ESPN 540 Interview with Rosiak

[legacy]

I think you are so off your rocker on this one.

That MU team had three NBA players on it (including the greatest player in our history; the player who should've ended his career as leading scorer; and the greatest long range shooter in our history). Had a legit post presence. Had a strong bench. Had shooting, passing, defense. All the intangibles of success. It wasn't nearly the fluke that people love to dismiss it as.

Also, Wade wasn't the best college player in that Final Four. Both Carmelo Anthony and TJ Ford were better college players. You are confusing Wade being the best professional of that group with Wade being the best collegian of that group.

I think you misunderstood my first comment.  I am in agreement that we had an amazing team -- that's why I say we may have actually underachieved.  I think having a player like Wade is a fluke.  And yes, he wasn't appreciated nationally as much because he played in Conference USA, but Wade was much better than Anthony or Ford. 

[RawdogDX]

MU2002alum  you sya  "However, the guy graduated the vast, vast majority of players, and he won a LOT of games"

My point all along is you dont have to be an a-hole to do that and it does not make it all right.   

We all know and understand your point.  If you ask anyone who is "in love with crean" if they would rather have had a nice guy who could have had the same success they would all have said yes.  We also would have liked to have a nice guy who would have had even more success. But that guy wasn't here and probably was never available to come to MU until Crean went and hired him for us.
 
Was crean a jerk to some people in private?  YES
Could he have done his job without being one? Probably
Would i do things over and roll the Dice with some random nice guy coach?  HELL NO.

A random nice guy coach may not have gotten wade, robert jackson, deiner, novak, our 3, lazar, may not have gotten to the final 4 and may not have gotten us the national exposure we have today.  
We don't care if you heard some story about him pissing someone off.  People in charge piss people off.  If you are the boss and everyone loves you, then you probably are a bad boss.  I just don't care about anything you have to say about some time he ticked off someone you know.

All I, and I'm not alone, care about is that he won a lot of games, graduated his players, wasn't caught committing any violations, increased national exposure, and left us better off than when he came.  That is it.  
If his attitude was a turn off that is Unfortunate, but your feelings are Collateral Damage.  

[jmayer1]

Oh by the way he was the highest rated play Crean ever signed. 

Actually, in the final RSCI, Diener was 40 while DJ was 36 but they are neck and neck for the highest rated palyer Crean brought in.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

All I, and I'm not alone, care about is that he won a lot of games, graduated his players, wasn't caught committing any violations, increased national exposure, and left us better off than when he came.  That is it.  
If his attitude was a turn off that is Unfortunate, but your feelings are Collateral Damage.  

Agreed.

[nola03]

I think you misunderstood my first comment.  I am in agreement that we had an amazing team -- that's why I say we may have actually underachieved.  I think having a player like Wade is a fluke.  And yes, he wasn't appreciated nationally as much because he played in Conference USA, but Wade was much better than Anthony or Ford. 

No misunderstanding. We simply have different opinions.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Here's my two cents on Crean.  The certainly left the program in much better shape than he found it. BUT, the program had started to regress. 

THE PROGRAM REGRESSED?  How is making a 3rd straight NCAA tournament regressing, especially after advancing last year and landing two players that are currently starting for IU and KU AND leaving a top 15 team in the wings this year.  That's regressing?


I don't know whether Crean was a dick, but I never thought he was a particularly good coach.  He was more of a salesman.  (The same thing could be said about Al too.)  That was enough to improve recruiting and bring in the fans.

Crean improved the program, but the Final Four was really a fluke type of thing for Crean, and in hindsight the team may have actually underachieved.  We had BY FAR the best player in college in Wade.

Funny, the experts didn't agree and said Carmelo Anthony was.

People didn't appreciate it at the time, but we all knew.  The only way we ever got Wade is that people have always underestimated him at every step of the way.  People may forget but we came very close to losing to Holy Cross in the opening round, and had very tight games against Missouri and Pitt.  Beating Kentucky was phenomenal, and Wade's performace was one of the greatest tournament games of the decade.  Against Kansas, we were outcoached by a Kansas team that was no more talented than us. Kansas was more experienced, but they ended up losing to a Syracuse team with less experience.  Since then, we have underachieved every single March.  He never recruited a single genuine NBA player after Diener. 

Steve Novak, and probably 1 if not 2 from this year's team.  Lazar Hayward may also make the NBA.

Fewer players really improved from year-to-year under Crean's tutelage (Wade, Diener, Novak and Jerel), than transferred out (Blankston, Mason) or stagnated (Wes, Dominic, Merritt, Townsend). 

Really.  Interesting.  I think you need a media guide.  Diener was not a NBA player when he came to MU, not even after his junior year.  Neither was Novak.  Jerel has improved each year.  Hayward each year.  Robert Jackson was much better than anything he showed at Mississippi State.  Etc.  Some haven't improved, look at every other coach and team in America and I can say the same thing.   Did Mason improve at LSU?  No, he regressed.  Did Amaroso improved at San Diego State against much weaker competition?  Nope. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

I know I was part of the problem in this thread but I say the mods get tough with Crean hi jacked threads.    Next time 4warriors, Mr.Hayward, Chicos, Stone Cold, etc. mentions Crean they get a 2 week ban. 

I'd like to see who fails first.

Hey, I don't see me mentioning Crean unless it's to set the facts straight.  The haters like to re-write history or flat out make stuff up.  I'm not hear starting threads about Crean, but I will correct false statements.  I'd do the same thing if they were made about Majerus, Deane, KO, Al, etc.

[ChicosBailBonds]

MU2002alum  you sya  "However, the guy graduated the vast, vast majority of players, and he won a LOT of games"

My point all along is you dont have to be an a-hole to do that and it does not make it all right.   

And no one ever said someone does need to be a prick / ahole to accomplish these things.  However, it's you guys that seem to throw out the baby with the bath water when it comes to this topic.

I think everyone here would LOVE to have someone that can be successful, be a nice guy, etc.  Absolutely.  But if he is rough around the edges, does piss off a few people but wins, graduates players, doesn't cheat....I'm not going to throw a tantrum every other minute because I don't like that he's arrogant.

[MR.HAYWARD]

The only thing Buzz has proven is that he can't f*ck up a good thing, and he can recruit well.  He has yet to win a game that anyone would consider an "upset," and has yet to show he has the abilities to develop anyone.  Until he shows that he can do both, he hasn't proven much.

i disagree I think this team is vastly superior to what it would be with Crean.  We would be constantly gambling on Defense and giving up way too many easy shots.  We would talk about a 15 second shot clock in practice and walk the ball up the floo before beginning a set with 8 seconds left in the shot clock and many times be forced into desperation 3's by James and jerel of the dribble.  We would not be driving the ball as we are this year, Wesly would be a complimentary players as in the past.  we would not be on pace to shoot 200 more free throws than we did last year and would once again shoot fewer than our opponents.  we would lose close games as our maniacal coaches nervousness trnscended out team.  We would have lost at NCSU for sure and most likely to WVU, Wisonsin, and Noxa IMO.  We would be 11-6 right now on our way to yet another 21-12 record and a first round flameout.   Correct he has not f'd it up Buzz has made it better.  Seen Creans movie, boring .

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

i disagree I think this team is vastly superior to what it would be with Crean. 

The beautiful thing about sports is that the games are actually played, and there is indeed a champion.

We will certainly find out if Buzz is a better coach that Crean. (which is entirely possible).

[ChicosBailBonds]

The beautiful thing about sports is that the games are actually played, and there is indeed a champion.

We will certainly find out if Buzz is a better coach that Crean. (which is entirely possible).

And since Buzz is going to be here for 5 years at least, let's all hope that he is as good or better than Crean.  If so, we all benefit because despite what some people say here (i.e. "every team coached by Crean sucked")....I'd say that we would all be very happy to duplicate what we've done the last 7 years for another 7 years.  In a NEW YORK MINUTE.

[jmayer1]

i disagree I think this team is vastly superior to what it would be with Crean. 

http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Marquette&y=2008
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Marquette

This year MU's average offensive and defensive efficiency is 29 so far.
Last year MU's average offensive and defensive efficiency was 17 for the whole year.

To say we are better than last year is only opinion which cannot be supported by any factual evidence.  I don't think stats are the end-all, be-all but there is definitely is some support there to say MU is not playing as good as they did last year.  I'll wait to say they are improved over last year until the Warriors start playing some of the conference powers, especially on the road.  Granted, the wins over WVU and Nova were nice, but both those wins were at home and those two teams will prolly end up somewhere from 7-10 in the conference.