Dumb Pills?

[TulsaWarrior]

Reading the various boards you have to believe that a percentage of fans think Buzz Williams has been on dumb pills this season. Can't some posters realize that stuff happens. There's X amount that a coach can control. Things like recruiting restrictions he has had to work around. His options over the past few years were to stay at Marquette or find a more supportive work environment.

Looking at consecutive Sweet 16 berths and an Elite 8 berth -- Marquette had the three most successful consecutive years since Al McGuire's tenure. Has anyone asked what Al would have done if he was in the same position Coach Williams faced with the administration changes? My bet is Al would have booked.

Buzz hasn't been taking dumb pills this season just trying to make things work under the rules he was given. (There was a lag time in the impact of the rules, the luck factor of injuries, illnesses and the Blue early exit.) Since the playing field has been changed again I'm optimistic about the program's future. There's no magic wand for the coming season but my guess is an improvement and a JUCO addition to ease some of the graduation of three front court players.

Is there a level playing field in terms of institutional support in D1 sports? No. The variation in support is not just monetary. Every school has to find a balance that works for the individual institution. It's not a science. It should be interesting to see the new balance after the interim school president and AD exit. My belief is it will be in Father Wild's vision.

The bottom line for me is the blame for a less than hoped for 2013-14 season should not fall entirely on Buzz's shoulders or even the players. A little more latitude in recruiting could have been all the difference. One player might have been the catalyst for a top ten ranked team. It's about leveling the playing field with the schools Marquette is competing against.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

It's hard for me to believe that some of these people actually believe what they are writing.

[pbiflyer]

As someone mentioned somewhere here, we had lots of close games. A bounce here or there the other way and our season is looking pretty good. And that is without all the impacts that Tulsa mentioned.

[jpvegas52]

Reading the various boards you have to believe that a percentage of fans think Buzz Williams has been on dumb pills this season. Can't some posters realize that stuff happens. There's X amount that a coach can control. Things like recruiting restrictions he has had to work around. His options over the past few years were to stay at Marquette or find a more supportive work environment.

Looking at consecutive Sweet 16 berths and an Elite 8 berth -- Marquette had the three most successful consecutive years since Al McGuire's tenure. Has anyone asked what Al would have done if he was in the same position Coach Williams faced with the administration changes? My bet is Al would have booked.

Buzz hasn't been taking dumb pills this season just trying to make things work under the rules he was given. (There was a lag time in the impact of the rules, the luck factor of injuries, illnesses and the Blue early exit.) Since the playing field has been changed again I'm optimistic about the program's future. There's no magic wand for the coming season but my guess is an improvement and a JUCO addition to ease some of the graduation of three front court players.

Is there a level playing field in terms of institutional support in D1 sports? No. The variation in support is not just monetary. Every school has to find a balance that works for the individual institution. It's not a science. It should be interesting to see the new balance after the interim school president and AD exit. My belief is it will be in Father Wild's vision.

The bottom line for me is the blame for a less than hoped for 2013-14 season should not fall entirely on Buzz's shoulders or even the players. A little more latitude in recruiting could have been all the difference. One player might have been the catalyst for a top ten ranked team. It's about leveling the playing field with the schools Marquette is competing against.

Totally agree.

[unclejohn]

When he wrote about baseball, George Will said that good managers are highly underrated. He suggested that a good manager can win 20 games a year, and that pitchers that win that many get paid a lot more than managers. Still, that leaves a whole lot of games out of the control of the manager. College basketball coaches are different. For one thing, they get to choose their players. But once the ball goes up, they cannot make any shots or grab any rebounds. As far as putting a team together, it is pretty hard to argue with Buzz. He has recruited some great players. This year he was hurt by one who left early, another who changed his mind, and several who were hurt. But the players he chose are fine. We assume that Marquette is going to beat middle-of-the-pack teams. They only do that if they recruit the players to do it. So maybe 8-10 wins are built into the schedule. The rest the team has to go out and win.

As far as game coaching, Buzz has done awfully well this year. The team has shown up for just about every game and had a game plan. Sometimes they followed it better than other times, but the game plan was there. As far as game management goes, we have had six games go into overtime. Most of the time, we have been the team trying to get the game into overtime. That has taken poise and coaching in the last minute or so. Against Nova, Georgetown, and St John's, Marquette had to rally to get the game into OT, and particularly against Nova and St. John's, they had to make some really great plays to get there. It could not have happened without a team that played to the last second, and a team does not do that unless it has been coached to do it. We lost the games, but Buzz did everything a coach could do to win them.

Those of us who have been around awhile know that teams go up and down, teams have disappointing seasons, and there is not a whole lot a coach can do to prevent that. Had this team been in less capable hands, it would have lost a few more games and not been as close in the ones it did lose. I look at this team and remember talking to a very longtime fan and regular poster here at Midnight Madness Buzz's second year. That was the year our starting guard combo was Acker and Cubi, who together rarely got off the bench the year before, and whose minutes together would not have added up to one full game, if Dominic James not gotten hurt. We agreed that it was going to be a long year, and that the bandwagon fans were going to go nuts complaining about it. That team made the tournament, coached by the same dumb guy.

[jesmu84]

I feel like I might be in the dark about some of the things you mention, Tulsa. Can you expand on the "rules he was given"? Or on the "institutional support"? As well as "recruiting restrictions"? I haven't heard anything about that stuff.

[TulsaWarrior]

More specifics were outlined on the Premium Board and I don't think it would be fair for me to cut and paste. It's safe to say those close to the situation agree with the assertions I have made.

[jesmu84]

More specifics were outlined on the Premium Board and I don't think it would be fair for me to cut and paste. It's safe to say those close to the situation agree with the assertions I have made.

That's fair. Not a member yet. Thanks for responding at all.

[warriorfan4life]

I have mentioned this before, but I think having the younger players living away from the upperclassmen has played a part in the lack of team chemistry. The team does seem to be divided between the upperclassmen in Humphrey and underclassmen in Straz and Carpenter. Hoping that wrong will be righted.

[ChitownAl]

Totally agree with Tulsa's post and concurrence/input of following posters. Will also add so fed up and tired of redundant either "Anti-Derrick" and/or "Buzz is dumb/stubborn" (which are about his play calling, substitution patterns or players minutes) posts ad naseum. Some fans self-entitlement and lack of support totally through the roof and very disappointing this season.