Would you trade Buzz for Crean?

[KipsBayEagle]

If you were asked to rate Buzz's first 18 months on a scale of 1 to 10, how could anyone give him anything lower then a 9 at least?

[Lennys Tap]

Well, you asked for an honest opinion (and I couldn't use option "c"), and then you blast me for it because you disagree.

I really, really like Buzz's potential. I swear to God that I do.

However, if you are asking me to chose one or the other today, I'm taking Crean because he has proven he can do it at MU.

How about this: If Buzz hadn't signed Blue, I'd still be saying that we need to give him more time to get his players in and make the program his own. I've been saying this for a long time.

I'm sorry that I'm not ready to anoint Buzz as the greatest or fire him for being the worst yet.  

I certainly did not "blast" you. I merely made an innocent joke. I've watched Buzz Williams represent the university that I love for 18+ months with a class, dignity and humility that's not in Tom Crean's DNA. Recruits and their families are evidently seeing the same things. Add that to my view that he coached Crean's own players better than TC did and I'm a believer. You're not. You prefer Crean and will continue to until Buzz passes some "final exam" (I guess in 8 years or so). I totally disagree, but fair enough.

[BaltimoreMC]

I've been waiting to weigh-in on this very topic for a while...I actually think that Buzz is an upgrade.  It was a big risk/bet to hire Buzz, but I think/hope that it will pay off. 

Crean was great for the program - he (and D. Wade) got MU back on the big-time b-ball Map after Dean.  He was great at building excitement and enthusiasm and always was well prepared for games w/ a good game plan.  Also, ran a very clean program as far as I can tell.  But I think his in-game adjustments were THE WORST EVER.  How many close games did MU lose at the end b/c we couldn't execute last second shots (there are too many to list here).  We almost never were on the winning end of close games.  If we needed to get out of our set playlist, we were lost.  So I think that Crean took us as far as he could have, which was great & I'm very thankful for it. 

However, I think that when it's all said & done, Buzz will prove to be a better recruiter and X's & O's coach.  How he turned around the Providence game last year & our success in NCAAs w/o James would have never occurred if Crean was on the sidelines.  And landing players like Blue is HUGE.  I'm very excited for the future and hope everyone doesn't get overly frustrated/critical of this year's team.  Look at the next 1.5 years as pre-season for building the program for an awesome run in late '11/'12 and '12/'13 seasons.  GO MARQUETTE!!!

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I certainly did not "blast" you. I merely made an innocent joke. I've watched Buzz Williams represent the university that I love for 18+ months with a class, dignity and humility that's not in Tom Crean's DNA. Recruits and their families are evidently seeing the same things. Add that to my view that he coached Crean's own players better than TC did and I'm a believer. You're not. You prefer Crean and will continue to until Buzz passes some "final exam" (I guess in 8 years or so). I totally disagree, but fair enough.

I just need to see more. You seem to dislike that, but that's where I'm at.

I LOVE what Buzz has done so far. The team, the program, the marketing, the recruiting, etc. I love it.

However, I'd like to see him do well with his own players and see how he continues to run the program. (first 2 classes have been great).


Also, for perspective, I was never a big Mike Deane fan, but I also wasn't "sold" on TC after his first season. I thought they played hard, and I liked the players he was bringing in, but I wanted to see what he did for 3 years before I could say I was a "fan".

Your Ryan Braun vs Konerko reference earlier was actually an interesting comparison. But, I would argue that Buzz is in AAA right now.

He hasn't even completed a season with his own players, so I'm not ready to predict that he's a future All-Star. I like his chances, but I'm not betting the farm on it.

I really think any coaches "rookie year" is really comprised of his first 3 years on the job. It takes a couple full recruiting classes and some coaching before I can really evaluate is a coach is awesome or terrible.

[Skatastrophy]

Who cares.

Crean turned kids into men and won us basketball games.  His past players like him enough to continue supporting his efforts even though he's switched schools.

Buzz wears his heart on his sleeve.  He seems to be inspiring these young men into growing both physically and emotionally as well as pulling down decent recruiting classes.

These guys aren't measured by what we think of them.  They're measured by what their players think of them and their successes on the court.  I hope that the rest of this discussion is out of boredom instead of actually caring one way or another.