Top 144 Countdown

[Dave]

My view is that JT3, Buzz, Jay, and Lavin can all recruit. But Buzz and JT3 are better game day coaches. JT3's down year was still a winning season and an NIT bid. Jay's '11-'12 team was way under .500 and had a lot of talent from the Final Four recruiting bump. Jay's lows are lower, and he struggles to X and O for bigs. Buzz has delivered every year at Marquette... I don't remember him having a lot of talent and not being able to win. Lavin seems yet to realize the promise of his talent and potential.

[Westbrook36]

Rest assured Buzz will have down years as well, he's not superman. What's he been there like 4 years or so now? Get back to me in another 8 or 9 years then we'll compare. Buzz is no better than Jay Wright or JT3, every coach has or will have down years, including Buzz.

You realize that bad year you were talking about was the result of a census top 5 recruiting class? Wayns, Cheek, Yarou, Armstrong were overhyped and selfish(well not Yarou) me first, low basketball I.Q. players. I don't blame that entirely on Jay, most of that blame is on those players. That happens in recruiting some times, some times you swing and miss. This happens to every coach sooner or later, including Buzz. If Jay was so bad Nova wouldn't be on the rebound and on the way up. This current player pool isn't as highly regarded, so if Jay were such a bad game day coach, how did we get better with less physically talented players?

[Dave]

Rest assured Buzz will have down years as well, he's not superman. What's he been there like 4 years or so now? Get back to me in another 8 or 9 years then we'll compare. Buzz is no better than Jay Wright or JT3, every coach has or will have down years, including Buzz.

You realize that bad year you were talking about was the result of a census top 5 recruiting class? Wayns, Cheek, Yarou, Armstrong were overhyped and selfish(well not Yarou) me first, low basketball I.Q. players. I don't blame that entirely on Jay, most of that blame is on those players. That happens in recruiting some times, some times you swing and miss. This happens to every coach sooner or later, including Buzz. If Jay was so bad Nova wouldn't be on the rebound and on the way up. This current player pool isn't as highly regarded, so if Jay were such a bad game day coach, how did we get better with less physically talented players?

Not saying "so bad". Just that he is stronger on recruiting than most, and not top tier on game day. Yarou is a stud that was never fully utilized as a big. Wayns, Cheek and Armstrong all left early, unrealized team potential. Nova didn't adjust to the talent it had... didn't fit the system to me means that instead of playing to the talent recruited, Jay tried to fit square pegs into round holes. Wayns selfish? Jay said he encouraged Wayns to take those boat load of shots, because even though the shot selection was not good it was our best option. There was no flow or motion to that offense, a huge contrast to a JT3 offense. So even if the Top 5 recruiting class was going to not meet expectations, you would not expect the complete melt down, losing season, mass exodus that was the result (and not making it out of the first weekend since the Final Four team).

Jay and Lavin are good coaches in good programs. Jay has had and will continue to have success. Lavin is unrealized potential. imo, JT3 and Buzz are more consistent game coaches.

[Westbrook36]

I guess we'll agree to disagree then, IMO Buzz isn't a better or more consistent game day coach then Jay. I can't honestly rank Buzz above or even with JT3 or Wright. Maybe in a few more years he'll pass both of them, but that remains to be seen, IMO.

Yes, Wayns was selfish, many many times he pounded the dribble and put up a bad shot when there were better options. Yes, Jay gave him freedom to shoot more because the rest of the team was offensively limited, but he didn't give him the freedom to chuck up any old shot which he did. That class beside Yarou was pretty much uncoachable, which is why they were encourage to leave early. Again if he wasn't a good game day coach we would have been terrible again last year. That didn't happen though, Nova & Jay surprised pretty much everyone who had written them off.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Rest assured Buzz will have down years as well, he's not superman. What's he been there like 4 years or so now? Get back to me in another 8 or 9 years then we'll compare. Buzz is no better than Jay Wright or JT3, every coach has or will have down years, including Buzz.

You realize that bad year you were talking about was the result of a census top 5 recruiting class? Wayns, Cheek, Yarou, Armstrong were overhyped and selfish(well not Yarou) me first, low basketball I.Q. players. I don't blame that entirely on Jay, most of that blame is on those players. That happens in recruiting some times, some times you swing and miss. This happens to every coach sooner or later, including Buzz. If Jay was so bad Nova wouldn't be on the rebound and on the way up. This current player pool isn't as highly regarded, so if Jay were such a bad game day coach, how did we get better with less physically talented players?

Not saying "so bad". Just that he is stronger on recruiting than most, and not top tier on game day. Yarou is a stud that was never fully utilized as a big. Wayns, Cheek and Armstrong all left early, unrealized team potential. Nova didn't adjust to the talent it had... didn't fit the system to me means that instead of playing to the talent recruited, Jay tried to fit square pegs into round holes. Wayns selfish? Jay said he encouraged Wayns to take those boat load of shots, because even though the shot selection was not good it was our best option. There was no flow or motion to that offense, a huge contrast to a JT3 offense. So even if the Top 5 recruiting class was going to not meet expectations, you would not expect the complete melt down, losing season, mass exodus that was the result (and not making it out of the first weekend since the Final Four team).

Jay and Lavin are good coaches in good programs. Jay has had and will continue to have success. Lavin is unrealized potential. imo, JT3 and Buzz are more consistent game coaches.

Yeah Dave, Jay sucks. Dante Cunningham was not a Top recruit and now he is cashing checks in the NBA. If you're going to say that he can't coach talent than how does Dante C., a PF, not a guard, play in the NBA without being a heralded recruit? Wayns and Cheek decided they didn't want to play D. Not sure why Armwood left b/c he got time at Nova and was part of their future. He, like many immature ballers, just wanted to be the "man." I guess he's content doing that at G.Wash. I like him but that's an insecure loser mentality that had nothing to do with Jay. His success at GW only points to the devemopment he got while under Jay.

If Jay is not a good game day coach how could he have beaten Gtwn, L'ville, Marq & Syracuse all last year, with inferior talent? Would you be surprised if I told you that Jay has winning records against both Pitino and Boeheim, as well against Marq since they entered the BE? But he can't figure out the X's & O's against those 2 HOFers, huh? Please stop.

[Dave]

Yeesh. You boys are sensitive. Did I say "Jay sucks". Or he is "so bad". Or that Dante wasn't a great recruit?

Jay is a good coach at a good program and recruits very very well in my opinion. He is not in the top tier of game day coaches in my opinion. Does Nova have the talent to be comfortably in the NCAAs this year? imo, yes, absolutely. Can the win the Big East? Yes! Will they miss the NCAAs? Well, they could, in spite of their talent, because they also have a history of not living up to expectations over the last 4 years.

We will see. I am obviously pulling for Jay and Nova to run the table. Objectively, I think Buzz and JT3 are more consistent as game coaches. That's all.

[Westbrook36]

I wouldn't say we're sensitive, we're just going to bat for Jay. Your a Marquette guy(I would assume) and going to bat for Buzz. You clearly rank Buzz ahead of Jay, no biggie. We happen to strongly disagree with that assessment. Buzz is a good coach at a good program, but I can't objectively rank him as highly as Jay or JT3. Like I said before, maybe with a few more years of consistent success I can.

[marquette]

I wouldn't say we're sensitive, we're just going to bat for Jay. Your a Marquette guy(I would assume) and going to bat for Buzz. You clearly rank Buzz ahead of Jay, no biggie. We happen to strongly disagree with that assessment. Buzz is a good coach at a good program, but I can't objectively rank him as highly as Jay or JT3. Like I said before, maybe with a few more years of consistent success I can.

I believe Dave is Providence guy, but I may be confusing him with Bill (when posters use real people names it throws me off ).

[GumbyDamnit!]

Yeesh. You boys are sensitive. Did I say "Jay sucks". Or he is "so bad". Or that Dante wasn't a great recruit?

Jay is a good coach at a good program and recruits very very well in my opinion. He is not in the top tier of game day coaches in my opinion. Does Nova have the talent to be comfortably in the NCAAs this year? imo, yes, absolutely. Can the win the Big East? Yes! Will they miss the NCAAs? Well, they could, in spite of their talent, because they also have a history of not living up to expectations over the last 4 years.

We will see. I am obviously pulling for Jay and Nova to run the table. Objectively, I think Buzz and JT3 are more consistent as game coaches. That's all.

We're Nova fans. Of course we're going to come to Jay's defense. I happen to think, after Stevens left, that he is the best coach in the league when considering all things--recruiting, coaching, teaching and holding kids accountable and representing your program with class. He can clearly recruit as you say. He is alone with JT3 as the only coaches in the BE that has a FF to his name (cough, cough, Buzz, cough), and has a winning record against both Boeheim and Pitino over 30 games competing with them. I think that stands on its own on whether or not he's a good X's and O's guys b/c most years he has had far less talent than either one of those guys. And the pt. I was making about Dante is that he wasn't a Top 50 guy but under Jay's guidance was able to develop and build himself into an NBA player. And can you really say "history of not living up to expectation" and refer to 4 years. I mean 5 years ago they were a FF team and last year they were picked to finish somewhere near the bottom of the BE in the preseason and they made the tourney. You say he has a history of underachieving the last 4 years. Weak. Compare his tourney resume to JT3's and tell me who has underachieved more.

[Daffron24]

I have to agree at this point that JT3 and Jay are 1 and 2 in the conference in terms of overall coaching. If I had to rank one above the other I'd put Jay just because of stylish suits. I think Buzz could surpass them, but he's only in year 7. A final four run and I think Buzz would be side by side with the J's.