Philly.com article on Newbill

[Pakuni]

This is a complete spin job and red herring. Let's be real. The application did not hinder his acceptance. I don't defend Crean like Chicos does, but this really is sad. Buzz's "kids come first" mantra really seems to ring hollow. What a shame.

Wait ... what? Marquette is in the habit of enrolling kids without them filling out applications and related requirements? News to me, though perhaps I'm not as tied in to the school's admission department as you. Apparently I wasted a lot of time during my senior year of high school.
Look, as I said in another thread, if this were Vander Blue who hadn't met his application requirements, you could bet someone on MU's staff would go to him in person and see that it gets done. DJ Newbill is not Vander Blue, obviously.
That said, I have a hard time generating too much sympathy for a kid who claims MU is his dream school, but couldn't find the time to fill out his application, even after - according to his own version of events - the coaching staff reminded him of it.
Is the lack of application why Newbill isn't coming to Marquette? Almost certainly not. Jamil Wilson's availability is why Newbill isn't coming to Marquette. But the circumstances of the application along with several other things we know at this point would seem to bolster IWB's account that DJ Newbill was not blindsided or unaware that this was a possibility.

[DJO's Pump Fake]

If DJ was made aware of this situation the whole time, which it seems like he was, then hey that's his fault for trying to make orange juice out of lemons.

You can't fault Buzz for telling a kid hey, you can have this but just so you know, you are the last recruit and if someone comes along bigger we will give your scholly to him.  You still wanna sign?

Buzz was more than honest, and DJ wanted to play for a guy like that.

Didn't work out, good luck DJ

Welcome Jamil.....Is anyone else giddy about seeing him play with our new revamped team?

[NavinRJohnson]

No, he wasn't. He was denied admission because, at the last minute, someone decided his grades weren'tr up to snuff. Apparently no one was aware of his grades until late August when MU was in a pinch with not enough scholies for kids who had committed.
Merely a coincidence, no doubt.

"It really didn't," Crean said when asked if Saunders' arrest played any role in his not being admitted to MU. "I was unhappy with it, and I was probably even more unhappy because we were blindsided by it.

"I never really felt, after hearing the different facts in the story, that he really did anything that wrong, except choose to be with the wrong people at the wrong place at the wrong time. To my knowledge, it's already been taken care of. This was totally an academic issue."

http://www.insidewisconsinsports.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=All+Modules&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=63AF775CA3C542DA934155D08C37692C

Well then...apparently Buzz Williams isn't quite the trail blazer to the seedy underbelly of college basketball many here seem to want to believe he is. Seems MU has been in the business of doing things "this way" for a while now.

[StillAWarrior]

I said "his was told to take his time doing the essay."  The quote was "make sure I took my time to do the essay right."

How are those in any way different???

I'm not trying to be nit-picky, but I see a real difference between "take your time" and "take your time to do it right."

In my opinion -- and your opinion certainly may differ -- the first of those means "this is not time sensitive" and the second means "get this right."  That's how I would interpret this if it came from my boss, and that's how I'd want the people who work for me to interpret it if I said that.

As I said, you may disagree. 

[Josey Wales]

Couple things I still don't get.

With classes starting next week, wouldn't you think DJ would have been signed up by now, or at least wondering how/why he wasn't signing up for his classes yet?

Also, what if the DJ camp had refused to sign the release letter (if philly coach's story if true), what would have happened then?

Just a very strange story to say the least.

[Litehouse]

Also, what if the DJ camp had refused to sign the release letter (if philly coach's story if true), what would have happened then?

The NLI is contingent on the player being accepted at the school.  No application, no acceptance, so MU is off the hook and DJ refusing to sign really only hurts himself by limiting his options.

[muvanwilder]

5 months since he committed, almost 3 since he signed.  IIRC, coaches are allowed unlimited contact with signed players.

Good catch, my bad.  Still, isn't it strange they only contacted him once or twice in the 3 month span since he signed?  Seems to me both parties knew about the situation when he signed.  I can't imagine we had that little communication with Vander or J Jones.

[JustinLewisFanClubPres]

This is it for Buzz on getting second chances.  Rookie coach mistakes, but he really needs to learn how he is coming across.  Maybe he was not as clear to Newbill as he needed to be about the prep route and maybe he was not as clear to Maymon about running the offense for him as he needed to be.  

I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly.  Buzz has got to grow and learn as anyone would in his situation but this is a blackeye from the perspective that we'll never really know what happened.  It leaves a bad taste in a lot of our mouths and we are diehard MU fans.  Even if Buzz conditionally offered the scholarship to Newbill, he should've been smart enough to see how this could play out from a PR perspective.  I don't think any of us are D1 college basketball coaches and we could certainly see it was a bad decision.

In addition, if this is the worst case scenario and we did just cut Newbill loose without warning, then Buzz better start producing better results on the court very quickly.    If we want to look at things from the perspective of a Kentucky and the "winning trumps all" mentality, then I want to see us produce at that level.  Buzz is a very good coach and recruiter but I haven't seen enough from him to justify these actions.  It's hard to sell your soul for 1st and 2nd round losses in the NCAA tournament. 

At the end of the day, I'm still confused to who Buzz Williams is as a person and I'm not sure I like the answer I'm getting right now when I try to look at things objectively.  Is he the great person who is looking to do whatever it takes to make his players "men" on and off the court?  Or is he your run-of-the-mill cut throat coach looking out for himself?  Take either perspective from the 2 sides we've heard of this story and here are your options:

1) Buzz was honest and upfront with D.J. but was not able to see the potential backlash in his scholarship offer.

2) Buzz screwed the kid over to have a better team on paper.

Either way, Buzz is not without fault and I'd expect more from someone who represents MU in such a high profile position and makes 6-7 figures. 

[TJ]

Well then...apparently Buzz Williams isn't quite the trail blazer to the seedy underbelly of college basketball many here seem to want to believe he is. Seems MU has been in the business of doing things "this way" for a while now.

That doesn't make it acceptable.

[NavinRJohnson]

This is it for Buzz on getting second chances.  Rookie coach mistakes, but he really needs to learn how he is coming across.  Maybe he was not as clear to Newbill as he needed to be about the prep route and maybe he was not as clear to Maymon about running the offense for him as he needed to be.  

Really?!?!?!? Both of the situations you cite are based on comments by a wannabe coach who was not involved with the kid's recruitment, and was fired because he was too successful, and a certifiable nut in Tim Maymon.

Do you realize how ridiculous that is? Reaching that conclusion necessarily requires that you accept those guys'  versions of things, and completely discount Buzz/MU's version of things (via IWB). Why would you do that?

[Final Four or Bust]

Doesn't anyone think there are more characters involved here? Its sad the DJ was at the center of it, but isn't one of his coaches the advisor for a highly ranked 2011 recruit?  It is very plausible that this deal was done, full well knowing DJ was probably going prep (maybe not to DJ exactly, but to his advisor), for the opportunity that the next player may put MU in his top 5. I'm sure someone related is involved with Rakeem Christmas as well.

I mean...according to this link he's the 30th ranked recruit is Southeastern PA! Where does that put him nationally? Top 500? There is more to this deal then we just offered this kid as a backup plan.
http://prizerecruits.com/profiles/blogs/top-100-basketball-recruits-in

I think this is worth bumping- as I suggested there is more going on here. Why would buzz feel the need to accept a ccontingent nli?  Lots of reasons, asu coach, hs coach, advisoers- other contacs in the area.   Maybe a chance to get in on a kid next year?  Would I be wrong to suggest if this wasn't a kid with ties to powers that be in big city bball buzz wouldn't have accepted nli?  Who knows, maybe we are now out of the running on some of these prospects.  Just speculation here- but I think people need to look further.

[Muhoops85]

So many things about this things said by this kid or this philly coach just do not make sense
It reminds me of that story about the kid out west who had a major div 1 scholarship (for football, I believe) and his school held a pep rally.  The coach said he was never contacted by the college and other things just didn't seem to ring true.  Eventually it came out the kid's scholarship offer was a total fabrication.

Obviously that's not what happened here, but sometimes you read the story and the fact patterns do not just add up.  
Didn't know about the ProAm League
Not on campus yet
No application on file
Little Contact

At this point, wouldn't he contact the school to find out his schedule, determine when he would need to arrive on campus, and make travel arrangements? It's not like he was standing there with his bags packed.  His words may say he thought he was definitely coming to school here, but his actions and inactions say he was not

As to the he said, she said issue . . . after years of managing a group of professionals, even adults hear things the way they want to hear them.  If you lead this project and complete these tasks, you will be promoted becomes you will be promoted.  If someone leaves your staff, they are pretty much free to say whatever they want . . . I was promised a promotion and it never came through . . when in fact, they were promised a promotion based on taking on additional responsibilities.  They can say almost anything, while you can say nothing.

[MUfan12]

Another aspect of this that needs exploring is this-

If things did in fact go down as IWB said, does anyone really expect DJ, or his camp to say "Yeah, I knew the situation. I took a gamble and it didn't work out."

Hell no. That's not a story. That's not gonna keep his name out there.

My point is that things could have gone down either way, and the quotes would be the same.

[CrazyEcho]

So many things about this things said by this kid or this philly coach just do not make sense
It reminds me of that story about the kid out west who had a major div 1 scholarship (for football, I believe) and his school held a pep rally.  The coach said he was never contacted by the college and other things just didn't seem to ring true.  Eventually it came out the kid's scholarship offer was a total fabrication.

Obviously that's not what happened here, but sometimes you read the story and the fact patterns do not just add up.  
Didn't know about the ProAm League
Not on campus yet
No application on file
Little Contact

I thought of exactly the same thing. 

[JustinLewisFanClubPres]

Another aspect of this that needs exploring is this-

If things did in fact go down as IWB said, does anyone really expect DJ, or his camp to say "Yeah, I knew the situation. I took a gamble and it didn't work out."

Hell no. That's not a story. That's not gonna keep his name out there.

My point is that things could have gone down either way, and the quotes would be the same.

You're absolutely right about this but Buzz and staff should have seen it coming if the situation was going to play out as it did.  Buzz does not deserve a pass on this regardless of how it happened and what his intentions were.

[Pakuni]

You're absolutely right about this but Buzz and staff should have seen it coming if the situation was going to play out as it did.  Buzz does not deserve a pass on this regardless of how it happened and what his intentions were.

Agreed. It was a poor way to conduct business, and hopefully it won't happen again.
That said, a poor way to conduct is business is not the same as an unethical/immoral way to conduct business, as some here are claiming occurred here.

[Ready2Fly]

I'd rather have a coach that makes some occasional PR mistakes but recruits like a bat out of hell and maximizes the talent on the court than a coach that is a PR maestro but a hit or miss recruiter and a questionable game coach.

There is nothing unethical with what transpired.  There are some hurt feelings, but they will blow over and life will move on.  Marquette is a better basketball team because of this, and the only people who will even remember what transpired in a month are Badger message board losers.  If you can't handle a Badger message board loser needling you, you have a sad life.

[GOMU1104]

I thought Brad Forster was going to have the exclusive?

[RJax55]

I thought Brad Forster was going to have the exclusive?

He stated it was coming on Friday.

[Litehouse]

The more I think of this Brad Forster exclusive, the more I think it's a bad idea.  I just don't see how any good can come from this on either side.  Going straight to the media with problems certainly isn't going to help DJ in the eyes of potential schools, like Drexel, LaSalle or Temple.  Other schools won't want their dirty laundry aired in public either if the situation ever arises.  If DJ and his people want to talk about this publicly, they should at least wait until he has something else lined up.  It certainly won't help MU, even if he acknowledges IWB's version of the story, having a kid sign a conditional NLI still doesn't look good.  The only thing it helps are people like Badger fans that want more ammunition to take a shots MU.

[reinko]

The more I think of this Brad Forster exclusive, the more I think it's a bad idea.  I just don't see how any good can come from this on either side.  Going straight to the media with problems certainly isn't going to help DJ in the eyes of potential schools, like Drexel, LaSalle or Temple.  Other schools won't want their dirty laundry aired in public either if the situation ever arises.  If DJ and his people want to talk about this publicly, they should at least wait until he has something else lined up.  It certainly won't help MU, even if he acknowledges IWB's version of the story, having a kid sign a conditional NLI still doesn't look good.  The only thing it helps are people like Badger fans that want more ammunition to take a shots MU.

Ding ding ding ding ding.  Tell 'em what he has won.

[martyconlonontherun]

If he didn't bother to do the essay, how was he going to do in the classroom?

Did you even go to college? I don't think I ever finished an essay more than 4 hours before it was due and I was an honor student at Marquette. I'm sure if a teacher told you to take your time and work hard on it, you would turn it in the next day not even knowing when its due. He's an 18 year old kid, are you really surprised he would fill out the app and wait for the essay at the last minute?

"I hadn't talked with them in a long time," Newbill said. "Just once or twice since I signed. Then coach Monarch called me maybe 2 weeks ago, talking about the essay and telling me to make sure I took my time to do it right, because it was going to be important. It was going to be why I wanted to go there. How I'd better myself. That kind of stuff.

"I talked to him again [Tuesday]. He didn't say anything about [cutting ties]. That came later when he talked to Stan."
This also looks bad if Buzz really wasn't the one to call.

[Litehouse]

I also fear DJ could embarass himself with this "exclusive interview".  People just have a tendency to say foolish things when a microphone is in their face.  It happens all the time with pro athletes, celebrities, politicians, and business leaders, and those people are formally prepared for those types of situations.  DJ is still just a high school kid and he probably hasn't dealt with much notariety in his recruitment until now.  He's not going to look like a well-polished PR man in this interview, and it could possibly cover some uncomfortable subject matter.  Throw an amateur interviewer into the mix, and this ain't exactly gonna be 60 Minutes.

I don't know what his advisers are telling him, but DJ needs to keep his head down and find a school first before he gets involved with this kind of stuff.  This is going straight to the Internet for everyone to see, warts and all.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Another aspect of this that needs exploring is this-

If things did in fact go down as IWB said, does anyone really expect DJ, or his camp to say "Yeah, I knew the situation. I took a gamble and it didn't work out."

Hell no. That's not a story. That's not gonna keep his name out there.

My point is that things could have gone down either way, and the quotes would be the same.

I'm torn on this one.

I see how/why MU could potentially use IWB as their voice (not saying that is what is happening, just saying I see how that could work).

I'm not sure I see how the coach and DJ saying this stuff "helps" them. I understand it keeps his name out there, but this isn't hollywood. Another school is going to sign him because they think he can play, not because his name is in the paper.

For the record, I have no idea who/what to believe, but it's pretty obvious that both sides are attempting to present themselves in the best light possible. The truth is most likely in the middle.

[MUSF]

Really?!?!?!? Both of the situations you cite are based on comments by a wannabe coach who was not involved with the kid's recruitment, and was fired because he was too successful, and a certifiable nut in Tim Maymon.

Do you realize how ridiculous that is? Reaching that conclusion necessarily requires that you accept those guys'  versions of things, and completely discount Buzz/MU's version of things (via IWB). Why would you do that?

It's not necessarily about taking sides.

At best, Buzz and staff are not communicating "their side" effectively enough.  This makes at least three different parties that feel like they were mislead or lied to by the MU staff.  That is a problem.