buzz and homer

[Husker4MU]

I'm so damn glad that this is the only thing we have to worry about.

[Sheriff]

The first thing that came to mind after I heard Buzz's remarks was that the last time I heard that kind of response, it came from Robert Montgomery Knight.

[JSwarriors08]

I'm sure Buzz will be extremely (probably to the point of awkwardness) apologetic about this as he realizes his misunderstanding.  It is clear that he must have heard Mac wrong, and I would be surprised, from the Buzz we've seen so far, if he doesn't go much farther than he needs to in order to apologize.

The guy has been awesome this year and has us sitting atop the toughest conference in the country.  I'm willing to cut him some slack.  I think everyone's being a bit too harsh.  I mean, it was clearly a harsh verbal beatdown, but in the context of what was said I have to think he just heard it wrong.  I'm more perplexed at what he thought he was asked than infuriated by what he said/how he said it.

[Norm]

After reading the transcript, Buzz comes off in an even worse light than I thought before reading the transcript. This was straight out of the Bobby Knight playbook - but at least Knight played the game as a player and is generally considered one of the greatest strategists of all time. What a total condescending blow off of Mac.

Buzz needs to grow up a little bit and grow a pair. If he can't handle a winnign streak, how is he ever going to handle a losing streak?

[JSwarriors08]

After reading the transcript, Buzz comes off in an even worse light than I thought before reading the transcript. This was straight out of the Bobby Knight playbook - but at least Knight played the game as a player and is generally considered one of the greatest strategists of all time. What a total condescending blow off of Mac.

Buzz needs to grow up a little bit and grow a pair. If he can't handle a winnign streak, how is he ever going to handle a losing streak?

Grow up a little bit and grow a pair?  Seriously?  Dude has been killing it so far on the job and you're gonna trash him for this?  If anyone needs to suck it up a little, it's probably you and anyone else that's actually offended by this junk.  Everyone has been singing his praises, which he deserves, but once he offends someone that the MU old guard holds dear, all the entitled alums jump on the radio/message boards and trash him. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm going to chalk this up to youth and inexperience.  Emotions.  Buzz will learn. It's unfortunate, but I doubt intentional or with malice.


Big win for Buzz and that probably got the better of him.   Jimmy Mac did a great job of just taking his lumps, even though he didn't deserve them, rather than causing a scene.

[Marquette_g]

I wouldn't say it is the "old/entitled" alums.  I went to school after Mac was there and gone, yet I don't think a guy who has been a real solid ambassador for our program deserves to be berated for such a lay-up of a question.  

I'm not trying to kill Buzz, but to position this as a "old versus young" item is foolish.  I think those of us who believe that Buzz probably didn't put his best foot forward has very little to do with when we graduated.

[Norm]

Grow up a little bit and grow a pair?  Seriously?  Dude has been killing it so far on the job and you're gonna trash him for this?  If anyone needs to suck it up a little, it's probably you and anyone else that's actually offended by this junk.  Everyone has been singing his praises, which he deserves, but once he offends someone that the MU old guard holds dear, all the entitled alums jump on the radio/message boards and trash him. 

Give me a break JS. I have not criticized Buzz all year, and I think he did a great job of coaching today. But the interview he gave was horrible, and his treatment of Mac was inexcusable. Buzz came off as jerk in the interview and he deserves to be called out on it. By the way, I was a senior when Mac was a freshman, so I'm not the "old guard."

[JSwarriors08]

I wouldn't say it is the "old/entitled" alums.  I went to school after Mac was there and gone, yet I don't think a guy who has been a real solid ambassador for our program deserves to be berated for such a lay-up of a question.  

I'm not trying to kill Buzz, but to position this as a "old versus young" item is foolish.  I think those of us who believe that Buzz probably didn't put his best foot forward has very little to do with when we graduated.

You're probably right, I just got a little peaved by all the aggression toward Buzz.  I think he's earned a little grace is all.

[Rollout-the-Barrel]

I turned on the radio after Buzz made his remarks and after listening to the talk show hosts and reading some of the posts I was expecting buzz's words to really be harsh.  However, after reading them, I don't think what was said was that big of a deal.  Obviously I can't read the "tone" that he said those words with, but still not really concerned.  I'm sure he regrets how he replied to the question, but I'm sure Mac will forgive him.

[Marquette_g]

In Rosiak's blog, it basically says that Mac was saying that everyone was making too big a deal out of things. 

[BuzzSucksSucks]

I thought Mac was exceedingly gracious and professional throughout that whole uncomfortable episode.  After the break, not only was nothing alluded to, but he further complimented Buzz.  Really a class moment for Mac, in my opinion.

[burger]

Maybe if "heart" is the generic question....

MacIlviene with his "innate" talent never displayed it.....

Never dominated when he had the chance with all the talent in the world....

Not against Duke in the Sweet 16 .....Not in the pro's with he signed that $36 million 6 year contract that he did not play the last 3 or 4 years of.....

Call it like it is.....

Maybe there is more to this....and Buzz does have a good read.....

I do not think you fly off the handle about it on the radio.....But .....MAC if you think about it.....Is not what Buzz is all about.....

MAC could be one of the most "underachieving" players ever to go to Marquette given his talent....

He could have been right up there with the Ewing et al if he had developed to his fullest!

[Norm]

Thanks for the laugh burger.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Maybe if "heart" is the generic question....

MacIlviene with his "innate" talent never displayed it.....

Never dominated when he had the chance with all the talent in the world....

Not against Duke in the Sweet 16 .....Not in the pro's with he signed that $36 million 6 year contract that he did not play the last 3 or 4 years of.....

Call it like it is.....

Maybe there is more to this....and Buzz does have a good read.....

I do not think you fly off the handle about it on the radio.....But .....MAC if you think about it.....Is not what Buzz is all about.....

MAC could be one of the most "underachieving" players ever to go to Marquette given his talent....

He could have been right up there with the Ewing et al if he had developed to his fullest!

Could not disagree more.  Mac was tall, that doesn't mean he had talent or certainly not an abundance of it.  He did what he could with limited athletic ability, got a paycheck in the show, but I don't see how he underachieved.  He simply isn't that great an athlete, but rather has to work hard at it.  It doesn't come natural for him.

He might be too nice a guy, as well.  Sometimes you need that killer instinct, but I'm not going to fault him for being a nice guy.   

[NavinRJohnson]

Maybe if "heart" is the generic question....

MacIlviene with his "innate" talent never displayed it.....

Never dominated when he had the chance with all the talent in the world....

Not against Duke in the Sweet 16 .....Not in the pro's with he signed that $36 million 6 year contract that he did not play the last 3 or 4 years of.....

Call it like it is.....

Maybe there is more to this....and Buzz does have a good read.....

I do not think you fly off the handle about it on the radio.....But .....MAC if you think about it.....Is not what Buzz is all about.....

MAC could be one of the most "underachieving" players ever to go to Marquette given his talent....

He could have been right up there with the Ewing et al if he had developed to his fullest!

[Tugg Speedman]

Someone just posted the interview verbatim on a Facebook MU page:

Jim McIlvaine:
Coach, you've got an 11-game winning streak, 8-0 in the Big East. Obviously the number, the ranking is going down. How do you keep the kids focused and not buying into the hype, and all the ancillary stuff on the outside? How do you get them focused for the next game?

Buzz Williams:
Well, I appreciate what you said Mac. And I know you played here and had a lot of success here. We pay absolutely no attention to anything said by the media, said within the media. And I'm not trying to be condescending, but I don't think you win 11 straight games, eight straight games in the Big East, if you're focusing on the wrong things. And so I'm somewhat offended that you would even ask that. Because what you should talk about is the character and the heart of our players. That's what should be talked about, talking about how we focus for the next game. Why don't you talk about, Mac, how we focused on this game. And why don't you talk about how we focused on every single Big East game. And for you as the home team radio announcer to be asking some sort of question like that, it sounds like you're employed by someone other than Marquette. That's disappointing that you would ask that, being that you're a former player. You should be as proud of the collection of 12 guys that put on the uniform and that absolutely play their heart out at 6-6 and under against great teams on a nightly basis.

Jim McIlvaine:
I'm extremely proud of the guys, coach. I'm just asking if there's anything that you do as a coach to just keep these guys focused. Obviously you're doing a great job of it. I was wondering if there was anything to it.

Buzz Williams:
We'll do the same thing, Mac, that we've done every single day in the 296 days that I've been employed. That's wake up early, that's go to work, and work as long as we can until our eyes fall asleep. That's what we do. That's what we do every day, whether that's in the season or out of the season, non-conference or conference.

I heard the interview and this sounds correct.  When you read Buzz's answer their is no way he is answering Mac's question.  It sounds like the question he is answered was "How do you keep focused when the Media says you're over-rated?"

[mu_hilltopper]

Wellll .. disagree.

Buzz's first ~4 sentences go directly to Mac's question.  So he heard the question, comprehended it, and responded.  Then he went off the reservation.

[MU gimp ONE]

the only thing i can think of is when mac said "obviously, the number, the ranking is going down."  buzz could have heard that as "your run isn't going to last forever" or "this will end soon".  there had to be something misunderstood in there.

in the end, i think everyone is flying off the handle. 

[AZWarrior]

Mac messed up.  He didn't mention "character" in his question to Buzz.   

[AlumKCof93]

Wow - unbelievable.

As the most public face of the university we all love, Buzz has a responsibility to treat others with respect, particularly good guys like Mac who has been a great representative of MU.  While we all appreciate the job Buzz has done, it is not only right to come down on Buzz when he acts like an ass, I'd be embarrassed if people weren't outraged by it.

And burger - worst 2nd post in the history of muscoop!

[mu_hilltopper]

BTW .. Channel 12's sports just addressed this topic, with comments about "Buzz ripping into Mac" ..

[ecompt]

Hey, burger, did Mac steal your girlfriend, or what? Mac was a fine college center who represented his school well. He did not have overwhelming talent, as you suggest.
Lack of heart? You are kidding, right?
He could have been another Ewing? Absurd.
Alum is right. That was the worst second post in the history of this board.

[77ncaachamps]

Rosiak just added a new blog on the topic.

Something worth reading:

No more than 10 minutes later, Williams was asked a similar question -- how his players were handling the winning -- in his post-game news conference with the largest media contingent at the Bradley Center for an MU game this season to date.

"I probably didn't handle the post-game radio show the right way, so I'll try to handle your question the right way," said Williams. "I've been employed here 297 days, and we handle day the same way. And the thing that bothers me internally, that I try not to voice, is this is a really, really, elite-level, special group.

"And moreso than their wit, moreso than their skill set, partly because of how I'm built, but mostly because how it's been revealed, is our toughness. Toughness is not something that you talk about. Toughness is something that you do every day. And if you go to work every day and everything's good, and if you go home every night and everything's good, I don't think that's toughness.

"And I've been incredibly hard -- moreso than what you guys would know -- on that group of guys. And I am still incredibly hard on that group of guys. And they respond every day. So to succinctly answer your question, we'll do the same thing that we've done the last 297 days. And despite the incremental increase in media coverage, it's not going to change who we are.

"Because our character has been revealed, and we'll continue to work to refine our character, and we'll continue to get better from a skill-set perspective and an intelligence perspective because we've got a lot of season left, and we've got a long, long way to go. When a team shoots 56% for a game, most times that's a loss. We can feel good about the win until midnight, but we have to figure out how to get better defensively, or we may not win another game."

McIlvaine, when reached after the game, implied too much was being made of the incident.

"I think it was just a misunderstanding," he said. "I've already forgotten about it."





Sounds like a contrite Buzz to me.

[shaquilvaine]

Burger... Jimmy Mac is an MU legend.  Keep in mind that sweet 16 team was the first to do anything since the Al years.  Jimmy absolutely destroyed the all time blocks record.  Underachieving and Mac don't belong in the same sentence.