http://www.sportsbubbler.com/DisplayTopic.aspx?TopicID=2025

The last line of that release is the most revealing: he played hockey and lacrosse. That means this kid is coordinated with good laterality or he never would have liked or played either of those sports. So, project?  yes on the basketball side..That can be taught.  Athletic ability is just that. In a 7 footer...look out. Take that, naysayers.....

He has media talent as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_r4wLf0XI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IPQyOOn0_Y&NR=1

Why not?  Low risk....  it's not like we were turning down a bunch of 4-star and 5-star post prospects (or 3-star, for that matter) beating our door down.  Maybe he'll develop.... sounds intelligent at least, which looked like a potential weakspot in the next couple of classes.  

Dud.  More JUCO players.  Great.  And this one isn't even that good.  You know those non-conference games against DII teams that UCONN and all the other studs in the Big East play.  Well they can add one more to the schedule because that's basically what Marquette has become for 2009-2010.  Maymom, Williams and Hayward won't be enough.  

Shack, you are either playing devil's advocate, being a  gloomy gus troll, or just plain myopically retarded. I played hockey for 10 years. Do you have any idea how far ahead he is already in footwork, coordination and athletic ability?  Imagine Yao Ming on skates....

 I will enjoy watching you eat your words in 2009. Buzz can recruit and I have every belief he will pull in a top notch PG for 2009. Yeah, Hayward, what lousy progress he made last year. Throw him under the bus with Maymon and Williams, who are both crummy players, too, and won't develop at all either.....

 The only dud here is your post. 

Warriors 79:

Shack, you are either playing devil's advocate, being a  gloomy gus troll, or just plain myopically retarded. I played hockey for 10 years. Do you have any idea how far ahead he is already in footwork, coordination and athletic ability?  Imagine Yao Ming on skates....

Ohhhh... Warriors 79 played hockey for 10 YEARS.... the only conclusion we can draw from that is every hockey player must be a great athlete with lots of coordination and outstanding footwork.   I took art class for 10 years (age 5-15).... Do you have any idea how far ahead I am of others when it comes to my eye for color, creativity, and critical awareness?  Imagine Picasso after recess..... 

Yes, I too was just about to say this kid is likely to be a cross between Yao and a young Shaq.  No wonder all those big programs were throwing themselves at his feet.  I would say at least two national titles, maybe three.   We have no entered the "Liam Era" of MU basketball.... Ring Out Ahoya!

Shack - I don't understand your comment about "more Juco players". You are not alone hoewever, but pretty misinformed. He is a transfer student. He wasn't at a Juco. He is Canadian, and he went to a college in Canada. He is a transfer student.

People have been ripping on Buzz' Jucos, well, let's take a look......

Jimmy Butler: Was from a small town and played for a small high school and a small AAU team that went to one tournament. No one knew who he was. Had a couple of small offers but did qualify. He opted to go Juco to get some more exposure and it did pay off. Not your typical Juco.

Joseph Fulce: Committed to Texas A&M out of high school but did not qualify. He went the prep school route and did qualify. Was headed to UNO but pulled out when Buzz left. Went Juco because it was the only option left. Not your typical Juco.

Dwight Buycks: Did not qualify and went Juco. Traditional Juco situation as he needed two years before going to NCAA school.

Liam McMorrow: Canadian College - not even a Juco.

So, out of the four guys, 2 aren't your 'typical Juco', one is andone never even went to a Juco.

Abe, just go away. As usual you again drew the wrong conclusion  from what I said. Not gonna even bother to spell it out in small simple words for you, but since you took an art class, maybe I'll draw you a nice picture. If you can skate well, you have great coordination. Period. And if you played competitive hockey in Canada, you can skate well.  He IS already ahead of schedule on footwork and coordination from playing hockey. Did you follow that?  Your art analogy doesn't work. Go back to eating your crayons.... 

  I am sure Buzz could  have found a big stiff in the US and not had to jump through all the hoops he did to land this kid. Give the guy a little credit. He saw something in this kid. We will have twin towers across the baseline in 2009.  Works for me.  Now for the PG icing on the cake....

Warriors 79:

Abe, just go away. As usual you again drew the wrong conclusion  from what I said. Not gonna even bother to spell it out in small simple words for you, but since you took an art class, maybe I'll draw you a nice picture. If you can skate well, you have great coordination. Period. And if you played competitive hockey in Canada, you can skate well.  He IS already ahead of schedule on footwork and coordination from playing hockey. Did you follow that?  Your art analogy doesn't work. Go back to eating your crayons.... 

  I am sure Buzz could  have found a big stiff in the US and not had to jump through all the hoops he did to land this kid. Give the guy a little credit. He saw something in this kid. We will have twin towers across the baseline in 2009.  Works for me.  Now for the PG icing on the cake....

You are making some HUGE leaps. How many years did he play hockey? I don't recall seeing anything about that..only that he played as a youngster. What position? Mabye he was a goalie...you don't have to skate well for that position. Maybe he played the role of goon. As if every young kid that played hockey competitively was somehow a good player. Let me clue you in...there are plenty of shitty hockey players in canada..just as there are plenty of shitty bball players in the states.

And, to say that he is a good skater cause he played competitively..that is hilarious. I've seen plenty of guys in the NHL..who play the role of tough guy that suck at skating.

I can very well make the argument that if he was any good, he woulda kept on playing.

As for footwork..my god, you obviously don't know bball. There is no comparison/correlation between being a good skater and having good footwork in the blocks. As for coordination, again..no correlation. Dribbling a bball and skating aren't even related.

Please illuminate us all on how poke checking is going to help his lateral movement. How his awesome ability to skate backwards will help with his left hand.

thebaumer:

Warriors 79:

Abe, just go away. As usual you again drew the wrong conclusion  from what I said. Not gonna even bother to spell it out in small simple words for you, but since you took an art class, maybe I'll draw you a nice picture. If you can skate well, you have great coordination. Period. And if you played competitive hockey in Canada, you can skate well.  He IS already ahead of schedule on footwork and coordination from playing hockey. Did you follow that?  Your art analogy doesn't work. Go back to eating your crayons.... 

  I am sure Buzz could  have found a big stiff in the US and not had to jump through all the hoops he did to land this kid. Give the guy a little credit. He saw something in this kid. We will have twin towers across the baseline in 2009.  Works for me.  Now for the PG icing on the cake....

You are making some HUGE leaps. How many years did he play hockey? I don't recall seeing anything about that..only that he played as a youngster. What position? Mabye he was a goalie...you don't have to skate well for that position. Maybe he played the role of goon. As if every young kid that played hockey competitively was somehow a good player. Let me clue you in...there are plenty of shitty hockey players in canada..just as there are plenty of shitty bball players in the states.

And, to say that he is a good skater cause he played competitively..that is hilarious. I've seen plenty of guys in the NHL..who play the role of tough guy that suck at skating.

I can very well make the argument that if he was any good, he woulda kept on playing.

As for footwork..my god, you obviously don't know bball. There is no comparison/correlation between being a good skater and having good footwork in the blocks. As for coordination, again..no correlation. Dribbling a bball and skating aren't even related.

Please illuminate us all on how poke checking is going to help his lateral movement. How his awesome ability to skate backwards will help with his left hand.

 

No, no, no.... YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.... what Warriors 79 is trying to say is that since he played hockey (for 10 WHOLE YEARS), everybody that played hockey must have great footwork.  If you ask nicely, he will spell it out for you in small, easy to understand words.

It would be like a Canadian hockey team recruiting a kid that played HS basketball is the US and an idiot fan there claiming he therefore must be a great skater.  LOL.  

IMO it's way too early to form a solid opinion on any of these guys. We can watch video clips from HS or read a scout's take but until they get onto Al McGuire Court, we don't really know how good they are (or aren't). Dwyane Wade was a no name, partial qualifier without many expectations. Todd Townsend and Scott Merritt were going to be game-changers. You just don't know how things are going to pan out. Obviously I don't expect Jimmy Butler or Dwight Buycks to be the next D-Wade but I'm also not ready to declare them busts without ever seeing them play.

Milkman:

IMO it's way too early to form a solid opinion on any of these guys. We can watch video clips from HS or read a scout's take but until they get onto Al McGuire Court, we don't really know how good they are (or aren't). Dwyane Wade was a no name, partial qualifier without many expectations. Todd Townsend and Scott Merritt were going to be game-changers. You just don't know how things are going to pan out. Obviously I don't expect Jimmy Butler or Dwight Buycks to be the next D-Wade but I'm also not ready to declare them busts without ever seeing them play.

Of course nobody knows for sure.... I think MOST people understand this, Milky.... but you can usually look at trends to get a pretty good picture of what direction a program is heading.  Relying heavily on JUCOs or two-star "project" recruits (at least as far as our bigs go), while no doubt yielding a diamond in the rough from time to time, is not a recipe for long-term success.  We really, really, really lucked out with D-Wade.... a recruit like him is a once in every 10 years occurance in college basketball (much less our one program).... to keep using that one exceptionally rare example to justify settling for middling (or worse) recruits/classes is pretty absurd.

Of course, if Buzzard proves to be a coaching savant like Bobo, recruiting major talent will not be such a huge concern.  Time will tell.

AbeFroman:

Milkman:

IMO it's way too early to form a solid opinion on any of these guys. We can watch video clips from HS or read a scout's take but until they get onto Al McGuire Court, we don't really know how good they are (or aren't). Dwyane Wade was a no name, partial qualifier without many expectations. Todd Townsend and Scott Merritt were going to be game-changers. You just don't know how things are going to pan out. Obviously I don't expect Jimmy Butler or Dwight Buycks to be the next D-Wade but I'm also not ready to declare them busts without ever seeing them play.

Of course nobody knows for sure.... I think MOST people understand this, Milky.... but you can usually look at trends to get a pretty good picture of what direction a program is heading.  Relying heavily on JUCOs or two-star "project" recruits (at least as far as our bigs go), while no doubt yielding a diamond in the rough from time to time, is not a recipe for long-term success.  We really, really, really lucked out with D-Wade.... a recruit like him is a once in every 10 years occurance in college basketball (much less our one program).... to keep using that one exceptionally rare example to justify settling for middling (or worse) recruits/classes is pretty absurd.

Of course, if Buzzard proves to be a coaching savant like Bobo, recruiting major talent will not be such a huge concern.  Time will tell.

I started to write a response but decided that I'm not going to waste my time arguing with someone who's going to ignore most of my points and try to twist my words around...and then bring up Bucky for no apparent reason.