There Goes the Fraud

  Do you feel betrayed Marquette? The leader of our beloved basketball program is gone. And to all places Virginia Tech. Buzz Williams, the guy who once could do no wrong (rumors had it that he once walked on water), packed his bags and is out the door. Bye Buzz, we barely knew you. No seriously, we never really knew the real Buzz Williams until the end.

   When I stepped on Marquette’s campus as a freshman with my hairline intact, I heard all the talk about how Buzz was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Who couldn’t love the guy? He danced on the court after a win at West Virginia, sang songs at Marquette Madness, and was charismatic in every interview. The media ate that sh** up and so did all of Marquette nation. At one point in time I contemplated naming my first born son Buzz, which probably would have upset my dad now that I think about it. Anyways, Buzz was riding on cloud nine. Scandal after scandal rocked the Marquette basketball program, costing many people their jobs, except Buzz. He walked out of the wreckage hands held high. His on the court success helped his cause. Buzz led Marquette to an Elite Eight and two Sweet Sixteens. Nobody could touch the man. The administration gave him a hefty $2 million dollar contract extension. Life was good for Benedict Arnol...I mean Buzz Williams, until this year.

   I don’t want to relive this past season. It is over. Done. Marquette sucked on the court and decided to reject a CBI invite like they were some prestigious program like Duke. Buzz saw that the end to his glorious time at Marquette was coming to an end. Instead of dealing with rebuilding a program, he was a coward and exited stage right.

   Do I have your blood boiling yet Marquette fans? We were stood up. We were made to look like a bunch of fools. A bunch of articles will come out in the next few days praising Buzz for his time here and saying that we shouldn’t give him a hard time for leaving. That is some horse crap. Buzz left us at the altar. He went from a hero to a complete fraud in a matter of a few minutes.

   On The Sports ReKap on Wednesday, my co-host DJ Vogt (who was the first person this year to point out Buzz as a fraud) and I were spit balling the idea of what would happen to the Marquette program if Buzz left. Some playful banter to pass the time. What we came up with was close to a nightmare.

   Now that Buzz is gone, what happens to the recruits? What happens to the players that should be on the roster next year? Do Deonte Burton and JaJuan Johnson transfer? Will everyone transfer except Derrick Wilson and Juan Anderson; which would be the worst nightmare of them all?

   This program is in disarray. It’s like that game Jenga. You stack the blocks and keep pulling others out until the whole tower comes crashing down. Well the Marquette basketball tower has officially fallen. The writing was on the wall that Buzz would leave this year; we just wished to ignore it.

Agree with Kap or still love Buzz? Leave a comment below.

Nick Kapetan hosts The Sports ReKap sponsored by Sobelman's with DJ Vogt on MarquetteWire.org every Wednesday from 11:30 AM-1:00PM CT.

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It's not too late to sign up for Relay For Life. Cancer puts life in perspective and shows us that Buzz leaving Marquette does not really matter in the grand scheme of life. Please join a team or just donate. Please follow the link below for more information

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The End to Our Misery

   
    It's over! Thank God or whatever your chosen religion worships; it's over!
   All you optimists drinking that Marquette Kool-Aid that were holding on to false hope can now leave us realists the hell alone. Sorry freshman living in McCormick that thinks he is tight with Davante because he retweeted you once; it's time to look forward to next season.
   Don't even start with the whole "they can still play in the NIT, CBI, or CIT" argument. That's like a girl walking into a bar that she knows has Channing Tatum in it but being more excited to see me sipping on my Fireball while chasing with Coke Zero. There is no point in getting excited about a consolation prize. Yes, I realize I just indirectly called myself a consolation prize.
   Here's a gracious warning that will possibly save you some time. For the rest of this post I am going to do the following: bash the basketball team, make a Dog House reference, and talk about my Latina fetish five times. If you don't like that, stop reading. I won't take offense to it. Some of my best friends that I love dearly hate that I write this stuff. Something about making a fool of myself or something. Anyway here we go.
   In retrospect this season was doomed from the moment Buzz labeled Derrick Wilson as the starting point guard. Derrick is an offensive liability whose apprehensiveness to attack the basket takes away from the shooting ability of Jake Thomas and Todd Mayo. Don't want to take my word for it? Go back and listen to any analyst that has covered a Marquette game this year. They have all been saying the same thing. His lack of scoring at a position that is VITAL in Buzz's system is a huge reason why Marquette is not in the NCAA tournament.
   But Nick he had like some games when he scored points.
   That's like saying I'm a healthy eater because I had a salad three times in my life. But of course the season is not all Derrick's fault. Let's move to Jamil Wilson.
   Yes, Jamil had a decent year statistically (11.7 PPG and 5.9 RPG). Dig a little deeper and the numbers tell a different story. Wilson was the most consistent, inconsistent player in all of college basketball.  A man labeled by Buzz as "the most athletic player on the team" failed to produce a fantastic season from start to finish. His senior year will forever be remembered as "what could have been".
   Speaking about seniors, let's summarize all of their seasons. Davante Gardner deservingly was the Sixth Man of the Year in the Big East. His only problem was trying to turn to the basket when opponents would swarm the lane like freshman girls swarm Dog House when they hear a basketball player is there. Overall though, Gardner had a hell of a year.
   Jake Thomas was lucky to have stellar games at times because if he didn't, his whole tenure at Marquette would be deemed a failure. Some games his success would be his own worst enemy. He would be overconfident and shoot threes during key moments with four guys draped on him.
   I will not bash Chris Otule because despite his shortcomings he has exceeded expectations in his twenty five years at this school.
   Speaking about expectations, I am happy to report that I cannot rip into Todd Mayo at this point in time. Mayo kept himself out of trouble, for the most part, and developed into a clutch performer. Well done Todd!
   Anyways, back to the bashing.
   If there is one person that you could blame for this season of disappointment, it is Buzz Williams.
   Oh no, not Buzz!
   Open your eyes people. I can dive into a bunch of statistical points to back up my case but I'm not that smart to understand it and you probably don't give a crap about it anyway. There is one thing that we all understand and can agree on: Buzz's lack of playing the freshmen frustrated us all and hurt the team.
   First off, all the freshmen should have played more minutes than they did due to the fact that they all have been to my house for a party that my friends and I have hosted. There should be a team rule that states: "If you go to a party that Nick Kapetan is involved in hosting, and your name is not Derrick Wilson, you automatically play more than twenty minutes a game."
   On a serious note, how difficult is it for Buzz to break away from his "I don't start freshmen" belief? It took him until the Big East tourney to do so. But that was a little too late.
   Deonte Burton carried the team during games against Villanova and Xavier. John Dawson, despite his struggles handling the basketball, provided much more offensively than Derrick Wilson. JaJuan Johnson, a top fifty recruit that wears a headband like a boss I might add, played garbage minutes like he was Dylan Flood.
   If you are going to praise Buzz like a god, you have to admit when he has not lived up to your expectations of him.
   Take a deep breath though Marquette; it is over. Let us move on and look forward to next season. Unlike my love for Latinas, the feeling of disappointment will not last forever.
   As long as Todd and JaJuan do not transfer and Buzz plays next year's freshmen decent minutes, the Golden Eagles will compete in what should continue to be a depleted Big East. Here's to a future filled with endless Deonte Burton thirty point games!
   Oh and I think I might have fallen short of my guarantee of referencing my Latina fetish five times, so here is one more for the books: I love Latinas!

Agree or disagree with Kap's assessment of the season? Leave a comment before the link.

The Sports ReKap sponsored by Sobelman's airs every Wednesday from 11:30AM-1:00PM on MarquetteWire.org with hosts Nick Kapetan and DJ Vogt.

Follow us on Twitter:
@KapN93
@DvJ14
@SaidOnTheReKap

Two brief announcements
Please consider starting up or joining a team for Relay for Life this spring. The event takes place April 26th, 2014. All money that is donated will help in pursuit of finding a cure for an illness that hits home for all of us. For more information or to donate be sure to contact Kristen Krawczyk at kristen.krawczyk@marquette.edu


For making it through this lengthy post, you get to be one of the first people to know about The Sports ReKap Bracket Challenge sponsored by Sobelman's. Be sure to enter your bracket to win the grand prize of a free Sobelman's burger once a week for an entire month! To enter just like The Sports ReKap Facebook page and message me your name. If you have already liked the page just message me. I will have more information after Selection Sunday.