ESPNU's The Experts to discuss Marquette next

[KC_Warrior]

"The Experts" will be discussing Marquette on ESPNU after the commercial break.  Tune in if you can.  I'll try to recap what 'The Experts' said here when they're done.

[KC_Warrior]

First, Katz rips Buzz for only suspending the 4 players for only a half.
Miles Simon says "he didn't get it."  The players should have been out for the entire game, not just a half.
Paul Biancardi says it was a minor violation but called the half suspensions "strange."
Katz then compares MU's situation to Alabama's and says it pales in comparison.
Joe Lunardi finally defends Buzz and says 'we don't know what the transgressions were.'
Adrian Branch says Buzz runs a clean program & earned the right to suspend players as he sees fit.

Then they discussed the dance.
Paul B says he has a problem with it and Buzz should have done the dance in the locker room.
Simon says he's OK with Buzz dancing.
Lunardi liked the dance too.

As for Marquette's tourney chances:
Lunardi says Marquette could be a #2 seed if they win out.  Right now between 8 & 9 on S-curve.

[Warriors 79]

Who the h*ll made Andy Katz the moral watchdog of College Basketball?  Geez Louise.....

Get off your high horse, esp when you don't know the facts, Andy.  Buzz can do his minor suspensions however he wants.  99% of the other coaches would have skipped it entirely and no one would have been the wiser.

Thanks, Joe Lunardi, for having some common sense.

Hey, can we talk about the team now and how it is PLAYING the games????

[TallTitan34]

Then they discussed the dance.

Every ESPN show discussed it yesterday.  They just want controversy no matter how small.  

[MU Buff]

I don't get it at all.  How can anybody discuss whether or not the punishment fits the crime when they don't know what the crime is?  It boggles my mind.

[T-Bone]

Katz then compares MU's situation to Alabama's and says it pales in comparison.

Katz is comparing nothing he knows to nothing he knows.  The reasons for suspension at both MU and Alabama have not been disclosed. 

I normally think he's OK, but this is just a moment of stupidity.

[GOO]

The next time a player is late to a practice and isn't suspended by some other team, will ESPN discuss it and have a problem with it?  Of course not.

The next time a player is late to a practice and doesn't start but comes in at the first media time out, will ESPN discuss it and have a problem with it?
Of course not.

Just ESPN hot air hosts trying to find something to talk about and make it sound controversial.  

[tower912]

I think that if the same thing happens next year when we have 13 scholarship players plus Thomas that it would be a full game suspension.   Can't be done when you are only dressing 9.   That is how some of the other guys get hurt.    He wanted to send a message but simply didn't have enough bodies.   So he ends up with that half-game suspension oddity.     

[MerrittsMustache]

I think that if the same thing happens next year when we have 13 scholarship players plus Thomas that it would be a full game suspension.   Can't be done when you are only dressing 9.   That is how some of the other guys get hurt.    He wanted to send a message but simply didn't have enough bodies.   So he ends up with that half-game suspension oddity.     

If it was that serious, he could have split the suspensions - 2 sit for WV, 2 sit for Cincy.

[robmufan]

I think that if the same thing happens next year when we have 13 scholarship players plus Thomas that it would be a full game suspension.   Can't be done when you are only dressing 9.   That is how some of the other guys get hurt.    He wanted to send a message but simply didn't have enough bodies.   So he ends up with that half-game suspension oddity.     

I have said this so many times i just got tired of typing it!

[tower912]

Meh, just another example of Buzz's idiosyncracies.   Now it's over as far as the team is concerned and it has given the chatterati a reason (along with the West Virginia Waltz) to talk about MU.  

[Warrior3211]

Major slip up by Katz here. It's not fair to criticize the coach when we don't know what happened. Judging by the fact that it was only a one half suspension, I think it's fair to assume that they were probably late to a meeting, practice, shoot around, something of the nature. College students sleep too late all the time. Buzz realizes whatever they did was a minor slip up and he saw it was fair to suspend them one half and even better to keep it to himself. It's not our business what happened behind closed doors and Katz shouldn't be calling him out on it unless he knows what happened.

I will say this, I work in collegiate athletics (not at Marquette), and occasionally the reason for a suspension leaks among the people working at a game or the press at that game, but is still never made public. It's like an unspoken rule that if you hear something you won't go blabbing about it. I'll give Katz this, he may know something we don't, but if he doesn't it's not fair to criticize without the facts.

[muwarrior69]

Well...what do you expect from a UW alum.

[bilsu]

I have seen coaches suspend players from the starting lineup and then they play a few minutes into a game. The criticism is full of bullcrap.

[ATWizJr]

Half game, quarter game, not starting the first series, are all punishments curently in use in many sports.  This is not unusual.  Get over it.

[TJ]

I know it's semantics, but if Buzz labels it as a "benched" instead of "suspended" we're not having this discussion.

Then again, this is a stupid discussion that we shouldn't have to be having anyway.  Buzz can discipline his team however he likes and Andy Katz can deal with it.

[LloydMooresLegs]

I know it's semantics, but if Buzz labels it as a "benched" instead of "suspended" we're not having this discussion.

This.

[leever]

College students sleep too late all the time.

They may have been late for a meeting or practice, but I doubt all 4 of them slept too late!  Unless, of course, they were sleeping together, in which case we really do have a story.

[hairy worthen]

Buzz can discipline his team however he likes and Andy Katz  can deal with it.

Exactly, andy katz or anyone else

[NotAnAlum]

I have to admit that a half game suspension seems odd so you've got to expect these lame brains to talk about it.  Note that I said ODD which does not mean wrong.
I assume that Buzz realized that he could not play the game with 5 players eligible.  Someone likely would have fouled out and then what do you do, play with 4?  Unsuspend someone?
Expect people outside the program to claim that it was self serving, allowing his starters to "ride the the rescue" in the second half.  To that I counter.   "So What!  Buzz didn't have to suspend anybody for any amount of time since this is just team rules"
Not to bring up a sore point but remember the team we play next, suspended a guy for I think only 6 games for what was effectively criminal battery committed on the court.  I don't think we need to apologize for anything.

[MUCam]

Again, if Buzz doesn't punish them, none of this comes up. In other words, you are better off not disciplining your players. What a great message to send to college coaches. Don't try to instill discipline, because if you do, it will just subject you to scrutiny.

LAME.

Oh, and Andy Katz is a putz.

[Lennys Tap]

Again, if Buzz doesn't punish them, none of this comes up. In other words, you are better off not disciplining your players. What a great message to send to college coaches. Don't try to instill discipline, because if you do, it will just subject you to scrutiny.

LAME.

Oh, and Andy Katz is a putz.

Exactly. To some creating the (patently false) impression that your kids never screw up is preferable to holding them accountable. Don't think Buzz much cottons to that "perception is reality" bunch.

[SacWarrior]

The Dance was on ATH yesterday too and they talked about it for two minutes total and all three (Woody Paige was eliminated) just said they thought it was funny and he had balls to do it.

[Lennys Tap]

The Dance was on ATH yesterday too and they talked about it for two minutes total and all three (Woody Paige was eliminated) just said they thought it was funny and he had balls to do it.

Saw it. The only bothered by it was the female sportswriter (Mc Mullen?) from Boston.

[The Equalizer]

I have to admit that a half game suspension seems odd so you've got to expect these lame brains to talk about it.  Note that I said ODD which does not mean wrong.
I assume that Buzz realized that he could not play the game with 5 players eligible.  Someone likely would have fouled out and then what do you do, play with 4?  Unsuspend someone?
Expect people outside the program to claim that it was self serving, allowing his starters to "ride the the rescue" in the second half.  To that I counter.   "So What!  Buzz didn't have to suspend anybody for any amount of time since this is just team rules"
Not to bring up a sore point but remember the team we play next, suspended a guy for I think only 6 games for what was effectively criminal battery committed on the court.  I don't think we need to apologize for anything.

You actually can play the game with only 5 players eligible. If one fouls out, you only have four on the court.  It happened to MU in the NIT in the 80's against Indiana when we only had 4 players on the court at the end of the game due to fouls.