Four Star, Five Star, Class of 2018 and Casey Stengel

[UticaBusBarn]

It might be the proverbial summer doldrums, but all the posts, blogs, ratings and glove sizes of high school
four and five stars is simply numbing.

Casey Stenge put it very well, "Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story."

From this writer's point of view, a far more interesting discussion is Coach Williams. At times, last year the Warriors looked tired - physically and mentally. The team never put together a good run of four/five games, and suffered some of the worse defeats (point wise) during Coach Williams' three years at Marquette.

Yes, the team was young - at the beginning of the season. But, by the end they were certainly battle tested. At times they were a great team. At times the seemed to lack energy. At times they were tired. At times they seemed afraid to shoot. At times they seemed to lose their focus. Often all of the above were manifest during a single game. This leads one to ask, were the Warriors over-practiced and over-coached?

I am a Coach Williams fan. Despite not having a clear defensive philosophy he is a very good coach, and has been good for Marquette. However, for him to take the next step - to become a great coach - it would appear he  needs to pace his team, and more so, he needs to pace himself. The week after beating the Orange is an example. He was so excited and over-reved that the Warriors came out over-reved and simply lost to North Carolina.

Or, to once again quote Casey Stengel, "Most games are lost, not won."

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

UNC also did a pretty good job winning the game as opposed to us losing it.

[tower912]

I disagree with a central point.    We got rolled far more often under Crean than we have under Buzz.   In 3 years, I remember UNC, G-town, Dayton. (I think there is 1-2 others I am too lazy to look up)   And with the exception of UNC, our bad losses have generally   come on the second or third of back-to-backs.    Buzz looks tired because he pours himself into it and he doesn't have a poker face.  

[4everwarriors]

Tulsa and Western Michigan, to say nothin' of Kansas certainly took the tan arrogant, obnoxious one to the wood shed.

[GOO]

As far as D1 experience it was an incredibly young team. I thought we came through a rough patch very well. More important, Buzz never lost the team and the team never gave up. It could have gone either way, and it ended with us making the tourni and getting to the sweet 16. He kept the team and they kept playing. Great sign for the future of Buzz.

[GGGG]

I don't think they lacked energy or were tired any more than any other team is at times.  In fact, I think they have tons of energy most of the time.

And I don't think they were "afraid" to shoot.  I think they passed up shots to attack the lane.  That might have been a symptom of over-coaching.

[6746jonesr]

Doesn't lack of game experience pretty much explain the ups and downs of last season?  I doubt that Buzz coached this team much differently than the previous teams, and I think the fact that the team had a pretty good run in the Big East and NCAA tourneys, that he had the team believing in him and playing for him. 

[radome]

We lost to some darn good teams last year, can't we just savor the Sweet Sixteen? I suspect that Utica is a Cuse fan.

[MUMac]

And I don't think they were "afraid" to shoot.  I think they passed up shots to attack the lane.  That might have been a symptom of over-coaching.

I don't know about that.  Everything I have heard about Buzz is that he allows more freedom offensively than many other coaches.  Yes, he talks about paint touches, but he is far from Norman Dale.

[BubbaWilliams]

We lost to some darn good teams last year, can't we just savor the Sweet Sixteen?

+1

[BobWildLoyalist]

Adversity builds character, and i f*#kin love  character

[BobWildLoyalist]

Doesn't lack of game experience pretty much explain the ups and downs of last season?  I doubt that Buzz coached this team much differently than the previous teams, and I think the fact that the team had a pretty good run in the Big East and NCAA tourneys, that he had the team believing in him and playing for him. 

\
I feel that Buzz's first year he let Jerel Wes Lazar and Dom do what they wanted. The next year Buzz put alot of faith in Lazar to run the team. This past season I feel like Buzz was more "hands on"
 than he was in the previous 2 seasons.

[bilsu]

I think off court problems had an effect on last years teams. I definately blame the Seton Hall loss on it. After that game Buzz held a closed door meeting and they played very good after that, except for their two losses they got steam rolled in. I still think Buzz had the wrong game plan against North Carolina. I am not saying we should of beat North Carolina, but his insistance to forgo the outside shot and pound the ball into Otule was a disaster. Repeatedly trying to get the ball into Otule, who ended up not scoring a point, is what resulted in the blowout.