[Cracked Sidewalks] Buzz Williams for Big East Coach of the Year? Without a doubt in the first half

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Buzz Williams for Big East Coach of the Year?  Without a doubt in the first half

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (muwarrior92)

The Big East conference season is only half over, but if it ended today Buzz Williams should be your runaway winner of the Big East Coach of the Year award for 2012.  His team sits in 2nd place with a top 15 national ranking despite a season ending injury to his starting center, Chris Otule.  The team's only two losses were on the road to league leading Syracuse and a heartbreaking loss at Georgetown.  

The only other coaches with an outside shot might be Mike Brey, who has taken a Notre Dame team thought to be undermanned to 3rd in the standings.  South Florida's Stan Heath has also raised a few eyebrows with the performance of his Bulls, but do they have the staying power to remain in the upper half of the league the balance of the season?

Offensively Buzz has the team running very efficiently.  The Warriors currently are in the top 5 in the conference for Free Throw Attempts per game (3rd), Turnover % (5th), FG % (5th), Effective FG % (2nd), Assists per FG made (1st), scoring offense (2nd), Scoring margin (2nd), 3-PT FG % (1st), Assists (1st), Turnover margin (4th), Assist to Turnover ratio (3rd), and 3-Pt FGs made (4th).

Though his teams can sometimes get off to agonizing slow starts, Buzz hasn't panicked this season.  The team has maintained their composure and found a way to comeback in virtually every one of their slow starts (sans Vanderbilt).  He has successfully manipulated his lineup to incorporate talent sets that seem to fit the situation without disruption to the team or flow of the game.  Specifically the use of Vander Blue, Todd Mayo and Junior Cadougan to maximize efficiency on offense and defense has been key of late.

MU has nine games to go with what looks like five sure fire wins and four others that are winnable, but will be tossups.  Is 14-4 realistic?  The recent injury to Davante Gardner will force Buzz to be even more creative during the second half stretch if they hope to hit that record.  MU finishing with 14-4 would virtually guarantee Buzz as Big East Coach of the Year for 2012.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/01/buzz-williams-for-big-east-coach-of.html

[wojosdojo]

Did not expect to see MU 1st in 3pt %.

[MarquetteDano]

How can Williams win Coach of the Year in the Big East when Jimmy Dykes tells us Marquette doesn't pass the "eye test".

[TJ]

How can Williams win Coach of the Year in the Big East when Jimmy Dykes tells us Marquette doesn't pass the "eye test".

Jimmy Dykes wasn't wrong, MU didn't pass the "eye test" that day.  Coach of the Year is not based on a single game's performance.  It was also still relatively early in the year and he was commenting on MU being a top ten team, not whether they were good at all.

Oh, and it was over a month ago when Dykes said that - get over it.  Why did you even bring it up in this topic?

[frozena pizza]

Long way to go, but Brey will get strong consideration if Notre Dame finishes well.  ND is not that talented and has really come on lately.  Also, if Syracuse finishes ranked in the Top 3, it will be very tough to beat Boeheim, given the distractions over the Bernie Fine allegations and losing Melo.

[tower912]

Can't be considered for coach of the year unless you have been in one place for 5 years.    Or something like that.

[downtown85]

Long way to go, but Brey will get strong consideration if Notre Dame finishes well.  ND is not that talented and has really come on lately.  Also, if Syracuse finishes ranked in the Top 3, it will be very tough to beat Boeheim, given the distractions over the Bernie Fine allegations and losing Melo.

MU just needs to take care of business in the Joyce center and the question of Brey vs. Buzz for COTY will be answered.  BTW, when it appeared that ND was going to have a down year, the MU vs. ND game didn't look to have any more meaning other than the usual rivalry (in my case hatred of everything ND).  Now there are real conference standing and potentially COTY implications.  It'll be a big game on Saturday. 

[MuMark]

I think its going to be JT3.

In a rebuilding year has his team in the top 20.

[RJax55]

I think its going to be JT3.

In a rebuilding year has his team in the top 20.

I keep seeing his name and I have to laugh. Next to Syracuse and UConn, Georgetown brings in more talent in the conference than anyone. I keep hearing from the pundits that his team is so young, but in reality, it is just his bench. And frankly, what Big East team has a bench that is filled with upperclassmen.

Currently, GT starts 2 seniors, 1 junior and 2 sophomores. One of those seniors, Clark, is a three-year starter and Thompson, the junior, started last year and played big minutes his freshman year. In terms of experience, how does this GT team differ from MU?

Halfway through the season, Brey is the Coach of the Year. And here's a shocking stat, if he wins, it will be the fourth time he has won the honor.