Youssoupha Mbao .. newest Warrior.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

I think we are seeing largely why Buzz was hired, and I assure you, none of this is coming as a surprise to anyone who was responsible for that decision. He clearly is willing to take some chances that his predecessor was not, and there is no reason not to believe that is a large reason he was hired. It was rumored at the time and is bearing fruit now.

All of that being said, until there is a problem, there is no problem. The apparent lack of risk with most of the juco signings has been pretty well documented, so there is no reason to get into that, and as far as this signing goes, he is a player from Africa that has bounced around a bit. Is that in any way rare? No. There are an awful lot of guys named Ndjai or Koshwal, or dare I say Thabeet, Olajuwon, or Mutombo who took long, strange, and unspectacular journeys to D1 scholarships, and have worked out very well.

Just because the last guy, wouldn't or couldn't do the same thing, doesn't mean his way was the right way. Until these guys start screwing up, not graduating, etc., the only thing we can really conclude is that Buzz appears to be getting bigger and better players, and putting together a roster more closely matching those teams that we are expected to compete with.

Well said.  Coach Buzz is willing to give guys a chance, just like Marquette did with him, and that's what Marquette should be about:  realizing that there's more than meets the eye.  Word, Marquette is transforming.

[billyd1988]

I agree.  Buzz and his coaching staff bring a different mentality to the program, and I really like the fact that he is taking chances on true big men.  Definitely addressing much needed size to compete in the Big East.

[Golden Avalanche]

I think we are seeing largely why Buzz was hired, and I assure you, none of this is coming as a surprise to anyone who was responsible for that decision. He clearly is willing to take some chances that his predecessor was not, and there is no reason not to believe that is a large reason he was hired. It was rumored at the time and is bearing fruit now.

Crean took plenty of chances in Wade, Berkowitz, Mortensen, Kinsella, Barro, Blackledge. From that list, one was awesome; one was solid; two were inconsequential; and two were disasters of epic proportion. Going down the risk road didn't start last April.

Buzz has credit in the casino and he's using it on the roulette table.

[4everwarriors]

Crean's chances were taken out of desparation. I don't sense that at all with Buzz.

[ATWizJr]

I think we are seeing largely why Buzz was hired, and I assure you, none of this is coming as a surprise to anyone who was responsible for that decision. He clearly is willing to take some chances that his predecessor was not, and there is no reason not to believe that is a large reason he was hired. It was rumored at the time and is bearing fruit now.

All of that being said, until there is a problem, there is no problem. The apparent lack of risk with most of the juco signings has been pretty well documented, so there is no reason to get into that, and as far as this signing goes, he is a player from Africa that has bounced around a bit. Is that in any way rare? No. There are an awful lot of guys named Ndjai or Koshwal, or dare I say Thabeet, Olajuwon, or Mutombo who took long, strange, and unspectacular journeys to D1 scholarships, and have worked out very well.

Just because the last guy, wouldn't or couldn't do the same thing, doesn't mean his way was the right way. Until these guys start screwing up, not graduating, etc., the only thing we can really conclude is that Buzz appears to be getting bigger and better players, and putting together a roster more closely matching those teams that we are expected to compete with.

what is the basis for your assurance?

[NavinRJohnson]

what is the basis for your assurance?

The grapevine growing on the rumor mil, but I happen to trust where it came from and I am 100% confident its true.

[ATWizJr]

got it.  it's true because you said it is.

[NavinRJohnson]

got it.  it's true because you said it is.

Well, lets see, the alternative is that Fr. Wilde and the board had no idea that Buzz was going to go out and recruits several Juco's, ytake a couple chances, etc. when they hired him, and he just went out and did it, so for them this is coming completely out of left field. I guess that does make more sense. Wake up man!

[NotAnAlum]

I think one thing that is showing up here is that the "Buzz" administration has a lot of energy and enthusiasm but not a lot of experience.  They're taking a larger than usual number of chances; more than a seasoned coach at MU might be expected to take.  As they say the thing about experience is that you always get it after you need it.  If I read Buzz correctly I think his goals are in the right place.  He wants to run a clean program with high character players that will represent MU well.  He is not a "win at any cost" guy like Huggins or Calipari.  Some of these risks are not going to work out.  Who knows which will work out?  (Remember last year when many fans it felt it wasn't wise to quickly accept a Juco named Butler who appeared to only be in the mix because he was a teammate of Fulce)  As long as he is willing to admit where he made a mistake and go out and get another guy I don't think it will be a long term black mark on MU or Buzz.  Then as he and his assistances develop their own pipeline there will be less scrambling and risk taking.  I think this is one of those things we're just going to have to live with and hope for the best if we are going to stay competitive in the BE while these guys earn their experience.

[HoopsMalone]

I hope Buzz isn't just panicking after a season without bigs and overcompensating with his recruiting of all these bigs.  This gives us Liam, Otule, Roseboro, and now Mbao.  Next year throw in Clark and that is 5 centers pretty much.  Then there is Fulce who is a 4 man, meaning that half of our roster will be 4-5 players. 

It will be important to have big men, but we should not forget how important guards are in this game. 

[StillAWarrior]

I'll reserve judgment until I see how these kids play and how they represent Marquette.

It's clear that Buzz is playing a very high stakes, high risk/reward game.  If this works out, he is a genius.  But, there is also serious potential for crash and burn.  He's certainly shown that he's not one to play things safe.  If you do things the way things have always been done and fail, people won't blame you nearly as much as if you try something new and fail.  I like that Buzz seems willing to take chances.  I really, really hope his judgment is good and this pans out.

[MR.HAYWARD]

I think we are seeing largely why Buzz was hired, and I assure you, none of this is coming as a surprise to anyone who was responsible for that decision. He clearly is willing to take some chances that his predecessor was not, and there is no reason not to believe that is a large reason he was hired. It was rumored at the time and is bearing fruit now.

All of that being said, until there is a problem, there is no problem. The apparent lack of risk with most of the juco signings has been pretty well documented, so there is no reason to get into that, and as far as this signing goes, he is a player from Africa that has bounced around a bit. Is that in any way rare? No. There are an awful lot of guys named Ndjai or Koshwal, or dare I say Thabeet, Olajuwon, or Mutombo who took long, strange, and unspectacular journeys to D1 scholarships, and have worked out very well.

Just because the last guy, wouldn't or couldn't do the same thing, doesn't mean his way was the right way. Until these guys start screwing up, not graduating, etc., the only thing we can really conclude is that Buzz appears to be getting bigger and better players, and putting together a roster more closely matching those teams that we are expected to compete with.

very well said even the Ousmane BArro jounrhey was filled with trial and tribulatin before landing at MU.  Buzz can recruit and that is how you win in college basketball.  i am simply enjoying the refreshing feeling of not singninng our perennial class of 4 6'6" and under players

[Fullodds]

If we're going to take a chance on a kid, I like the fact that the kid is 7'2" tall. Better than taking a flyer on Niv, Mortenson, Christian, etc.

[ATWizJr]

Well, lets see, the alternative is that Fr. Wilde and the board had no idea that Buzz was going to go out and recruits several Juco's, ytake a couple chances, etc. when they hired him, and he just went out and did it, so for them this is coming completely out of left field. I guess that does make more sense. Wake up man!

Got it.  it's true because you feel strongly that it is. 

[bilsu]

There are two questions to resolve yet.
1) Is Buzz now done recruiting? It had been rumored he was going to sign one or two more players.
2) Where are the scholarship(s) coming from? My guess is if he is still recruiting Liam is gone along with someone else. If it is not Culliban or Aker then you are getting into Buzz recruits. To have O'Tule transfer out will hurt Buzz's standing in Texas, so that is not going to happen. Besides that, if a player was looking to transfer to another school, I think that would have been announced by now. So we are looking at a player who is giving up basketball, which points us to Liam's health question or Culliban going back to Venezuela. There is another possibility and that would be Fulce and his split knee problem. Fulce could stay at MU on a scholarship and no longer be on the basketball team due to medical reasons.

[4everwarriors]

Difficult to speculate, but medical issues seem to be the most logical explanation.

[Hards Alumni]

He has to be done now.

[NavinRJohnson]

Got it.  it's true because you feel strongly that it is. 

Fine. Don't believe it. I care!

[Lennys Tap]

Crean took plenty of chances in Wade, Berkowitz, Mortensen, Kinsella, Barro, Blackledge. From that list, one was awesome; one was solid; two were inconsequential; and two were disasters of epic proportion. Going down the risk road didn't start last April.

Buzz has credit in the casino and he's using it on the roulette table.

You can add Brandon Bell, Carlton Christian and James "Manchild" Matthews to that. The list of Division 1 basketball players who score 1200+ on the SATs and spend their summers building homes for Habitat for Humanity is a short one. Many come from tough neighborhoods, bad schools and broken homes. It's up to the coach to find kids who will take advantage of an opportunity and it's up to the university to provide the support necessary to enable the student/athlete's success. Marquette has fared much better than most in this area for as long as I can remember. I fully expect this to continue under Buzz. In fact, I'm sure Fr. Wild made it clear to Buzz that anything less would be unacceptable.

[Big East Warriors]

All those looking forward to next year raise your hand?

[StillAWarrior]

This is awful sloppy and seems to be a pretty bad translation, but it's info:  http://www.nbadraft.net/players/youssoupha-mbao

Sorry if it was posted before...I hadn't seen it.

[ATWizJr]

Fine. Don't believe it. I care!

Got it. The grapevine and the rumor mill.  Very solid sourcing for one who was bashing posters during the BE tournament for their opinions. 

Thanks.

[yungmufan20]

GAIN SOME WEIGHT.

have him live with me for a couple of weeks he will be probably 275...hahaha

[Stretchdeltsig]

What a huge surprise for Buzz to land a 7'2" center on top of the super six recruits!!!  This has to be the greatest recruiting class of all time!  The 2009-10 team will really be entertaining!!!

[strobl2]

Now I know that over the years we have lacked that dominant big man, and I have complained about it too. But I am kind of uneasy about having so many big men on the roster like someone before said. If you look at the last few championship teams they had excellent guard play, and in my mind guards  win you games not big men. I guess I'm not against having big men but I don't want to give up having great guards on our roster like seasons past. Now that Buzz has his big men and his big men projects I think we really need to focus on our guards.