This is jaw-dropping stuff

[Pakuni]

You write the bolded just as Lowery is adding Illinois' Mr. Basketball to his best recruiting class at SIU.

He can find players. And, he can find them in Illinois which seems to me to be a little more logical then bringing a multitude of kids up from Texas.

Kevin Dillard is a nice get for SIU, but let's not (again) oversstate Lowery's accomplishments.
Dillard is rated the 135th best player by Rivals and the 32nd-best point guard. He's 155 pounds dripping wet. When he signed with Southern he had received offers from any big programs. According to the Sun-Times story on him when he was named their player of the year, Dillard was waiting for offers from Florida State and Minnesota. They never came, so he chose SIU. If SIU had beaten out those, or any major program, for Dillard you'd have a better case.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

You write the bolded just as Lowery is adding Illinois' Mr. Basketball to his best recruiting class at SIU.

He can find players. And, he can find them in Illinois which seems to me to be a little more logical then bringing a multitude of kids up from Texas.

The problem is whether or not Lowery could attract kids that would meet our academic standards. SIU has been Juco U since Bruce Weber's tenure, and it's not exactly the Harvard of the midwest.

If that's the problem with hiring Lowery it's a crime we didn't hire him straight away.

And, for bs4173, we've had problems with kids staying at Marquette who weren't from the region. How long will it take Buzz to make the Wisconsin connections? The Illinois connections? Any coach was going to have their work cut out for them with the local people but a guy like Lowery comes with a ready made plan for recruiting Chicago and Illinois which is an area that has done very well for Marquette in the past.

Pakuni, Dillard is one. You seem to forget about Booker and the latest commit Ryan Hare. Besides, by mentioning his physical dimensions in an attempt to downplay him you seem to forget (again) that we just witnessed those exact dimensions rip up team after team in the NCAA Tournament that just finished.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Reading the comments on the JS site was rather entertaining.

The irony to me in all of this as (through the eyes of an IU / MU grad), the Crean hire by and large has brought together a very fractured fan base at IU.  The pro-Knight crowd, the Davis crowd, the Sampson crowd....everyone was looking for something to finally bring the fan base together.  Now, many IU fans might be in for a rude awakening if he can't pull it off, but that's a story for another day.

On the other hand, the Buzz hire and the process around it seems to be creating a few fissures in our fanbase.  I don't think anything major until we actually see what he can do, and that might not be until year two since next year's team is so loaded with senior leadership.

But it does get back to process again as I stated last week. Process is strange at MU, almost provincial at times.  

[Pakuni]

you seem to forget (again) that we just witnessed those exact dimensions rip up team after team in the NCAA Tournament that just finished.

Really?

Memphis' guards are 6-foot-3, 205 (Rose), 6-foot-6, 210 (Anderson), and 6-foot-7, 200 (CDR).

Kansas' guards are 6-foot-1, 195 (Chalmers), 6-foot-1, 205 (Robinson) and 5-foot-11, 205 (Collins, and he wishes he were only 205).

UNC's guards are 6-foot-4, 205 (Ellington), 5-foot-11, 195 (Lawson) and 6-foot-5, 218 (Ginyard).

Maybe your're talking about Stephon Curry? 6-foot-3, 185. And five times the shooter that Dillard is.

Who ripped up the tourney that I'm not mentioning?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

In all seriousness, moderators, you do a FANTASTIC job...

However, would it be better to condense some of the "Buzz Topics" into one thread?

I realize that this board has a pretty open speech policy (which I enjoy), but I'm afraid that a minority of posters are taking over this board with a volume of posts and topics (all about disliking Buzz, and or the hiring process) and really diluting the quality of the information.

I realize that everybody wants to weigh in on buzz... but we seem to have several topics with several of the same posters saying the same thing. It seems like 15-20 new topics started per day by the same few posters.

Again, I realize everybody's want/need to share their opinion, I'm just afraid that fewer and fewer opinions are being heard/posted because the same opinions from the same people are getting posted over and over again in new topics.


Anyways, I still thank you guys for all of the work. Just trying to be helpful (and/or provide a different viewpoint)

EDIT: I just noticed the little "ignore buttons"... so maybe I've found my own solution.

Thanks again, Mods.

[wampum77]

What is the value of repeatedly berating the administration and the coach who has just been hired?  Nothing, if anything it makes OUR goal of getting the job done more difficult and is certainly unfair to recruits and the team.  This is it, let's move ahead!  PRN, please state what you want to accomplish??

[Murffieus]

My understanding is that Buzz's base of recruits came from JUCO. That won't fly here!

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

you seem to forget (again) that we just witnessed those exact dimensions rip up team after team in the NCAA Tournament that just finished.

Really?

Memphis' guards are 6-foot-3, 205 (Rose), 6-foot-6, 210 (Anderson), and 6-foot-7, 200 (CDR).

Kansas' guards are 6-foot-1, 195 (Chalmers), 6-foot-1, 205 (Robinson) and 5-foot-11, 205 (Collins, and he wishes he were only 205).

UNC's guards are 6-foot-4, 205 (Ellington), 5-foot-11, 195 (Lawson) and 6-foot-5, 218 (Ginyard).

Maybe your're talking about Stephon Curry? 6-foot-3, 185. And five times the shooter that Dillard is.

Who ripped up the tourney that I'm not mentioning?

I'm speaking specifically of Stephen Curry and if you think he is truly 185 pounds, then I'll be Buzz first Top 30 recruit to sign at Marquette.

All you mentioned was weight with Dillard as if that alone makes him a so-so recruit. Lavender did well in college. Porter does well at Oregon. Randle does well at California. Curry does well at Providence. There are plenty of examples of guys aren't the "weightiest" being good Division I players.

And you still seem to be ignoring 2/3 of that recruiting class in Booker and Hare.

[Marquette84]

Bob Dukiet had a WAY better resume.

You actually hit the nail on the head with this comment.

Bob Dukiet had a WAY better resume than Brad Brownell.  WAY better than Chris Lowery.  WAY better than Scott Drew.   WAY better than Bob McKillop.

Maybe that explains MU's reluctance to hire any of them.

St. Peters regularly had the #1 defense, and at least once had the #1 offense.  Dukiet had deep recruiting ties in the NYC area.  He was a long time assistant at Princeton during the years of Pete Carrill.  He succeeded at a school with fewer than 3000 students located in Jersey City--and this was when Jersey City was a dump.  In college he was coached by Bob Cousy.

[Pakuni]

I'm speaking specifically of Stephen Curry and if you think he is truly 185 pounds, then I'll be Buzz first Top 30 recruit to sign at Marquette.

Curry is 6'3". Dillard is 5'10". In heels. And if you've ever seen Dillard play, you wouldn't make the comparison. Curry is a pure shooter and scorer. Dillard is a traditional point guard. they're nothing alike.

As for the rest about Dillard, that's not all I mentioned as to why he's a so-so recruit. In fact, I didn't even say he was a so-so recruit. I said he was a good recruit for SIU. But if Marquette had landed the 32nd ranked point guard in his class who had no other offers from major-conference schools, I doubt many here would be doing celebratory backflips. We've got people here saying that losing TT would be no big deal, but TT is without a doubt a better prospect than Dillard.

And you still seem to be ignoring 2/3 of that recruiting class in Booker and Hare.

I'm not ignoring the others. You brought up Dillard, I responded about Dillard. Booker was a great get. Lowery's only top 100 player in four years. Hare? Meh. Joe Chapman was a much, much better prospect coming out of high school. I don't think he's a high-major player. He's about what you'd expect to land at SIU. MU recruited Hare for a while, but never offered.

[Pakuni]

My understanding is that Buzz's base of recruits came from JUCO. That won't fly here!

Your understanding is wrong. A & M did take on a few JUCOs in Gillispie's first class because they were desperate for an infusion of talent, but hasn't done so since.

[ATWizJr]

This is only jaw-dropping stuff to the naysayers who are waiting for the second coming.

If TT cannot be retained I will not be surprised, nor will I use it as the basis to judge whether the hire is good or not.  For that  a longer term view is needed.  I'm more than willing to give the man a chance and judge him on his record down the road.  To that end, enough already of the second guessing and whining.  Let's move forward, support the kids, support the coach, support the school and wait to judge until something judgeable happens.

[Norm]

Here are 2 recruiting classes that Buzz was involved with at Texas A&M and his only recruiting class at New Orleans. Any ranking numbers are from the RSCI indez:

2005 Texas A&M
#81 Martellus Bennett 6’6” PF Sugar Land, TX (played football)
David Devezin 5’11” PG  Houston, TX (transferred to San Jacinto CC)
Jamar Finley 6’6” SG  Rome, GA (Panola JC) (ended up at Rome ServPro-1)
Antanas Kavaliauskas 6’10 PF  Great Bend, KS  (Great Bend Barton CC)
Eddie Smith 6’2” PG  Springfield, IL  (Moberly Area JC, MO) (transferred to Illinois-Springfield)

2006 Texas A&M
#63 Bryan Davis 6’8” PF Grand Prarie, TX
#90 Donald Sloan 6’2 WG  Dallas, TX
Bryan Beasley 5’11” PG  Pflugerville, TX (transferred to Rice)
Bryson Graham 6’3” SG  San Antonio, TX Lon Morris JC
Jerrod Johnson 6’6” SF  Humble, TX (plays football at A&M – QB)
Derrick Roland 6’4” SG  Seagoville, TX

2007
New Orleans
Kyndall Dykes 6’4” SF Navarro (TX) JC
Jairo Mendoza 6’7” PF Miami Dade (FL) CC
Kechan Myers 6’0” PG Arkansas-Fort Smith (AR) JC
Jaroslav Tyrna 6’10”Prague

Only Kendall Dykes enrolled at New Orleans after Williams left in July 2007 to come to Marquette.

[Pakuni]

Here are 2 recruiting classes that Buzz was involved with at Texas A&M and his only recruiting class at New Orleans. Any ranking numbers are from the RSCI indez:

Buzz also was involved with A&M's 2007 class. Schools don't wait until a kid's senior year to start recruiting him.

[Norm]

All right,

Here's Texas A&M's 2007 class:

#15 DeAndre Jordan 7’0” C Houston, TX
Denzell Bowles 6’9” PF Virginia Beach, VA
B.J. Holmes 5’10” PG  Houston, TX
Derrek Lewis 6’5” SF  Tulsa, OK
Nathan Walkup 6’6” SF  Deer Park, TX

[rocky_warrior]

2007
New Orleans
Kyndall Dykes 6’4” SF Navarro (TX) JC
Jairo Mendoza 6’7” PF Miami Dade (FL) CC
Kechan Myers 6’0” PG Arkansas-Fort Smith (AR) JC
Jaroslav Tyrna 6’10”Prague

Actually - that's not correct either.  That's the class they had *after* Buzz left.  I posted this a few days ago, but here's the PR from his UNO class:

NEW ORLEANS – University of New Orleans men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams came in with a reputation as an incredible recruiter, and his first, full-season Privateer signing class seems to back that up.

The Privateers’ current recruiting class is ranked in the top 50 nationally according to HoopScoop Online. The class is ranked 50th, tied with Southern Mississippi, and is the second-highest ranked group in the Sun Belt Conference (Middle Tennessee ranks 44th).

UNO has signed Kyndall Dykes out of Navarro Junior College; Joseph Fulce (Massanutten Military Academy); Jairo Mendoza (Miami-Dade CC); Troy Mathis (Lon Morris JC); Kechan Myers (Arkansas-Fort Smith); and Tristan Worrell (Angelina JC).

Article

I believe Fulce, Worrell, and Mathis were the top 3 rated in that class - and they never showed up at UNO.