Top 144 Countdown

[DumpsterFireA10]

I thought Dave and Bill Marsh were both UConn guys, but Bill Marsh was well connected at Providence.

[marquette]

I thought Dave and Bill Marsh were both UConn guys, but Bill Marsh was well connected at Providence.

You may be right. I could dig back through the posts, but I'm just too lazy.

[Dave]

I thought Dave and Bill Marsh were both UConn guys, but Bill Marsh was well connected at Providence.

You may be right. I could dig back through the posts, but I'm just too lazy.

For the record... Nova

[MUBoxer]

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.

Shhh he's on year 6 we don't talk about the year at UNO haha

[TheHall]

No, no. I am saying that given the recruiting talent, Marquette and GTown have coaches that predictably deliver in the regular season and I expect them to be in the top 20. Many of the other Big East teams are loaded with talent, and might win the conference. But those programs, imo, don't have the game day coaches that reliably deliver. So Lavin or Wright could win the Big East. And they could miss the tournament. I think we are a 4-7 bid league. I'd narrow to 5-6. and if forced my bet would be 5.

I agree pretty much with every scenario in your post. Seems like John Rothstein is on the high side of the prediction (7) like myself though:

"Going to be a real interesting year in the Big East. 1-7 exceptionally close. Seton Hall a solid 8. Butler 9. DePaul w Melvin/Young at 10."

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/383201962444857344

Based on what Rothstein has been writing lately I take his points to mean:

1-7 are close- Marquette, Gtown & Creighton are close to X, Nova, Prov & SJU, so they are all likely NCAA Bid quality.
SHU is a solid 8- likely a post season birth in the NIT, outside shot to overachieve & make NCAAs.
Butler 9- no Brad Stevens, Jones so be conservative with prediction.
Depaul, w Melvin/Young- holy crap the 10th team in the BE has this type of talent!

[Bill Marsh]

Why all the love for Buzz's coaching?

No question that he's a good coach and a likable guy. Also gotta love his antics on the sidelines, the beads of sweat constantly pouring from his bald head, and the constant wiping it off with the towel. He and JT III have that in common and with JT II. But when did this guy become an elite coach such that you could guarantee a big season for Marquette like money in the bank?

Under him, Marquette has never won a Big East title outright. Last year they tied in the regular season and then exited in the quarter finals of the tournament. How do an Elite 8 couple of Sweet 16's put him in the same category as proven winners like Wright & JT III? And let's not forget what Wright did at Hofstra. That guy knows how to coach.

Not knocking Buzz at all. Really like the guy and his coaching, but he's not a miracle worker. After losing 4 of his top 6 players from last season including his leading scorer, leading rebounder, assists leader, and steals leader AND not bringing in any elite talent, he's going to have his work cut out for him this season. There's is nothing guaranteed this year for Marquette in terms of a big year.

[MUBoxer]

Why all the love for Buzz's coaching?

No question that he's a good coach and a likable guy. Also gotta love his antics on the sidelines, the beads of sweat constantly pouring from his bald head, and the constant wiping it off with the towel. He and JT III have that in common and with JT II. But when did this guy become an elite coach such that you could guarantee a big season for Marquette like money in the bank?

Under him, Marquette has never won a Big East title outright. Last year they tied in the regular season and then exited in the quarter finals of the tournament. How do an Elite 8 couple of Sweet 16's put him in the same category as proven winners like Wright & JT III? And let's not forget what Wright did at Hofstra. That guy knows how to coach.

Not knocking Buzz at all. Really like the guy and his coaching, but he's not a miracle worker. After losing 4 of his top 6 players from last season including his leading scorer, leading rebounder, assists leader, and steals leader AND not bringing in any elite talent, he's going to have his work cut out for him this season. There's is nothing guaranteed this year for Marquette in terms of a big year.

First and foremost Buzz has proven after 08-09 and 11-12 that we can lose wayyyyy more than we lost this year and still manage to be good. In 08-09 we lost our three top scores including an all american in jerel McNeal and also lost almost an entire class of role players. What did Buzz do? He took a team that went 6 deep to be 5th in the old BE and lost on a buzzer beater to Washington (I still maintain that lazar was fouled and shouldve been at the line). The following year he took an even worse group that was almost entirely jucos and three star recruits to the sweet 16 (I'm sure Xavier fans remember that year haha) after 11-12 we lost an all American/BE POY Jae Crowder and 1st team all big east player darius Johnson odom and what happens? We make the elite 8. If anything he's proven he can compete with the absolute worst players and still make the tournament and do decent there.

Next, not an elite recruiting class? It was top 10 in the nation and has 3 top 100 recruits a Juco 2 time all American and a random 3 star who's likely not going to do much. I don't know what you call elite but MU's class was rated the best in the BE this year. We also have the most experienced front court in The league

[Bill Marsh]

Why all the love for Buzz's coaching?

No question that he's a good coach and a likable guy. Also gotta love his antics on the sidelines, the beads of sweat constantly pouring from his bald head, and the constant wiping it off with the towel. He and JT III have that in common and with JT II. But when did this guy become an elite coach such that you could guarantee a big season for Marquette like money in the bank?

Under him, Marquette has never won a Big East title outright. Last year they tied in the regular season and then exited in the quarter finals of the tournament. How do an Elite 8 couple of Sweet 16's put him in the same category as proven winners like Wright & JT III? And let's not forget what Wright did at Hofstra. That guy knows how to coach.

Not knocking Buzz at all. Really like the guy and his coaching, but he's not a miracle worker. After losing 4 of his top 6 players from last season including his leading scorer, leading rebounder, assists leader, and steals leader AND not bringing in any elite talent, he's going to have his work cut out for him this season. There's is nothing guaranteed this year for Marquette in terms of a big year.

First and foremost Buzz has proven after 08-09 and 11-12 that we can lose wayyyyy more than we lost this year and still manage to be good. In 08-09 we lost our three top scores including an all american in jerel McNeal and also lost almost an entire class of role players. What did Buzz do? He took a team that went 6 deep to be 5th in the old BE and lost on a buzzer beater to Washington (I still maintain that lazar was fouled and shouldve been at the line). The following year he took an even worse group that was almost entirely jucos and three star recruits to the sweet 16 (I'm sure Xavier fans remember that year haha) after 11-12 we lost an all American/BE POY Jae Crowder and 1st team all big east player darius Johnson odom and what happens? We make the elite 8. If anything he's proven he can compete with the absolute worst players and still make the tournament and do decent there.

Next, not an elite recruiting class? It was top 10 in the nation and has 3 top 100 recruits a Juco 2 time all American and a random 3 star who's likely not going to do much. I don't know what you call elite but MU's class was rated the best in the BE this year. We also have the most experienced front court in The league

I don't dispute that Buzz has proven that he's a good coach and can rebuild a team on the fly. So have other coaches in the league. The fact that Buzz or any other coach has proven that he CAN do that doesn't mean he WILL do that with a new group of kids in any given year. What being in that position means that his roster is unproven and that we really don't now yet how they will go. The fact that he has a proven track record to some degree doesn't predict how this group of kids will perform. They play the games, he doesn't.

Yes, I know that Marquette has a top ten recruiting class. But they're ranked that high because of its depth, not because they have any elite players, by which I mean players who are expected to step right in and have an immediate impact. Being in the top 100 doesn't mean a player will have impact as a freshman. Top 10, top 20, top 25 are the kinds of players who are expected to do that. I'm not a big fan of JUCOs. Their record of transferring their skills to DI is very spotty.

Most experienced front court in the league? How is that when Marquette lost its leading rebounder and St. John's and Providence have everybody back in their front courts?

[marquette]

Most experienced front court in the league? How is that when Marquette lost its leading rebounder and St. John's and Providence have everybody back in their front courts?

Our center and power forward are both seniors. C is actually a 6 year senior.

[MUBoxer]

First by your logic then every year it's a waste of any expectations whatsoever because you never know what a new team will do. The fact is we have three seniors and two juniors all very well tested.

As far as its depth or not maybe you don't know who jajuan Johnson is but he was listed as a 5 star on certain sites and is expected by most analysts to make an immediate impact. Your opinion of JUCOs overall is fair and I agree however what you don't look at is Buzz's track record with JUCOs joe Fulce flop, Dwight buycks NBA, Jimmy Butler NBA, Jae Crowder BE POY and NBA, Darius Johnson Odom NBA. Maybe overall JUCOs don't translate well but if you can argue anything against that track record with JUCOs then your crazy or you're just going to say "well this guy isn't those guys" which is stupid because then once again it's meaningless to have any sort of expectations or speculations of anybody.

As far as experience goes Jamil Wilson is a red shirt senior at PF/SF Chris Otule is a double red shirt senior at C and davante Gardner is a Senior at C/PF Steve Taylor is a Sophomore at PF and Jameel McKay is a Junior at PF... Hence most expierienced front court in the league.