Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

UPDATED

(or... a flimsy excuse to link to the "Where the Wild Things Are" Trailer)

After a tortuously long off-season, in which the only news that popped up lately seemed to be bad news, College Basketball is back! Now, with the proverbial "young but talented team", the Marquette community can enjoy the adventure that the 2009-2010 season will be. That's right... tonight is Midnight Madness!

Here's your flimsy link between "Where the Wild Things Are" and this year's basketball season. The classic story, with minimal words, is essentially a tale of how children master feelings. Well, I don't know about you, but I have all kinds of feelings about his season, including hope, fear, excitement, and disappointment. This year could go all kinds of different directions. In addition, as the trailer linked above suggests, inside each one of us is the same hope, fear, and adventure. Flimsy link #1 is that each of us represents Max on our adventure through the season. Midnight Madness is the beginning of our Wild Rumpus. (Plus, I kind of like thinking of this year's team as the Wild Things from the classic tale, but don't have enough hubris to believe that nickname is either valid or going to stick.)

However, after initially posting, MUScoop.com reader dsfire was disappointed that we didn't explain whose nickname was The Wild Rumpus or why he should start... and then suggested it be Frozena. So there you go... flimsy link #2 Rob Frozena is "The Wild Rumpus". Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Regardless of which Wild Rumpus you want to start tonight, Check out GoMarquette.com for additional details on the Madness. As has been previously stated, the festivities kick off at 6 pm with a Women's Volleyball game, and then continues into Marquette Madness. Doors open as early as 5 pm if you want, and Madness starts no later than 7:30. If you are local, show up and you'll receive a free long sleeved t-shirt and a poster. In this year's twist on the dunk contest, all the judges will be from the Milwaukee Bucks. This includes none other than Assistant coach Jim Boylan, a former Marquette player and member of the 1977 National Championship squad (duh), as well as Charlie Bell, Joe Alexander and Brandon Jennings. Give Alexander a healthy boo. To get yourself ready, check out a sneak preview of the Marquette Madness video.

If you can't make it there, MUTV is streaming the event online. Online fans will need to click on just one link to gain access to the complete event. Here is the link for the web stream. To build some hype for the event, MUTV has introduced a new TV reporter (it's actually a minute-long clip from Joe Fulce and some other guys). In this clip, Fulce calls Frozena "Peter Parker", which is actually pretty funny. Evidently Fulce has not heard that Frozena's real nickname is "The Wild Rumpus".

Andy Katz gives what is one of the better previews on Marquette. It is cautiously optimistic about the season. You've got to read it. Rosiak also mentions it too in his blog post, but his focus is on the Blue Ribbon grades for Marquette (Backcourt: B-minus, Bench/Depth: B-minus, Frontcourt: B, Intangibles: C). If you are an ESPN Insider Subscriber, you can read the full information here.

Katz talking up the Warriors

Everybody's (least) favorite Badger, Andy Katz, takes a look at the Marquette hoops program in his latest from ESPN.com. In the article, Katz reports along the lines of what we offered up last week -- that Buzz needs to deliver a monster recruiting class to sustain the trajectory of the Marquette program, and that he has yet to prove himself as a Big East head coach.

On recruiting, Williams cut to the chase, "It had to be a banner year no matter who the coach is,'' said Williams. "You can't just sign good players. I'm sure you have to sign potentially great players [in the Big East].''

Buzz is exceptionally candid in this article, noting that re-balancing a roster laden with redundant talent and a lack of flexibility remains an immediate priority:

"Yes, we have to replace three really, really good guards, but we also have to make sure from an interior perspective that we create more of a balance both ways,'' Williams said. "We're not done yet. We're not going to have a large recruiting class. We're a little behind in the 2010 class because we had to make up so much ground this fall in the 2009 class.''

Clearly Tom Crean didn't leave the cupboard bare for coach Williams - but he did leave too many knives and not enough forks or spoons. Yet despite the bountiful recruiting class he's about to land, Williams acknowledges that the real work has yet to begin.

"I don't know if I've proven myself,'' Williams said. "Of the 16 coaches in the Big East, I'm going to be the new kid on the block.'' Williams said he will be judged by how he handles the roster left to him and how the roster stacks up against the Big East in two or three years. "That's completely fair,'' Williams said. "I don't disagree with that and I don't take offense to that.''

Amen.

And from the sound of it -- check out what Jerel McNeal, Erik Williams and Dominic James have to say about Buzz and the credibility gap he's trying to close -- those close coach Buzz believe he is on the right track.

Andy Katz reports that Crean is on Kentucky's list

A few minutes ago on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning, Andy Katz reported that Tom Crean is third in line for the Kentucky head coaching job.

Katz expects UK to explore options with Billy Donovan quickly, and if he declines the offer the Wildcats will move on to Rick Barnes. Katz was unsure if Barnes would do anything more than listen to an offer. After that, Katz figures the offer comes to Crean. Katz further indicated that of these three candidates, Crean is the only one who would not turn down an offer.

We'll see. The 5,600 UK fans online in one of their Rivals forums are not paying much attention to Crean at this point. 5,600 fans on during the off-season -- examining every aspect of the program.

See what MU fans are saying about this.

The folks at Lexington Herald-Leader see things differently than Andy,

"The longer the process takes, the more Crean seems to slip. Final Four scuttlebutt had Crean seeking more control of the program than UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart would feel comfortable granting."

Who knows, but given the complete control Crean enjoys at MU this would not be surprising.

Andy Katz -- thanks for reading

We'll keep watching!

For the record Katz gave you all a shoutout on Wednesday when he was on ESPNNews, saying something along the lines of "the Marquette blogs of course are calling me out for my history of bad forecasting regarding Tom Crean."

Pretty cool stuff.

Should be an interesting couple of weeks on the coaching carousel.

Andy Katz separates reporting from rumor-mongering

Andy Katz did a good job on ESPN Radio this morning when asked about the open job at Kentucky. Rather than proclaiming (of his own accord) any 'leader' or 'best fit' for the job he indicated that UK will attempt to speak with Billy Donovan -- and that based on Donovan's situation at UF (father moved there, extended family spends most of the year there, complete control) he will stay put in Gainesville. BTW -- doesn't TC have all of that at MU .... and make the same amount of money as Donovan?

OK, back to Badger Andy. Absent Donovan, Katz believes that Tom Crean, Mark Few and Jay Wright are in a group that UK would consider if/when Donovan turns it down. He refused to speculate on which of these folks might be the best fit. Smart move, this is where Andy usually crosses the line with Crean and other coaches -- and compromises his credibility. TC very well may be interested in UK (he'd be a fool not to be) and the interest may be mutual -- but UK has to go through the paces with Donovan.

Katz also indicated that Barnes and Gillispie might listen if approached but won't go to Lexington. He said that Calipari won't be the next coach in Lexington either.

That's a better way to do it, Andy. No proclamations, no fiction and no rumor-mongering.

Andy Katz the King of Fiction

OK.......so, earlier today on ESPN Andy Katz annointed Tom Crean as one of the early favorites for the Kentucky job.

We know what that means -- Coach Crean is staying at Marquette!

Let's review Andy's track record with Tom Crean over the years:

• "Tom Crean to Illinois makes more sense than Bill Self to Kansas" That phrase was not enough. Oops. Crean, of course, never interviewed for the job.
• Katz initially floated Crean as a candidate at Indiana. Doh! Good thing he filled some air time with that.
• Katz indicated that TC was the leading candidate at Ohio State (probably while Thad Matta was in his car driving around Columbus). Crean, of course, never interviewed for the job.
  

...and now this.

Andy, MU fans will sleep well tonight. Glad u are on the case.