What a complete disaster the Buzz Williams era has been based on expectations. Maybe this board and its mod should talk less about Tech's 64 year old coach coming off 4 out of 5 NCAA berths and just focus on inward reflection.
Miller transferring
23,583 Views |
197 Replies |
Last: 2 yr ago by bobinator
Buzz's rebuild just got a WHOLE lot steeper.
That being said, he still deserves time to see what he's really capable of, once he fills out and keeps a damn roster for more than a season. At least 3 more seasons in my opinion, I just think his track record is too good to only give him 2 more seasons.
That being said, he still deserves time to see what he's really capable of, once he fills out and keeps a damn roster for more than a season. At least 3 more seasons in my opinion, I just think his track record is too good to only give him 2 more seasons.
LOL inward reflection. GTFOH
I must have missed the outcry from the community about the national anthem.
We need to be competitive next season, this doesn't change that.
It's not like Miller got raptured, he's gone because of something Buzz either did or didn't do, so that doesn't change the timeline.
In year three you need to at least be competitive.
It's not like Miller got raptured, he's gone because of something Buzz either did or didn't do, so that doesn't change the timeline.
In year three you need to at least be competitive.
I don't know of any way to police it, but my only real worry long term with the new setup will be coaches like Cal or K getting in the ear of a guy like Miller when they have success at the power five level and using the allure of the blue bloods to poach top players from schools like us. If the player says, "Damn, I had 16/8 this year let me see what is out there." I'm all for it. But if it is a coach behind the scenes saying, "Hey, you had a great year, if you put your name in we want you here at Kentucky," I don't think that is good long term. Again, don't know there is any way to police it though.
I look at it from the standpoint that there are still only so many roster spots. If teams like Kentucky are taking more transfers, then there are more talented high schoolers available.
It's going to be an adjustment, no question, but good coaches will figure it out.
The only way to really police it is going to be for schools to be allowed to pay the players directly and then the players could sign contracts that has some kind of financial penalty for transferring.
It's going to be an adjustment, no question, but good coaches will figure it out.
The only way to really police it is going to be for schools to be allowed to pay the players directly and then the players could sign contracts that has some kind of financial penalty for transferring.
The Canadian assistant gone, so no wonder.
Ok dudeTavares19 said:
Buzz has been a flat out disaster and there is no way to sugarcoat it. He's cratered this program. Gone are the days of building relationships and developing guys for several years and having experienced teams. He has to adapt and fast
Meh, it's tough to lose a player like Miller. He has a high motor and knows how to get to the free throw line.
I'm not gonna say he's a dime a dozen kind of player, but if he decided he didn't want to be here, "Vaya con Dios" is all I can say.
I prefer a player who is willing to honor his commitment and stay at Texas A&M University. I'll be more of a fan of that player who decides he wants to do whatever he can to make our program better and stay here no matter what.
I'm not gonna say he's a dime a dozen kind of player, but if he decided he didn't want to be here, "Vaya con Dios" is all I can say.
I prefer a player who is willing to honor his commitment and stay at Texas A&M University. I'll be more of a fan of that player who decides he wants to do whatever he can to make our program better and stay here no matter what.
Let's wait and see why he ended up transferring before putting it all on Buzz.bobinator said:
We need to be competitive next season, this doesn't change that.
It's not like Miller got raptured, he's gone because of something Buzz either did or didn't do, so that doesn't change the timeline.
In year three you need to at least be competitive.
I agree, competitive in year 3, however the leash needs to be slightly longer considering Miller is no longer here - regardless of whose fault it is. He simply won't have as much talent / experience on next year's roster.
In my humble low-basketball-IQ opinion, from what I see based on other programs, we are in the tier where we need to be patient with coaches, especially one such as the caliber of Buzz. Programs like Baylor (uniquely patient), and Villanova were very patient with their guys and it paid off big time. No idea if Buzz will ever get to the heights they did, but we got to be patient to see what he can do, as frustrating as it is right now in these circumstances.
It's easy to get angry and kick him out the door when fellow in conference programs like Arky and Bama got immediate success from their hires, but their rosters and circumstances were and are different than ours. As bad as it may seem now, we have to ride it out to see what Buzz is capable of here.
How do you feel about kids who don't honor their commitment to other schools and transfer here?
True.bobinator said:
You can still only transfer once without the penalty. So it's not like every year everyone is a transfer risk.
IMO, what that means is that smart teams should stop recruiting high school players and only recruit first time transfers.
You get to see them play college ball rather than only high school and AAU competition, and then when they do get to you, they cant just leave after youve spent some resources on them and they are starting for you. We should only recruit transfers.
I can't help it you have your Buzz/BLM blinders on.bobinator said:
I must have missed the outcry from the community about the national anthem.
jja79 said:
How do you feel about kids who don't honor their commitment to other schools and transfer here?
Those are obviously great kids who just made the wrong decision the first time.
There is no commitment anymore with players. Just look at Baylor, they won a NC with four starters who initially signed or played at another school to start their careers. Coaches now have to be able to manage their rosters using the transfer portal.
And there was never commitment with coaches, so at least we are even now and everyone is on the same page.sincereag said:
There is no commitment anymore with players. Just look at Baylor, they won a NC with five starters who initially signed or played at another school to start their careers. Coaches now have to be able to manage their rosters using the transfer portal.
It's on Buzz no matter what the reason is. Miller leaving doesn't change the clock on Buzz.
Now, I'm not necessarily saying he's going to get fired even if we're terrible again next season because I'm not sure our basketball support is such that we could afford it. But you at least start putting out the feelers of how the donors are feeling if we're terrible again next season.
I'm extremely patient with coaches, but you still need to be improving the program, and you should see some kind of progress by the third year. You can't be one of the worst teams in major conference basketball three straight seasons. Baylor was a unique case, and Nova was a lot better than we currently are.
To be clear, this isn't an anti-Buzz thing. I'm not even saying it's not going to happen next season. We still have good talent coming in and maybe we pick up some help on the portal. It's absolutely possible.
I'm just saying this doesn't change the clock.
Now, I'm not necessarily saying he's going to get fired even if we're terrible again next season because I'm not sure our basketball support is such that we could afford it. But you at least start putting out the feelers of how the donors are feeling if we're terrible again next season.
I'm extremely patient with coaches, but you still need to be improving the program, and you should see some kind of progress by the third year. You can't be one of the worst teams in major conference basketball three straight seasons. Baylor was a unique case, and Nova was a lot better than we currently are.
To be clear, this isn't an anti-Buzz thing. I'm not even saying it's not going to happen next season. We still have good talent coming in and maybe we pick up some help on the portal. It's absolutely possible.
I'm just saying this doesn't change the clock.
Rational thoughts that all fans of our program need to hear and understand!Tamu_mgm said:Let's wait and see why he ended up transferring before putting it all on Buzz.bobinator said:
We need to be competitive next season, this doesn't change that.
It's not like Miller got raptured, he's gone because of something Buzz either did or didn't do, so that doesn't change the timeline.
In year three you need to at least be competitive.
I agree, competitive in year 3, however the leash needs to be slightly longer considering Miller is no longer here - regardless of whose fault it is. He simply won't have as much talent / experience on next year's roster.
In my humble low-basketball-IQ opinion, from what I see based on other programs, we are in the tier where we need to be patient with coaches, especially one such as the caliber of Buzz. Programs like Baylor (uniquely patient), and Villanova were very patient with their guys and it paid off big time. No idea if Buzz will ever get to the heights they did, but we got to be patient to see what he can do, as frustrating as it is right now in these circumstances.
It's easy to get angry and kick him out the door when fellow in conference programs like Arky and Bama got immediate success from their hires, but their rosters and circumstances were and are different than ours. As bad as it may seem now, we have to ride it out to see what Buzz is capable of here.
That's going to be hard to do because of the relationship building aspect. I know there's going to be secret tampering, but you still won't have anywhere near the ability to build relationships to where you're confident that player is going to pick you. You're basically rolling the dice every year.
Are you saying it was Buzz's idea to not have the team on the court during the national anthem? Because it wasn't.Texas A&M said:I can't help it you have your Buzz/BLM blinders on.bobinator said:
I must have missed the outcry from the community about the national anthem.
Gig 'Em
The clock shouldn't change, but realistically it likely set us back a year.
Is Brown, the other Canadian, gone too?
Can't say for sure, but considering he would have to sit a year if he transferred again, it is unlikely.Ag_EE_88 said:
Is Brown, the other Canadian, gone too?
bobinator said:
If this is all tied to McNeilly that's a bizarre deal.
It's hard to believe this would be anything to do directly with coaching. Something else must have happened. An assistant for 12 years doesn't all of a sudden decide to get up and leave and you don't all of a sudden stop liking how he coaches. I just hope that it wasn't McNeilly that was responsible for Buzz's success for those 12 years. We are about to find out. I still say COVID wasn't the main issue this season and I wonder if there was some sort of dissension that occurred splitting the team. We never did gel and people want to say it was because Buzz didn't get the normal time with the team but I think it has to be far deeper than that. And yes, that is just speculation.
No question.
And it's basically another example that "excuses" and "reasons" aren't really any different when it comes to college hoops. Every single year there are going to be events that one can point to as a reason/excuse as to why a team wasn't successful, it's not unique to any team -- some teams overcome it, some don't.
We heard "well yeah but who could have known ABC would have happened" and "well sure no coach was going to overcome XYZ" the first 3+ years with Kennedy.
Buzz has now had a "well these aren't his guys and he needed time to gel" and "COVID prevented him from prepping his team how he likes to" his first two years... If we struggle Year 3 you'll no doubt see "well the new transfer rules really hurt us".
We're not snakebit, we just haven't overcome the obstacles like other programs/coaches have.
We heard "well yeah but who could have known ABC would have happened" and "well sure no coach was going to overcome XYZ" the first 3+ years with Kennedy.
Buzz has now had a "well these aren't his guys and he needed time to gel" and "COVID prevented him from prepping his team how he likes to" his first two years... If we struggle Year 3 you'll no doubt see "well the new transfer rules really hurt us".
We're not snakebit, we just haven't overcome the obstacles like other programs/coaches have.
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
Joined:
Jun 24, 2001
Posts:
17,334
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
We'll just have to trust Buzz!Proposition Joe said:
Guys guys guys -- lets just wait and see!
Miller was a great player- sad to see him go.
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
Luicci on radio this morning, implied Cashius McNeilly and Miller have been packaged up with former assistant Jamie McNeilly to help him get his next job (and they coincidently or not both declared themselves in Portal this morning - on same day). We'll see where those two guys land.
This is a pretty devastating transfer. Best player on the team. Had a great attitude, you have developed him really good, now it is time to milk his college 'prime' for the next year or two...and somebody else gets to have him. It sucks, and makes you really question now next season's prospects. Unless they somehow land in the Transfer Portal somebody of roughly comparable value as a Miller.
This is a pretty devastating transfer. Best player on the team. Had a great attitude, you have developed him really good, now it is time to milk his college 'prime' for the next year or two...and somebody else gets to have him. It sucks, and makes you really question now next season's prospects. Unless they somehow land in the Transfer Portal somebody of roughly comparable value as a Miller.
Sure, but you have to admit that there are some excuses/reasons that a good coach should be able to overcome and some that are more random.
Like roster turnover is a regular basketball thing. A coach should be able to adjust to it.
The COVID situation was more random. How each conference, each school, each state, etc handled it was very different. How coaches handled it, to me, doesn't necessarily reflect on their big picture ability as a coach. Especially because it's not going to be an issue moving forward as things normalize.
Going back to Kennedy, you had legit things, like his diagnosis going into his first season. That's a completely random thing that you can't expect a coach to have an answer for. And then that combined with injuries to create a horrible season. Now, like Buzz's first year, we probably should have been better than we were, but it was understandable that we weren't great.
That, to me, is the difference between a reason and an excuse. A reason is something random, potentially not basketball-related. It's something that's unreasonable to expect a coach to have a plan on how to handle.
An excuse are things like roster turnover, an assistant coach leaving, things like that.
Like roster turnover is a regular basketball thing. A coach should be able to adjust to it.
The COVID situation was more random. How each conference, each school, each state, etc handled it was very different. How coaches handled it, to me, doesn't necessarily reflect on their big picture ability as a coach. Especially because it's not going to be an issue moving forward as things normalize.
Going back to Kennedy, you had legit things, like his diagnosis going into his first season. That's a completely random thing that you can't expect a coach to have an answer for. And then that combined with injuries to create a horrible season. Now, like Buzz's first year, we probably should have been better than we were, but it was understandable that we weren't great.
That, to me, is the difference between a reason and an excuse. A reason is something random, potentially not basketball-related. It's something that's unreasonable to expect a coach to have a plan on how to handle.
An excuse are things like roster turnover, an assistant coach leaving, things like that.
So why is McNeilly the assistant leaving?
If that story is true, then Buzz got burned by a guy he was loyal to for over a decade. Only good thing that can come of this is to add a huge chip on the shoulder of the coaching staff and hopefully the players. Buzz doesn't seem like the kind of guy that forgets these types of things very easily and won't let this crisis go to waste. Sometimes revenge is a good motivation at least in the short term.
I could see why Miller didn't want to be left along after the mass exodus.
BUT, Buzz is a good coach. He will need to find the personalities that he can manage. With full transfer rules and a ton of kids with an extra year, He should be able to handpick a good roster. Getting them to play hard and mesh is supposedly a specialty of his.
I don't believe there is some super Coach out there ready to run to A&M, especially for complete rebuild.
SO in the Buzz we must trust or turn on ourselves.
He still has confidence around coaching circles that think he is a special coach. This was a weird year so let's hope he's got the energy to fight. And if he has anything, I think we can agree he has that.
BUT, Buzz is a good coach. He will need to find the personalities that he can manage. With full transfer rules and a ton of kids with an extra year, He should be able to handpick a good roster. Getting them to play hard and mesh is supposedly a specialty of his.
I don't believe there is some super Coach out there ready to run to A&M, especially for complete rebuild.
SO in the Buzz we must trust or turn on ourselves.
He still has confidence around coaching circles that think he is a special coach. This was a weird year so let's hope he's got the energy to fight. And if he has anything, I think we can agree he has that.
It's only really a mass exodus now because he's leaving. We hadn't lost anyone we wanted to stay until him.
There was no mass exodus before this?
Flagg and Chandler were seniors. Without Covid they're done with basketball. Aku leaving probably improves the roster. We knew McNeily was leaving, but we've never even seen him play. This is the first "oh sh*t" departure of the offseason.
Flagg and Chandler were seniors. Without Covid they're done with basketball. Aku leaving probably improves the roster. We knew McNeily was leaving, but we've never even seen him play. This is the first "oh sh*t" departure of the offseason.
Featured Stories
See All
9:11
9h ago
15k
42:45
17h ago
3.6k
The Good Ol' Days: Reminiscing on Texas A&M's magical spring of '89
by David Sandhop
35:53
20h ago
3.6k