Buzz responsible for what we have become?

[CaribouJim]

JJJ has the make up to be a very good player. I still think he has a ton of upside. Earl Tatum played on the freshman team...Bernard Toone was lost much of the time his first two years...Chris Crawford seemingly walked every time he got the ball his freshman year...Jimmy B. looked overwhelmed and over matched and downright slow when he got to MU and that was with a JUCO year under his belt. All these guys went on to play in the NBA. To give up on JJJ now is insane IMO.

I can't imagine that basketball was fun last year for the guys. I contend that Buzz coached last year like an insecure CEO for a company that just went public or made a big acquisition. Chasing those quarterly #'s. Innovation takes a hit and he played for the here and now and for that very possesion, that very game. That is not how you build a team for March. Players looking over their shoulders and I bet they were stressed out as hell.

I hope Wojo hangs in there with these guys. I'm not a fan of the "Cull the Herd" mentality until "Wojo gets his guys" so he can get guys for his "system". I hate that term by the way. I think Wojo is going to be a very good coach and good coaches readily adapt to the situation. Biggest example is how he went to the zone fairly early in the season. He didn't stubbornly stick to man-to-man just because they always did. Heck, maybe even Coach K learned from him this year when Duke went zone after getting waxed a couple game in a row.

Wojo, like his younger players, is going to be in a learning mode this season. Don't stress themselves to death - so long as everyone is accountable to each other and work on their invidual games and start having fun the wins will come. The cavalry will be here next year. I see this year much like the year before Wade and Diener's arrival - you started to see incremental improvement and they even had some nice wins along the way while laying the foundation for next year.

I'm tired of the transfers and I really will be bummed if JJJ ends up transferring.

[IrwinFletcher]

JJJ followed up his highlight dunk with a undisciplined, one on four turnover. Wojo was rightfully pissed. Does some good stuff. Does a lot of bad stuff.

My problem with that sequence was at the end of the dunk. Here is a kid who was basically punished for not working hard in practice and doing what is needed to be done for the team. He throws down a hellacious dunk, and stands there screaming as the ball gets inbounded.

For god's sake, are you that full of yourself after getting your hands slapped with a yard stick that you have to bring attention to yourself after a great play?

Make the play, put your head down and sprint back to play defense!

(Full disclosure - I am a 49 year old white suburban male who doesn't get a lot of this "me" culture)

[TheSultan]

JJJ has the make up to be a very good player. I still think he has a ton of upside. Earl Tatum played on the freshman team...Bernard Toone was lost much of the time his first two years...Chris Crawford seemingly walked every time he got the ball his freshman year...Jimmy B. looked overwhelmed and over matched and downright slow when he got to MU and that was with a JUCO year under his belt. All these guys went on to play in the NBA. To give up on JJJ now is insane IMO.

I can't imagine that basketball was fun last year for the guys. I contend that Buzz coached last year like an insecure CEO for a company that just went public or made a big acquisition. Chasing those quarterly #'s. Innovation takes a hit and he played for the here and now and for that very possesion, that very game. That is not how you build a team for March. Players looking over their shoulders and I bet they were stressed out as hell.

I hope Wojo hangs in there with these guys. I'm not a fan of the "Cull the Herd" mentality until "Wojo gets his guys" so he can get guys for his "system". I hate that term by the way. I think Wojo is going to be a very good coach and good coaches readily adapt to the situation. Biggest example is how he went to the zone fairly early in the season. He didn't stubbornly stick to man-to-man just because they always did. Heck, maybe even Coach K learned from him this year when Duke went zone after getting waxed a couple game in a row.

Wojo, like his younger players, is going to be in a learning mode this season. Don't stress themselves to death - so long as everyone is accountable to each other and work on their invidual games and start having fun the wins will come. The cavalry will be here next year. I see this year much like the year before Wade and Diener's arrival - you started to see incremental improvement and they even had some nice wins along the way while laying the foundation for next year.

I'm tired of the transfers and I really will be bummed if JJJ ends up transferring.

I want him here if he buys is. I don't want JJJ around for the sake of him being around though. If he doesn't buy in, there is really no reason for him to be here.

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

Irwin- the ball was far from being inbounded. I believe the ball got flushed through the net and went towards the ft line. The inbounder didn't even have the ball when he was celebrating. Also the team was dead at that point and jj just posterized the best shot blocker in the country- given this and that there was no threat of a fast break, I loved the celebration and thought it fired up the team as well.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Bringing it back to Buzz, it would have been real interesting to see what perception would have been of Hamas a coach given that last year we whiffed on all post season tournaments, and this year wasn't going to be good even if he stayed, so two bad years in a row it would have been interesting to see if there would be rumblings out letting him go or not...obviously there is no way to know now.

With that said I think the future of the program lies with the next two years, if Wojo can make the tournament the next two season I think this year and last year will be forgotten by many and it will be a thing of the past... If we continue to miss the tournament and we can't capitalize on a recruit like Henry Ellenson then I think things could get ugly as we'd have a stretch of being irrelevant which is never good. No reason to panic yet, these last two years have been tough, but if next year doesn't improve I'll start getting nervous...

[MUWhistler]

My problem with that sequence was at the end of the dunk. Here is a kid who was basically punished for not working hard in practice and doing what is needed to be done for the team. He throws down a hellacious dunk, and stands there screaming as the ball gets inbounded.

For god's sake, are you that full of yourself after getting your hands slapped with a yard stick that you have to bring attention to yourself after a great play?

Make the play, put your head down and sprint back to play defense!

(Full disclosure - I am a 49 year old white suburban male who doesn't get a lot of this "me" culture)

I had the same reaction when he made the dunk.

Every time Barry Sanders scored a touchdown, he handed the ball to the ref and went back to the sideline. Wish some of that mentality would creep back into the culture.

[MayorBeluga]

I've been saying all along that Buzz hs a history of running when things get tough. He ran from New Orleans and Marquette. Yes, he can justify each individually. But there is a pattern.

He was running away from something, not to something.

[IrwinFletcher]

The thing is with Buzz still being here, this team would have been different. Taylor would have been gone for sure. Anyone else?

We would also have Hill and Paige and maybe one other. More talent but a nasty hangover from previous season of on/off the court crap.

[zklup54]

I think JJJ is going to be a player for this team. Honestly I have felt more comfortable with him on the floor going to the basket the past few games over Duane. The biggest thing is they are so inexperienced. Wojo has mentioned at his press conferences over and over again. They are young and have basically lost a year of experience under Buzz last year. They are in every single game and that is a lot better than what we saw last year. I think we are alike 7-0-1 against the spread as an underdog this year so it is not like we aren't in games. The bigger question I have is does Fischer have any mid- range jump shot? I thought he had one. I'd like to see him take some more shots. I think this team is going to continue to fight and honestly that is all we can ask for and some of these games will turn around in our favor.

[TheSultan]

Irwin- the ball was far from being inbounded. I believe the ball got flushed through the net and went towards the ft line. The inbounder didn't even have the ball when he was celebrating. Also the team was dead at that point and jj just posterized the best shot blocker in the country- given this and that there was no threat of a fast break, I loved the celebration and thought it fired up the team as well.

Fired them up so much that they went -3 over the next 90 seconds.