For those in and around Milwaukee...

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Yes and no. I agree that Crean did a good job creating excitement nationally -- that GameDay thing was a major, major coup -- but locally, which is where this thread started, I believe people were on to his line of bull and most people I've talked to didn't care for him personally.

That's not an unfair statement, but realize that your sample size is pretty small. You may know and talk to a good number of people that don't care for him, but at every big game there were 18,000+ people standing and cheering for him when his name was announced (Obviously some of those 18,000 didn't care for him... but I think you get the point).

Just to be clear, MU's former coach was not a saint or a god, but he was very good at marketing MU as a brand (as you stated later in your post).

I think Buzz has a chance to be very good (great recruiting, some good coaching so far, seems personable/likable, etc.)... but there is some re-run effect right now as we all await Buzz taking this talented but undersized team into Big East play.

Lastly, in a previous post I mentioned that I thought Buzz could be very good, but hopefully MU athletics would have some good marketing people in place to back him up. I don't know that Buzz has the marketing skill or drive of the previous coach.

[Marquette_g]

Still waiting for somebody to disagree about the lack of excitement and/or to provide a reason why that might be. I gave you a major reason and name-calling ensued. You guys are brilliant!

Red, if you read the second post on this thread, my post made the point about a lack of excitement.  I disagree that the reason is solely Buzz.  I think it can be attributed to a variety of factors:

1.  Concern about a team that people project will struggle when they face stiffer competition.  This stems from a lack of height and injuries.
2.  Cupcakes - although noy substantially different than in years past
3.  Weather - A very snow-filled December even by Milwaukee standards
4.  Economy - I'd guess the walk-up traffic is down and attendance and excitement are closely correlated at the games themselves.
5.  Student attendance- Since I'm not a student I can't speculate on why this may be, but there certainly seems to be a smaller amount other than for UWM and UW.  I know that lesser compeitition usually has smaller crowds, but some this year have been really bad.  Similar to those of my frosh and sophomore years in 96-98.
6.  Buzz - He isn't solely without blame

[Norm]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I live in DC and was just wondering how Buzz was doing on the non-coaching part of selling the program.

Marquette is a unique place to coach, as it has to compete not only with a huge state university that almost everyone in the state supports, but also the Packers and the Bucks. Then there is the inevitable comparison to Al's personality. I went to MU from 87-91 so was there for Dukiet and O'Neill and lived in Milwaukee while Deane and Crean were running the program. Crean embraced Al McGuire's legacy the best, or at least seemed the most comfortable with it. I may be wrong, but I don't think Buzz will have as much of a burden to live up to Al as the others did, especially since Crean took MU to the 2003 Final Four. He will most likely be compared to Crean, fair or not.

So, how is Buzz doing on the radio show? Does he have a tv show too? Is he doing commercials for many businesses in town? Did he mingle with students standing in line for the Wisconsin game? I hear he is a nice guy, just wondering if he is embracing the salesman job that MU coaches have to do.

[Markusquette]

Seriously?

What matters to me is that the players like him and passionate about his job and helping the guys.  Maybe that wasn't the best word, but I don't give a crap about him trying to reach out to the fans.  I want a good team with a coach that tries hard to win, and so far he isn't doing any worse than Crean in that regard.

[rocky_warrior]

4.  Economy - I'd guess the walk-up traffic is down and attendance and excitement are closely correlated at the games themselves.

Make no mistake about it - the state of the economy is weighing on sports.  Hell, half my family wants to "cancel" Christmas this year - and they all still have jobs!  There's a general sense of worry out there - and people don't want to "waste" dollars on things that they don't deem necessary.

Here's a good article recapping the woes of the sporting economy:
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/12/18/sports-economy-recession-biz-sports_cx_tvr_1218sportsecon.html

[AlumKCof93]

I'm not as excited this year either, but it has nothing to do with Crean.  He never excited me that much anyway.  In addition to reasons already posted,here are a few other reasons why;

1) No pre-conference tournament like Maui which MU's been in the past few years.
2) Hangover from the Stanford game.  I don't know how valid this is, but that one hurt.

[Blackhat]

I think Buzz has tried to deflate expectations by consistently pointing out how small we are.   Smart career policy but a buzz kill for the fans.   Regardless this team has the talent to win and if Buzz doesn't the heat will be turned up. 

[chapman]

I think any lack of excitement may be due to the fact that the team is so clearly limited in terms of its ceiling based upon the complete absence of an inside game. I suspect that if Otule and/or Fulce look like they can contribute significantly excitement will pick up. Let's hope.

I think you're on to something with this.  The expectations game does have some weighing on how excited everyone gets.  If people believe the team has a ceiling or they know exactly how everything will play out, they have a team that is barely meeting or falling below expectations, it reduces interest and attendance.  I'd be making it a point to go to two or three games during winter break if we were exceeding all expectations with our play.  It's just not something that draws interest.  Take three years ago for example; interest rose dramatically when a team expected to do nothing was winning games.

Also consider that 90% of the most interesting/well attended home games have yet to occur.  Plus the economy is a killer.  Just not fun for a lot of people to bring the family when they don't have a job or might not next week; the "I'll have a better seat on my couch" line of thinking gets dropped more often. 

I think Buzz has tried to deflate expectations by consistently pointing out how small we are.   Smart career policy but a buzz kill for the fans.   Regardless this team has the talent to win and if Buzz doesn't the heat will be turned up. 

I agree with you.  Crean might have been a PR demon, but it wasn't a buzz kill to the casual fan.  Reading about how small we are, how Buzz just doesn't know how to solve our problems, how our players played "pathetic", not very exciting.  It also plays into the whole expectations game. 

[MR.HAYWARD]

One man's take... First of all I hated Crean.  I thought he was an arrogant prick and the way that he treated so many people he was wearing out his welcome.  And let's not forget that while he was successful, he was not so successful as to act the way that he did.  calhoun is an A-hole but he has mutiple National titles and a top 5-10 team most years.  crean did not and with the way he treated people the fact that he had 1 NCaa win in the last 5 years etc. was becoming an issue.  he had burnt up most goodwill that people were willing to grant him.  

Nonetheless, i too feel  a maliase about the team.  With me and i think alot of people just are not overly excited about, like others have said, watching the same movie for the 4th year in a row.  Losing games we should win, bad turnovers and stupid shots especially by McNeal, playing really well at times and really poorly at times.  finishing 11-7 in the BE, Losing first or second round in the BE tourney, sweating out a birth due to a few late games, and then a first round bow out in the NCAA tourney is a movie I have seen 3 times already.  

Dont get me wrong I hope and pray we do better than that.  But we are who we expected and i see nothing that will change this movies ending.  It would be one thing if we had a new big guy that maybe showed promise last year or was a proven transfer that we could anticpate being a difference maker this year.  Someone that would replace the hole in the middle thatCrean never would.  

If we shoot real well and hold our end up on the boards we can be real good but we all know many nights we will get dominated in the paint and shoot the ball poorly and look ugly in a loss.  Not that much to get excited for.  Alot of nervous anticipation also that with the losses of Ous and Trevor we will be even worse in the middle.  Not a whole lot to get excited about that either.  

Boy I hope I am wrong,  Crean really hamstrung this program with his inability to recruit size.  I hope this group can really over achieve this year and I think next year our young team can take off on a good foundation laid by Buzz.

[🏀]

Economy is a huge factor. Even as a season ticket holder I have questioned going to some of the cupcake games and instead have offered the tickets for friends and family that are wanting to go to a game. Got to be worried about your cash flow.

[Pardner]

Excluding the Chicago Invitational home games (only in one year, on a Monday or Tuesday night), but including the exhibition games, our OOC home attendance is actually up +1% this year--even though this is the worst December weather in like 50 years (two games were affected).  Friends in the alumni club leadership in Milwaukee have told me Buzz actually calls them asking what he can do whereas TC was impossible to get a hold of and never returned calls.  Buzz's deal is to be more personable, TC was on when the lights were on.  Different styles for different folks...and different times.

I have only missed one home game, but the students have been on except for the CMU game where they were studying.  The CSU-Pueblo game had a great student turnout.  The alumni support for Buzz has been "wait and see", nit pick every misstep, etc.  I got news:  MU's alumni don't have a good rep-- "hard to please", "living in the past", and "unreasonable expectations".  In reality, we are discernable and well educated consumers of hoops. 

It would be a PR mistake for Buzz to come out overstated for a few reasons.  1) He can never live up to any hype this season considering the lean in MU made with the hire, 2)  he was told not to be "the other guy"...that Bo and Crew will use that against you as will the alums who hated TC, and 3) that isn't Buzz's natural style--he believes it is about the kids which is why he is a great recruiter.

[rugbydrummer]

I'm not as excited this year either, but it has nothing to do with Crean.  He never excited me that much anyway.  In addition to reasons already posted,here are a few other reasons why;

1) No pre-conference tournament like Maui which MU's been in the past few years.
2) Hangover from the Stanford game.  I don't know how valid this is, but that one hurt.

I know the weather wasn't anything to boast about . . . but wasn't the Chicago Invitational the very tournament of which you speak?  Granted, perhaps UDayton & Northern Iowa isn't exactly UiLLinois, Duke, or Arizona... but in all fairness, we were in a tourney.  It wasn't well publicized/covered in the media, but all the same.

How is buzz doing with respect to the coach-fan base relationship?  Ok, I guess; I know he & some players from the team made an appearance at the Golden Eagle a few weeks ago.  I don't see him doing those pre-game camera spots (although I am not getting to the BC as early as I did before), or gladhanding all the rabid student section fans.  I think the jury's still out.