Im not sure if this has been posted already but here it is...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3627700
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3627700
No first-year coach had as much self-imposed pressure to get 2009 commitments from impact players this offseason than Marquette's Buzz Williams.
First-year Providence coach Keno Davis is a close second, with six seniors. But the Friars need to get to the NCAA tournament first with this outgoing class to create a consistent winning trend.
That's not the case at Marquette. Senior guards Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews win: 25 games and a second-round NCAA tournament appearance as juniors; 24 games and a first-round NCAA tournament showing as sophomores; 20 games and a first-round tournament appearance as freshmen.
"It had to be a banner year no matter who the coach is,'' said Williams. "You can't just sign good players. I'm sure you have to sign potentially great players [in the Big East].''
Dominic James
John Rieger/US Presswire
Senior Dominic James has faith in Williams and says he already sees improvement in the team.
Class rankings sound good, but they don't always pan out. They are essentially predictions. But a positive perception about Williams' Marquette recruiting was a must. He got that when ESPN.com's Scouts Inc. ranked Marquette's class No. 5 so far for 2009, behind more traditional recruiting powers North Carolina, Villanova, Georgetown plus another top-five newcomer, Texas A&M.
"We have to have a really balanced class, and they have to fit and have to have an impact right away,'' Williams said. "We have to be accountable this fall.''
The four commitments so far -- point guard Junior Cadougan (Christian Life Center Academy, Texas), 6-6 forward Jeronne Maymon (James Madison Memorial High, Wis.), 6-7 forward Erik Williams (Cypress Springs High, Texas) and 6-3 JC guard Dwight Buycks of Indian Hills CC (Iowa), a Milwaukee native -- represent the strengths of Williams and his top assistant Tony Benford and the lure of Marquette within the state.
Williams' roots are in Texas. He coached at three different Texas universities, notably under Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M for two seasons. Benford was hired by Williams to replace Williams' own spot on the staff once he was elevated to take over after Tom Crean left for Indiana. Benford played at Texas Tech, is from nearby Hobbs, N.M., and continuously mined Texas while he was an assistant at New Mexico, Arizona State and most recently, Nebraska.
It didn't go unnoticed. Marquette already has three Texas players on its roster who have an influence from Williams' presence -- sophomores Jimmy Butler and Joseph Fulce and freshman Chris Otule.
"In a way, it was already up there with Jimmy and Chris, and now with me and [Cadougan] from Texas, it's going to end up where there is a lot of guys from Texas ending up there,'' said Erik Williams. Cadougan is playing high school basketball in the Lone Star State even though he is originally from Ontario, Canada.
"In the Big East, you can't just recruit a specific area -- and yes, we'll recruit the state of Wisconsin, and yes, we'll go to Texas on an annual basis, but Wisconsin and Texas won't be enough to compete in the Big East,'' Buzz Williams said. "But you always go where you have relationships.''
Williams said the face of the program the past three seasons has been the guards: McNeal, Matthews and James. But the deficiency has been the imbalance.
"Yes, we have to replace three really, really good guards, but we also have to make sure from an interior perspective that we create more of a balance both ways,'' Williams said. "We're not done yet. We're not going to have a large recruiting class. We're a little behind in the 2010 class because we had to make up so much ground this fall in the 2009 class.''
What was just as impressive was how much the senior guards bought into Williams' sales pitch. They understood their role in continuing a legacy.
"We take a lot of pride in this, even after we'll be gone from Marquette,'' McNeal said. "We've got our program back where we're one of the top 25 programs in the country year in and year out. I definitely want that tradition to carry on.''
James said that recruiting well in the fall was "huge" for Williams. "He didn't want to take any steps back. He wants to build a program that will win just like me, Jerel and Wes built. I know they're working really hard on the recruiting trail to sign players. I definitely feel obligated to help. My job as a player is to sell the university and the team. I feel it is my job and my responsibility.''
The players do take ownership of the program. That's why they felt it was a necessity to hire Williams when Crean abruptly left for Indiana.
"We didn't need a coach to come in and revamp and change what we did,'' McNeal said. "We didn't need another [outside] coach being here. Coach Buzz had been here a year and understands what our team is about.''
But skepticism was genuine about Williams taking over at Marquette. Williams agreed that it was fair game to question his hiring after one season as head coach at New Orleans. Williams suddenly quit at UNO in July 2007 after being frustrated with the slow progress of the post-Katrina repairs to the program, notably with Lakefront Arena and other traditional day-to-day operational amenities. Crean hired him because of his strong recruiting rep, especially to Texas.
"I don't know if I've proven myself,'' Williams said. "Of the 16 coaches in the Big East, I'm going to be the new kid on the block.''
Williams said he will be judged by how he handles the roster left to him and how the roster stacks up against the Big East in two or three years.
"That's completely fair,'' Williams said. "I don't disagree with that and I don't take offense to that.''
McNeal and James do. They don't doubt Williams one bit.
Jerel McNeal
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Senior guard Jerel McNeal was happy to see Williams take over the program rather than someone new to the team.
"Every day he holds me accountable,'' James said. "We haven't skipped a beat.''
James said the last thing he was expecting was for Crean to leave with the core of the team returning after the overtime loss to Stanford in the NCAA tournament's second round this past March in Anaheim, Calif. James is from Indiana, so he understood the significance of Crean's decision to be a Hoosier, but it worked out well for James. He made a rather surprising statement: Crean has been known for his tough practices, yet James said Williams' repetition in individual drill sessions on defensive work has already made an impression.
"That's the first time we worked on doing zigzag defensive drills in individual workouts going from end line to end line,'' James said. "That type of perfection is paying off and the whole team is buying it. I'm into it.''
James went as far as to say that if Williams had recruited him four years ago as the Marquette head coach, he would have been sold.
Questioning Williams' credentials doesn't wash with James.
"Who knew about Coach Crean before he got here?'' said James about Crean getting the Marquette job off Tom Izzo's staff at Michigan State. "He turned the program around. Coach Buzz isn't here to fill Crean's shoes. He knows what he has to do. He doesn't care if anyone knows Buzz's name.''
McNeal said the criticism is essentially irrelevant because "players win games."
Still, the players apparently needed to get fundamentally tougher, according to McNeal. Working on the basics every day will make them one of the tougher teams in the country. That's the tonic the Golden Eagles are drinking from at this point.
And so far, it's working.
"We were one shot away from beating Stanford and going to the Sweet 16,'' McNeal said. "Our main goal is to get to the Sweet 16 again, build on the momentum and get to the Final Four.''
Of course, they're saying the right things prior to the season. But everyone is in line. And as teams at the bottom of the Big East wait for someone in the top eight -- a team such as Marquette -- to fall back to the pack, Williams and his staff are trying to ensure that doesn't occur.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
That's a good article...the first one I've read since he was hired that Williams didn't sound a little bit off.
It's weird, though. I thought Andy Katz hated Marquette because of his frequent mentions of Crean's flirtations with other schools?
Quote from: mu_hilltopper on October 06, 2008, 11:40:19 AM
"Yes, we have to replace three really, really good guards, but we also have to make sure from an interior perspective that we create more of a balance both ways,'' Williams said. "We're not done yet. We're not going to have a large recruiting class. We're a little behind in the 2010 class because we had to make up so much ground this fall in the 2009 class.''
Makes it seem he going to try and add at least a couple more players. The class really needs a true back-to-the-basket, bruising PF.
At least he knows that the recruiting classes are not balanced and haven't been for a long time.
Quote from: mu_hilltopper on October 06, 2008, 11:40:19 AM
Crean has been known for his tough practices, yet James said Williams' repetition in individual drill sessions on defensive work has already made an impression.
I take this mean a significant decrease in practice injuries. Keep your eyes on E-bay; there might be some tackling dummies going for bottom dollar.
Great article.
No doubt the Buzz hiring was seen as "questionable" by most fans and media members.
However, James' comments give me some confidence that maybe MU knew they had a diamond in the rough with Buzz so they gave him a chance.
I'm cautiously optimistic.
Quote from: mu_hilltopper on October 06, 2008, 11:40:19 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3627700
James said that recruiting well in the fall was "huge" for Williams. "He didn't want to take any steps back. He wants to build a program that will win just like me, Jerel and Wes built.
That part struck me. Buzz wants to build a program like DJ, Jerel and Wes built? Is DJ taking a shot at Crean? So the Big three
players built the program and the coach had nothing to do with it?
Katz doesn't hate Marquette even if he is a Badger. As a reporter, he was just relaying the crap Crean was feeding him about jobs. Any egomaniac's greatest fear is "being out of sight, being out of mind."
I'm pretty sure that James has made no secret of the fact that he was upset about Crean leaving and the way he did it. All this means is that he's going to be extra motivated about winning this year.
Katz talking up the WarriorsWritten by: noreply@blogger.com (NY Warrior)Everybody's (least) favorite Badger, Andy Katz, takes a look at the Marquette hoops program in his latest from ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3627700). In the article, Katz reports along the lines of what we offered up last week (http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/10/i-dont-know-how-good-well-be.html) -- that Buzz needs to deliver a monster recruiting class to sustain the trajectory of the Marquette program, and that he has yet to prove himself as a Big East head coach.
On recruiting, Williams cut to the chase, "It had to be a banner year no matter who the coach is,'' said Williams. "You can't just sign good players. I'm sure you have to sign potentially great players [in the Big East].''
Buzz is exceptionally candid in this article, noting that re-balancing a roster laden with redundant talent and a lack of flexibility remains an immediate priority:
Quote"Yes, we have to replace three really, really good guards, but we also have to make sure from an interior perspective that we create more of a balance both ways,'' Williams said. "We're not done yet. We're not going to have a large recruiting class. We're a little behind in the 2010 class because we had to make up so much ground this fall in the 2009 class.''
Clearly Tom Crean didn't leave the cupboard bare for coach Williams - but he did leave too many knives and not enough forks or spoons. Yet despite the bountiful recruiting class he's about to land, Williams acknowledges that the real work has yet to begin.
Quote"I don't know if I've proven myself,'' Williams said. "Of the 16 coaches in the Big East, I'm going to be the new kid on the block.'' Williams said he will be judged by how he handles the roster left to him and how the roster stacks up against the Big East in two or three years. "That's completely fair,'' Williams said. "I don't disagree with that and I don't take offense to that.''
Amen (http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/10/i-dont-know-how-good-well-be.html?showComment=1222952220000#c2759958053088542772).
And from the sound of it -- check out what Jerel McNeal, Erik Williams and Dominic James have to say about Buzz and the credibility gap he's trying to close -- those close coach Buzz believe he is on the right track.
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/10/katz-talking-up-warriors.html
I think its obvious James was not only taking a jab but taking ownership in the team. I think its true though. Those three made the team. Crean has done very little as far building a team around those three. One solid post player would have made a final four team in my eyes.
I don't mind the Buzz hire. Obviously a great coach can teach and recruit players but if I could choose one, it would be recruit. If Buzz can be at least an average coach, we should be solid during Buzz's time and MU. IF (BIG IF) MU can get into the Final Four this year, our 2010 class should be better than the 2009 class IMO.
I am day dreaming here... Imagine if we learn that Buzz is a solid coach and we somehow snag Snaer in for next year. I can't wait for College hoops to start.
I do not know if anyone has noticed, but articles about Buzz and Marquette are currently front pages on the College basketball sections of both ESPN.com and SI.com...Great Publicity for us...
DJ, Wes and Jerel are 3 class acts that represent in every way what Marquette stands for.
Thank God, it's back to basics with Buzz.
Enough of this novelty training. We might have been Kimbo'd this year if it continued!
I hope we are suprised by how well Buzz can coach in-game. He has studied this game forever - I just hope he is one of those guys (like Al was) who can see what's happening on the court and adjust as needed. Somehow I am hoping his years of watching, coaching, learning will pay off in-game. That would be so sweet.
Quote from: Daniel on October 06, 2008, 07:29:59 PM
I hope we are suprised by how well Buzz can coach in-game. He has studied this game forever - I just hope he is one of those guys (like Al was) who can see what's happening on the court and adjust as needed. Somehow I am hoping his years of watching, coaching, learning will pay off in-game. That would be so sweet.
I have high hopes he'll be a good bench coach. He's still young, so he'll have some learning to do, but I expect him to be solid.
He's been with a number of programs and worked under numerous head coaches already in his career. To me, I view that as a plus, as he has been exposed to many different styles and systems. And he's also worked under two pretty darn successful head coaches (Crean and Gillispie). If he took a little bit from each of the coaches he worked under, he should have a solid base to work with going forward.
My other main hope is that he isn't stubborn. Crean had a tendency to be stubborn...and he's certainly not the only coach who is. I believe coaches need to be open-minded and willing to adapt based on competition or matchups, etc. Extending our team full-court this season MAY be a good idea, but I'm not totally sold on that. I think this team lacks depth, which would seem to make a full-court game impractical. We'll see what happens...in small doses I'm sure it would be fine.