Story Published:
Feb 6, 2010
Buzz Williams picked up a kid who scored 64 points in a game and seems to have ice in his veins in crunch time. Buzz finished off his recruiting class with a JUCO who is grabbing rebounds at a 9.5 average. When you see numbers and talent like that, most times you want to say is get that kid a jersey. Yet, there is a little bit of a grumbling from the gold-alumni sweater vest brigade that Buzz did not bring in a guy who stands over 6-foot-9, wish was the wish of every Marquette fan.
Let's face it Marquette could use some depth in that area. I do not know if anyone else wants to risk another season of having your post presence wiped out with a Chris Otule injury (even then we are still talking about an unproven kid so why not get a couple taller bodies?).
Being a degree carrying member of Marquette, I will admit I was not exactly thrilled that Buzz's second recruiting class had no one standing taller than 6-foot-6. I will admit at one point I was wondering if Buzz was putting together the team for Marquette High instead of Marquette University. Then again, today's college game is different and if you can get kids with length and can shoot, I say go with the best players you can find over need.
These recent verbals still do nothing to stop the secret yearning every Marquette fan has deep down to see another Robert Jackson, Damon Key, Jim Mcllvaine or Amal McCaskill play at the Bradley Center. Heck, a Fasial Abraham would suffice at least for some defense down low. Why such yearning? Marquette fans have seen how a good, quality big scoring threat down low can lead to March success, and if anything makes things it does make it easier to score baskets in the post.

At the same time, this is late signing recruits we are talking about and a lot of the quality bigs out there are already signed or are knocking down John Calipari's or Bill Self's door to get them to the NBA. So what is Buzz to do? Go out and sign a Mike Kinsella? Marquette already has a project in Mbao so why take on another when you get two quality players like Buzz just got this week.
Simply put, if Buzz could not get a quality big in the early signing period (which he did try with Tarik Black but that was nearly mission impossible when he was competing against Black's hometown school of Memphis), then he is going out and getting nothing but projects or it is way too late to get into the game for the elite bigs still left unsigned.
For example, Rivals.com has 6-foot-8 forward Terrence Jones undecided and listed in the top 20 but it would take one heck of a sell job to get a kid from Portland to think about Marquette this late in the game. Especially since Kentucky seems to be the leader.
So no one should blame Buzz Williams one bit for going out and getting some kids that can do a little bit of everything. From the scouting reports, that is what DJ Newbill and Jae Crowder do.
Why grumble anyway? Again, this recruiting class will be ranked in the top 15 in pretty much every service you look at. You got the star in Vander Blue, the other top 100 kid in Jamail Jones and another top 150 player in Reggie Smith. Marquette will still have four players on next year's roster standing over 6'7" so it is not exactly like the sky fell because Buzz did not get a seven-footer.
As the old saying goes when it comes to getting talent, get players based on what is the best available not what you need. Plus, in today's college game a kid may be listed smaller but the talent evaluation should be can he player taller than his height. You need to look no further than Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler to figure out what I am talking about.
This Crowder kid is pulling down almost 10 boards a game so it looks he has the ability to play a little taller than the height the good lord has given him.
At the same time, to win the big one, you do need a legit player in the post that can go get you basket when you need one. So I can see the grumblings. This is still a young Marquette team so let's not put the cart before the horse here. Buzz needs to build a program that can consistently make the big dance and right now he seems on track to put together a program that will get that job done.
That should be the only frustrating matter on this whole Marquette can not get a big. It seems Buzz has an idea of putting together a team of athletic players with length that can shoot and get to the hole but the only thing missing is that post guy that can score when the offense calls for the paint touch. Hey, let's also not count out Chris Otule yet.

I guess it still should be frustrating for the entire Marquette community--and Buzz himself--as to why a top big man is not coming to Marquette? The days of Tom Crean's offense is long gone--meaning if you stand taller that 6'9", you are scoring on put-backs and the guards get all the glory. So it is not like Marquette is no longer attractive to a big man like it was once was.

Buzz wants the ball in the paint and when you hear him talk about his offense he would prefer the ball gets into the paint by passing and not dribbling. Which means if you are a big man, you are going to get fed the ball in the post a fair amount of time. So that means a program that is going to get you the touches to get the numbers to build your NBA game. As I was once told by a basketball expert, anyone 6'9" or taller already has a 50% shot at the NBA (remember you can not teach size). A big man just needs to develop enough game and stats to fill out the rest of the 50% that puts the finishing touches on a NBA shot. It seems like Marquette's offense would give a big man the numbers to get to that other 50%.
So while it seems like a head scratcher the only answer I can come up with is either big man want to play for Jim Boeheim more or they just do not want to deal with this Milwaukee weather. Until Buzz lands himself a big man, well, there will always be those grumbles that can he never catch a big fish.