Congratulations to Buzz

[Tugg Speedman]

With today's victory over Pitt, Buzz has now beaten the other 15 BE teams at least once, and did it in less than four seasons.

[JTBMU7]

nice.
anyone out there feel like looking up some records and seeing how that compares to other BIG EAST coaches?

[Tugg Speedman]

Crean cannot make this claim, he never beat Syracuse.

[Untucked]

Crean is a douche bag

[THEultimateWARRIOR]

Crean is a douche bag

agreed. But he is a great coach.

[77ncaachamps]

I'd rather like to congratulate him on making second half adjustments and finding ways to beat the zone.

[jsglow]

One of Buzz' better coaching jobs.  He's getting a good handle on what his various combinations can and can't do on the floor.

[john31]

One thing about Buzz that never really gets mentioned is his improvement as a coach year over year. I think he is the type of person that will be demanding of himself and will always be trying to get better at what he does. Maybe the improvements are not as big or do not come as fast as the fan would like but over time he is improving. I would love to see the guys at Cracked Sidewalks to a little comparison between Buzz, at this point in his career, and some other successful coaches. BTW, I am not a Crean hater but I always thought his game coaching skills were not very good. I think Buzz is at least as good as Crean is now and over time will leave him in his dust.

[4everwarriors]

agreed. But he is a great coach.

Sure, just ask him. He'll be more than happy to tell you.

[Hoopaloop]

Crean cannot make this claim, he never beat Syracuse.

Crean never coached 4 years in the Big East either so we will never know what would have happened. 

I'm rather shocked yesterday's game was as close at it was.  Pittsburgh lost most recently by 20+ or so at home to Rutgers. They lost to DePaul already, Long Beach State and Wagner. Pitt had a shot to tie the game if DG doesn't get that rebound.  We sure seem to like letting marginal teams hang around this year:  Villanova, Pitt, Norfolk State, Washington.  Need to squash these teams when we have them down by double digits.

[Hoopaloop]

One thing about Buzz that never really gets mentioned is his improvement as a coach year over year. I think he is the type of person that will be demanding of himself and will always be trying to get better at what he does. Maybe the improvements are not as big or do not come as fast as the fan would like but over time he is improving. I would love to see the guys at Cracked Sidewalks to a little comparison between Buzz, at this point in his career, and some other successful coaches. BTW, I am not a Crean hater but I always thought his game coaching skills were not very good. I think Buzz is at least as good as Crean is now and over time will leave him in his dust.

Over time my prediction would be IU will achieve much more under Crean then we do under Buzz.  Crean will get better players and better players win more games.  IU doesn't even have that great of talent this year other than Zeller, but they are much better than last year.  Their next three recruiting classes are ridiculously good and light years ahead of ours.  As a result, hard to see Crean trailing in Buzz's dust because he will have better players than MU does.

[dw3dw3dw3]

Never would have guessed that was going to be your prediction. I predict Marquette will play Louisville tomorrow at the Bradley Center.

[jtrash37]

Never would have guessed that was going to be your prediction. I predict Marquette will play Louisville tomorrow at the Bradley Center.

Well played!

[dgies9156]

Over time my prediction would be IU will achieve much more under Crean then we do under Buzz.  Crean will get better players and better players win more games.  IU doesn't even have that great of talent this year other than Zeller, but they are much better than last year.  Their next three recruiting classes are ridiculously good and light years ahead of ours.  As a result, hard to see Crean trailing in Buzz's dust because he will have better players than MU does.

For now, TV Tommy's star is crashing back to earth. He lost to a winless Goofy Gopher team at home and today, Ohio State extracted sweet revenge.

He will probably do well at Hoosierland. I wish him well, just not TOO well. As much as I hate the guy now, he did recruit DWade and he did get us into the Final Four.

I still think Buzz is going to do very well. He's recruited at Marquette generally as well or better than TV Tommy and as he matures as a coach, Buzz will add excitement and hopefully accomplishment. Besides, Marquette is a better school!!!!!

[forgetful]

One thing about Buzz is he seems to be willing to adapt his strategies and game play to the team.  Part of that is out of necessity of different team makeups (3 amigos vs Cubilan and Acker), but even so that is strange amongst D1 coaches.  A good example is Ryan at UW, even the faithful fans were getting frustrated this year in that he will not change his style of play no matter what.

I think Buzz will continue on an upward trajectory.

[cheebs09]

Hasn't IU had a few recruiting classes ranked the last few years? To say they have Zeller and no one else is a bit of a stretch. Plus, he has some juniors and seniors in the program now (at least I think, haven't looked closely at their roster). I think Crean will have them as a team that is usually in the top 15-20 with some very good years. Kind of what we were with the 3 Amigos. How he does with their next batch of recruits will be telling due to that being a great class.

I wouldn't trade Buzz for Crean though. I think Buzz's in game coaching has been a welcomed surprise. He makes some head-scratching moves at times, but all coaches do. He has been able to adjust his game plans and make some changes on the fly in games to spark some turn arounds. The one place I think Crean was great in was preparing game plans. However, if that initial game plan was ineffective, things got real ugly.

[MerrittsMustache]

Crean never coached 4 years in the Big East either so we will never know what would have happened. 

I'm rather shocked yesterday's game was as close at it was.  Pittsburgh lost most recently by 20+ or so at home to Rutgers. They lost to DePaul already, Long Beach State and Wagner. Pitt had a shot to tie the game if DG doesn't get that rebound.  We sure seem to like letting marginal teams hang around this year:  Villanova, Pitt, Norfolk State, Washington.  Need to squash these teams when we have them down by double digits.

MU simply needs to beat those "marginal" teams and they have. As Buzz once said himself, it's not a beauty contest.

I guess if you need to get your complaining fix though.

[jesmu84]

Crean never coached 4 years in the Big East either so we will never know what would have happened. 

I'm rather shocked yesterday's game was as close at it was.  Pittsburgh lost most recently by 20+ or so at home to Rutgers. They lost to DePaul already, Long Beach State and Wagner. Pitt had a shot to tie the game if DG doesn't get that rebound.  We sure seem to like letting marginal teams hang around this year:  Villanova, Pitt, Norfolk State, Washington.  Need to squash these teams when we have them down by double digits.

Is there a reason you seek out threads that include IU/Crean As well, you frequently inject something about Marquette and their deficiences (without ever pointing out positives). You can post what you want, I'm just trying to understand your motivation. You certainly don't run to defend Marquette anywhere that I notice.

[4everwarriors]

Crean's game plans vs Kansas, MSU, WMU, Tulsa, et al were beauties as was his in game decision making. Players like Wade and Zeller can make any putz a coaching genius. Crean excels at self-promoting while running a seemingly clean program, and selling the sizzle. All this while fooling administrators, boosters, and most of the remaining flock.

[Golden Avalanche]

Crean's game plans vs Kansas, MSU, WMU, Tulsa, et al were beauties as was his in game decision making. Players like Wade and Zeller can make any putz a coaching genius. Crean excels at self-promoting while running a seemingly clean program, and selling the sizzle. All this while fooling administrators, boosters, and most of the remaining flock.

Every coach can have bombs. Witness Buzz in late February last season.

What's really interesting is that you've started the new chapter in discounting anything Crean achieves by turning him from a one-trick pony into a two-trick pony.

I imagine in a few years, he'll turn into a three-trick pony.

[Lennys Tap]

Is there a reason you seek out threads that include IU/Crean As well, you frequently inject something about Marquette and their deficiences (without ever pointing out positives).

Yes.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Good Lord.

Take it to the IU boards, gentlemen.

[77ncaachamps]

I for one miss Crean.

He had a knack for signing sons of coaches.

And white kids who could shoot.

[Hoopaloop]

Is there a reason you seek out threads that include IU/Crean As well, you frequently inject something about Marquette and their deficiences (without ever pointing out positives). You can post what you want, I'm just trying to understand your motivation. You certainly don't run to defend Marquette anywhere that I notice.

Buzz is doing an outstanding job. Didn't see the reason to bring in Crean into it especially when the logic is flawed and one guy had more years as coach and than the other.  One could easily also say that Crean never finished worse than 5th in the Big East, let alone the lower division.  Crean got us a Final Four, Buzz has given us a Sweet 16.  Buzz's squad had us in the papers for off the court issues that put the university in great embarrassment, Crean did not.  So on and so forth.  What is the point?  These comparisons are stupid.  Different coaches, different men, different styles.  Some folks seemingly just can't go 10 minutes without complimenting our current coach without digging on the other one.  Makes you wonder where the Rick Majerus and Kevin O'Neil threads are since they left MU as well.   "It's Tennessee, It's Tennessee" and "It's the Asst. Coach of the Bucks, It's the Asst. Coach of the Bucks"  

[jesmu84]

Buzz is doing an outstanding job. Didn't see the reason to bring in Crean into it especially when the logic is flawed and one guy had more years as coach and the other.  Some folks seemingly just can't go 10 minutes without complimenting our current coach without digging on the other one.  Makes you wonder where the Rick Majerus and Kevin O'Neil threads are since they left MU as well.   "It's Tennessee, It's Tennessee" and "It's the Asst. Coach of the Bucks, It's the Asst. Coach of the Bucks"   

Ha. Lots of truth in that post. I think Crean comes up more than the others due to him being the most recent departure, the manner in which he left, and his higher level of national prominence.