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ToddRosiakSays

Tidbits from Williams' introduction

Written by: Todd Rosiak


I'm sure everyone has had a chance to watch and/or listen to Buzz Williams' introductory news conference today, so I'll mostly steer away from what he spoke about and instead give you some quick hitters and observations.

In case anyone wants to read the transcript of the opening remarks made by Fr. Robert A. Wild, athletic director Steve Cottingham and Williams, you can find it here.

-- Cottingham would not comment when asked if MU had interviewed any other candidates.

Even so, I have been able to glean that MU made multiple attempts at luring Washington State's Tony Bennett before finally moving on later Saturday.

Xavier's Sean Miller, Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant and Davidson's Bob McKillop were pursued, although not as hard as Bennett. I also learned that MU pursued Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt.

If the Williams thing had fallen through? Southern Illinois Chris Lowery would likely have been next on the agenda.

-- There was a lot of posturing with regard to the MU job. The best example of that was the woefully incorrect column penned by a Dayton columnist who claimed that Flyers coach Brian Gregory was not just in the running, but that he was actually going to be hired. Wonder where he got that tip?

There was at least some interest expressed in the opening by people representing Siena's Fran McCaffery, Bradley's Jim Les and Illinois' Bruce Weber, however.

-- Had Darrin Horn not been hired by South Carolina, there's a very good chance he'd have wound up at MU. Jim Christian, who went from Kent State to Texas Christian, would have been another solid candidate.

-- From what I've been told, MU's deal with Converse and Brand Wade remains unchanged. If, for some reason, any change were made to the deal, MU would revert back to Nike.

Tom Crean, who was a Nike guy all nine years at MU, won't have his Hoosiers in Brand Wade gear. They'll remain with adidas.

-- In talking to some of the players, it's obvious they're still pretty raw and emotional about how Crean left MU.

Jerel McNeal had mentioned last week that he was under the impression he would remain in contact with Crean regarding the possibility he'll test the NBA waters this spring. I asked Dominic James whether he'd do the same, and this is what he said: 

"I've got a new head coach," said James. "My future is in the hands of somebody else right now."

Determining what both will do is probably near the top of Williams' laundry list of things to do over the coming week or two. The players have until April 27 to decide.

If I had a guess, I'd say James stays and McNeal does what James did last year: puts his name in but doesn't hire an agent, and then ultimately return for his senior season.



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/08/tidbits-from-williams-introduction.aspx

79Warrior


multiple attemps for Tony Bennett as well as looking at some others. I guess that quells the speculation the AD and admin did nothing but look at Buzz.

Norm

I wish they would have gone after Anthony Grant as hard as they did Tony  Bennett. I think Grant would have been deemed a home run hire and my guess is it would have gotten a lot more coverage nationally than hiring Buzz has received.

Coobeys Oil Depot

It does quell some disquiet but it also brings up some issues:

1) They tried multiple times to lure Bennett and couldn't. Yikes. Our we that bad?

2) How the unnatural carnal knowledge is Chris Lowery the back-up to Buzz Williams?

Chili

Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 10:27:57 PM

2) How the frack is Chris Lowery the back-up to Buzz Williams?

I said the exact same thing....
But I like to throw handfuls...

TallTitan34

Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 10:27:57 PM
1) They tried multiple times to lure Bennett and couldn't. Yikes. Our we that bad?

While my bias does make me believe Marquette is a better program, Bennett doesn't exactly have a bad thing going at Washington State right now.

Also wasn't Crean always mocked for announcing he was staying at Marquette.  Looks like Bennett did the same thing today:  http://wsucougars.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040808aaa.html

drewm88

Mixed emotions here. We didn't just call Buzz and go home, but we got shot down by numerous people. Ugh.

I do love that Bruce Weber put out feelers. Haha that helps our reputation a tiny bit I hope.

Pakuni

Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 10:27:57 PM
It does quell some disquiet but it also brings up some issues:

1) They tried multiple times to lure Bennett and couldn't. Yikes. Our we that bad?

2) How the frack is Chris Lowery the back-up to Buzz Williams?

1. Bennett also turned down Indiana and, it seems, LSU. If that's the company we're keeping, don't feel so bad.

2. I'm a Lowery fan and he was on my initial short list. However, it's not ridiculous that the administration would favor the guy who:

a) has experience and success recruiting at major programs
b) was most familiar with the players, university and conference
c) had the best chance of stopping the bleeding in terms of personnel losses
d) didn't require a costly buyout

Lowery would have been a great choice, but this isn't Bob Dukiet over Coach K here. The margin between Buzz and Lowery, if there even is one, is pretty narrow and in many ways, Buzz makes more sense.

For the guys who complained about how MU made no efforts to land anyone beyond Buzz, conducted an incompetent, lazy and narrow search, etc. ... care to chime in now?

Coobeys Oil Depot

a) Southern Illinois is one of the best mid-major programs in the country over the last 8 years. Lowery was instrumental in many facets of building that.

b) I'll give you this to Buzz. But, really, is 9 months more then Lowery that much difference?

c) Stopping the bleeding? Buzz, just like any other coach, isn't going to keep our two best recruits. Plus, we now have talk of a "few" transfers. May not be hemmhoraging but it's close.

d) Costly buyout? I highly doubt SIU was able to put a higher price to Lowery then MU did with Crean. If they did, our lawyers should be fired. Oh wait, one of them was moved to the Athletics Department.

Finally, how could you say the margin between Lowery and Buzz is pretty narrow if there even is one? Lowery has coached a conference winning program. Lowery has coached an NCAA Tournament team. Lowery is a Sweet Sixteen coach. As for Buzz, he's under .500 for his Head Coaching career.

ChicosBailBonds

Quote from: Pakuni on April 08, 2008, 10:56:54 PM
Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 10:27:57 PM
It does quell some disquiet but it also brings up some issues:

1) They tried multiple times to lure Bennett and couldn't. Yikes. Our we that bad?

2) How the frack is Chris Lowery the back-up to Buzz Williams?

1. Bennett also turned down Indiana and, it seems, LSU. If that's the company we're keeping, don't feel so bad.

2. I'm a Lowery fan and he was on my initial short list. However, it's not ridiculous that the administration would favor the guy who:

a) has experience and success recruiting at major programs
b) was most familiar with the players, university and conference
c) had the best chance of stopping the bleeding in terms of personnel losses
d) didn't require a costly buyout

Lowery would have been a great choice, but this isn't Bob Dukiet over Coach K here. The margin between Buzz and Lowery, if there even is one, is pretty narrow and in many ways, Buzz makes more sense.

For the guys who complained about how MU made no efforts to land anyone beyond Buzz, conducted an incompetent, lazy and narrow search, etc. ... care to chime in now?

Aside from Bennett, I still don't see how they made that great a search Pakuni.  It was 3 days.  It looks to me like Friday or at the latest, Saturday is when Buzz was essentially hired. 

Do you think we could have not gotten Buzz a week from now?  I sure do.  I feel they didn't try hard enough.  I pray some of the stuff I just read on the UNO board is just sour grapes....ugh.

🏀


Pakuni

#11
Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 11:07:54 PM
a) Southern Illinois is one of the best mid-major programs in the country over the last 8 years. Lowery was instrumental in many facets of building that.

You're vastly overstating Lowery's impact on building SIU. He worked there for two years as an assistant under Weber. By that time SIU already had had one 20-win season under Weber and all the pieces were in place for the teams that would win 52 games the next two years, including a Sweet 16 appearance. He had very little to do with building that. Scratch that ... he had nothing to do with building that. He was the third or fourth coach down the bench and didn't recruit any of those players.
By the time he returned to take the head-coaching job in 2004, the roster had been re-stocked mostly with players brought on by Matt Painter (who has since taken his recruiting acumen to Purdue; see: Hummel, Robbie and Moore, E'Twaun.)

Not trying to say bad things about the guy. He was one of my first choices. But let's be honest about how "instrumental" he was in building SIU. The Salukis were built into a mid-major power long before Lowery had a seat on the bench.

QuoteFinally, how could you say the margin between Lowery and Buzz is pretty narrow if there even is one? Lowery has coached a conference winning program. Lowery has coached an NCAA Tournament team. Lowery is a Sweet Sixteen coach. As for Buzz, he's under .500 for his Head Coaching career.

Contrary to what seems to be popular opinion here, mid-major success is by no means an indicator of success on a higher level. If it were, Sweet Sixteen coach Mike Jarvis might still be at St. John's. Sweet Sixteen coach Steve Alford would still be in Iowa City. Elite Eight coach Stan Heath might have survived at Arkansas. Jerry Wainwright would be tearing things up down at DePaul. Tim Welsh would still be employed. Barry Collier would have made Nebreaska competitive.
Shall I go on?
The major conference landscape is littered with the corpses of mid-major successes who couldn't cut it at the next level.

Pakuni

Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on April 08, 2008, 11:20:44 PM

Aside from Bennett, I still don't see how they made that great a search Pakuni.  It was 3 days.  It looks to me like Friday or at the latest, Saturday is when Buzz was essentially hired. 

Do you think we could have not gotten Buzz a week from now?  I sure do.  I feel they didn't try hard enough.  I pray some of the stuff I just read on the UNO board is just sour grapes....ugh.

Bennett, Miller, Hewitt, McKillop, Grant ... who else did you want them to contact?

And yeah, maybe they could have waited another week. Then again, maybe Buzz would have tired of waiting and joined Crean's staff at Indiana or gone elsewhere. That's speculation. What's not speculation is that waiting another week would have left MU out of the picture during this week's final contact period with recruits, all but assuring that MU wouldn't fill roster spaces left by what appears to be certain defections by current players and kids who signed LOIs.

If the administration had made efforts to contact other coaches and come to the conclusion that Buzz was the best remaining option, why wait, risk losing him AND further depleteand already diminished roster? All on the odd chance that Tony Bennett changes his mind?

🏀

Quote from: Pakuni on April 08, 2008, 11:38:39 PM
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on April 08, 2008, 11:20:44 PM

Aside from Bennett, I still don't see how they made that great a search Pakuni.  It was 3 days.  It looks to me like Friday or at the latest, Saturday is when Buzz was essentially hired. 

Do you think we could have not gotten Buzz a week from now?  I sure do.  I feel they didn't try hard enough.  I pray some of the stuff I just read on the UNO board is just sour grapes....ugh.

Bennett, Miller, Hewitt, McKillop, Grant ... who else did you want them to contact?

And yeah, maybe they could have waited another week. Then again, maybe Buzz would have tired of waiting and joined Crean's staff at Indiana or gone elsewhere. That's speculation. What's not speculation is that waiting another week would have left MU out of the picture during this week's final contact period with recruits, all but assuring that MU wouldn't fill roster spaces left by what appears to be certain defections by current players and kids who signed LOIs.

If the administration had made efforts to contact other coaches and come to the conclusion that Buzz was the best remaining option, why wait, risk losing him AND further depleteand already diminished roster? All on the odd chance that Tony Bennett changes his mind?

You mean, get into the giant mess that Providence is looking at right now?

Great point.

Coobeys Oil Depot

Quote from: marqptm on April 08, 2008, 11:43:41 PM
Quote from: Pakuni on April 08, 2008, 11:38:39 PM
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on April 08, 2008, 11:20:44 PM

Aside from Bennett, I still don't see how they made that great a search Pakuni.  It was 3 days.  It looks to me like Friday or at the latest, Saturday is when Buzz was essentially hired. 

Do you think we could have not gotten Buzz a week from now?  I sure do.  I feel they didn't try hard enough.  I pray some of the stuff I just read on the UNO board is just sour grapes....ugh.

Bennett, Miller, Hewitt, McKillop, Grant ... who else did you want them to contact?

And yeah, maybe they could have waited another week. Then again, maybe Buzz would have tired of waiting and joined Crean's staff at Indiana or gone elsewhere. That's speculation. What's not speculation is that waiting another week would have left MU out of the picture during this week's final contact period with recruits, all but assuring that MU wouldn't fill roster spaces left by what appears to be certain defections by current players and kids who signed LOIs.

If the administration had made efforts to contact other coaches and come to the conclusion that Buzz was the best remaining option, why wait, risk losing him AND further depleteand already diminished roster? All on the odd chance that Tony Bennett changes his mind?

You mean, get into the giant mess that Providence is looking at right now?

Great point.

And after all that, PC is looking to land Travis Ford. Not a bad pick-up.

🏀

Let's wait about Travis Ford, I've heard he isn't interested.

Coobeys Oil Depot

Quote from: Pakuni on April 08, 2008, 11:31:41 PM
Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 11:07:54 PM
a) Southern Illinois is one of the best mid-major programs in the country over the last 8 years. Lowery was instrumental in many facets of building that.

You're vastly overstating Lowery's impact on building SIU. He worked there for two years as an assistant under Weber. By that time SIU already had had one 20-win season under Weber and all the pieces were in place for the teams that would win 52 games the next two years, including a Sweet 16 appearance. He had very little to do with building that. Scratch that ... he had nothing to do with building that. He was the third or fourth coach down the bench and didn't recruit any of those players.
By the time he returned to take the head-coaching job in 2004, the roster had been re-stocked mostly with players brought on by Matt Painter (who has since taken his recruiting acumen to Purdue; see: Hummel, Robbie and Moore, E'Twaun.)

Not trying to say bad things about the guy. He was one of my first choices. But let's be honest about how "instrumental" he was in building SIU. The Salukis were built into a mid-major power long before Lowery had a seat on the bench.

QuoteFinally, how could you say the margin between Lowery and Buzz is pretty narrow if there even is one? Lowery has coached a conference winning program. Lowery has coached an NCAA Tournament team. Lowery is a Sweet Sixteen coach. As for Buzz, he's under .500 for his Head Coaching career.

Contrary to what seems to be popular opinion here, mid-major success is by no means an indicator of success on a higher level. If it were, Sweet Sixteen coach Mike Jarvis might still be at St. John's. Sweet Sixteen coach Steve Alford would still be in Iowa City. Elite Eight coach Stan Heath might have survived at Arkansas. Jerry Wainwright would be tearing things up down at DePaul. Tim Welsh would still be employed. Barry Collier would have made Nebreaska competitive.
Shall I go on?
The major conference landscape is littered with the corpses of mid-major successes who couldn't cut it at the next level.

I overstated Lowery's importance. Just thought that was par for the course with people here overstating Buzz. Even with the knockdown of Lowery, what he's done at SIU is pretty impressive. As an assistant, they had success. As a coach, they had success. And Painter was only there one year, right? He stocked the roster in just one season? Damn. I knew Painter was good. Didn't know he was that good. Lowery has great recruits coming in next season. Looks like it's a well oiled machine that takes a dip here and there. Typical mid-major I guess.

You still ignore the fact that while you can downplay mid-major coaches at the high major level you cannot downplay that Lowery has coached in serious games: mid-major bracket busters; conference tournaments; NCAA Tournaments. Buzz has done none of this. None of it.

And what about the bleeding personnel and the costly buyout? That stuff just doesn't stick. We are going to bleed. And bleed heavy over the next few weeks. And I still don't think Lowery had a big buyout. But the good news is that MU has a small buyout in Buzz' contract. Just in case.  :-\

Pakuni

#17
Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 11:54:26 PM

I overstated Lowery's importance. Just thought that was par for the course with people here overstating Buzz. Even with the knockdown of Lowery, what he's done at SIU is pretty impressive. As an assistant, they had success. As a coach, they had success. And Painter was only there one year, right? He stocked the roster in just one season? Damn. I knew Painter was good. Didn't know he was that good. Lowery has great recruits coming in next season. Looks like it's a well oiled machine that takes a dip here and there. Typical mid-major I guess.

Ummm ... Painter was Weber's top assistant and chief recruiter at SIU between 1998 and 2004. He then was head coach for one season. I wasn't a math major, but by my count that's more than one season in Carbondale.

QuoteYou still ignore the fact that while you can downplay mid-major coaches at the high major level you cannot downplay that Lowery has coached in serious games: mid-major bracket busters; conference tournaments; NCAA Tournaments. Buzz has done none of this. None of it.

Neither did Tom Crean, Jamie Dixon, Tom Izzo, Denny Crum, Roy Williams, etc., etc. until they landed their first head-coaching gigs at major programs. The fact is, the record of assistants becoming head coaches at major programs is just as good, if not better, than that of mid-major guys doing the same. Why won't you at least admit this? Once again, I'm a Lowery fan. But I'm not foolish enough to believe his mid-major success is somehow a guarantee, or even a strong indicator, of success at the next level. History proves it is not.
All this stuff about conference tournaments, bracket busters, etc., the same could be said for guys like Heath and Monson and Wainwright. It didn't help them a bit when they got in with the big boys.

QuoteAnd what about the bleeding personnel and the costly buyout?

Lowery just signed a 7-year deal with SIU that pays him $750K annually. You don't believe there's a significant buyout attached to that?
Likewise, do you believe bringing in a guy unknown to the players and recruits improves or lessens MU's chances of keeping Taylor, Otule and Fulce? Do you believe it makes DJ and McNeal more or less likely to test NBA waters? They say less likely, but maybe you know something about themselves that they don't.
MU was/is going to lose people regardless of the head-coaching choice. But I don't see how you can argue Buzz's retention is irrelevant in what will be the final number.


Coobeys Oil Depot

Quote from: Pakuni on April 09, 2008, 12:07:03 AM
Quote from: Coobeys Oil Depot on April 08, 2008, 11:54:26 PM

I overstated Lowery's importance. Just thought that was par for the course with people here overstating Buzz. Even with the knockdown of Lowery, what he's done at SIU is pretty impressive. As an assistant, they had success. As a coach, they had success. And Painter was only there one year, right? He stocked the roster in just one season? Damn. I knew Painter was good. Didn't know he was that good. Lowery has great recruits coming in next season. Looks like it's a well oiled machine that takes a dip here and there. Typical mid-major I guess.

Ummm ... Painter was Weber's top assistant and chief recruiter at SIU between 1998 and 2004. He then was head coach for one season. I wasn't a math major, but by my count that's more than one season in Carbondale.

QuoteYou still ignore the fact that while you can downplay mid-major coaches at the high major level you cannot downplay that Lowery has coached in serious games: mid-major bracket busters; conference tournaments; NCAA Tournaments. Buzz has done none of this. None of it.

Neither did Tom Crean, Jamie Dixon, Tom Izzo, Denny Crum, Roy Williams, etc., etc. until they landed their first head-coaching gigs at major programs. The fact is, the record of assistants becoming head coaches at major programs is just as good, if not better, than that of mid-major guys doing the same. Why won't you at least admit this? Once again, I'm a Lowery fan. But I'm not foolish enough to believe his mid-major success is somehow a guarantee, or even a strong indicator, of success at the next level. History proves it is not.
All this stuff about conference tournaments, bracket busters, etc., the same could be said for guys like Heath and Monson and Wainwright. It didn't help them a bit when they got in with the big boys.

QuoteAnd what about the bleeding personnel and the costly buyout?

Lowery just signed a 7-year deal with SIU that pays him $750K annually. You don't believe there's a significant buyout attached to that?
Likewise, do you believe bringing in a guy unknown to the players and recruits improves or lessens MU's chances of keeping Taylor, Otule and Fulce? Do you believe it makes DJ and McNeal more or less likely to test NBA waters? They say less likely, but maybe you know something about themselves that they don't.
MU was/is going to lose people regardless of the head-coaching choice. But I don't see how you can argue Buzz's retention is irrelevant in what will be the final number.




You win.  :'(

jce

Quote from: Pakuni on April 08, 2008, 11:38:39 PM
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on April 08, 2008, 11:20:44 PM

Aside from Bennett, I still don't see how they made that great a search Pakuni.  It was 3 days.  It looks to me like Friday or at the latest, Saturday is when Buzz was essentially hired. 

Do you think we could have not gotten Buzz a week from now?  I sure do.  I feel they didn't try hard enough.  I pray some of the stuff I just read on the UNO board is just sour grapes....ugh.

Bennett, Miller, Hewitt, McKillop, Grant ... who else did you want them to contact?


This article made me feel better about the process.  They contacted a number of candidates and a few contacted MU.  After all of that, they still felt that Williams was the best choice. 

Well, OK.  I'll give Cottingham and the admin the benefit of the doubt here.  It doesn't seem like a panic move to me any longer.  Let's just hope it works.

PuertoRicanNightmare

Every single person mentioned would have been a better hire. Just giving the position to Williams diminishes the Marquette program

passion of da coach

if weber put out the feelers, why the hell didn't we throw the money at him?!?!?!!!!!!

weber is a proven coach, his recruiting has now become on par, if anything, he's known as a coach who really knows how to teach/improve his guards, this certainly would have gone a long way into keeping TT and NW for those in the program wanting to keep the recruits.

i was ok with settling for the Williams hire after Bennett said no thanks until Rosiak pointed out Weber put feelers out there.

this is ridiculous.

ATWizJr

every single person was a better hire?  That's irrelevant since none of them wanted to leave their current positions.  quite possibly, we got the best availabe remaining candidate.  Hey, we should have interviewed Tim Welsh.....ugh, get over it.

jce

Quote from: PuertoRicanNightmare on April 09, 2008, 07:06:17 AM
Every single person mentioned would have been a better hire. Just giving the position to Williams diminishes the Marquette program

I haven't been here long, but you might be the most negative MU fan I have ever run across.

Jon

The Lens

Quote from: Pakuni on April 09, 2008, 12:07:03 AM


Lowery just signed a 7-year deal with SIU that pays him $750K annually. You don't believe there's a significant buyout attached to that?

Crean was making 1.6 with 8 years left and his buy out was reported to be in the 6 figures.
The Teal Train has left the station and Lens is day drinking in the bar car.    ---- Dr. Blackheart

History is so valuable if you have the humility to learn from it.    ---- Shaka Smart

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