What is the issue with the program? It seems like this kind of result has been commonplace for years.

Is it that we just can't recruit any decent players and we're lucky to be getting what we get outta Buzz with the lack of talent on campus?

Or is Buzz just a complete flop that we aren't willing to get rid of?

Buzz is a big picture coach. It's frustrating but his teams get better as the year goes along.

This team is enormously talented. It leaps off the screen at you. They simply have no interest of putting the ball in the basket, and Buzz Williams just doesn't emphasize it.

We have players with good strengths and big flaws.

I got nothing. But refuse to call it a curse.

Hungry Ojos said:

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What is the issue with the program? It seems like this kind of result has been commonplace for years.

Is it that we just can't recruit any decent players and we're lucky to be getting what we get outta Buzz with the lack of talent on campus?

Or is Buzz just a complete flop that we aren't willing to get rid of?

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It's not really an issue. You lose games in basketball. We don't have a top 10 team and thus don't get top 10 results. There will always be losses.

Proposition Joe said:

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Buzz values defensive play, rebounding, getting to the line and doing the little things over shooting.

Put another way, he values all the things that are secondary in the sport over the thing that is primary -- putting the ball in the basket.

It's not really a mystery.

We are ranked #199 in FG %.

Here are the previous 5 years rankings:

But our FG% ranking under Buzz has been:

#312
#278
#195
#264
#341


That's not just below average. That's impressively bad. Every. Single. Year.

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What I hate is, you can prioritize all of the above AND still play much better on offense than we have since he has been here. You brought up a great point at the end about FG%.
We could play a slow pace if we wanted to, lock down defense, and still be effective on offense.

taylorswift13_ said:

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Money does talk, but no elite recruits will ever want to play for Buzz

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They would with the kind of Money Fertitta is throwing around for the Cougars.

It's almost like the guy is trying to write a thesis on "How to win at basketball without making baskets".

I didn't really mind him leaning into it last year, as our shooting was so god awful and our OREB was so elite that it made sense for that team to lean into that approach. But that kind of OREB is not sustainable... and unfortunately the bad shooting is sustainable.

But man when you are leaning into it year after year after year I just don't get it. You can hustle, crash the boards, do all of the little Buzz things that can be the difference but also run some basic offensive sets and get some guys some high % looks. Maybe he thinks that's overloading the players and simpler just to basic/gamify things as "crash boards, draw fouls".

bobinator said:

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What's strange to me is the shooting itself isn't even as much of the problem right now as it has been, it's our complete inability to get good shots inside the arc. With the shooters we have (granted Wade was off yesterday) it should be easier to create some space but it seems like every shot we take is an incredibly difficult one.

I'd also be close to be just benching Manny. Even more than Phelps and Taylor he absolutely kills any sort of offensive movement.

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At this point I don't think its really strange anymore. He's a bad offensive coach. He teaches hustle (OREB, drawing fouls) -- which is important as it keeps teams in games -- but your offense can't rely on it.

There's been too many years with too many different players that it consistently looks like we're having to work way too hard to get a decent look. Pair that with Buzz seemingly wanting "his type" of players that don't necessarily shoot the lights out but rather are more well-rounded (willing to hustle, rebound, play defense, etc...) and it's a recipe for what we have every single year.

The game really isn't that hard, but it sometimes seems like Buzz wants to make it hard to prove he can overcome it.

Im just saying this group has more players that can put the ball in the basket in more ways our last several have.

It wouldn't take much offensively for this group to be at least mediocre compared to last year where we had no real post players and nobody could shoot threes.

Agreed. This felt like the "ok, Buzz finally has multiple scoring options" year. But we're seeing the same clunky offense... Hell, not even clunky, it just seems directionless.

Yeah it's like using different ingredients to make the same dish. That's why I said it's strange to me.

But there's still plenty of runway. Not panicking yet but it's still annoying.

But to keep the analogy... wouldn't using different ingredients to cook the same (bad) dish tell you the cook doesn't know wtf he's doing?

And it's early, just like it's always early. I think this team still finds its way into the tournament, but this looks like the same Top 40ish team we've seen out of Buzz every season.

Maybe but I have zero hope that the chef is changing any time soon so trying to find ways to hope the meal ends up good.

Well then someone needs to call the health department.

(I think I've sufficiently killed this).

Ironically I actually thought the offense looked really good until that horrid stretch. We had a ton of good looks the entire first half, Wade was just uncharacteristically cold even on open jumpers

It always looks good when the threes are falling, it's the lack of ability to manufacture any good looks at all when they're not that's the problem.

I'm not even saying that. I thought we got really good looks the entire first half even with us not hitting shot at a high clip

We scheduled like 7 non conference games we can lose. If we make it out with 4 losses I think this slate will be a success. Avoid bad losses and have a winning conference record and we are in the 6 seed range. Get to 11 or more conference wins and we are in the 4 to 5 seed range. They actually do reward tough schedules in this game.