Leadership

[tower912]

Some thing this is overstated as a reason for our poor road performance this year.   I say it is understated.    And it is 90% on the players and 10% on the coach.    
      First, we have no seniors in their 4th year of the program.    Last year we had 3.   Two years ago we had 4.   This is due primarily to the coaching change.   And for the JUCO haters out there, I don't think we would be any better if Buzz hadn't gone that route and indeed we may have been worse the last two years.     But we are missing the Lazar/Cubi/Mo, Wes/Jerel/DJ stability, ability to step up in the big moment, ability to make the big play on offense or defense, senior leadership holding everybody else on the floor accountable.  
     We don't have an upperclassman point guard.   DB is playing out of position.   JC (who should be starting as he runs the team better) is not enough of an offensive threat yet and because he isn't comfortable getting his own offense, is deferring far too much.      When we have had lost games down the stretch this year, it isn't because our offense or defensive sets are changing.    We run the exact same sets on offense.    But we don't get smoothly into them at crunch time.   DB dribbles slowly around the top.    Junior moves the ball from side to side but clearly isn't taking it to the rack.   If the same sets that have produced points all game suddenly stop, it is because the players on the floor, and especially the PG stop attacking.  

   Jimmy isn't Lazar.    He doesn't have the all around offensive game and he hasn't yet shown Lazar's ability to make the big defensive stop.    He can't demand the ball anywhere on the floor and then score like Lazar could.   He is effective in very specific areas.       And his personality on the floor is not that of the fearless warrior like Lazar.   Good player.   Not the man.  
   The tangibles are all good.   It is the intangibles that are causing us to lose games on the road to ranked teams.   And that intangible is a leader on the floor.   None of the players are putting the team on their back, nobody is making those around them better. 

[dgies9156]

Look, all this talk about Buzz's leadership is nonsense. I don't like what's happening this year either, but be real.

1) We went into the year knowing this was going to be a "growth" rather than harvesting year. We have an extraordinarily large number of freshmen and sophomores on the team, and it shows. At Vanderbilt, for example, we were playing on the road in one of America's toughest gyms to win. We played well enough to win, but with the large number of youngsters on the team, you kinda knew it was not going to happen (which is sad because I grew up in Nashville).

2) Buzz's job is exponentially more difficult than Al's was. Al was a young coach hired to turn around a sagging team. He did by largely playing what today we call "Mid-Majors." Sure, we played Notre Dame, DePaul and three or four Big Ten teams (plus a smattering of ACC and SEC teams along the way), but most of Al's schedule is today in the Mid-Continent Conference. Buzz's job is to get a team ready to play Top 10 opponents almost every night. Sure, we played several crappy teams before January 1, but the toughness of our schedule is enough to make Al shiver in his grave.

3) The one rap on Buzz I have may be the total breakdown of teamwork in the second half of the Georgetown game. We were playing streetball the last 10 minutes of the game, lacking patience, maturity and commitment. Again, this is a youthful thing, but it also reflects a genuine lack of confidence our players have in themselves. They're a talented group, but either the offense isn't geared to what we recruited or our players haven't learned that they're not ALL Michael Jordans. The have to start looking for each other and creating openings that shut off these long streaks our opponents (aka, Louisville, Georgetown etc) get into.

4) Conclusion: We're an NIT team this year, and not a very good one to boot. Buzz's job for the rest of this year and next needs to focus on a realistic assessment of how we meld this group of very talented athletes into a team. I'm confident he will because if he doesn't, he's going to wish he was back in New Orleans!

[tower912]

I agree with what I think you are saying.    The relative lack of D1 experience at the D1 level entering this season is probably related to the lack of on-court leadership.   What Buzz is coaching hasn't changed.   How it is manifesting on the court during the games has.   

[DaCoach]

Butler was the designated leader of this team but it's just not in his character. As such, the leadership is all on Buzz. Compare his style on the sideline to that of other successful coaches. That style has been incorporated in the play of the team. We're too emotional and lack thoughtful confidence. It's not just toughness that wins games. It's also wise decisin making. And that has to start with the PG, who has shown time and again his inability to run the offense in the final minutes of a close game.

It would be nice to see Buzz dial it back a bit on the sideline.

[Markusquette]

I totally agree, Tower912.  I've been thinking it the whole year.  Sure, it's hard to watch your beloved team lose close games, screw up on the court, etc. but we're just putting a crew back together now.  We had the guys like Wes, James, Mcneal, Burke, Lazar, Cubi, and Mo that really had the experience and leadership in their senior year to stabilize the group.  We've got Jimmy, who is in his third year, and then Fulce who has about 2 years of experience, and Buycks in his second year here as well.  As good as Jimmy has been, he is definitely not a Lazar. 

We've got a lot of talent on the team, but experience trumps talent a lot of the time.  Players like Vander, Jamail, and Gardner have all 4 years to grow, while guys like Jae and Buycks have a couple of years to prove themselves in the Big East.  I don't care how great they were in JUCO, it still takes time for all of them to get up to the level of BE play on both sides of the court. 

For all the bitching people do on this forum, it seems like some of the most obvious things fly over people's heads.  We're simply not as experienced as we were the past couple of years.  Sure we can argue...WE SHOULD HAVE WON MANY OF THESE GAMES...but that's where experience comes into play.  I'm just interested to see how our team is once we get a group of seniors with that 4 year experience leading the team.  I think when Otule and JC are seniors and VB, Gardner and Jamail are Juniors we will have a team with more true experience and knowledge of D1 basketball in the big east.

[NavinRJohnson]

3) The one rap on Buzz I have may be the total breakdown of teamwork in the second half of the Georgetown game. We were playing streetball the last 10 minutes of the game, lacking patience, maturity and commitment. Again, this is a youthful thing, but it also reflects a genuine lack of confidence our players have in themselves. They're a talented group, but either the offense isn't geared to what we recruited or our players haven't learned that they're not ALL Michael Jordans. The have to start looking for each other and creating openings that shut off these long streaks our opponents (aka, Louisville, Georgetown etc) get into.

I think this hits the nail on the head, and it relates to something I have been thinking for a few weeks now, and I think it relates directly to the PG play. Is there a leadership element to that? You bet, but I think it has more to do with the fact that we have 2G as our number 1 PG, and a guy who is very much still learning as his backup. That's tough. When we are moving the ball and running the offense, it really is a thing of beauty. But, there are just too many stretches during each game, where guys (Buycks and DJO in particular) simply put there heads down and try to barrel to the basket, or fire up a 3pt shout that simply isn't there. It is times like those when those same guys need to be leaders by trying to guide and pick up the team on the floor, not try to lead by attempting to take over as an individual. Even though they make some spectacular plays occasionally, more often than not, it turns into a rather ugly brand of basketball.

[APieperFan3]

For all the bitching people do on this forum, it seems like some of the most obvious things fly over people's heads.  We're simply not as experienced as we were the past couple of years.  Sure we can argue...WE SHOULD HAVE WON MANY OF THESE GAMES...but that's where experience comes into play.  I'm just interested to see how our team is once we get a group of seniors with that 4 year experience leading the team.  I think when Otule and JC are seniors and VB, Gardner and Jamail are Juniors we will have a team with more true experience and knowledge of D1 basketball in the big east.

I do agree with you (and Tower)....I guess kind of playing devils advocate here...

But from this paragraph, one could draw the conclusion that too many JUCO guys on the team can essentially lead to a team being "inexperienced"...?

We have a SENIOR who has played with ALL of the "experienced" guys listed in your post (3 amigos, Zar, Cubi) in JFB.

Would you consider him the only "experienced" guy on our team? IMO-yes.

How many "experienced" players do you think you need on a team in order to really have an advantage for these close games?...IMO - 2.5/3 is the magic number.

[APieperFan3]

We're too emotional and lack thoughtful confidence. It's not just toughness that wins games. It's also wise decisin making.

It would be nice to see Buzz dial it back a bit on the sideline.

Definately think you're on to something. I love Buzz. And I'd rather have a guy whos more emotional than not. But he does toe the line at times...to say the least.

Buzz is learning on the fly too...and I truely believe its his nature to get excited/emotional at times...and perhaps as he keeps getting settled in, and learns how to handle it, we will see it less and less.

[Marquette84]

Some thing this is overstated as a reason for our poor road performance this year.   I say it is understated.    And it is 90% on the players and 10% on the coach.    
      First, we have no seniors in their 4th year of the program.    Last year we had 3.   Two years ago we had 4.   This is due primarily to the coaching change.   And for the JUCO haters out there, I don't think we would be any better if Buzz hadn't gone that route and indeed we may have been worse the last two years.     But we are missing the Lazar/Cubi/Mo, Wes/Jerel/DJ stability, ability to step up in the big moment, ability to make the big play on offense or defense, senior leadership holding everybody else on the floor accountable.  
     We don't have an upperclassman point guard.   DB is playing out of position.   JC (who should be starting as he runs the team better) is not enough of an offensive threat yet and because he isn't comfortable getting his own offense, is deferring far too much.      When we have had lost games down the stretch this year, it isn't because our offense or defensive sets are changing.    We run the exact same sets on offense.    But we don't get smoothly into them at crunch time.   DB dribbles slowly around the top.    Junior moves the ball from side to side but clearly isn't taking it to the rack.   If the same sets that have produced points all game suddenly stop, it is because the players on the floor, and especially the PG stop attacking.  

   Jimmy isn't Lazar.    He doesn't have the all around offensive game and he hasn't yet shown Lazar's ability to make the big defensive stop.    He can't demand the ball anywhere on the floor and then score like Lazar could.   He is effective in very specific areas.       And his personality on the floor is not that of the fearless warrior like Lazar.   Good player.   Not the man.  
   The tangibles are all good.   It is the intangibles that are causing us to lose games on the road to ranked teams.   And that intangible is a leader on the floor.   None of the players are putting the team on their back, nobody is making those around them better. 

In 2003 we had no 4-year seniors on the team.  I seem to recall we did okay that season.

In fact, our only senior that year was a transfer in his first season playing with MU.
http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/men_s_basketball/2002#roster

If you're right--that the lack of leadership is a direct result of no 4-year seniors, then we're in for a long season next year as well.  Our seniors will be DJO and Crowder.  

I think if there is a perceived lack of leadership, its up to the coach to recruit someone who can take that role.  

I would argue that in 2006, our team's leader (as you describe above as the ability to step up in the big moment, ability to make the big play on offense or defense, holding everybody else on the floor accountable) was not a senior at all, but a freshman, Dominic James.  

And I think the comment at the time of his commitment that he would be handed the ball as a freshman and not have it taken until he graduates was not so much a reflection on his basketball skills (which were immense), but rather on the need for him to take on that leadership role. I think it was entirely forseeable that neither Novak nor Chapman nor Grimm had the personalities to be the floor general and/or team leader.

[Markusquette]

I do agree with you (and Tower)....I guess kind of playing devils advocate here...

But from this paragraph, one could draw the conclusion that too many JUCO guys on the team can essentially lead to a team being "inexperienced"...?

We have a SENIOR who has played with ALL of the "experienced" guys listed in your post (3 amigos, Zar, Cubi) in JFB.

Would you consider him the only "experienced" guy on our team? IMO-yes.

How many "experienced" players do you think you need on a team in order to really have an advantage for these close games?...IMO - 2.5/3 is the magic number.

Yes, I agree.  Jimmy is definitely the most experienced, and maybe the only "experienced" player on our team.  They all have basketball experience obviously, but it's clear that we don't have a true leader ight now.  We arguably had 3 leaders 2 years ago and Lazar + Mo and Cubi did great too.  I think in terms of D1 ball, Buycks and Fulce don't have nearly the experience as Acker and Cubillan did, and Lazar was much more ahead of Jimmy.