Dwight Buycks, one of the top junior college players in the nation, verbally committed to Marquette University earlier today. A 6'3" combo guard out of Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, Buycks selected MU over a host of schools including Iowa State, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Missouri.
Buycks will join the Marquette program as a junior in the fall of 2009. The Milwaukee native played his high school ball at Bay View and originally committed to Bradley before academic issues led him to Indian Hills. With well-publicized concerns about the questionable academic profile of recent MU commit Jeronne Maymon, is Buzz Williams taking on yet another academic risk just two months into his tenure as head coach? 'Not so' reports Mark Miller at Wishoops, who reveals that Buycks is taking care of business in the classroom at Indian Hills, landing a 3.6 GPA in his first year there.
Last season, Buycks led Indian Hills in scoring at roughly 16 points per game while chipping in four boards and three assists. Buycks looks to be more of a scorer than a shooter -- he hit 46% of his shots from the field and a dreadful 26% from downtown.
With MU poised to graduate the Three Amigos after next season --- three 1,000 point scorers including the top two scorers in Marquette basketball history (perhaps) -- Buzz Williams is faced with making the most of a roster full of role players and high-ceiling freshmen heading into the 2009-2010 campaign. With that in mind and a gaping hole looming in the backcourt, Coach Williams had at least three options:
a) go to battle with David Cubillan and Maurice Acker as his featured point guards -- a recipe for a second-division Big East finish;
b) entrust a true freshman point guard with the reigns of a Big East program; or,
c) overload the junior class by going JUCO and hope for the best.
Hello Dwight Buycks.
Buycks joins high school forwards Jeronne Maymon and Erik Williams in the class that will enter the Marquette program in 2009. If the current slate of committed scholarships holds up, the 2009-2010 roster should look something like this:
Seniors: Hayward, Acker, Cubillan
Juniors: Buycks, Hazel, Fulce, Butler, Mbakwe
Sophomores: Otule
Freshmen: Erik Williams, Jeronne Maymon
Buzz Williams has two more scholarships to offer for the 2009-2010 class.
Additional Media Reports
Monday, June 16, 2008
Buzz goes JUCO again
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13 comments:
It will be an interesting team makeup. Buzz has found local talent that has a desire to play close to home. Like Crean, I am sure Buzz is building a recruiting portfolio. If these are his first year recruits and follows the trend of incrementally improving recruits each year we will be in good shape again.
This is a really nice signing. This makes me feel a lot better about 2009-10. I did not like the thought of Acker/Cubillan or a freshman point guard.
It is also nice to see that Buzz is recruiting for need and seems to be able to influence players quickly. He must be impressive in his first meeting with recruits.
Welcome to Milwaukee Jesuit Junior College!!!
Is Buzz Williams' building a "recruiting base" or a house of cards?
I can see both sides for and against this signing.
At first blush, I didn't like it at all, but after thinking about it (and the same points you guys mentioned here), it's a smart move PROVIDED he doesn't go the JuCo route for either of his two remaining scholarships.
I think having a seasoned kid available is a smart move on Buzz' part. That way, you have another 'veteran' PG to run the show along with Mo and David. Then you got Butler at the 2.
I don't like the 23% from three so as long as he improves this year or learns to control his game, it should be a good move.
Keep in mind that relatively early in Tom Crean's tenure, he recruited a talented guard with a questionable academic portfolio.
Warrior World, meet Dwayne Wade.
Whether the latest crop of ball players is another Wade or not clearly remains to be seen. But MU is taking a chance and I don't think they had too many options.
Quite frankly, the guy has been on the job about six weeks and has moved to repair the recruiting debacle caused by Tom "Hit the Road Jack" Crean's flight to fright. Say what you want about the players, I sure would rather see Buzz do this than to go to battle with an empty cupboard.
One last thought, Marquette has made it with a number of high quality JUCO transfers. Think Sam Worthen (1979-1980) and Bob Lackey (early 1970s). McGuire didn't give a damn as long as the players could play and here's hoping Buzz won't either.
The video looks a little Wade-ish. Seeming slightly out-of-control and scrappy play. He's got similar slashing moves and looks like he can get to the basket well in traffic. If I remember correctly - I'm not looking up stats - Wade was kind of ugly to watch in terms of you felt like it was out of control.
Not a big fan of his stats, but I do like the feeling I get from the video.
Like everything that's happened since the loss to the giant Muppet twins, we'll see. Can't wait for the season to start.
Richard:
Good to see you are still out there and fine.
Champs, the problem I think many of us have is that, other than R.Jackson, MU hasn't had a high quality JuCo or transfer player under Crean. Historically, we may have had some solid guys, but in the last decade, not so much.
I think it's understandable to feel a little worried about that. But, I'll give Buzz the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise on this kid. And I do like the strategy involved in going with a veteran guy.
Gene, I agree but Tommy Traitor is gone. I'm not sure Buzz had a whole lot of options other than JUCOs given when he was hired and the recruiting debacle he faced.
I'll give Buzz credit. We lost some guys we wish we had back, but he moved to quell the bleeding quickly and to take charge. We have some potential quality players to build on and with any luck, we'll build on what Buzz has created.
My biggest near term concern is that Buzz gets 100% from the three amigos. If he does and someone rebounds, next year could be fun. If he doesn't, well, I don't want to think about it.
Nice to see Richard is back and up to his usual self!
Where's the Feature Story congratulating Doc Rivers for coaching the Celtics to a Title?
This is big news guys! His phone call to potential recruits means the same as D Wade nowadays(unless Star Jones is conferenced in). Choosing between Boston and Kobe was brutal but it's a big win for Doc and the Warrior nation last night.
Richard, Charlie Weiss has a runny nose get over to South Bend with your towel.
Packer Pat -- that would be a great point if Rivers were even allowed to speak with recruits. A phone call? Are you insane?
Regardless, to high school kids Doc Rivers is prehistoric. Wade is a hero, but even he has turned into yesterdays news.
Our recruits are going to be speaking with our coaching staff and our current players.
So far, so good.
We've got half the Tyler Junior College roster and coaching staff headed our way. They must have done well in their tournament last year. They didn't make it? Oh!
Richard
You are spot on: High school kids don't care about the NBA.
They don't watch KG and Kobe in the finals. So the Head Coach of the NBA champs is nothing to them.
I suppose they are all down at the library, reading books on physics.
Get real! ALL these kids want is the NBA, and if Buzz can hook them up with Doc, and he talks up the
path to the dollars, it helps. Otherwise, why did ND hire Charlie Wies, since his whole gig is "I can
get you to the pro's."
You're a git for always searching for the worst in every post. Move on.
I have a suggestion, let's ignore Richard and his ignorant/negative comments. He is like a young child who desparatively seeks his parents' attention, regardless of whether it be positive or negative. If we simply ignore him, he will be forced to go back to playing dungeons and dragons or whatever else he does to occupy his time between posting useless comments on this blog. I'm all for alternative viewpoints, but he just bitches to hear himself bitch.
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