With a young, new, higher tempo coach coming in...

Are you more or less excited than if Buzz would have stayed to rebuild?



Also, how is Bucky's player nickname game? And does he know opposing coaches names?

Buzz coached boring basketball.

Hoping the new guy will not be boring.

More excited than keeping Buzz, for sure. We've seen enough of Buzz, time for something new.

And credit to Alberts, he at least hired someone with almost none of the same traits and philosophies as Buzz.

I'd have preferred Buzz to stay but I wouldn't have upped the ante to keep him. It's apparent now he wasn't going to stay without some major commitment from the AD and not clear even then.

It will be very interesting to see how this turns out . I liked Albert's approach and speed with which he acted . I think it has a chance to work out well but only time will tell.

Yeah, I do like that if we're going for a risky pick anyway let's just go all the way. People have been talking about whether Bucky Ball could translate for a couple years, we might as well be the ones to find out.

I was excited for Buzz last two years but not next year knowing it takes a while to get things going with new players

bobinator said:

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Yeah, I do like that if we're going for a risky pick anyway let's just go all the way. People have been talking about whether Bucky Ball could translate for a couple years, we might as well be the ones to find out.

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Agree. More excited than already established p4 coaches realistically available.

Way more excited. I liked that in the Loochador vid they posted, Billy mentioned how Bucky probably could have had the Vanderbilt job last year and if Beard had taken our job, Ole Miss would have looked at Bucky. I know UAB types were hoping he'd take over there if Kennedy left to UNM or wherever. Bucky's coached at Oats' basketball camp. Being the guy who took Mountain Brook to the top of Alabama HS basketball opened a lot of doors for him. He was gonna leave Samford soon anyway. I'm glad we got him.

More excited! And I liked Buzz. BUT his brand of ball was not exciting and it sucked to continuously watch our guys miss FTs and wide open shots. Given we have no roster, it may take McMillan time to get things going but what I feel is renewed hope.

Buzz basketball was hard to watch this year. I'm excited about our new coach and the system he will implement.

I never found Buzz's teams boring. In fact, the games were tighter and more stressful than anything they should have been. Was hopeful for the future.

When I learned Buzz was looking over the fence as far back as 3 years ago, he soured me badly. I'm more pissed at him than Billy Clyde and Turgeon.

So, I'm way more excited to have Bucky. I'm more excited about next year's team than I would have been about Buzzs, even if he hadn't been looking around. We would have won 3 games we had no business winning, been oh so close in 2 or 3 games, and lost at least 2 head scratchers. 18 win season last 4 out. Predictable.


Next year, now!? No freaking clue, but it will be exciting!!

I'll know when I see who is actually on our team.

Buzz building a team around Solo and Payne vs. Bucky building a team around ???? No coach wins without players. Hopefully with a renewed commitment to NIL we can field a good team, but until I see who we actually have- I am far more concerned about getting run out of the gym with a coach that is over his head. His system won't mean anything if he can't recruit. No coach can overcome not having players.

Will be interesting to see, so the unknown is exciting and it doesn't take much to be more exciting than Buzz, but I am still apprehensive. Playing fast and getting run off the court gets old real fast.

I'm certain based on reason that Bucky will embrace NIL more than Buzz.

SunrayAg said:

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Buzz coached boring basketball.

Hoping the new guy will not be boring.

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Buzz sucked. Hopefully the new guy won't.

Way less. We'll be lucky to win 9 conference games next year. The style of play should be easier to watch. The results will likely not be very good.

I am highly intrigued. A run and gun free flowing offense can be incredibly fun. Cautiously optimistic in Bucky ball!!

More!

Buzz's decision was pretty astute. I had grown tired of his style.

Maybe not next year but that would likely have been the case with Buzz at the helm as well. This is at minimum a 3 yr evaluation period imo.

If we go .500 in conference play next yr then yr 1 of Buckyball should be deemed highly successful imo.

zooguy96 said:

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Way less. We'll be lucky to win 9 conference games next year. The style of play should be easier to watch. The results will likely not be very good.

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That's an 8/9 seed. SEC won't be as dominant but still very very good. I'd be thrilled with 9 wins.

lol yeah no kidding. Thats one game more than six tournament teams won this year in the SEC.

zooguy96 said:

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Way less. We'll be lucky to win 9 conference games next year. The style of play should be easier to watch. The results will likely not be very good.

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Well 6 conf wins got OU and tu into tourney so 9 would be excellent considering he is inheriting a roster with zero players. Will probably take a year or two for any incoming coach to build a servicable team, even in NIL era

CapCityAg89 said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Way less. We'll be lucky to win 9 conference games next year. The style of play should be easier to watch. The results will likely not be very good.

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That's an 8/9 seed. SEC won't be as dominant but still very very good. I'd be thrilled with 9 wins.

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That's why I said lucky. I expect 4 to 6 SEC wins.

More excited!


Gonna be fun to actually watch a basketball strategy that isn't based off of offensive rebounding because 50% of your shot selection is a steaming pile of crap!

Was so dang tired of the Buzz schtik.

Way more excited! Buz ball had worn thin.
I will be ok with a break even type year one for Bucky.
Will expect year two and beyond to be very exciting and fun!

How many wins would you have expected with Buzz at the helm? 9 would have been damned good with 5-6 players returning and basically only 2 guys with any significant playing experience at this level. He would have brought in some experienced guards for sure.

Anything over 6 would be good next yr imo considering we are 7 mos from a new season and 9
Mos from conference play and we know exactly nothing about what the roster will look like.

I just don't know with this AD

His picks haven't been great so far but who knows maybe this roll of the dice will help and hopefully not destroy a program in one season like baseball

halfastros81 said:

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How many wins would you have expected with Buzz at the helm? 9 would have been damned good with 5-6 players returning and basically only 2 guys with any significant playing experience at this level. He would have brought in some experienced guards for sure.

Anything over 6 would be good next yr imo considering we are 7 mos from a new season and 9
Mos from conference play and we know exactly nothing about what the roster will look like.

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I think Buzz still would have gotten players to transfer in, and would have won 8-10 conference games.

I'd have said 7-9 wins so we're not very far apart on our views there.

Strange thing about all of this, a new coach with almost all new players may actually end up with more d1 experience on the team than Buzz would have had next year.

Maroon Dawn said:

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I just don't know with this AD

His picks haven't been great so far but who knows maybe this roll of the dice will help and hopefully not destroy a program in one season like baseball

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the question is about Bucky, not the AD.

just seeing players move with purpose without the ball will be shocking

Same level of excitement which is not much but interested to see how this ends. Beard was the home run and Trev played small ball with this hire. That doesn't mean it can't work out in our favor. I still find the entire situation of building an entirely new team an odd task so let's see what he can do here.

I will say that I am extremely thankful for the coaches we did not hire. Hoiberg, Moser, or someone similar would have killed my interest completely.

Why do you say Albert's played "small ball" wrt Beard? They offered him a ton, Ole Miss matched or beyond and he said no. What more could you have expected the AD to do?

More excited for Bucky over Buzz as is/was.

Had Buzz hired offensively and/or committed to recruiting talent over "his guys", I would have been more excited for Buzz. I really do think he's the type of coach that could make a great team elite, but his insistence on having "his guys" and doing it "his way" produced a ceiling.

Bucky-ball could flame out and we're back in the coaching search pool in 3 years, but I think the potential ceiling is very high.

More excited. I think Buzz maxed out what he could here unless he philosophically changed his entire approach.


It was unlikely he'd ever get a roster like this season again considering the talent/experience we had, in addition to 7/10 players having been in the program multiple years.

The floor with Bucky is obviously a lot lower, but after reading/listening to a lot of people who know him, I'm very excited in his potential. He's essentially a legend already in Birmingham, and has gotten high praise from guys like Oats, Pearl and Self.

Would HIGHLY recommend everyone go and listen to the Mean Streets podcast. It's a local Alabama media guy and a former Bama/Samford CBB player.

They're biased but both are adamant that Bucky will succeed at A&M due to his coaching acumen and his personality. The player played at Bama in Oats' first season and said Oats actually consulted with Bucky some when he first got there and said Bucky influenced how Oats ran is first practices as Bama HC which I thought was very interesting. Especially considering Bucky was just a HS coach at the time.