Buzz's record in close games was an issue for the announcers during the game, and Buzz has not been too great at all.
I believe it was now 3-8 by whatever standard they used (3 pts or less, 5 points or less, etc.).
The losses for the most part weren't bad. D-James-less losses at Louisville, Syracuse, Nova at the garden, and Mizzou (effectively no DJ) were by no means chokes and we were really not expected by anyone to win those 4. We have had 4 heart breakers this year that do not need to be re-hashed, but we were probably underdogs in all but NC State. Last year at USF was a bad one. This G-town win this week and others like the Utah State win were nice.
Losing close games might be a function of having a young in-experienced coach. So, with very nuetral intentions, I checked how MU's last coach did in games decided by 5 points or less in his first season as a high major D1 head coach. Way back in 1999, we had significantly less competition, but also probably less talent. Crean did a little better, but not much.
In 2000 we were 4-6:
http://kenpom.com/sked.php?team=Marquette&y=2000&t=p(Im tired so I may have missed one, but you get the gist)
Buzz might have the highest upside of anyone as he learns the savvy of coaching!
