Darius Johnson-odom is a Golden Eagle

[radome]

Enough with the criticism of JUCO's.......if they help us win and stay out of the slammer then we have nothing to complain about.

If we had the opportunity to take a one-and-done player no one would say smack about that, but here are some guys who are willing to play their hearts out and they're not good enough? We sound like ND fans......if the kid had some troubles academically and now has his stuff together......GAME ON!!!

Finally ... someone hit the nail on the head for me.  He wants to play here and he qualifies.  I expect the staff to keep him on track.  We have no indications otherwise.  I wish that all of our student athletes were of the mentality of I want to go to Marquette to get a great education and play ball but it is more like I want to play for a great team and get an education.  That is OK and I think that is where most of us were when we were 20 years old too.  Go Marquette, go, go, go, go.

[Badgerhater]

I like how the classes are now balanced out.  Providence showed what happens when you have one huge class.   It completely defines your team and if they are soft then the team and the class never reaches its potential.  You are stuck with that underperforming class for four years and then you have half your roster to restock once they leave.  Buzz clearly wants to avoid having a huge class.  Schollies are investments and Buzz clearly is a diversification type of investor, not a go for broke type.

A new coach typically has a big open spot in yearly schollie breakdown.  Buzz has managed to not only restore an equal distribution of schollies to next year's soph class, but also to the junior class, which was hurt by the loss of Christopherson and Mbakwe.   We all know that Buzz loves math, balance and flexibility.  His roster next year will reflect those three attributes.

Buzz also went to JUCO.  He recognizes that many very smart people and very good basketball players have to go this route for a variety of reasons.  Buzz does not attach the stigma to them as seems to be prone to many students who went straight to Marquette.  This attitude towards JUCO and small state schools does exist at Marquette because I experienced it when I did my undergrad at South Dakota State and then my grad work at MU.

These guys aren't your JUCO hacks that Crean went after.   JUCO in the MN and the Dakotas does not attract very good players, whereas JUCO in KS and TX is a whole different level.  Its like comparing UW Parkside to Marquette.   MUs JUCOs are either at the top of the JUCO ranks or are local kids who needed a year somewhere else to overcome the sewer that is the Milwaukee school system before they move into D-1.

Part of MU's Jesuit mission is to help those who need a hand to find their way.  These guys do appear to have some significant talent, now it is up to Buzz and the university to make them MU basketball players and MU graduates.

[WarriorHal]

Nothing wrong with recruiting JC players. Al got some good ones to balance out his teams. One who comes to mind is:

Bob Lackey
Age: 53

Marquette forward, who joined coach Al McGuire's team as a diamond in the rough and left as his smooth-playing captain known as "the Black Swan" and "Captain Bob"; Casper Junior College (Wyo.) transfer, who lettered during the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons for Marquette; averaged 15.2 points and 8.1 rebounds a game as a senior captain in 1971-72, earning All-America honors as well; drafted by the NBA's Hawks and ABA's Nets in 1972; played for the Nets for one season before playing abroad in the Netherlands and France. He died of cancer.
Died: Evanston, Ill., June 4

[GGGG]

Honestly, I think you also have to differentiate between the JUCOs that went that route as full qualifiers (DJO and Butler) and those who went that route because they were partials.  Now Buycks was a partial, but aftter two years seems to be doing just fine in the classroom and should do fine at MU.  Clark has three semesters to see if he can cut it in the classroom.  If he follows Buycks' lead, he'll be just fine.  If he doesn't...well...then maybe he won't be here afterall.

There is a stigma attached to JUCOs, but as long as Buzz gets them to graduate, I don't care.  I'm sure that educating JUCOs falls within Marquette's mission.

[TJ]

The stigma attached to JUCOs around here has a lot to do with the ones that have player here over the last 10 years.  After Marcus Jackson, there wasn't a lot of talent there.

[Big Papi]

IF the jucos can make it in the classroom and we are not sacrificing talent, then going juco is the right thing to do.

Most are 3 year players so even if there is an adjustment you still get 2 good years out of them on a worst case scenario.

Our guard positions now balance out great.  Acker/Cube are seniors, Buycks is a junior, DJO is a soph and Junior is a freshmen.  Now that is balance.  From this time going forward we should probably not be in a position where we have to rely on a freshmen to come in and handle to load. 

From a talent perspective it is hard to argue with what Buzz has done.  He is getting guards who can play the 1 and 2.  Now if Junior goes down, we still have more than capable points in his place without a drop off in talent, unlike this year.

Finally, at least Buzz is filling out his roster with players who have high D-1 talent and not mid-major talent like Acker and Trend.

[rocky_warrior]

Could someone clarify for me how many scholarships are available?  Last year, according to the table we used 12.  This year we have 14 listed, but are only -1 on the scholarships available, which would indicate that last year we should have been +1.

You're correct that we were technically +1 last year after Mbakwe left.  Once it became apparent that we weren't going to use the slot during the school year, I moved the scholie to 09-10.

[mu_hilltopper]

I have zero problems with Juco's under Buzz.

Guys go juco for two reasons.  Either they weren't good enough in their Jr/SR year in HS .. or they had academic problems.

If they bloomed later, I'm fine with that.  If someone sucked in their JR year, but blew up in their SR year of HS, we'd take them in a heart beat.  So delayed athletic ability is no big deal.

As for academics?  I have no doubt that MU does a great job educating young men, keeping them on track, while not doing shady things to keep them above C-level.   

I have no doubt that if some kid, super star, juco, or not .. if that kid wasn't going to class, had an attitude problem, legal problem .. Buzz would try to set em straight, but in the end, have no problem kicking them off the team.   He's all about character.

Here's your complimentary Sweet Tea and a bus ticket.  Buh Bye.

[SERocks]

You're correct that we were technically +1 last year after Mbakwe left.  Once it became apparent that we weren't going to use the slot during the school year, I moved the scholie to 09-10.

Moved it to 09-10? Does that mean we can use 14 this year? If so we are not -1.  If not, and we can only have 13 this year, then what is the point in "banking" a scholarship?

[TJ]

Moved it to 09-10? Does that mean we can use 14 this year? If so we are not -1.  If not, and we can only have 13 this year, then what is the point in "banking" a scholarship?

13 every year no matter what.  We are -1 right now.

"Banking" a scholarship is done because scholarships are 2-4 year commitments from the school (they're really 1 year renewable x4 scholarships, but still).  You would "bank" a scholarship because if you were to sign a player this year he would occupy that spot for 2-4 years and you wouldn't have that spot open for a better player the next year.

[radome]

A related scholarship question, if someone knows.  What happens to players that get injured, leave early, don't finish on time, etc.?  Do they come back to school "on scholarship, non-athletic", or pay their way or ...?  I imagine that it would be against NCAA rules to keep paying for them but maybe there are sponsors, boosters or something.

[bma725]

A related scholarship question, if someone knows.  What happens to players that get injured, leave early, don't finish on time, etc.?  Do they come back to school "on scholarship, non-athletic", or pay their way or ...?  I imagine that it would be against NCAA rules to keep paying for them but maybe there are sponsors, boosters or something.

For career ending injuries, they continue receiving an athletic scholarship it simply doesn't count against the number of scholarships that the school can give out.  It happened at UW a few years back when Latrell Fleming was diagnosed with a heart condition before ever playing a game.  He stayed in school and got his degree.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm excited about this kid.  Seems like a real player.  Good solid get by Buzz



Sincerely,


A Hater of Buzz supposedly

[DomJamesToTheBasket]

This signing is a thing of beauty. It sounds like Buzz may have landed the best player available to us AND filled our biggest need. The fact DJO is coming in as a Soph. is the icing. We are going to win a lot of games in the future from this recruit.

[muwarrior69]

I like Buzz's approach. Find the "Stephen Currys" of the world and bring them to MU, even if they are Junior College kids. Even with all his McD all americans Coach K only went one game more than we did.

[ChicosBailBonds]

The stigma also comes from some kids maybe not having the grades (that's not always the case, but is in some cases).  And we all know that some schools use JUCO's a lot more than others do, and many of them have poor graduation rates.  That's my only concern.  I want to win, but I want the school represented well without those issues.

For an example of the stigma, just look at our friends on the UW-Madison board

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=193&f=2565&t=4170515

[Tugg Speedman]

For an example of the stigma, just look at our friends on the UW-Madison board

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=193&f=2565&t=4170515

Shocking isn't it!

[ChicosBailBonds]

Shocking isn't it!

Videos like this don't help the stigma either

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCbHue4OXMs

[MUshrooms]

Buycks should be a little smarter about the stuff he lets get on youtube... not gonna cut it next year.

[wermarquette]

what was wrong with that video?? he was saying that they got kicked out of the gym cause they were there too late and he wishes they had a 24 hour gym cause he never wants to stop working... seems pretty good to me

[Lighthouse 84]

what was wrong with that video?? he was saying that they got kicked out of the gym cause they were there too late and he wishes they had a 24 hour gym cause he never wants to stop working... seems pretty good to me

Thanks for the translation.

[mr.MUskie]

+1

[rocky_warrior]

what was wrong with that video?? he was saying that they got kicked out of the gym cause they were there too late and he wishes they had a 24 hour gym cause he never wants to stop working... seems pretty good to me

Exactly what I thought.  I've seen the other video which wasn't so flattering.  But otherwise, welcome to Marquette, where you can live in the gym...as long as you get your homework done

[ChicosBailBonds]

Thanks for the translation.

+1

[Pakuni]

Didn't realize we had so many tin ears around here.

My advice: stay away from that hippity-hop music all the kids seem to be listening to these days. Lots of naughty words.