[MJS Blog] Honoring the 2003 Final Four team

[keefe]

Back to the original title of this post ...

I loved that team. It was as much fun as I've had following Marquette basketball ... and I'm old!

I like that team but any of Al's teams were a lot more fun. Crean is suburban bland and so were his teams. Al is inner city carnival and everything about his teams were a spectacle. No comparison.

[garbier1]

Homer here.
Tom Crean gave you two years of Dwyane Wade.
Add everything else up- all the negatives you can think of- mulitply by 1000 and it still doesn't equal two years of Dwyane Wade.
If you don't agree, you simply didn't watch any of those two years.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Does anybody think that video was lacking? There's a bizarre reference to beating Wisconsin, then reference to Lousiville, the Holy Cross game and that's kind of it except for Kentucky. I know there was a lot to cover in a short time, but the Missouri game was truly a classic, as was the Pitt game. There was also almost no footage of Jackson or Merritt. Just kind of weird.

Incidentally, Homer...you may have a point about Crean, but as somebody who drives to games from Chicago and who listens to the phenomenal post game interviews with Buzz, I can't help but be reminded every damn game what a phony douchebag Crean was and what a genuine and likable savant our current coach is. That's not the fault of the fan base. If Buzz leaves, I'll still like him a ton.

[MU82]

I like that team but any of Al's teams were a lot more fun. Crean is suburban bland and so were his teams. Al is inner city carnival and everything about his teams were a spectacle. No comparison.

I arrived at MU a year and a half after Al left.

I was a college hoops fan and rooted for Warriors in 77 and was well aware of some of the earlier teams and definitely knew of their great players ... but ... I didn't really "follow" any of those teams. So while I don't doubt the truth in your post, mine also was true.

[4everwarriors]

I'd say Wade paved Crean's driveway and then some. How could you stand working so closely with such an incredible, phony prick, Homer? O'Neil is abrasive and brash, but likeable. Buzz plays the aw schucks, country bumpkin role better than anyone, and is likeable. Crean just flat out thinks his schtick has everyone outsmarted. And no, this has nothing to do with him leaving. Frankly, that was the best thing he did while at MU.

[keefe]

Homer here.
Tom Crean gave you two years of Dwyane Wade.
Add everything else up- all the negatives you can think of- mulitply by 1000 and it still doesn't equal two years of Dwyane Wade.
If you don't agree, you simply didn't watch any of those two years.

Homer

You miss the point entirely: We are not speaking of Tom Crean the coach but Tom Crean the "Man."

By the way, has Crean honored his pledge to support financially the Marquette soccer team? I look forward to hearing your answer.

[MU82]

Homer here.
Tom Crean gave you two years of Dwyane Wade.
Add everything else up- all the negatives you can think of- mulitply by 1000 and it still doesn't equal two years of Dwyane Wade.
If you don't agree, you simply didn't watch any of those two years.

Homer:

You are wasting your breath here.

A couple of Scoopers love Crean and defend him no matter what. Some of us (including me) are relatively agnostic when it comes to Crean; we appreciate that he helped bring back the program, that he brought Wade and the Amigos here and that he hired Buzz; we don't hope he wins at IU but we don't hope he loses, either; we generally feel Buzz is the better coach and we've moved on. And then lots of Scoopers hate Crean with the fire of a million hells and hope for nothing but pain for him and his new team. Members of the latter group will hijack any thread and turn it into a Crean-Sucks diatribe.

Trying to convince the first or third groups of anything but their stated viewpoints is like trying to convince Nancy Pelosi to cut Medicare or Grover Norquist to raise taxes. It just ain't gonna happen.

[Sunbelt15]

It's kinda sad when you have to celebrate second place. It's a sign of desperation.

[The Lens]

Homer, I'm getting word that after this unexpected loss to TCU, that Jeff Strohm will be doing the interview tonight.  Tom's not available.

[mu_hilltopper]

Anyone else surprised at what the "honoring the 2003 team" event was / was not?

When the video was over, didn't you think "was that it?"  .. Seemed like no one from the 2003 team was there.  .. The only player they showed on the Jumbotron was Wes Matthews, earlier.

My memory isn't great from 5 years ago, but .. they gave out those paperweight "rings" .. and I think I remember a half time ceremony, several guys from the team, round of applause kind of thing.

[mu03eng]

Anyone else surprised at what the "honoring the 2003 team" event was / was not?

When the video was over, didn't you think "was that it?"  .. Seemed like no one from the 2003 team was there.  .. The only player they showed on the Jumbotron was Wes Matthews, earlier.

My memory isn't great from 5 years ago, but .. they gave out those paperweight "rings" .. and I think I remember a half time ceremony, several guys from the team, round of applause kind of thing.

My wife literally turned to me and said that.  I was really disappointed, especially since I thought the audio was low and hard to hear.  It was just a blah video and not a single player there was weird

[Eye]

I was expecting a lot of short videos from the guys like Wade, Novak and Diener that couldn't be there, on-floor intros of the players that could be there, and about a 10-minute production. I sat in my seat for probably 5 minutes after the short video was over thinking to myself thinking "I guess that was it." Highly disappointed. Not the only reason I came to the game and bought a good lower-bowl seat, but it was part of it. Thank goodness the team played so well yesterday.

[4everwarriors]

Maybe all they wanted to do was sell a few more tickets.

[ChicosBailBonds]

You know, feigned disappointment, half hearted search, promoting from within.

LOL.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Look, I don't dislike Tom...he was a nice starter coach until we were ready to get serious about basketball.

But comparing, if you assume both inherited final four programs, their next 5 years is curious:

TC:

NIT
NIT
1st
1st
2nd

BUZZ:

2nd
1st
Sweet 16
Sweet 16
NCAA ??

I don't think they both inherited Final Four programs.  One didn't, took us to a Final Four. He actually inherited a NIT program.  As you said, the other has had the reigns of a program that is "now serious about hoops"...that Final Four must be right around the corner.   

[The Lens]

I don't think they both inherited Final Four programs.  One didn't, took us to a Final Four. He actually inherited a NIT program.  As you said, the other has had the reigns of a program that is "now serious about hoops"...that Final Four must be right around the corner.   

I was talking about TC's last 5 years, after he went to the final four. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

I was talking about TC's last 5 years, after he went to the final four. 

I still don't buy the logic.  MU lost a lot after their Final Four...RJAX, DWade, etc, including recruits who thought he was leaving.  It was only their second NCAA trip in 6 years, not near the momentum that Buzz walked into.  Vs coming in with a senior team that had gone 3 straight NCAAs. Also the field expanded to 68 teams in 2011...the year we were an 11 seed in the Big East and according to the experts, one of the last teams into the field. 

The question to me is if Crean doesn't leave in 2008, are you really suggesting that Crean wouldn't also keep going to the NCAAs the last four years?  TyShawn Taylor leading the charge, etc? 

[The Lens]

I'll take the under on Ty ever showing up at MU, regardless of who would have been coaching.

TC may have gotten us to the NCAAs.  He would not have done back to back Sweet 16's.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'll take the under on Ty ever showing up at MU, regardless of who would have been coaching.

TC may have gotten us to the NCAAs.  He would not have done back to back Sweet 16's.

You don't know that, pure speculation.  Just as we don't know how far MU would have gone in Buzz's first year if Dom doesn't get hurt, if someone else coached, etc.  We'll never know, nothing but speculation....don't know who the matchups would be, how the regular season would have broken out, what the rosters looked like, etc.  Remember how many people here said IU wouldn't get to the Sweet 16 last year, yet they did.  Plenty of people here have been VERY wrong when it comes to predictions on him, including whether he would even be the head coach this year.

Ty would have been at MU, the year after would have been Maurice Creek was going wherever Crean was going.  Nick Williams would have been here, he's a starter for Ole Miss now.  Then you throw in the kids that were leaning MU, who knows who comes.  We'll never know.  Pure guess work.

The only guarantee in 2008 was that MU team was going to the NCAA tournament if you or I coached it...that's the only thing anyone could predict.