Expectations for this season

[Marqus Howard]

If his year at Oregon was last year, I would agree.  A year in the program, though, makes a huge difference.

Not only that, but his less than stellar season came as a freshman. As was said previously, "Freshman will be freshman."

[mu_hilltopper]

Haven't done the research, but I believe Jamil's numbers as a Freshman at Oregon were very similar to Jimmy's as a sophomore at MU.

Easy enough to compare..

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?add=jamil-wilson&jimmy-butler=2008-2009&p1=jimmy-butler

Jimmy's offense was significantly better than Jamil's in every category, points, FG%, Mins, eFG, FTR, Steals .. Jamil turned it over 2x Jimmy's rate.

JFB only slightly better on .. ORebs and  Jamil wins DRebs.

Jamil ended up mostly riding the pine the last 10-12 games of the year on his team.  Jimmy's sophomore year, he was increasing his minutes .. 26 .. 38 .. 30 .. 25 .. 30.

In conclusion .. I would LOVE for Jamil to be as great as JFB.    What's in the books does not indicate that future, but hey, hope springs eternal.

[bilsu]

I expect Wilson to have a better year than Butler did as a sophomore. I do not expect him as a sophomore to be as good as Jimmy was as a senior. Assuming nothing goes wrong this will be a very good team. However, at this time of summer this team is not as good as Buzz's first team was at the same time. While that team finished 25-10 it took several hits. Mbakwe jumped ship just before season stated. Otule broke his foot. Fulce split his knee. Hazel got benched. James broke his foot. Even McMorrow our red shirt player broke his foot. Also, Cullibian could not shoot as he still was recovering from double shoulder surgery.

Ignoring multiple positions-preseason comparison would be

C Otule, Gardner vs Burke, Otule
PF Crowder, Anderson vs Hayward, Mbakwee, Hazel
SF Wilson, Jones vs Matthews, Fulce, Butler
2G DJO, Mayo vs McNeal, Culliban
PG Cadougan, Blue, Wilson vs James, Acker

Eligible walk-on ? vs Frosena
ineligible transfers Thomas vs McMorrow

Buzz's first team had more talent and more experience.
Buzz's first team stronger at PF, SF PG
Current team stronger at center
I will argue current team stronger at 2g as I saw McNeal as a me type player. However, he ended up having a great senior season. Remember this comparison is based on preseason expectations and not actual results.

[mr.MUskie]

This is the first time in a number of seasons where the high expectations (from others) have really surprised me.  

Certainly, we had a great weekend in the NCAAs, and it seems to have made a lot of people forget the hot and cold season we'd had ..  that at one point seemed likely to end with an NIT bid.   The only thing consistent about our game last year is that we could easily lose 3 in a row or win the same 3.

We lost an NBA first rounder, plus another starter .. last years' guys will be a bit better .. freshmen will be freshmen.  I think we'll be a game or two better than last year, win 10 or 11.    

The post-season will remain the constant crap-shoot MU knows too well, with the time-tested slogan: It All Depends On Matchups.  Could go one and out, could win 2-3.

Really surprises me that others think it that next year will be much better than that .. just do not see it.

This.

[karavotsos]

I am excited about Marquette's athleticism and verstality combined with Buzz's philosophy.  I guess my question at this point is how Buzz manages and how the players perform.

Right now defensively I would be most excited to see a defensive team with the core defensive players being Blue, Wilson and Anderson.  I would want that length and speed to attack teams defensively.  Then you put a center like Otule blocking shots  or even Crowder and ideally DJO at point, defensively.  You could have a defense that extends far on the court is athletic and can help and recover.  Use the defense as a weapon.  You have the athleticism with that team to really pressure a team and score points off defense.

If a team like that is put in a half-court offensive situation, who can score?  DJO.  Maybe Wilson.

Then offensively you need either Cadougan or Wilson on the floor to run it.  You would rather have Gardner than Otule, probably.  You still have questions with who can shoot the three point shot and who can create their own shot.  Teams just stuffing the lane.  Buzz is not the guy just to keep Jones or Mayo out there just to shoot threes because they can.  This team will not have a David Diggs.

I think it comes down to who works hardest to become good at what they are not good at.  Who improves to become a two way player.  I am optimistic because I believe your ceiling depends upon your athleticism and MU should have that.  Floor depends on intelligence and guts and, based on BUzz's previous teams, MU should have those.  Chemistry.  Defensive cohesiveness.  3-point shooting.  Those seem harder to control.

But just think about the Wisconsin game.  Think about how many guys and looks we could throw at Taylor.  Its early in the year, so MU won't play its best game.  But think about how many ways MU could play it.  How many guys and how many styles of play can you throw at one guy and one style of play.  I don't know how good MU will be, but I am excited to watch how good they become.

[Benny B]

Cadougan's hypothetical 8apg would have been good enough to lead the nation this past year.

Exactly.

We lost an NBA first rounder, plus another starter .. last years' guys will be a bit better .. freshmen will be freshmen.  I think we'll be a game or two better than last year, win 10 or 11.   

Frankly, when did JFB become a "first rounder?"  (Yes, I know... on draft night.)  In other words, at what point did JFB finally elevate his game play to first-round status?  Would he have been drafted in the first-round after the Duke game?  How about after Wisconsin or Vandy?

I would say - at best - JFB's game would have garnered a low second-round pick at season's start, but he improved steadily throughout the season and became a low-1st, high-2nd player in late February.  So maybe it's semantics, but from that perspective you could argue that MU didn't have a "first-rounder" - perhaps even a second-rounder - nearly the entire year, because JFB was still getting better.

As for this year.... if the 2012 draft were held right now, I think we have a low-1st, high 2nd round pick in DJO and a low-2nd round pick in Jae.  The surrounding cast is - at the very least - comparable to what we had last year at the start of the season.

[Note: The above ignores the non-basketball intangibles of the draft process - exposure, background stories, character issues, etc. - that affect where you're picked.]

So I'll go out on a limb here and say that this year's team, right now, is better than the team MU had 365 days ago although not (yet) as good as the team MU had 151 days ago (3/24)... a team that squeeked into the dance & went to the Sweet 16 on the backs of a conference foe.  With that in mind and assuming similar levels of improvement and maturation, I don't think that setting an expectation higher than the S16 for this year's team is unreasonable unless you think the competition has improved disproportionately higher.

[TJ]

This is the first time in a number of seasons where the high expectations (from others) have really surprised me.  

Certainly, we had a great weekend in the NCAAs, and it seems to have made a lot of people forget the hot and cold season we'd had ..  that at one point seemed likely to end with an NIT bid.   The only thing consistent about our game last year is that we could easily lose 3 in a row or win the same 3.

We lost an NBA first rounder, plus another starter .. last years' guys will be a bit better .. freshmen will be freshmen.  I think we'll be a game or two better than last year, win 10 or 11.    

The post-season will remain the constant crap-shoot MU knows too well, with the time-tested slogan: It All Depends On Matchups.  Could go one and out, could win 2-3.

Really surprises me that others think it that next year will be much better than that .. just do not see it.

+1

[bilsu]

The  real  answer is that Jimmy became a first rounder when several high draft picks opted to return, because of NBA lockout.