I hoped he'd get the job from soon as he was named. I researched him a little more and I was onboard before he signed his contract.
My kids would say dad you're "Glazing". I do not care because what he did building this team after the main portal season is amazing and with Mac's injury.

bobinator said:

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We need to bump the "who's in" thread from when he as hired and see who's been converted

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Yes that would be a great read and the season prediction thread as well.

I'm a believer. Must admit, I was skeptical at the time of hire. What he has done with this roster is very impressive. The early returns are going to age well when he has the ability to recruit a whole cycle (or a couple of cycles).

bobinator said:

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We need to bump the "who's in" thread from when he as hired and see who's been converted

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The one thing I was wrong about and others is how important defense is and how good defensively we really are. We switch between multiple defenses and pressure each game. I will admit I was wrong about his defensive mindset which now we know if you don't play D you aren't playing.

Yes and no. We did know (if it worked) that we'd force a lot of turnovers and that our defense would be pretty risky.

But yeah, what's really wild is that after the roster was put together I was even more convinced that we'd be terrible at half court defense. We're still not particularly good at it and I think a few teams coming up are going to expose that but overall we're much better than I expected.

We also put together a MUCH better roster than I think any of us were envisioning when he was first hired.

bobinator said:

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We need to bump the "who's in" thread from when he as hired and see who's been converted

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There's ppl here that would opine before having evidence?

bobinator said:

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Yes and no. We did know (if it worked) that we'd force a lot of turnovers and that our defense would be pretty risky.

But yeah, what's really wild is that after the roster was put together I was even more convinced that we'd be terrible at half court defense. We're still not particularly good at it and I think a few teams coming up are going to expose that but overall we're much better than I expected.

We also put together a MUCH better roster than I think any of us were envisioning when he was first hired.

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I'll go on record Florida is a team that is a hard matchup for us as Haught and Condon will be a bad match up for us.

Been saying Florida and Tennessee both. Florida is probably the worst matchup of the two because they're comfortable in a tempo game.

That said I imagine it's going to be next to impossible to drag Tennessee into a fast faced game unless we just go absolutely nuclear from three.

phatty26 said:

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Please go listen to yesterday's postgame and if you have time listen to Porter Mosers as well.

Ags we've got a great one in Bucky.

OU Moser is a class individual. He's goes into great detail about the game and how little things make the difference.
*The play at the end of the first half
*Agee!s pass to Ruben out of the trap
*What Lane did defensively
*Hiw this style affects you

This team plays hard and is fun to watch.

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Never have doubted this hire. It is a home run hit and our major challenge is ensuring that Bucky remains our HC for years and years to come.

Just imagine him in 2 years when he had built his desired roster with top end talent. He will be unstoppable and is truly an innovative coach.

Texas is gonna come looking to steal another soon enough........

We r looking great. We just need Earley to prove himself this year or make a major move there, too.

it is much more fun to watch because he is constantly changing up our defensive looks to the other team so it takes a little more time for our opponent to adjust to these constant changes which eats up a little ore time on the shot clock and probably forces them out of their comfort zone. Plus we have 10 guys at least that no they will be getting significant playing time wereas with Buzz it was 6-8 unless we got in foul trouble and then we were bringing someone in cold off the bench

I just wish we could have kept Payne and Solomon and I wonder if someone gave them truth serum if they would wish they were here in this offense and defense as well. Once Bucky gets some bigs, and that should not be a hard sell, this offseason we will be even more fun to watch.

and Agee should absolutely be able to go off on Alabama inside the paint. We watched that game last night and they were saying that is a weakness of Alabama

I always wanted it to work simply I like the expression 'Bucky Ball' and I want it to stay around

I have been fully bought in from the get go but wasn't bought in completely with this particular team. Hopefully they keep improving and getting better. The 2 games next week will be a war.

It obvious he's got a lot of talent... it'd be great if he hung around a while


Do yall think he considers us a stepping stone?


Or do we have enough to offer that he'd stay long term & put us on the map

Bucky will likely have some level of loyalty to us if the fanbase actually embraces the program. Even then if he thinks he's hitting a ceiling here is going to go somewhere he thinks he can win a national title.

Yea I agree 100%

I guess I'm asking what people think his main motivation is....


If he wins here consistently it won't be hard to become our GOAT.... name on the floor, statue outside, etc....


Our do people think his motivation is to get to a blue blood school? Or nba?

10-4 thanks

That's just my guess though, you never really know what's rattling around in someone's head. I'd definitely be nervous in a couple of years if we're having success and the Alabama job comes open for some reason.

He mentioned in the Auburn presser that winning there was fun in part because both of his parents went to Alabama.

But he doesn't seem like the type to want to coach at a blue blood school just because it's a blue blood school. In fact he seems extremely like the type to want to prove he can win a championship at a place that isn't one.

He's also practical though. He mentioned NIL and the transfer portal as being a major reason he left Samford because they just couldn't hold on to players to keep building up anymore.

bingram1230 said:

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I have been fully bought in from the get go but wasn't bought in completely with this particular team. Hopefully they keep improving and getting better. The 2 games next week will be a war.

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Exactly how I feel except I am hopeful we are competitive the next 2 games. I wouldnt be shocked if we have a stinker or two soon.

I've been really impressed so far in league play. The team has come such a long way since the first few games.

halfastros81 said:

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I felt pretty good within a week of the hire that it was going to be a good hire. Felt even better after he pulled together a reasonable roster in a short time from next to nothing. After seeing the development from first game to now I feel even better now particularly with all the different defensive looks we throw at the opponents as well as the substitution patterns and conditioning.

I still think we are at 50% or less to make the Dance but that has improved significantly since conference play commenced imo. I'd say 50% now and was going with 40% going into conference play. Have also seen some weakness in the conference I didn't expect , particularly Alabama, Arkansas , and Kentucky .

I thought we had a decent shot to start 2-1 in conference. 3-0 was not within my envelope of probable expectations.

Right now I'm upgrading my conference play prediction from 8-10 to 9-9 and 10-8 is not a stupidly improbable outlier prediction imo.

Between Buzz and Bucky imo we upgraded our head basketball coaching position and I liked Buzz but the upside and speed to get to that upside is better. Bucky is just better at coaching today's brand of basketball.

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I agree with your outcome as I expect a BUMP in the road. However, I like our progress, as we're starting to break the opponents press better. We're still dribbling toooooo much and not passing the ball. I like how we're progressing the overall game.

I still us missing layups that I wish we would make.

I still don't understand how our shooting percentages (FT and FG) has drastically increased, while Maryland shooting percentages are in the toilet--WHAT DOES BUZZ DO TO A TEAM. I was a Buzz guy; now, not so much. Maryland is bad this year.

I mentioned on a previous post, I wish Bucky would call a timeout when the opponent is making a run. I believe we had 8 to 9 point leads in the first half and went into the locker room with all of our timeouts. I realize there were TV timeouts, but when you see a big lead like that get down to 2 to 3 points, call a timeout and regroup.

I hope we win at least 11 to 12, if not more. This is a team that is still jelling and don't know how good they'll eventually be. Additionally, we don't know what or when the injury bug will hit. Maybe with our deep bench, it'll stay away.

Went back to the play by play, TAMU called their first timeout of the game with 0:38 left to play in the game.

bobinator said:

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Timeouts are so strategically important at the ends of games, even more so now with reviews, that Bucky's not going to call one unless we absolutely have to. Plus we're a streaky team anyway and we make our opponents streaky so he's just gonna roll with it.

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I edited my post above to include they called their first timeout with 0:38 left to play.

I researched online, and apparently, they get six (6) timeouts a game. I understand you don't want to burn all of your timeouts in the first half, and you want to save some for the end of the game if you need them. However, if you have a lead (8 to 10+ points) and the other team burns it down to say four to five points, call a timeout and regroup.

I realize it doesn't always stop the momentum, but most of the time it does.

You don't get six, you get four, and one of them is a "use it or lose it" timeout in the first half.

I know little about college basketball but I was very excited about the hire and my research on Bucky got me on board the Bucky train enough that I went to the first exhibition game against ASU.

bobinator said:

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Of course we're a stepping stone. We are until we're not.

But who cares what he considered us when he took the job, the goal now is to make sure we don't give him any reason to leave. Almost every job is a stepping stone until they find the right coach and do what it takes to hold on them.

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Exactly right. There is no financial reason we cannot attract (done) and keep (gotta work on) the best.

If we can get to sweet 16 / elite 8 semi consistently and have chances at Natty, that's all any other place can offer.

Dan Lanning stays at Oregon. Could go anywhere. Izzo could be hired anywhere if he wanted to leave MSU. It comes down, probably, to the character of the man and what he values when wanting to leave or not. Billy G. Buzz.

Hey I just realized we like to hire hoops coaches named with letter "b!"

Matt_The_Lawyer said:

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bobinator said:

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Of course we're a stepping stone. We are until we're not.

But who cares what he considered us when he took the job, the goal now is to make sure we don't give him any reason to leave. Almost every job is a stepping stone until they find the right coach and do what it takes to hold on them.

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Exactly right. There is no financial reason we cannot attract (done) and keep (gotta work on) the best.

If we can get to sweet 16 / elite 8 semi consistently and have chances at Natty, that's all any other place can offer.

Dan Lanning stays at Oregon. Could go anywhere. Izzo could be hired anywhere if he wanted to leave MSU. It comes down, probably, to the character of the man and what he values when wanting to leave or not. Billy G. Buzz.

Hey I just realized we like to hire hoops coaches named with letter "b!"

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Bucky plans on winning a title he's only moved once and he isn't a job jumper, He could've had a number of jobs after his NCAA team. He wanted the right situation and fit to build his brand and program.