Character

[tower912]

This team could have packed it in after the injuries, the betrayal, the heartbreaking early losses.   They have stayed focused and the breaks have started going their way.    Buzz is no smarter and no dumber than he was 6 weeks ago.    What he HAS done is keep the team believing and trusting in itself and each other.   Many coaches, including those with better resumes than his, could not have come close to having this team where it is.    The luck is balancing out.    Any league road win, no matter how ugly, is beautiful.     Take it, enjoy it,   breathe deeply, and get ready for Seton Hall.

[21Jumpstreet]

Of all the talk of Buzz being a bad coach, subpar coach, bad late game coach this sums up his worth in one post.  He has done a tremendous job keeping the team focused and positive.  They have been in nearly every game this year, win or lose.  He is a bulldog, and the team shows that every time out.  Not only is he a good game day coach, he is obviously a tremendous leader.  Well done Buzz!

[tower912]

They say that a team takes on the character of its coach.    What does this teams performance on the floor, playing from behind on the road, short, shallow benched, say about Buzz?

[damuts222]

 Some coaches dont have relationships with players off the court, but Buzz has indulged himself in their lives. He challenges them to do things, and they challenge him back, such as Buzz running the length of Milwaukee to Indianapolis. He is a part of this team and seems to know how to balance the good cop/bad cop with his players.

[ErickJD08]

What's impressive to me, is not the fact that the team did not throw in the towel after week 2.  I am impressed that the team learned how to win in those situations.  Teams can easily enter the fifth close game and collapse because of pressure and all.  Something I feel fortunate about as a fan, is I have never had to question my team's heart in 10 years.  You can credit both coaches for that.

[mwbauer7]

Just imagine the valuable experience Buzz is gaining through all of this as well.

[Litehouse]

 Many coaches, including those with better resumes than his, could not have come close to having this team where it is.

The first thing I thought of when I read your post was Roy Williams and UNC.  What a contrast in how the respective seasons have turned out.

[ErickJD08]

Just imagine the valuable experience Buzz is gaining through all of this as well.

Very true.  Good for a young coach... especially when you come out on top.

[ATWizJr]

This team has achieved beyond what I or anyone else expected at season's beginning.  They, and Buzz, deserve a ton of credit and they WILL make the tournament.

[muarmy81]

But there's a soft bubble...let's revisit Buzz's ability in 3-4 years.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

I remember a lot of people when Buzz got hired were concerned about Buzz's non-definitive answers he gave about offensive strategy, defense, etc.  He usually described us running a winning offense when asked about what type of offense he would run, for example, and that shook people the wrong way.

Buzz isn't a system coach like a Bo Ryan or a stubborn coach like Tom Crean who struggles to make adjustments in-game.  What Buzz is is a WINNING coach.  He has built incredible character in his players and is willing to take challenge alongside of them (ie. his running 200 or so miles on the treadmill while his guys were going thru his Boot Camp).  He will figure out what it takes for his team to win given the talent he has available to him, and his players are clearly taking to what he is providing to them in terms of leadership and coaching.

Buzz does have areas he can certainly improve coaching-wise; just about all coaches do (even Roy Williams does). But where Buzz I don't think can be topped is how he has injected character, WINNING character, into his players.

[MR.HAYWARD]

The thing that really excites me is the publicity and general good feeling/great story Marquette is becoming in the national media.  Evry great/famous coach has his coming out party.  Buzz has been on the front page of about every college basketball website on the internet over the last 4 weeks.  Every one of those sites from SI, to goodman, to Katz, etc etc.  have all written about the looses MU has suffered and the fantastic job Buzz Willimas has done.  Every Big East broadcast is talking about Buzz Willimas as coach of the year.

  (As an aside last night My son mentioned during the game that ND was blowing out Pitt, i flipped over to the ND game and saw the score and stayed there for another 20 seconds as they had great things to say about Buzz and Marquette).

Point of the post is this time a year ago no one in college basketball apart from Mu fans even knew who Buzz williams was.  For sure 18 months ago no one even most Mu fans knew who he was.  Buzz's first class was put together thru connections he had with coaches and recommendations to players from those coaches.  buzz had no real personal cache, he signed a top 15 class on his connections and the fact that he coached at a BE school with PT available and had great facilites. 

This past summer/ fall he signed another great class mostly built on connections and the success he had with the 3 amigos.  the jury was still out tho as "anyone could win with those guys"  he still got a good class.

Now there is no doubting Buzz, unless you have been living in a hole high school players are now significantly more aware of who he is and he is much more easily identifiable.  The casual basketball fan is also much more aware of him.  Bottom line is he signed 2 very good classes when not many high school coaches and not many players really knew who he was.  ( compare him to the ubiquitous of say a Calipari, or a Huggins).  Would Hurley say the same things about Buzz today as he did 18 months ago? 

Bottom line is Buzz has a ton of things going for him at this point.  His cache on the recruiting trail should go up tenfold and I am really excited about the recruitng he can do based on what we have seen when he had very little cache.  Thsoe big time recruits become all the more acessible to a buzz williams today versus one of a year or two ago. 

[ErickJD08]

The thing that really excites me is the publicity and general good feeling/great story Marquette is becoming in the national media.  Evry great/famous coach has his coming out party.  Buzz has been on the front page of about every college basketball website on the internet over the last 4 weeks.  Every one of those sites from SI, to goodman, to Katz, etc etc.  have all written about the looses MU has suffered and the fantastic job Buzz Willimas has done.  Every Big East broadcast is talking about Buzz Willimas as coach of the year.

  (As an aside last night My son mentioned during the game that ND was blowing out Pitt, i flipped over to the ND game and saw the score and stayed there for another 20 seconds as they had great things to say about Buzz and Marquette).

Point of the post is this time a year ago no one in college basketball apart from Mu fans even knew who Buzz williams was.  For sure 18 months ago no one even most Mu fans knew who he was.  Buzz's first class was put together thru connections he had with coaches and recommendations to players from those coaches.  buzz had no real personal cache, he signed a top 15 class on his connections and the fact that he coached at a BE school with PT available and had great facilites. 

This past summer/ fall he signed another great class mostly built on connections and the success he had with the 3 amigos.  the jury was still out tho as "anyone could win with those guys"  he still got a good class.

Now there is no doubting Buzz, unless you have been living in a hole high school players are now significantly more aware of who he is and he is much more easily identifiable.  The casual basketball fan is also much more aware of him.  Bottom line is he signed 2 very good classes when not many high school coaches and not many players really knew who he was.  ( compare him to the ubiquitous of say a Calipari, or a Huggins).  Would Hurley say the same things about Buzz today as he did 18 months ago? 

Bottom line is Buzz has a ton of things going for him at this point.  His cache on the recruiting trail should go up tenfold and I am really excited about the recruitng he can do based on what we have seen when he had very little cache.  Thsoe big time recruits become all the more acessible to a buzz williams today versus one of a year or two ago. 

That is exactly how I feel.  I think I said this about 18 months ago.  Last year, I think almost any decent coach could have brought last year's team to the tourney.  This year's team can put Buzz on the map.  And I think it has.  Buzz is getting great "buzz" right now, but the potential of good pub in the post season is limitless.  If we make a decent splash in the tourney this year, our 2011 class should be rock solid and 2011 will be the year folks.