Here We Go Again ... Breathless Media Reports That Buzz Is Leaving For Texas A&M

[NersEllenson]

84 - You continue to just get more ridiculous.  You say I need to take my emotions out of things?  Really??  People here call you Joanie Crean - due to your complete love fest and obsession with Tom Crean. So this Years Sweet 16 team was due to lucky matchups in Xavier and Syracuse?  Okay - what else can you do to take away from Buzz Williams teams?

Buzz is in Year 3.  Period.  Give the guy 9 years at MU like his predecessor and VERY confident he'll have more NCAA tourney wins, more consistent deep runs, and most likely a Final Four.  The reality is that TC has won 1 NCAA tourney game in an 11 year head coaching career without D-Wade (An all-world caliber talent)

As for Missouri vs Stanford - I believe both were 3 seeds - so thought of equally by the committee. Stanford was NOT athletic, and only went 7 deep.  Poor guard play.  Mizzou was 11 deep, long, athletic, and their bigs were equally skilled as the Lopez twins.  Keep in mind Buzz didn't have the luxury of having Dominic James to play against Mizzou - yet Crean had his whole lineup together against Stanford and couldn't get it done.

And as for our future under Buzz Williams, if you'd like to wager on this upcoming season - I'd be happy to bet that we won't be a 9th place finisher in the Big East - as you seem so concerned with.  I see a lot of Top 5 finishees on teh horizon under Buzz.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Buzz is in Year 3.  Period.  Give the guy 9 years at MU like his predecessor and VERY confident he'll have more NCAA tourney wins, more consistent deep runs, and most likely a Final Four.  The reality is that TC has won 1 NCAA tourney game in an 11 year head coaching career without D-Wade (An all-world caliber talent)

Probably...then again....make him start with a team that isn't even in the NIT and see what happens.  You continue to compare apples to snails and I don't know why.  The reality is that Buzz Williams has won zero games in the NCAA tournament without future NBA players.  Guess what, great players help to win games in the NCAA tournament.  Let's switch the argument, somehow WITHOUT Dwyane Wade Crean was able to never finish worse than 5th in the Big East....yet someone else managed to not accomplish that feat already.  See, we can play these games all you want.

At the end of the day, comparing the two is stupid.  One took over a team that wasn't even in the NIT and had to rebuild it, played in CUSA, had the Old Gym to practice in, had about 10,000 people attending games, etc.  The other started with someone a little shinier, a little nicer....thus your comparisons are ridiculous

[ChicosBailBonds]

Certainly top heavy in 2009, but the conference only (relatively speaking) sent seven teams to the dance.

Yup, but there were also fewer NCAA teams in general back then going to the tournament (less bids), the quality of college basketball stronger, etc.  

If someone can show me where any real expert, college basketball analyst stated the Big East this past year was the greatest single conference in history, I'll bite.  In 2009, you can find about 30 experts saying that.

[tower912]

Probably...then again....make him start with a team that isn't even in the NIT and see what happens.  You continue to compare apples to snails and I don't know why.  The reality is that Buzz Williams has won zero games in the NCAA tournament without future NBA players.  Guess what, great players help to win games in the NCAA tournament.  Let's switch the argument, somehow WITHOUT Dwyane Wade Crean was able to never finish worse than 5th in the Big East....yet someone else managed to not accomplish that feat already.  See, we can play these games all you want.

At the end of the day, comparing the two is stupid.  One took over a team that wasn't even in the NIT and had to rebuild it, played in CUSA, had the Old Gym to practice in, had about 10,000 people attending games, etc.  The other started with someone a little shinier, a little nicer....thus your comparisons are ridiculous

Post wade, Crean managed to go to the NIT twice with two future NBA players on his team.   He managed to lose in the first round with 3.   He got to the second round with4.   And he couldn't do well enough in CUSA with two NBA players.      If Buzz goes to the NIT in years 5 and 6 with all of his own players, two of whom will be in the NBA, will you defend him as strongly  7 years later?

[Marquette84]

84 - You continue to just get more ridiculous.  You say I need to take my emotions out of things?  Really??  People here call you Joanie Crean - due to your complete love fest and obsession with Tom Crean.

Clearly I overestimated your willingness and ability to engage in adult discussion.  When your best response is to go childish with the namecalling and personal attacks, I think it says a lot about you.

So this Years Sweet 16 team was due to lucky matchups in Xavier and Syracuse?  Okay - what else can you do to take away from Buzz Williams teams?

Yes!  For God's sake, how can look at potential 6 seed potential opponents--Xavier, Cincinnati, St. Johns, and Georgetown--and NOT say that we got the lucky draw?  All three of the other 6 seeds soundly defeated us--two of them at home.   And we can easily compare Cincy to Xavier--Cincy won the head to head matchup by 20 points!

So, HELL YES we got a lucky draw. I would take Xavier as an opponent any day of the week as opposed to GU, Cincy or SJU.  Any day of the week.  And I suspect that every other MU fan as well.

Buzz is in Year 3.  Period.  Give the guy 9 years at MU like his predecessor and VERY confident he'll have more NCAA tourney wins, more consistent deep runs, and most likely a Final Four.

Well he damn well should.  He didn't have to rebuild from a losing program, he didn't have to deal with recruiting into CUSA, and in his 3rd year received a contract that places him among the nation's elite coaches taking away any argument that other programs would hire him away.

As for Missouri vs Stanford - I believe both were 3 seeds  so thought of equally by the committee. Stanford was NOT athletic, and only went 7 deep.  Poor guard play.  Mizzou was 11 deep, long, athletic, and their bigs were equally skilled as the Lopez twins.  Keep in mind Buzz didn't have the luxury of having Dominic James to play against Mizzou - yet Crean had his whole lineup together against Stanford and couldn't get it done.

So what if they were both 3 seeds? As I pointed out above, there can be a huge difference at the same seed line--head-to-head Cincy was 20 points better than Xavier even though they were the same seed.

Stanford had poor guard play?  What do you base that on?  I see that Stanford was slightly better than us on A/T ratio (1.2 compared to 1.1), nearly tied us in assists (14.6 APG compared to our 14.7), and they protected the ball better (only 12.3 TO's per game compared to MU's 12.9).   In other words--they neutralized OUR biggest advantage, and their biggest strength played directly against our weakness.

Atleticism?  So what?  If the more athletic team always wins, how do you explain our 15 losses?  We should have been undefeated. 

And unless I missed two lottery picks out of Mizzou in the 2009 NBA draft (and there weren't), your claim that Missouri's bigs were equally skilled as the Lopez twins isn't supportable. 

Meanwhile, in 2009 we were every bit as long and athletic as Missouri was--neutralizing that advantage. And you must have forgotten that Buzz had the luxury of Acker coming off the bench--and didn't have to face a nightmare matchup with two 7-footers.

BTW, against MU Stanford played 8 players at least 10 minutes each--same as Missouri.  The "depth" you talk about amounts to two deep bench players from Missouri getting token minutes with no points, no attempts, no FTs.

And as for our future under Buzz Williams, if you'd like to wager on this upcoming season - I'd be happy to bet that we won't be a 9th place finisher in the Big East - as you seem so concerned with.  I see a lot of Top 5 finishees on teh horizon under Buzz.

Well, we shouldn't have been a ninth place team this year either.

In fact, you said so at the start of the year, predicting a fifth place finish--just as I did.

We were arguably more talented that Cincy, St. Johns, and Seton Hall at a bare minimum. We were far more athletic than ND and should have easily beat them after blowing them out at home.  We simply should not have fallen to 9th place.

[NersEllenson]

84 - Why are so hell bent on defending Tom Crean's teams?  What's the deal?  And did you really bring up the fact Acker was coming off the bench against Mizzou??  Dominic James played what - 5 minutes in that game -and him playing was more symbolic than anything?  Pretty sure the 2009 team was about 6.5 players deep at the end of the season.

But since you are so hell bent on defending the Crean legacy - what is your take on his 3 Top 6 Big East finishes that led to 2 first round NCAA tourney defeats in 3 tries?  What is your take on the fact TC won 1 NCAA tourney game in his now 11 year head coaching career without Dwyane Wade?  How do you reconcile that we went from a Final Four team to an NIT first round loser the next year when we returned the entire Final Four team except D-WAde and RJax...and had 2 NBA players in Diener and Novak?

We can agree that Crean did a very good job turning the program around from what he inherited - and for that I'll always be grateful.  But to contiunue to herald him when he bolted on MU and his Big 3 going into their senior seasons - and the way in which the news broke - while continuing to downplay the accomplishments of Buzz is extremely disingenious.  Tom Crean's biggest contribution to MU very likely will be bringing Buzz Williams to MKE - he deserves a lot of credit for that too.

[4everwarriors]

Seriously, his best move was to get the hell out of town since it was clear he thought he was superior to us here and was just threading water while building his resume.

[Lennys Tap]

Clearly I overestimated your willingness and ability to engage in adult discussion.  When your best response is to go childish with the namecalling and personal attacks, I think it says a lot about you.

Thank God you're above namecalling and personal attacks. Guess looking down your nose at someone as you call him childish is a compliment in your world. Too funny.

[MerrittsMustache]

10-12 times?

A simple search shows I've said it three times with one simply a rehash of what other students will say based on other boards, but facts were never your strong point.

By all means, do the search yourself....it's not hard or frightening, I promise

Some things never change. How many times are you going to go back to your literal interpretation well? Every time you do it, it makes you seem more and more petty. Most intelligent people would realize when someone is clearly exaggerating to make a point. For example, if it was a hot day and someone said, "It's a million degrees outside," would you think that they truly believe the temperature to be 1,000,000? Probably not...although it wouldn't surprise me if you tried to start a debate with that person given the unhealthy desire for attention that you display on these boards.

[Marquette84]

84 - Why are so hell bent on defending Tom Crean's teams?  What's the deal? 

Probably because you're so hell bent on attacking them. 

And did you really bring up the fact Acker was coming off the bench against Mizzou??  Dominic James played what - 5 minutes in that game -and him playing was more symbolic than anything?  Pretty sure the 2009 team was about 6.5 players deep at the end of the season.

I can see where you may have drawn that conclusion.  My point, however, was that we had a damn fine PG to come off the bench for the final 8 games of the season. Very few point guards would have put up a 2:1 A/T ratio against that competition.  I'm tired of you crapping all over Acker for no other reason that he was Crean's recruit.  He proved himself more than worthy in those last 8 games in 2009 and throughout 2010.

But since you are so hell bent on defending the Crean legacy - what is your take on his 3 Top 6 Big East finishes that led to 2 first round NCAA tourney defeats in 3 tries? 

I was pleased with our regular season performance, and disappointed we didn't go further in the tournament.  I'm disappointed that McNeal was injured in 2007 (just as I'm disappointed James was injured in 2009).  I'm disappointed that Lopez hit an incredible shot in 2008-just as i'm disappointed that Poindexter did the same in 2010.

What is your take on the fact TC won 1 NCAA tourney game in his now 11 year head coaching career without Dwyane Wade? 

My take is that making the Final Four makes up for the disappointment of McNeal's injury in 2007, Lopez' impossible buzzer beater in 2008, Diener's injury in 2005, Novak's missed wide open 3 in 2006, and even the NIT followup to the NCAA in 2004.

How do you reconcile that we went from a Final Four team to an NIT first round loser the next year when we returned the entire Final Four team except D-WAde and RJax...and had 2 NBA players in Diener and Novak?

I reconcile it based on the fact that we went to a Final Four.

We can agree that Crean did a very good job turning the program around from what he inherited - and for that I'll always be grateful. 

I'd hate you see you when you're not grateful.

But to contiunue to herald him when he bolted on MU and his Big 3 going into their senior seasons - and the way in which the news broke - while continuing to downplay the accomplishments of Buzz is extremely disingenious.

Crean left MU for Indiana.  Buzz left UNO for Marquette.  Coaches leave all the time.  It happens. 

Both coaches left their teams for another career opportunity, leaving players behind.

I'm not criticizing Buzz for leaving UNO--he saw a better career opportunity and took it.  Can't blame him.  It was a benefit to MU. It would be hypocritical to turn around criticize Crean for doing the same thing. 

  Tom Crean's biggest contribution to MU very likely will be bringing Buzz Williams to MKE - he deserves a lot of credit for that too.

I think the legacy would have to be 1) the final four; 2) recruiting great players like Wade, Diener, Novak, McNeal, Matthews, Hayward, James 3) leading us into the Big East 4) getting the Al built and 5) hiring Buzz--in that order.

[ChicosBailBonds]

As for Missouri vs Stanford - I believe both were 3 seeds - so thought of equally by the committee. Stanford was NOT athletic, and only went 7 deep.  Poor guard play.  Mizzou was 11 deep, long, athletic, and their bigs were equally skilled as the Lopez twins.  Keep in mind Buzz didn't have the luxury of having Dominic James to play against Mizzou - yet Crean had his whole lineup together against Stanford and couldn't get it done.

Were you the kid that didn't have to take logic at MU but they let graduate anyway?   


So a 3 seed in one year is the same as a 3 seed in another year....that's what you are saying because they are "thought of equally".  WOW.  I mean, WOW!!   Uhm, the committee this year doesn't give a bum's ass what seed some team was 3 or 6 or 18 years ago, nor are they comparing them against one another.  The committee seeds teams based on THIS YEAR vs the teams that played THIS YEAR.

In other words, by your logic, all #1 seeds are the same year to year to year.  Same quality, same acumen, same ability, etc. Come on ners.  Save yourself before you really get hung to drive on this one.

[VegasWarrior77]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/aggies/entries/2011/05/14/aggies_closing_in_on_their_coa.html

Aggies closing in on their coach

By Randy Riggs | Saturday, May 14, 2011, 04:28 PM

It appears the Aggies' search for their new men's basketball coach is down to two men — Billy Kennedy of Murray State and Ben Jacobson of Northern Iowa.

A&M athletic director Bill Byrne met with Kennedy early Saturday at an out-of-state location. And Texags.com's Billy Liucci is reporting Byrne is scheduled to meet tonight with Jacobson in Fargo, N.D., near Jacobson's hometown.

Northern Iowa athletic director Troy Dannen told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that, "I'm aware of A&M's interest in Jake (Jacobson), and Jake and I have talked about the position over the past several days."

After flirtations early in the search for Mark Turgeon's successor with Marquette's Buzz Williams and NBA coaching veteran Jeff Van Gundy, the Aggies appear to have honed in on two mid-major coaches who have enjoyed considerable success, especially in recent seasons.

Kennedy, 47, recently completed his fifth season at Murray State. An assistant at A&M in 1990-91 under Kermit Davis, he has guided the Racers to consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles, and recently received a raise and one-year extension on his contract after a 23-9 record. In 2009-10, the Racers were 31-5. They upset Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA tournament and lost to eventual national finalist Butler by two points in the second round.

Jacobson, 40, has coached UNI for five years, getting promoted to the head-coaching spot when Greg McDermott left for Iowa State. He's posted a 109-56 mark, highlighted by a 30-4 record two years ago when the Panthers reached the Sweet 16 after a first-round upset of Kansas.

[Jay Bee]

Come on ners.  Save yourself before you really get hung to drive on this one.

Since you've taken yet another thread far off topic, can you learn me some of that there vocabulary of yours? 

[Lennys Tap]

Were you the kid that didn't have to take logic at MU but they let graduate anyway?   


So a 3 seed in one year is the same as a 3 seed in another year....that's what you are saying because they are "thought of equally".  WOW.  I mean, WOW!!   Uhm, the committee this year doesn't give a bum's ass what seed some team was 3 or 6 or 18 years ago, nor are they comparing them against one another.  The committee seeds teams based on THIS YEAR vs the teams that played THIS YEAR.

In other words, by your logic, all #1 seeds are the same year to year to year.  Same quality, same acumen, same ability, etc. Come on ners.  Save yourself before you really get hung to drive on this one.

Your right that #3 seeds aren't all created equal. The Missouri team that beat Buzz's boys in 2009 was much better than the Stanford team that beat TC's team in 2008 and they proved it in the tournament. After beating MU, Missouri routed #2 seeded Memphis before losing a close one to #1 seeded UCONN. Post MU, Stanford was annihilated by #2 seeded Texas (by 20). Texas was subsequently crushed by #1 seeded Memphis by 19.

[NersEllenson]

Probably...then again....make him start with a team that isn't even in the NIT and see what happens.  You continue to compare apples to snails and I don't know why.  The reality is that Buzz Williams has won zero games in the NCAA tournament without future NBA players.  Guess what, great players help to win games in the NCAA tournament.  Let's switch the argument, somehow WITHOUT Dwyane Wade Crean was able to never finish worse than 5th in the Big East....yet someone else managed to not accomplish that feat already.  See, we can play these games all you want.

At the end of the day, comparing the two is stupid.  One took over a team that wasn't even in the NIT and had to rebuild it, played in CUSA, had the Old Gym to practice in, had about 10,000 people attending games, etc.  The other started with someone a little shinier, a little nicer....thus your comparisons are ridiculous

Tower - Thank you very much your below reply to the above garbage.  Chico's any reason why chose to ignore answering the questions Tower posed??  (Wait, I think I know, because there is no logical explanation - yet I'm illogical by pointing out we actually beat a 3 seed in the NCAA tourney this year..which 84 wants to dismiss as being an insignificant accomplishment because Syracuse was a "bad" 3 seed??)

Post wade, Crean managed to go to the NIT twice with two future NBA players on his team.   He managed to lose in the first round with 3.   He got to the second round with4.   And he couldn't do well enough in CUSA with two NBA players.      If Buzz goes to the NIT in years 5 and 6 with all of his own players, two of whom will be in the NBA, will you defend him as strongly  7 years later?

[warthog-driver]

Personally, I'll take a Final Four over a Sweet 16.

Once again Joanie lays it on the line and tells it like it is!

[warthog-driver]

At the end of the day, comparing the two is stupid.  One took over a team that wasn't even in the NIT and had to rebuild it, played in CUSA, had the Old Gym to practice in, had about 10,000 people attending games, etc.  The other started with someone a little shinier, a little nicer....thus your comparisons are ridiculous

C'mon Cheek, the shameful manner of Tanned Tommy's departure sent recruits scurrying, players thought of bailing, and staff running for cover. Buzz did not inherit Tiffany cuff links. He had to eat a shyte sandwich first. He has ultimately crapped out some Tiffany's but The Bronzed Beast left him a program in shambles.

May Tanned Tommy burn in Hades.

[Marquette84]

Your right that #3 seeds aren't all created equal. The Missouri team that beat Buzz's boys in 2009 was much better than the Stanford team that beat TC's team in 2008 and they proved it in the tournament. After beating MU, Missouri routed #2 seeded Memphis before losing a close one to #1 seeded UCONN. Post MU, Stanford was annihilated by #2 seeded Texas (by 20). Texas was subsequently crushed by #1 seeded Memphis by 19.

I'm not sure I would say they were much better.  Stanford was 14th in the 2008 RPI, Missouri 10th in 2009.  That's pretty close to a crap shoot.  

I don't know whether 2008 Stanford would beat 2009 Missouri.  Missouri lost a number of games to teams they were supposedly "better" than--Nebraska, Illinois, Xavier, Kansas State, Texas A&M.  

I guess my view is that if merely decent inside play from guys with size like Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale can neutralize Missouri's DeMarre Carroll (average 16.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg) to just 6 points and 1 rebound on any given day, then I believe the Lopez twins might have been able to do the same.

Finally, I hardly believe that one game (ie. ", Stanford was annihilated by Texas by 20) can be used by itself as a benchmark.  For example, we annihilated Notre Dame by 22.  A couple weeks later, we lost to the same team by 5.  Later we nearly knocked off Louisville, losing by 1.  A few weeks later, we were annihilated by the same team by 25.

Tower - Thank you very much your below reply to the above garbage.  Chico's any reason why chose to ignore answering the questions Tower posed??  (Wait, I think I know, because there is no logical explanation - yet I'm illogical by pointing out we actually beat a 3 seed in the NCAA tourney this year..which 84 wants to dismiss as being an insignificant accomplishment because Syracuse was a "bad" 3 seed??)

I didn't say that Syracuse was a "bad" 3 seed.  I said it was a very favorable matchup for us in that we beat them earlier in the year.

Perhaps you would like to make the argument that you would have rather faced BYU--5th in the nation in 3 pointers made.  Wow, that would be smart--given that we ranked 254th nationally (and 15th in the BE) on defending the 3 point shot.  

Or perhaps you would have rather faced UConn--who would have had Calhoun back on the bench calling the shots rather than George Blainey.

Post wade, Crean managed to go to the NIT twice with two future NBA players on his team.   He managed to lose in the first round with 3.   He got to the second round with4.   And he couldn't do well enough in CUSA with two NBA players.      If Buzz goes to the NIT in years 5 and 6 with all of his own players, two of whom will be in the NBA, will you defend him as strongly  7 years later?

I promise that if Buzz recruits a player like Wade and reaches a Final Four, I won't crap on him the way you crap on Crean.

[NersEllenson]

I didn't say that Syracuse was a "bad" 3 seed.  I said it was a very favorable matchup for us in that we beat them earlier in the year.

I promise that if Buzz recruits a player like Wade and reaches a Final Four, I won't crap on him the way you crap on Crean.

So by virtue of beating a team earlier in the year (that was ranked most of the season in the Top 15), that makes for a "very favorable matchup?"

As for crapping on Crean - I've long appreciated the job he did at Marquette - but your (and Chicos)continued belittling of the accomplishments of the teams under Buzz...results in the endless Crean vs Buzz threads.  The day you stop belittling what the teams under our CURRENT coach accomplish, is the day I'll stop crapping on Tom Crean.

[Pakuni]

I guess my view is that if merely decent inside play from guys with size like Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale can neutralize Missouri's DeMarre Carroll (average 16.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg) to just 6 points and 1 rebound on any given day, then I believe the Lopez twins might have been able to do the same.

Should one game - in this case Carroll's against Illinois - be used by itself as a benchmark?

Finally, I hardly believe that one game (ie. ", Stanford was annihilated by Texas by 20) can be used by itself as a benchmark.

Good answer.

[muball]

Recruit a guy like Wade and u will stop knocking Buzz. Well Crean picked up Wade and when he did no one even Crean had any idea how good he would be as he blewup late.  Wasnt that Crean out recruited everyone, case of filling a spot with what was to be a good player.  Major schools were not after Wade and MU was fortunate and took a risk and it turned out into a miracle. One of top 5 players in the world and chances of Buzz getting lucky and landing a late bloomer without competition is unlikely. 

[GGGG]

C'mon Cheek, the shameful manner of Tanned Tommy's departure sent recruits scurrying,

Don't exagerate.  Two (of four) recruits left...and none because of *how* he left.  (Considering one of them followed him to Indiana.)

[Marquette84]

As for crapping on Crean - I've long appreciated the job he did at Marquette - but your (and Chicos)continued belittling of the accomplishments of the teams under Buzz...results in the endless Crean vs Buzz threads.  The day you stop belittling what the teams under our CURRENT coach accomplish, is the day I'll stop crapping on Tom Crean.

Lets keep in mind that YOU are the one who keeps introducing Crean into these threads:
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=26980.msg304949#msg304949

My initial point (in another thread) was that we had too much talent to lose 15 games this past year.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=26973.msg304584#msg304584

For some reason, you seem to think that the inconsistent play of our 2011 team is somehow tied to the NCAA record of a coach who left three years ago.

As I see it, there are three choices here:  Either you think we completely deserved the Sweet 16--which means that we shouldn't have lost 15 games.  Or our talent was consistent with a .500 league team, and we got lucky to get as far as we did.  Or some combination of those two.

I think its a combination--I think with our talent we should have beaten St. Johns and Cincy at home--and taken Seton Hall on the road.  That gives us a 12-6 record--tied for 3rd with Syracuse and Lousiville. 

Of course, neither of those are 100% positive for Buzz--which probably explains why you'd rather change the subject to Crean's NCAA record.

So how about discussing--without mentioning Crean--the inconsistency of the 2011 team.  

If we had finished 3rd or 4th in conference, then made the Sweet 16--I could see a valid argument that we played the season to our talent and made the Sweet 16 without the benefit of luck or favorable matchups.

But as I see it, 15 losses and a 9th place finish is not consistent with the talent level we had.

[Pakuni]

If we had finished 3rd or 4th in conference, then made the Sweet 16--I could see a valid argument that we played the season to our talent and made the Sweet 16 without the benefit of luck or favorable matchups.

But as I see it, 15 losses and a 9th place finish is not consistent with the talent level we had.

This must explain the rioting in Storrs after UConn won the title. Fans were angry that their team's 9th place conference finish was not consistent with the talent level they had. Which clearly means they went on to a national championship with the benefit of luck or favorable matchups (including a second-round matchup against a team they'd already beaten and then a game with an 8 seed for the title).

[avid1010]

This must explain the rioting in Storrs after UConn won the title. Fans were angry that their team's 9th place conference finish was not consistent with the talent level they had. Which clearly means they went on to a national championship with the benefit of luck or favorable matchups (including a second-round matchup against a team they'd already beaten and then a game with an 8 seed for the title).

Correct, clearly MU84 knows more than all the BEAST coaches that talk about how good the top 10 or so teams are in the league.  The difference between finishing 3-4 in the BEAST or finishing 8-9 is so minimal, and ultimately the great thing about the BEAST is that it prepares you for the tourney.  Unless we win the BEAST, I don't really care where we finishin in it, as long as we're in the tourney.  I'd rather finish 10th and make the Sweet 16 than finish 3rd and exit in the first round.  MU is drawing good crowds and they're making some decent $$ with tourney wins.  I'm happy with that.