We Need Better Players

[TeamOh]

I like the toughness and defensive mindedness that this team has taken on as an identity, but we're playing low-scoring games while trying to play up-tempo.  It is ugly to watch.  We need to recruit players who can put the ball in the hole.  Duane Wilson is a nice start, but he needs to find the weight room before he will be effective in the Big East.  He can knock down the jumper and finish at the rim, but he will have less space and won't be able to get to the rim at will like he can in Division 4 WIAA basketball.

Deonte Burton is going to *seem* like a bust his first 2 years, just like Vander Blue *seemed* like a bust his first 2 years to many (the untrained eye).  He's playing in the WIAA and taking advantage of the fact that he's built like a bull.  He plays forward and plays LIKE a forward.  His shot is just as ugly as Vander Blue's is, if not more ugly.  Right now he dominates because he's 6'5" and can play above the rim against the Farm Boys of Nowhere.  He can handle the rock better than a forward, but he will find the going to get tough when he realizes he can't just out-physical Big East players like he could the City Conference.  He will be the new favorite to be termed a "bust" on this board.

McKay I admittedly haven't seen play, and have hardly seen any video of him, but if he wasn't a well known name in Milwaukee high school basketball 2 years ago out of high school then he must not have been very good (Milwaukee isn't exactly a basketball hotbed for high school student athletes...especially not until recently).  I understand that he can improve in a 2 year span, but he is playing against JUCO competition, which is not the Big East.  I do like that he will have a chip on his shoulder and Buzz's best recruits have all been out of the JUCO ranks.  They play with toughness AND can put the ball in the hole (minus Joe Fulce...except from the corners where he was AUTO-MATIC!)...however, he does not seem to be the type of JUCO Buzz has gotten in.  He does not have the physical frame of guys like DJO and Jae, and even Buycks.  My guess is that he is another guy who is just more athletic than the competition, which won't be the case in the Big East.  He is razor thin.  Could he be (edited, I originally had a Freudian slip and put Trent Locket, I meant...) Trend Blackledge 2.0?  Regardless, we need more JUCOS.

I have also seen very little of JJJ.  I am excited about his potential and it sounds like he can score the rock.  He plays in a pretty loaded Memphis area, so that is a good thing.  He is big for a guard so that is also a good thing.  I think he'll end up being a much better player than Kendrick Nunn.  That guy was strong but small.  He'll be OK, but undersized and not fantastic.  JJJ could be fantastic from what it sounds like, but we shall see.

Let's get some traditional shooters, baby!

[tower912]

And how, pray tell, shall we get these new players, seeing how we are already oversigned next year.   Are you actually advocating running players off to make room for JUCO's?  Cuz a couple of guys with long posting histories are going to beg to differ.   DuWilson and JJJ can get their own shots at will and make them.  But, as they will be freshmen next year, it would be silly to count on them to save the world.   

[TeamOh]

And how, pray tell, shall we get these new players, seeing how we are already oversigned next year.   Are you actually advocating running players off to make room for JUCO's?  Cuz a couple of guys with long posting histories are going to beg to differ.   DuWilson and JJJ can get their own shots at will and make them.  But, as they will be freshmen next year, it would be silly to count on them to save the world.   

Wilson can get his own shot at will...in Division 4 WIAA basketball.  Not exactly the Big East, in my - extremely humble - opinion.

JJJ is doing it at a high *high school* level, but again, nowhere near the Big East, or even the Big Sky, for that matter.

[We R Final Four]

Since when did the teams in the Milwaukee City Conference become the Farm Boys of Nowhere?

Its the City Conference not: Black Earth, Cassville, Port Washington, Elk Mound, the Dells, Phillips, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, South Dakota, etc.

[TeamOh]

Since when did the teams in the Milwaukee City Conference become the Farm Boys of Nowhere?

Its the City Conference not: Black Earth, Cassville, Port Washington, Elk Mound, the Dells, Phillips, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, South Dakota, etc.

Milwaukee Vincent has played 3 conference game this season...

They have played the likes of De Pere (Farm Boys of Nowhere) and a team from Indiana (probably Farm Boys of Nowhere).

Not to mention, the City Conference is great and all for the WIAA, but again...compare it to the best conferences in California, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, even Indiana.  It'd be a joke.  This isn't Big East competition.  Name the Division 1 talent coming out of the City Conference in the last decade.  Again, the talent in Milwaukee is as good as it's ever been, and that's with like 5 Division 1 recruits in coming out of it.  Sad.

[Ellenson Guerrero]

Worst first post ever?

[muwarrior87]

don't feed the troll...

[TeamOh]

Troll?  Yeah, I just like to go into an in-depth analysis of high school recruits for teams that I do not like, go to their high school games, etc. etc. etc.  I also love spending a ton of money to travel to Minneapolis, Cleveland, Nashville, and New Orleans to watch Marquette NCAA Tournament games.  Final Fours are cheap enough to travel to and find tickets for, why the heck not go to watch teams I can't stand play?

I apologize for calling it like I see it.  We scored 47 points at lowly UWGB.  We scored 49 points against Georgetown.  We scored 60 points against UW@Madison.

But you're right, our offense is an efficient machine.  No worries about scoring the ball.

And you're right, those guys will come in and be immediate studs, like all Marquette freshman basketball players are...

[Ellenson Guerrero]

Troll?  Yeah, I just like to go into an in-depth analysis of high school recruits for teams that I do not like, go to their high school games, etc. etc. etc.  I also love spending a ton of money to travel to Minneapolis, Cleveland, Nashville, and New Orleans to watch Marquette NCAA Tournament games.  Final Fours are cheap enough to travel to and find tickets for, why the heck not go to watch teams I can't stand play?

I apologize for calling it like I see it.  We scored 47 points at lowly UWGB.  We scored 49 points against Georgetown.  We scored 60 points against UW@Madison.

But you're right, our offense is an efficient machine.  No worries about scoring the ball.

And you're right, those guys will come in and be immediate studs, like all Marquette freshman basketball players are...

I do believe the troll doth protest too much

[honkytonk]

Farm Boys of Nowhere - how about FBN for short?

Thats the one thing I liked in your post.

[TeamOh]

Farm Boys of Nowhere - how about FBN for short?

Thats the one thing I liked in your post.

Haha fair enough, I can go with that.

And more to the point, we are 298th overall in 3 point shooting percentage.  298 out of 347.  Not very good.  134th overall in points per game.  Pretty mediocre.  But if you guys are satisfied with our offense, then I guess that makes me a troll!

[Oldgym]

TeamOh = Teamdee

[JD]

Worst first post ever?

+1.

So original poster, who would you rather Buzz recruit instead? A top 10 recruiting class next year won't suffice for you? Please enlighten me, since i don't travel to as many Final Fours and High School games as you.

[TeamOh]

TeamOh = Teamdee

Not quite.

+1.

So original poster, who would you rather Buzz recruit instead? A top 10 recruiting class next year won't suffice for you? Please enlighten me, since i don't travel to as many Final Fours and High School games as you.

I'm hoping next year's recruiting class is the start of a run of better players.  It could be a very good class.  Nowhere in there did I say I think all of those players will be busts.  I don't think they're going to light the world on fire in their Freshman year though.  Maybe I'm a troll for thinking that.  But if so, name the last freshman who did that for Marquette.  I'll be awaiting your response...

Edited: In my original post I meant to say Trend Blackledge.

[Ellenson Guerrero]

Not quite.

I'm hoping next year's recruiting class is the start of a run of better players.  It could be a very good class.  Nowhere in there did I say I think all of those players will be busts.  I don't think they're going to light the world on fire in their Freshman year though.  Maybe I'm a troll for thinking that.  But if so, name the last freshman who did that for Marquette.  I'll be awaiting your response...

Edited: In my original post I meant to say Trend Blackledge.

Dominic James

[hilltopper03]

You forgot John Dawson. People says he's very underrated.

[JD]

Not quite.

I'm hoping next year's recruiting class is the start of a run of better players.  It could be a very good class.  Nowhere in there did I say I think all of those players will be busts.  I don't think they're going to light the world on fire in their Freshman year though.  Maybe I'm a troll for thinking that.  But if so, name the last freshman who did that for Marquette.  I'll be awaiting your response...

Edited: In my original post I meant to say Trend Blackledge.

I'm not sure what "light the world on fire" means...   Are you expecting a double double average as a freshman, or what exactly?

[TeamOh]

Dominic James

Good call.  He was very good as a freshman.  That is one in the last 10 years.  I'm not getting my hopes up that we will have 3 in one year, plus a JUCO on top of that.

[TeamOh]

You forgot John Dawson. People says he's very underrated.

Ahh, you are right.  I completely forgot about him, which seems to be happening a lot to him.  Hopefully he will have a nice career at Marquette.  I cannot see him contributing to the effort to score the rock next season, but I do think we could see a career trajectory like that of Derrick Wilson.  Find a niche his freshman year and do that well for his spot minutes, gain some confidence going into his sophomore year, then become the starter his junior and senior years and be solid.

Have never seen him play at all though.

[honkytonk]

Who in the BE over the years would you say were great as freshmen?

[JD]

Good call.  He was very good as a freshman.  That is one in the last 10 years.  I'm not getting my hopes up that we will have 3 in one year, plus a JUCO on top of that.

What team other than Kentucky, UNC, and maybe Duke does have more than one freshman who are big time contributors?

[Silkk the Shaka]

Yeah - cuz if McKay didn't do anything in Milwaukee high school he'll never be anything even if he improves tremendously and goes on to have a great JUCO career!  It's not like Crowder, Butler, and to a certain extent DJO fall into that exact same category or anything.

And you keep qualifying everything by saying "yeah, they're doing it at X level but that's not against the Big East."  1.) That's true of every incoming recruit at every single program in the country  2.) The Big East as we know it will likely not even exist by the time they hit campus.

[TeamOh]

I'm not sure what "light the world on fire" means...   Are you expecting a double double average as a freshman, or what exactly?

Not double double, but maybe one of them who averages close to double figures in scoring.  I think maybe one could get 7-8 ppg.  But I don't see any of them playing more of a roll than a guy like Steve Taylor is this year unless we have some unforeseen exits from contributing players this year (obviously 1 person we don't know about is out after this year, but I don't know if it will be someone who is contributing a lot or not).

[TeamOh]

Yeah - cuz if McKay didn't do anything in Milwaukee high school he'll never be anything even if he improves tremendously and goes on to have a great JUCO career!  It's not like Crowder, Butler, and to a certain extent DJO fall into that exact same category or anything.

And you keep qualifying everything by saying "yeah, they're doing it at X level but that's not against the Big East."  1.) That's true of every incoming recruit at every single program in the country  2.) The Big East as we know it will likely not even exist by the time they hit campus.

But the C7 is keeping the Big East.  It's not like we're going from the Big East Big East to the Division 4 WIAA Big East.

What team other than Kentucky, UNC, and maybe Duke does have more than one freshman who are big time contributors?

That's my point.  Nobody on the current roster can light up the scoreboard, besides maybe Gardner, but when he gets doubled hard early off of the catch he is pretty inefficient and turns the ball over a lot.  Plus that's a post player who relies on other players to get him the ball in order to score, not a guard who can create his own shot.  These freshman are good.  But I'm saying they are not going to be All Conference as freshman.  And people here are calling me a troll for that.  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[sarcastro]

We need to recruit high school players who have already proven themselves in the Big East!