What the hell is up?

[mu-rara]

I want to start off by throwing out the disclaimer that this is my first time posting, so please be easy on my first few posts...

Anyway as for Reggie Smith leaving the program I agree with a lot of you who said it's not as bad as it seems right now. As many others have pointed out there could be many reasons for his departure (academics, playing time – I think he is averaging around 10, please let me know if that's not right, and/or family pressure.) Also this provides us with another scholarship to offer 1: an incoming freshman, 2: a transfer or 3: a Juco All American. I think that Buzz is a great coach and I believe he is putting together a lot of the right pieces to build a strong program.

However the one concern that I have is the negative publicity that this brings around the program, especially considering it is becoming a reoccurring theme. While I understand that building a sweet 16 caliber team takes time, I am getting sick of seeing only negative things about MU on espn and in national news. So far our losses to Duke, Gonzaga, UW and the Reggie Smith departure are the topics that are discussed on ESPN. The team needs to get a quality win to not only improve their tournament hopes but also improve the image that is being conveyed by this years team. (Now we still have a very positive basketball image based on our history, I am simply referring to this year.) If i learned anything in the 4 years i spent in Johnson Hall it was image is everything an right now ours isn't to good,

Go ahead, feel free to tear the post apart!

I think you'd know after 4 years that the Hall is called Johnston.  I guess it figures that in communications impression is everything, and that is true in the short term.  Longer term, you gotta do the job.

[warthog-driver]

The incident with Hazel would have been forgiven if his last name were Hayward. 

Crean also recruited a number of players who did not leave: Burke, Cubillan, Acker, Hayward, Matthews, McNeal, and James.Let's face two basic facts:
1.  All 10 returning players--including the three that left--knew Buzz as an MU assistant coach.
2.  All  10 returning players had to make the same decision: "Do I want to play for Buzz, or do I want to sit out a year and take a chance somewhere else?" 
While they all may have initially come to MU to play for Crean, that was no longer an option for any of them.  It might be convenient to blame Crean for those who left, but the choice was the same for all 10: stay and play for Buzz, or transfer.  Buzz deserves equal blame and credit for convincing 7 to stay and failing on 3 others.quote]

Joanie tells it like it is...