at the talent at the likes of Georgetown and Notre Dame and you see what happened to them this year. So, keeping that in mind, he did "good". That's a B.

His shortcomings were also evident in his poor time out (or lack there-of) choices and end of game strategy.

But overall, I don't think anyone can really give Buzz a fair grade until two years from now. Next year is a totally new starting over point for us. Like I mumbled on in a previous post about, we (MU) are now Tom Hanks staring at all four directions at a crossroads at the end of "Cast Away". We don't know what the future holds...only that it's a clean slate.

At a minimum, I hope Buzz reflects on his positives/negatives and he loses some of the "awww shucks" about him. Not all of it...cuz that does define who he is. But he needs to give himself some credit and take over from an authoritative standpoint. Next year you got too many young kids that you as a coach can't defer to just letting them figure it out. You have to put them in a position to succeed.

Here's to hoping that happens.

[Marquette08]

buzz, is a good coach. if the team gets in to trouble he let them play thru it.  but we have to start going deep in the bench. all the other team would going 7-8-9 deep, and we would would go 7 deep.  in the early part of the year let all of the guy play, so we know how good there are.   it was a giid run and we made it to the 2 round of the NCAA!

  NICE JOB TEAM

[rocky_warrior]

But overall, I don't think anyone can really give Buzz a fair grade until two years from now.

Not true.  I think of it like 4 years in college.  Buzz came in, took all the required freshman classes.  They weren't the hardest classes in the world, but he still got an A (in my book).  He still needs to pass 3 more years of college to graduate, but so far he's off t a good start.

[Pakuni]

Solid B.
Failure to make the Sweet 16 would have been a big disappointment had it not been for the DJ injury, but given what he had tow ork with, he did about as well as one could fairly expect.

More importantly, IMO, between the incoming recruiting class and him showing some solid coaching chops (far from mistake-free, but certainly some very good moments) Buzz showed that he at least has the potential to keep Marquette a top-25 type program for the forseeable future.

Nixv is right in the sense that we can't give Buzz an overall grade for at least two - I say maybe three - seasons, but we can give him a grade on what he's done so far. And that's all the poll is asking.

[THEGYMBAR]

IMO Buzz gets a B. If I did not like his schtick so much maybe it would be a C+. There is something about him I like and it is not his coaching. I'm hoping that down the road he keeps getting better athletic players and we'll see what happens. I do not think we will win games in the future based on game coaching, we will need players.

[NCMUFan]

I say incomplete at this point.  I want to see Marquette basketball when it is his creation A-Z.  The players he recruited to play his philosophy of basketball.  After that I will grade him.

[Big Papi]

For what he has done this year, I have to give him a solid B.

This year could have been disasterous.  We lose a big in Mbakwe just before the season starts.  Lose our depth in Otule and Fulce to injuries at the wrong time.  Lose DJ.  No real bigs on the roster.  No length and even no size in the guard position and he had us competing tough at the end of the year.

On paper, he is bringing in a great class with lots of athleticism and length.

I really liked his offense where we attacked the paint and got to the line a lot.

Allowed Matthews to become the player we all knew he could be and had DJ buy into being a point guard who distributes the ball and plays great D.

I thought Buzz did a great job of making adjustments at halftime and always had his team prepared for games.

But there are some areas that need improvement.

I have always backed Buzz and his decision making and have always thought that he gets unneccessarily bashed for his timeouts usage as a lot of bashing is armchair quarterbacking and hindsight 20/20 where a timeout probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference but he can do better job using his timeouts at the end of games when it is obvious that a play is bogging down.  I think there are only 2 instances where he was probably better served to call a timeout and didn't.  The Nova game where McNeal started the play too early and yesterday when Butler was not able to get the ball to Hayward in the post and we had to settle for a horrible shot.  That unfortunately comes with experience.

Not thrilled with he's blow-ups.  The Mac thing and the end of yesterday's game. 

Could have done a little better job of using his bench.  I think Acker and Cooby could have gotten some more consistent minutes.  Otule and Fulce could have logged in some minutes here and there as well.  There is a fine line between winning and building confidence and rewarding bench players.  If Buzz continues to only play 7 players every year, I would expect a lot of transfers.  I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this one but it will be interesting next year.

[NavinRJohnson]

I went with an A. He has recruited well on paper, and this team was humming prior to the injury. I just don't see much to complain about. Taking the air out of the ball against Syracuse and Villanova are about the only thing I can think of, and based on the statistics article from the other day, he seemed to have his reasons. That might push it to an A-, but its close. Obviously subkect to change over time, but I'd say he had a very good first year.

[MUPig]

Solid B.  Did a good job with a stacked team (up until DJ's injury).  Only going 7 deep was a problem - but mostly due to talent pool on the bench.  Suspect use of timeouts - although he had a good explaination for it.  Recruiting was very good.

Real grade will be how he performs next couple of years. 

[MR.HAYWARD]

I love these comment so fhow he did a godd job with a "stacked " team   are you kidding me we had the worst front court in the BE and it was not even close.  peole have complained about the open three point shots on defense.  Well when you have to double down every time or play helpside defense the whole game those shots open up.  Last year we rarely doubled the post with Ooze this year we had too. and that left open shots or drives.  This team was so devoid of interior defensive ability it was shocking yet we managed to win more than our fair share of games. This team was not "stacked" in fact no where near it.  yes we had great guards but as Buzz says the margin of error on this team was paper thing.  our second best rebounder was a first year player who played point guard for his team last year.  Are you kidding me "stacked'  We played with smoke and mirrors and effort on the defensive end, you morons said "Buzz is weak on defense"  WOW!!  some of the people on this board are really really basketball unintelligent.  the fact that we did not give up 100 points a agme and 60% shooting every game is a testament to Buzz and the kids hearts.  to give the guy a B becuase we are "stacked" is so so so incredibly ignorant.  it takes 5 genius.    ( actaulluy more like 7-8 min)

[Nukem2]

I love these comment so fhow he did a godd job with a "stacked " team   are you kidding me we had the worst front court in the BE and it was not even close.  peole have complained about the open three point shots on defense.  Well when you have to double down every time or play helpside defense the whole game those shots open up.  Last year we rarely doubled the post with Ooze this year we had too. and that left open shots or drives.  This team was so devoid of interior defensive ability it was shocking yet we managed to win more than our fair share of games. This team was not "stacked" in fact no where near it.  yes we had great guards but as Buzz says the margin of error on this team was paper thing.  our second best rebounder was a first year player who played point guard for his team last year.  Are you kidding me "stacked'  We played with smoke and mirrors and effort on the defensive end, you morons said "Buzz is weak on defense"  WOW!!  some of the people on this board are really really basketball unintelligent.  the fact that we did not give up 100 points a agme and 60% shooting every game is a testament to Buzz and the kids hearts.  to give the guy a B becuase we are "stacked" is so so so incredibly ignorant.  it takes 5 genius.    ( actaulluy more like 7-8 min)

Totally agree.  This was another unbalanced roster as has been the case for quite a while.  This team consisted of perimeter players other than Burke.  At 6'8" (wink, wink) Burke could not jump, had poor lateral movement, had no shot, and was almost always in foul trouble.  Loved his effort, but well Burke was Burke.  For the most part we had a 3 (Hayward) and a guy recruited as a 2 (Butler) trying to hold down the fort on the interior.  This was a masterful job of coaching by Buzz.  At least TC last year had Barro, Blackledge and Fitzgerald at 6'8" ++ last year (along with Mbakwe late in the season).  Lets face it, Buzz changed the system and got the guys to buy in right off the bat.  I give Buzz an "A".  Does not say how he will do in the future.  But, he does deserve an "A" for this year.

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Dysfunctional roster + Zero depth + Injuries + Top 15 Recruiting Class + First weekend NCAA flameout + a few questionable non-time-out-calling decisions = Solid B.

[Nukem2]

Dysfunctional roster + Zero depth + Injuries + Top 15 Recruiting Class + First weekend NCAA flameout + a few questionable non-time-out-calling decisions = Solid B.

Disagree.  A solid A.  BTW, a loss in the last second in the 2nd round to a 3 seed ranked #9 is a "flameout".  Wow, your standards are pretty high.  Now UCLA had a real flameout against Nova and a 5 seed Utah flamed out 1st round against Utah and 5 seed FSU flamed out in the 1st round against UW and Illinois flamed out agaisnt WKU and Clemson flamed out agaisnt Michigan after a late season drop-off along with Wake Forest against a what really is a so-so Cleveland State team again in the first round.  Think you need to re-assess your standard.

[3Mer]

B

Positives:  milked substantial success out of a line-up with glaring holes, apparent lack of depth, and abundant injuries

Negatives: questionable game management at times; questionable development of young players (I'll always wonder if the short bench was the result of a lack of talent or lack of trust).

I also question whether Williams is strung a little too tightly for any sort of longetivity:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/mizzou/story/25FAFF7B31C267E6862575810003D4C4?OpenDocument

[StillAWarrior]

Hmmmm...no "F's"...I'm suprised Chicos hasn't voted yet.