Duke v. WI

[MarquetteDano]

I don't think I have ever seen so many ugly players on the court at one time

I'd include the coaches in that statement.

Nice jesuit values!  Our coach is no GQ model, especially in Maui, and is 20 years younger.


Hmm... jesuit with a small "j".  I think Chicos is onto something.

[ChicosBailBonds]

"Nice jesuit values!  Our coach is no GQ model, especially in Maui, and is 20 years younger."

Had the Duke-Mu game on over Thanksgiving at my parent's house and my Mom starts watching the game (not quite the fan I am but knows who Tom Crean is) and asks "Did Marquette get a different coach?  That can't be the same guy, he's so tan!"   He really does need to lay off the sun/tanning booth because his current hue is some sort of orangish/yellow. It does not look healthy.

I've never seen so many people concerned about skin color then MU and UW@Madison fans....it's perplexing.

[tonyreeder]

He can fry himself until he's a deep purple as far as I'm concerned.  I really don't care aside from the fact I think it's extraordinarily stupid on his part.  Skin cancer is probably not much fun. 

[Frozen Caveman Coach]

My comment was directed more toward the short sleeved golf wind breaker he was wearing.  While I find him to be a little dorky, I am more concerned about what he does from tip off until the final buzzer.  I think his coaching during the game requires the most work of all the facets of the job.  He doesn't have the instincts that the great ones do.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

My comment was directed more toward the short sleeved golf wind breaker he was wearing.  While I find him to be a little dorky, I am more concerned about what he does from tip off until the final buzzer.  I think his coaching during the game requires the most work of all the facets of the job.  He doesn't have the instincts that the great ones do.

I agree that I don't care how dorky he looks, but I think his job requires a TON more than X and O's during a game.

Coaches are in charge or recruiting, mentoring players, game planning, scheduling (somewhat), some of the PR and marketing (especially in Crean's case), etc.

I do think that X and O's are extremely important, but I don't think that is the "most work" or even the "most important"... I think in the college ranks coaches are asked to be so many things... and each thing is important in it's own way.

[HarveysWallbangers]

He doesn't have the instincts that the great ones do.

I don't know, but could that be...as has been pointed out on this board before... because he never played basketball?

[rocky_warrior]

Not to sound like too much of a Crean adorer, but I'm not sure I agree with those that think his X's and O's are so bad.

Somehow, over the past few years, he's been able to beat teams coached by Krzyzewski, Pitino, Calhoun, (even Knight).  Many of those wins came against teams with arguably more talent (as far as talent rankings go), so his coaching, game prep, and in-game coaching can't be all bad.

I don't know what instincts you think he's missing - let's face it, no coaches these days have the instincts that Al had - but he seems to be pretty good at getting W's.

Now, he does need to to get a few Ws in the tournament.  But it's not like he hasn't done that before.  I think that lack of success recently has more to do with the players being inexperienced than Crean's coaching.

[MarquetteDano]

It's funny, some say Crean can't recruit bigs.  Some say is he as great promoter and recruiter but can't coach.  As always, I think the truth lies somewhere in between.

Crean is a good recruiter.  He has a good eye for under-valued talent, though doesn't always land the post guys (certainly a weakness).

Crean is a pretty good X and O coach.  Like his recruiting, it can be improved.  But, he has knocked off at least 3-4 teams each year with supposedly better X and O coaching and more talent.

This year and last is an interesting study.  With average bigs, we are one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country, using tempo-free stats.  However, we are not giving up a lot of transition points, which most good offensive rebounding teams do.  That is good X and O's, period.

On other hand, it appears sometimes Crean's sets are overly complex as players don't know where they should be, and he is yelling the plays as the play clock winds down.

There is definitely room for improvement in both recruting and "coaching" but it seems to be pretty solid on both counts to me.

[WashDCWarrior]

Actually, Xs and Os is the biggest area in which Crean's improved since he's been at MU.  Even in 2003, he made a number of questionable to bad decisions in terms of offense, defense, substitution patterns, etc..  It drove me nuts to watch.  At Wednesday's Duke game, I can't think of one bad coaching move he made.  Please jump in if you can think of one.

[spiral97]

I agree that he has become better over the years.  I also agree he is a pretty good X/O coach.  I do not agree that no mistakes were made in the Duke game..

The biggest mistake was one he admitted himself: not being more vocal to the refs about the fouls that were getting called.  If your kid pees on the wall of your living room and you don't even yell at him for it, do you think he'll refrain from doing it again in the near future?

Other things I personally would consider mistakes have to do with substitutions at certain points in the game but those are really subjective and probably more about hindsight being 20/20.

[rocky_warrior]

At Wednesday's Duke game, I can't think of one bad coaching move he made.  Please jump in if you can think of one.

Well the one that immediately comes to me is the one he admitted - not jumping on the refs about the way fouls were going.  He should have been going apecrap.  It may not have helped, but I don't think it could have hurt (unless he got thrown out of the game).

(whoops, I see spiral beat me to it...)

[WashDCWarrior]

I'll totally agree that he should have been all over the refs.  I just don't consider that Xs and Os.

[rocky_warrior]

Agreed - but is a coaching move.

[ecompt]

I think ragging on the refs when you're playing Duke or at UW is pointless. You're not going to win those arguments; all you're doing is giving the opponent two free throws. 

[WashDCWarrior]

I wouldn't have minded Crean getting T'd up in that game.  The foul differential in the first half was 10-3.  That would be worth pointing out to the officials.

[DoubleMU0609]

If your kid pees on the wall of your living room

Is this what I have to look forward to when I eventually have a few kids???

[spiral97]

not sure.. my daughter is only 5 weeks old so she doesn't know how to take the diaper off yet.. but if she does, I'll guarantee you I'll be T'd.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

not sure.. my daughter is only 5 weeks old so she doesn't know how to take the diaper off yet.. but if she does, I'll guarantee you I'll be T'd.

just wait until she can reach down by her butt when you are changing a poopy diaper and she puts her hands in it and then gets them up to her mouth/hair faster than you can react (at least at dad speed.  I think moms are faster/less paralyzed by poopy diapers in general.) 

[spiral97]

not sure.. my daughter is only 5 weeks old so she doesn't know how to take the diaper off yet.. but if she does, I'll guarantee you I'll be T'd.

just wait until she can reach down by her butt when you are changing a poopy diaper and she puts her hands in it and then gets them up to her mouth/hair faster than you can react (at least at dad speed.  I think moms are faster/less paralyzed by poopy diapers in general.) 

won't happen now that I have warning.. honey? we need to guy buy some duct tape!

[chefrad]

  mufanatic: "We need Barro to at least try to neutralize their bigs"

Their bigs seem to neutralize themselves without any help from anyone.

[Eye]

"Nice jesuit values!  Our coach is no GQ model, especially in Maui, and is 20 years younger."

Had the Duke-Mu game on over Thanksgiving at my parent's house and my Mom starts watching the game (not quite the fan I am but knows who Tom Crean is) and asks "Did Marquette get a different coach?  That can't be the same guy, he's so tan!"   He really does need to lay off the sun/tanning booth because his current hue is some sort of orangish/yellow. It does not look healthy.

I've never seen so many people concerned about skin color then MU and UW@Madison fans....it's perplexing.

But at least MU didn't have to get creative with Photoshop to prove it!