"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Buzz rewarded for being one of only 13 coaches to keep team in Top 35 three years running

News that Buzz Williams is likely to stay at Marquette rather than be part of the coaching auction elsewhere was met by happiness among almost all Marquette faithful, though some skeptics might argue Buzz has fallen short of expectations.

However, one interesting post noted fairly that if MU is paying a Top 20 salary that we should hope for Top 20 results, and that MU was almost there based on Sagarin and Pomeroy ratings. However, when comparing MU's three year performance under Buzz to all other schools based on that criteria, MU's consistency over Buzz's tenure is one of the best 20 in college basketball. Actually, only 13 programs have managed to finish as one of the top 35 teams in the country, and even if you soften the requirement to finishing in the Top 45 three years in a row, Buzz's performance is clearly one of the top 20 in the country:

Here are the final ratings according to Pomeroy of those 21 schools:


RankTeam200920102011Average
1Kansas 10225
2Duke 11135
3Syracuse 1541010
4West Virginia 982113
5Pittsburgh 531514
6Ohio St. 375114
7Purdue 1816914
8Brigham Young 21101315
9Texas 2318415
10Wisconsin 299715
11Washington 17301621
12Clemson 22202322
13Villanova 14213222
14Michigan St. 8234024
15San Diego St. 3341827
16Marquette 19333128
17Georgetown 27134528
18Florida St. 36243030
19Notre Dame 38381530
20Butler 45123731
21Florida 42451735


Remember, being a Top 20 program does not mean you are in the Top 20 every year, any more than being the top program means you win the National Championship every year. I don't believe anyone would have predicted three years ago that MU would make this list three years or the tournament three years running.

For those few who believe that if we are just critical enough of the time it will make them better because they will be scared of a critical post if they don't win the national title, I really don't believe it works that way. Buzz has this program on the right track.

Congrats Buzz, you deserve it!

2 comments:

Matt J said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6VDJN3xkdo - JUAN ANDERSON NEW MIXTAPE

Unknown said...

It should be noted that 7 of the 21 teams on this list are from the Big East...