683 replies to this topic

[You Play to Win the Game]

Going to the Georgetown game.

That will be Buzz's unofficial welcome party I think.

KenPom has Georgetown in the 80's but their pre-season rankings should be taken with a grain of salt IMO.

I'm trying to remain realistic and humbled about this season but I'm excited for the Buzz era to begin.

[BaltBird 24]

Honestly feel more excitement for Buzz than I did Willard in the beginning. Willard was just a meh hire IMO who overachieved his first year, underachieved his second, and did as expected his third. Never really felt excited with him.

I like Buzz's energy.

[BSLZackKiesel]

Four non-conference opponents ranked in the initial Top 100. Two are road games (Marquette, Virginia) and one is a neutral-site matchup (Gonzaga).

• Gonzaga: #8
• Marquette: #47
• Virginia: #59
• Georgetown: #82

UNLV (neutral-site) just outside the Top 100 at #107.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Honestly feel more excitement for Buzz than I did Willard in the beginning. Willard was just a meh hire IMO who overachieved his first year, underachieved his second, and did as expected his third. Never really felt excited with him.

I like Buzz's energy.

Buzz is a word salad huckster. But one that will eventually have a pretty high floor here. He will make tournaments though Im thinking this year is a struggle. It will be ugly classic B10 style basketball. Y'all will tire of it in time.

[Mike B]

Buzz is a word salad huckster. But one that will eventually have a pretty high floor here. He will make tournaments though Im thinking this year is a struggle. It will be ugly classic B10 style basketball. Y'all will tire of it in time.

I prefer fast pace but if he can win in another style, who cares.  Winning trumps everything.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I prefer fast pace but if he can win in another style, who cares.  Winning trumps everything.

If Turgeon 2.0 floats your boat by all means

[BSLChrisStoner]

If Turgeon 2.0 floats your boat by all means

Will come down to how much you win. 

If you win enough, you can deal with it not being aesthetically pleasing.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I literally see Turg 2.0 before he stayed an extra year or two too long. Again, if thats enough for you considering the style then so be it. Doesnt really work for me.

[BSLZackKiesel]

There's definitely a pattern to Buzz's previous jobs. Has some initial success, program shows good signs of improvement, easy guy to root for, etc. But around Year 3/4 things start to stall out and the fanbase gets restless. The good news is that's about when he leaves, doesn't need to be pushed out.

 

He's not a bad coach, but I certainly wouldn't put money on him being the one to get the program past the Sweet 16 hump. Definitely could happen, but he'll probably just be a decent bridge option to a (hopefully) better coach in 5 years or so. Absolutely could've done worse given the Willard fallout and a rushed search without an AD.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Turg won 57% of his conf games and made the tourny more than he missed. I think the program generally stays on par with where theyve been the last decade. There is nothing wrong with that in a lot of ways. For me, unless we somewhat consistently make FF and E8 its not enough to get past the bullyball snoozefest style

[BaltBird 24]

Didn't UVA win a title with that style of ball? I'd live with that.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Virginia also got blown out by UMBC as a #1 seed the year before that. But if that's the assured road to another title, I'll live with it.

[BSLChrisStoner]

IMS: Another significant injury

https://247sports.co...uUoVzoXiBdwYbow

[BaltBird 24]

Sprained ankle. Hopefully he's back to full strength by conference play. Not too worried.

[BSLZackKiesel]

Maryland reportedly had their first closed-door scrimmage of the season this morning against West Virginia. The Mountaineers won, 95-73.

[BSLMikeLowe]

How long before schools figure out they can make a little money off these scrimmages and sell tickets?

[You Play to Win the Game]

I just watched Buzz's presser from earlier today. He said of the 26 practices they've had so far, about 4-6 of them have been what he would call power conference standard. He didn't provide context on that. Feels kind of reasonable at the beginning of a year, much less in this current NIL and portal environment. Nevertheless a major theme of the presser seemed to be managing expectations.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I just watched Buzz's presser from earlier today. He said of the 26 practices they've had so far, about 4-6 of them have been what he would call power conference standard. He didn't provide context on that. Feels kind of reasonable at the beginning of a year, much less in this current NIL and portal environment. Nevertheless a major theme of the presser seemed to be managing expectations.

Gonna be a bad year. Just destiny for all our teams this year

[BaltBird 24]

Nah Buzz's team is gonna surprise.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Not this year.