Possibly Buzz??

[CAGASS24]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=201

see anonymous coach quotes .....Buzz???  It's gotta be either Wright, Thompson, Buzz, or Lavin....wouldn't think Purnell, Cooley,Willard would be bitching about seeding or the tourney; and you wouldnt think its one of the new coaches.



The name just doesn't seem to fit anymore. The Big East. It doesn't sound right, not without Syracuse, UConn and Pittsburgh, and even Louisville, Notre Dame and Cincinnati.

It no longer has the look and feel of a powerful conference, the same one that sent a record 11 teams to the NCAA tournament just two seasons ago.

There's no flagship program. The ACC has Duke and North Carolina and has added Syracuse. The Big Ten has Indiana and Michigan State, with Michigan rising. The Big 12 has Kansas, and the Pac-12 boasts UCLA and Arizona.

The new-look Big East has 10 members, all with similar profiles that are centered around their basketball programs instead football being as a foundation.

But these guys need someone to emerge nationally. Sure, Buzz Williams has done a tremendous job since he took over at Marquette, taking the Golden Eagles to an Elite Eight and a pair of Sweet 16s. John Thompson III has made Georgetown relevant nationally again -- but the program has been lackluster come March since a 2007 Final Four appearance. Jay Wright took Villanova to the Final Four, but 2009 seems like an eternity ago for the handsomest coach in America. Xavier is coming off a sub-par campaign by Xavier standards, St. John's has been irrelevant for the past two seasons and Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul are, well, Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul.

Brad Stevens was supposed to be the face of the Big East, but now Boy Wonder is gone to the NBA before ever coaching a game in the new-look league. Stevens was slated to enter the Big East and give it a much-needed jolt, along with Creighton's National Player of the Year contender Doug McDermott (at least for the first season).

Stevens is history, and McDermott will be gone a year from now. That's worrisome for a league that needs to establish an identity.

This league possesses a similarity to that of the Mountain West, a solid yet unspectacular league with a handful of quality, fringe top-25 teams -- but none that you can envision as making a run to the sport's final weekend.

One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he's worried about the league's perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

"No one's going to know our league," he said. "Everyone's going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won't get as many teams in the tourney. It's going to hurt with seeding, also."

In its first season, there is no shortage of questions regarding the Big East, both on and off the court.
Here's how we handicap the league's inaugural season:

1. Marquette Golden Eagles: Vander Blue left early, and Junior Cadougan and Trent Lockett graduated. Naturally, everyone is questioning whether Buzz Williams can sustain the program's recent success. Williams still has Davante Gardner and Chris Otule up front, Jamil Wilson back and also adds a terrific incoming group. The key may be at the point guard spot where holdover Derrick Wilson will be challenged by freshman Duane Wilson.

2. Creighton Bluejays: The Bluejays will make the move from the Missouri Valley, but will do so with the best player in the league and one of the best in the entire country in Doug McDermott. Creighton also got good news when veteran guard Grant Gibbs, one of the best passers and leaders in the nation, received a sixth year of eligibility. Greg McDermott's biggest concern is whether Will Artino can step in and fill the void left by big man Gregory Echenique.

3. Georgetown Hoyas: The Hoyas might have been the favorite this season until Greg Whittington went down with a torn ACL in June. JT3 will have to replace one of the most versatile and productive players in the nation in Otto Porter Jr.. The backcourt of Markel Starks and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera should be explosive, Nate Lubick has continued to make progress, and it'll be interesting to see how much UCLA transfer Josh Smith can help once he becomes eligible.

4. Villanova Wildcats: Jay Wright's team won 20 games and earned a trip back to the NCAA tournament after a one-year hiatus. Point guard Ryan Arcidiacono was a main reason for the team's success and now he has a season under his belt. The Wildcats also have leading scorer JayVaughn Pinkston back in the fold.

5. Xavier Musketeers: Last season was an off year for the program after Chris Mack lost Tu Holloway, Dez Wells, Mark Lyons and Kenny Frease. However, the Musketeers still found a way to win 17 games. Mack will have the best point guard in the league in Semaj Christon, but the X factor will be the play of Western Michigan transfer Matt Stainbrook, a 6-foot-10 big man who has lost about 30 pounds while sitting out.

6. Butler Bulldogs: No knock on new coach Brandon Miller, but the Bulldogs would have been up a couple of notches if Brad Stevens were still roaming Hinkle. Butler has Khyle Marshall, Roosevelt Jones and shooter Kellen Dunham back, but I'm concerned about the point guard spot.

7. St. John's Red Storm: Steve Lavin brings back a bunch (more than 90 percent of his scoring) from a team that won 17 games last season. Leading scorer D'Angelo Harrison, athletic forward Jakarr Sampson, elite shot-blocker Chris Obekpa and guard Phil Greene IV.

8. Providence Friars: Ed Cooley has certainly made strides with the talent level, and the Friars could well finish higher than this. Ricky Ledo decided to leave for the NBA despite never playing a game, and that may have been a blessing in disguise. Cooley lost Vincent Council, but has guards Bryce Cotton and Kris Dunn, forwards LaDontae Henton and Kadeem Batts and adds transfers Tyler Harris and Carson Desrosiers.

9. Seton Hall Pirates: Kevin Willard's three-year tenure has been mediocre at best. The Pirates were 15-18 last season and lost starting point guard Aaron Cosby, who transferred to Illinois. Willard will rely heavily on Fuquan Edwin, but he'll need more help, and the hope is that Texas transfer Sterling Gibbs will provide support.

10. DePaul Blue Demons: Oliver Purnell has won 30 games in three seasons since coming over from Clemson, but this season the Blue Demons will have two seniors who combined to average nearly 35 points per game a season ago in Brandon Young and Cleveland Melvin. Purnell also adds talented guard Billy Garrett Jr., the son of assistant coach Billy Garrett.

[MerrittsMustache]

Doesn't sound like Buzz. He doesn't care if the games are on ESPN or played at the Rec Center.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I would bet money on JT3. Georgetown was the school dragging its feet when the Catholic 7 were trying to organize. They would jump to the ACC in a second if offered the opportunity.....though to be honest, we probably would too.

[Groin_pull]

ESPN taking a few more shots at the new Big East. I'm stunned.

[LloydMooresLegs]

I'm just impressed that a national writer knows that Chris is coming back and mentions him by name.

[The Lens]

ESPN taking a few more shots at the new Big East. I'm stunned.

Yesterday ESPN called the Big East Conf a winner in the conf reshuffling department.  So, yes, more shots at us.

Honestly I don't care what a coach says.  They are typically the least informed, initially, on the distribution platform, households reached, promotional weight, etc.  FS1 is a great place to be.  Much better than NBCSN & CBSSN.  A year from now when they see that FS1 is a legit property with star studded play by play and color guys showing up at your games, they'll feel much better.

[Abode4life]

ESPN taking a few more shots at the new Big East. I'm stunned.

Totally agree.  Shockingly, there are hardly any articles on the new American Athletic conference.  Everyone keeps writing how the Big East isn't the same, but its a hell of a lot better than what it would be with the combination of the current Big East members and the American Athletic conference.

[GGGG]

I'm guessing Lavin said it.

[Aughnanure]

Win your OOC games and it won't hurt seeding too much. Though DePaul and Seton Hall could help by going 4-32.

[kmwtrucks]

I think the Coach's should be worried about how much exposure they New Fox deal gets them.  The more exposure and the more success the easier it is to recruit.  As good as Butler has been Buzz has out recruited Steven's.   Was this becuase of success? No.  Was it because of the league and the exposure. I think so.   

[CAGASS24]

regardless, I don't like how the anonymous coach chose not to phrase it like...." i hope people will still know our league, are willing to check out FS1 to see what we're about, etc."  Instead, it was certainties and negativity.  Of course ESPN is gobbling that crap up right now, probably demanding Goodman get someone to say as much... I'm just disappointed that the coach couldn't take the high road.  Now, he's speaking a self fulfilling prophecy....

If I'm this coach's president, after all they did to get you out of the AAC when the coaches were a main party complaining about the RPI implications, man I'm pissed...

[brandx]

I see going to FS1 as a great opportunity. College basketball will be one of their major attraction and we are in on the ground floor.

It will be interesting to see what kind of peripheral programming they will have for college hoops.

A big part of ESPN getting their MLB contract was the willingness to create new shows to showcase major league baseball besides just the games themselves. We forget too easily how Baseball Tonight was the standard for many years.

I expect FS1 to use the same strategy for College hoops so they are in a good position when old contracts expire.

[CAGASS24]

Plus it's well posited around here that goodman and buzz and close.  Just gives me some pause; that's all.  Most people like buzz because he is a character.  I do, I know.  But you need to realize that in some cases that "character" is not the whole truth.  The more popular the character gets; the more unabated honesty starts to flow.  If you're not prepared for those honesties to be diff from the character, you're in trouble.  I don't think I'm delusional about what buzz might be truly all about; I just know I want him to coach marquette; we're better because of it.  

[ChicosBailBonds]

ESPN taking a few more shots at the new Big East. I'm stunned.

Probably taking a shot, though they could have made it a non-insider story if they wanted it to be more harmful I suppose.   Whomever the coach is, he is not wrong.  Even with ESPN getting killed in viewership the last quarter, they still absolutely crush everyone else out there by ridiculous margins.  It will take time to build up any serious competition to them.  What I will be curious to see is the comparison of college hoops year over year, especially the Big East on ESPN vs FS1.  We may find that disparity isn't as great...that is the hope anyway.

[MU82]

ESPN lets Big East go without much of a fight.

ESPN rips Big East at every opportunity.

What else did anybody expect?

[GGGG]

ESPN lets Big East go without much of a fight.

ESPN rips Big East at every opportunity.

What else did anybody expect?

Actually they don't rip the BE at every opportunity...they just posted something yesterday praising them.

[keefe]

ESPN lets Big East go without much of a fight.

ESPN rips Big East at every opportunity.

What else did anybody expect?

"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw"--- Hamlet

Paranoia makes life less comfortable.

[brandx]

"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw"--- Hamlet

Paranoia makes life less comfortable.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Not sure where I read it - maybe Catch-22

[Chili]

I think the Coach's should be worried about how much exposure they New Fox deal gets them.  The more exposure and the more success the easier it is to recruit.  As good as Butler has been Buzz has out recruited Steven's.   Was this becuase of success? No.  Was it because of the league and the exposure. I think so.   

I also think Buzz is a better recruiter than Stevens was. Stevens was often reported to dislike recruiting where Buzz I think likes the relationship building.

[EnderWiggen]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Not sure where I read it - maybe Catch-22

Kurt Cobain, from the song Territorial Pissings, although he might have been paraphrasing something else.

Just because you're paranoid
Don't mean they're not after you

[keefe]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Not sure where I read it - maybe Catch-22

You are correct, sir. That is Joseph Heller. Catch 22 is masterful in it's articulation of the insanity of warfare and the mindlessness of large organizations and mass psychology. The narrative is sprinkled with scintillating observations that accentuate the absurdity of the prosaic.

"They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
"No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
"Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
"They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
"And what difference does that make?"

_________________________________________



"What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many countries can't all be worth dying for."


__________________________________________


"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on."


__________________________________________


"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was."


__________________________________________


"Morale was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them."


__________________________________________


"It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character."


__________________________________________


"It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."


__________________________________________


"[They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything."


__________________________________________


Catch 22 Defined:

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed."

[martyconlonontherun]

Doesn't sound like Buzz. He doesn't care if the games are on ESPN or played at the Rec Center.

Ehhhh, Buzz will say whatever is on his mind. The same Buzz who relishes how his players traveled on late-night buses as JUCO's was the same guy bitching about the hamburger after the NCAA tourney. Not saying he is wrong, but rather he just probably has higher standards now.

[martyconlonontherun]

"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw"--- Hamlet

Paranoia makes life less comfortable.

Not to get into too much of an English class but doesn't that quote from Hamlet basically say he was pretending to be mad? Are you saying ESPN knows what they are doing but it's paranoia to think they are doing it?

[keefe]

Ehhhh, Buzz will say whatever is on his mind. The same Buzz who relishes how his players traveled on late-night buses as JUCO's was the same guy bitching about the hamburger after the NCAA tourney. Not saying he is wrong, but rather he just probably has higher standards now.

I see no inconsistency in that. Buzz was railing against the man when he made the burger comment. Same good ole boy pissed off at the powers that be. The man might wear Gucci loafers now but he wouldn't be upset if he stepped in cow sh1t with them.

[keefe]

Not to get into too much of an English class but doesn't that quote from Hamlet basically say he was pretending to be mad? Are you saying ESPN knows what they are doing but it's paranoia to think they are doing it?

Not at all. It is from the perspective of the receiver rather than the sender. The irony is that in selectively looking for bias one is in fact paranoid. And the fact is that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz were not to be trusted and yet played a crucial role vis-à-vis Hamlet and Claudius.