Buzz is a Rick Barnes type of hire...

[pnkranger]

• high character
• great recruiter
• teams play hard and would run through a brick wall for their coach
• cultural fit
• strong ties to the region

What he is not is a tactician or the best game day coach available. We could spend a lot less and fix our game-day x's and o's woes, but I'm not sure we're going to find someone who can repair the program's reputation and stature more quickly at a cheaper price.

One other thing to consider is that the Sooner Network is getting kicked off soon, and basketball is our second most popular sport. We need a figurehead/charismatic leader to build interest in the program and the network.

I think Buzz makes a lot of sense, even for the money we would pay him. Will he be interested? Not sure, but he makes a lot of sense.

He needs to hire a really great tactician as his top assistant.

 

[WTSooner]

I don't know enough to say either way, but I would have thought spending time on Gillispie's staff, that Buzz would be pretty sound on the defensive end of the court. Is that not really the case?

 

[AdaSooner]

Pnk, I totally agree with your list of strengths Buzz would bring to the job. But his greatest strengths may be his personality, charisma and what appears to be a very genuine compassion for people of all ages. He seems to have that unique ability to relate to everyone he meets. Those are qualities that will sell well in our region of the country.

 

[Tundrasooner]

Pnk, I totally agree with your list of strengths Buzz would bring to the job. But his greatest strengths may be his personality, charisma and what appears to be a very genuine compassion for people of all ages. He seems to have that unique ability to relate to everyone he meets. Those are qualities that will sell well in our region of the country.

Bingo.

 

[greenbug]

Pnk, I totally agree with your list of strengths Buzz would bring to the job. But his greatest strengths may be his personality, charisma and what appears to be a very genuine compassion for people of all ages. He seems to have that unique ability to relate to everyone he meets. Those are qualities that will sell well in our region of the country.

not if he doesn't win

 

[Sam]

I think this quote on how they stopped Tru Holloway for Marquette might might you rethink some of his "tactician" credentials.

"Their team scores 25 percent of their points from the free-throw line, which is a staggering number. But Tu Holloway in and of himself scores 25 percent of his points from the free-throw line. So he's the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, scores 25 percent of his points from the free-throw line, and 63 percent of the points he scores come off of ball screens.

Now intertwine that relative to their team. As a team they score eight percent on put-backs -- a lot of that is No. 22 [Jamel McLean]. They score 11 percent in transition -- that's all 52 [Holloway] and 10 [Mark Lyons]. Those are solid numbers -- 25 percent as a team from the free-throw line is outstanding, in the top five of the country. So [all] that constitutes 44 percent of their points.

Then [another] 42 percent of their points as a team come from the ball screen, and from only the two guys involved in the ball screen. ... Only the two guys involved in the ball screen constitute 42 percent of Xavier's points, and of that 42 percent Tu Holloway is involved in it 63 percent of the time, and it's really dangerous because he does such an effective job of using the ball screen that he forces help. And a lot of times when he forces help he gets fouled, but he also puts your team in constant rotation because of the ball screen and the coverage of the ball screen. They set multiple ball screens per possession. So Tu Holloway literally may in one possession get three ball screens by three different players. And I don't study any other teams other than the ones we play, but I would say that he probably gets more ball screens than any player in the country, and I'm not sure he wouldn't be deemed the most effective from those ball screens."

Chris Mack after the game as well

"The primary defender on [Holloway] a lot of times isn't as relevant as the ball screen defender, and I thought that's where Marquette did a better job than the majority of the teams we played this year of making him give it up, not allowing him to split the ball screen, reject the ball screen, all the things that we've worked on, he's worked on extremely hard this season," Mack said. "I give a lot of credit to those guys for the type of defense they were able to play against us in the half court."

 

[daqman]

If Buzz is a Rick Barnes type hire, I don't want him.
But I'm confident he isn't.
Buzz is a MUCH better coach.
If we get him, I think we'll be back to beating Texas regularly like during the Kelvin days.

 

[pnkranger]

If Buzz is a Rick Barnes type hire, I don't want him.
But I'm confident he isn't.
Buzz is a MUCH better coach.
If we get him, I think we'll be back to beating Texas regularly like during the Kelvin days.

daqman...the point was not that he had the same skills as Rick Barnes, but that he is the same type of individual, which is a classy, hard-working guy who fits the culture of UT like a glove.

 

[Iknowzilch]

daqman...the point was not that he had the same skills as Rick Barnes, but that he is the same type of individual, which is a classy, hard-working guy who fits the culture of UT like a glove.

Barnes I have talked too on several occasions. Texas usually stays locally when they come and I have worked out with him the morning of our games at the Health Club. 2-3 times I have seen him and he has been very friendly and funny. I liked him a lot.