Bzdelik's CU Legacy

[tante]

I believe you're referring to Levi Knutson.

I think he meant Blair Wilson, who played in the early 2000s. Kid could shoot lights out but was so slow. I remember often when a poor shooting team-mate was fouled he would go to the stripe and try to get the ball from the refs and shoot the shot. I know that it worked a few times.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Huge win for Wake Forest tonight, coming back from being 16 down to beat #18 NCSU 86-84. Bzdelik is starting to put up a fight, 6 games into the ACC season and Wake is 3-3.

 

[CVilleBuff]

With Wake taking down 2nd ranked Miami today, 80-65, Bzdelik is making a case for being kept a 3rd year. Step into the mindset of Wake Forest. ACC. Tobacco Road. Even NCSU enjoying a resurgence. Do they have the patience to see this through? He's been recruiting well, the foundation is being placed, but they're on the brink. They're 12-14, 5-9. However, those 5 ACC wins weren't exactly feasting on bottom feeders. They're against Miami, NC State, Virginia, Florida State and Boston College. They also took Duke to the brink, and additionally have two 1 point losses and a 3 point loss. Clearly they've shown they're quite close to turning the corner. I have little doubt that Wake Forest is going to be a pretty quality team next year. I'm just not sure he'll be the one coaching them. Think it depends on how the Deacs finish. Remaining schedule is at Florida State, Maryland, at NC State, Virginia Tech. They need to aim to win 3. If they did, they'd be .500 entering the ACC Tournament. A win in the First Round would put them in the NIT or other postseason. That sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? If you don't recall, CU entered the Big XII tournament in Bzdelik's 3rd year with a .500 record after a strong finish to the season. The Buffs ultimately lost to Texas Tech, but it was clear they were on the brink of big things....which we saw with 24 wins in Tad's first year. The whole thing is extremely similar. Bzdelik had 21 total wins his first two years at Wake, he had the exact same amount his first two years at CU. He had 5 conference wins his first two years at Wake, he had 4 at CU.

The race is on for Wake's push to .500 and the postseason

 

[nolabuff]

I think he's as good as gone. Maybe he stays if he runs the table, wins a couple games in the ACC tourney, and makes the NIT. I just don't see that happening, like his teams at CU, he can't win on the road (2 conference road wins, 0 this year). The situation is very similar to his time at CU and his supporters can point to the buffs as a reason to stick the course. The difference is that he took over from Gaudio who was fired for not winning in the postseason. In three season he won 61 games and took them to the tourney twice. In three seasons, Buzz will be lucky if he wins 35 games and gets to the NIT. He wasn't a very popular choice to begin with and I don't think the argument that "next year we should be better" will be enough. If I was a wake fan, I'd be calling for his head. Although, admittedly, I'm not the most rational fan when it comes to rebuilding.

 

[nolabuff]

After reading the scout wake forest board, I'll retract my prediction. Despite having a majority against him, most of the wake fans seem somewhat resigned to the fact that he'll be back for another year. I guess that's what being friends with your boss will do for you. Funny though that they mostly hold his time at CU against him. They say Boyle completely turned over the roster and that's why we're good. Forget that we won 24 games Boyle's first year because of Higgins, Burks, Relphorde, Tomlinson, and Dufualt. Even Dre can be attributed, at least partially to Bzdelik.
I'll give him some credit for what we have going now. It's kind of hard to judge how Bzdelik would do long term at a place since he's never stayed put. I think he's the type of coach who goes through ups and downs rather than building a consistent winner. Give him time and he'll have a few good seasons, but will likely have rebuild after. He doesn't seem to recruit well enough to win with young players and an underclass dominated roster like CU has now. My guess, still, is that we'll never see what a 6-7 year Jeff Bzdelik project looks like.

 

[CVilleBuff]

After reading the scout wake forest board, I'll retract my prediction. Despite having a majority against him, most of the wake fans seem somewhat resigned to the fact that he'll be back for another year. I guess that's what being friends with your boss will do for you. Funny though that they mostly hold his time at CU against him. They say Boyle completely turned over the roster and that's why we're good. Forget that we won 24 games Boyle's first year because of Higgins, Burks, Relphorde, Tomlinson, and Dufualt. Even Dre can be attributed, at least partially to Bzdelik.
I'll give him some credit for what we have going now. It's kind of hard to judge how Bzdelik would do long term at a place since he's never stayed put. I think he's the type of coach who goes through ups and downs rather than building a consistent winner. Give him time and he'll have a few good seasons, but will likely have rebuild after. He doesn't seem to recruit well enough to win with young players and an underclass dominated roster like CU has now. My guess, still, is that we'll never see what a 6-7 year Jeff Bzdelik project looks like.

Wake fans, all ACC fans, are completely ignorant of what Bzdelik faced at CU. They definitely use it as a negative, because they paid zero attention and just look at it as three losing seasons. I have my doubts about what the ultimate upside for Bzdelik is at Wake. I have a feeling it's going to prove to be no better than Gaudio, at best.

 

[Buffnik]

Dino's doing well at ESPN. I can see why he was such a good recruiter. Surprised he hasn't gotten hired. If I was a program like Rutgers, I'd be targeting Gaudio. They're going to need all the help they can get heading into the B1G.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Dino's doing well at ESPN. I can see why he was such a good recruiter. Surprised he hasn't gotten hired. If I was a program like Rutgers, I'd be targeting Gaudio. They're going to need all the help they can get heading into the B1G.

He deserves a shot somewhere. We're talking about a coach who went no postseason, then Round of 64, then Round of 32...and was then fired. They knew the program was going to have a down year, but they made it much worse by firing Gaudio, as major attrition then occurred.

I know it was just a random example, but I think Mike Rice can turn Rutgers around. He has been improving them, they just got completely ****ed by injuries this year, including their top scorer out for the season. Would have been a different story had the Rutgers of early this season existed throughout.

 

[Johnny Juzang]

Most of Bzdelik's roster (10 guys) are Freshmen. Add in several Sophs, and he has very few upper classmen. I think if he's there another season or two, he'll get good results.

 

[cubuffs85]

Wake fans, all ACC fans, are completely ignorant of what Bzdelik faced at CU. They definitely use it as a negative, because they paid zero attention and just look at it as three losing seasons. I have my doubts about what the ultimate upside for Bzdelik is at Wake. I have a feeling it's going to prove to be no better than Gaudio, at best.

Coming from/living in ACC country hardly surprising. CU wasn't even on the map for the most part prior to when Bzdelik took over. CU had a few games on the ESPN family of networks and almost always it was playing Kansas.

 

[cubuffs85]

I think it's clear Bzdelik is a good program builder -- he's done that with the Nuggets, Air Force, CU, and things look up for Wake. He has NOT shown he can maintain the success because he just hasn't stayed around long enough.

 

[Buffnik]

Coming from/living in ACC country hardly surprising. CU wasn't even on the map for the most part prior to when Bzdelik took over. CU had a few games on the ESPN family of networks and almost always it was playing Kansas.

Best way to stick in their minds is to draw North Carolina in the Dance and beat their asses. Not a great UNC team, so not the type of win that would make them think "elite". In fact, they'd mostly see it as evidence that it was a really down year for UNC. But it is still the type of win that would have every ACC fan associate "Colorado basketball" with "2013 tourney win over UNC" in their minds. They wouldn't forget that.

 

[MtnBuff]

I think Buzz is a better coach than a lot of people give him credit for. Not a great coach but a very solid one.

His biggest issue is that his personality and his style tend to eventually rub fans wrong. With his young roster he should be able to have a stronger year next season if they keep him around. It also seems like the ACC is in a little bit of a relative down cycle so his timing may be good.

With all that I would doubt that he will be there long term. Even if he has a couple of good seasons the Wake fans consider themselves to be an elite program and want to contend for NCs. His style and personality will end up with him losing the fans and he will end up moving on.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Best way to stick in their minds is to draw North Carolina in the Dance and beat their asses. Not a great UNC team, so not the type of win that would make them think "elite". In fact, they'd mostly see it as evidence that it was a really down year for UNC. But it is still the type of win that would have every ACC fan associate "Colorado basketball" with "2013 tourney win over UNC" in their minds. They wouldn't forget that.

They're starting to take notice of CU, but you're right that it will take something like that to really get their attention. The whole exposure thing is still bad out here. CU on tv has arguably gotten worse with the P12 network for those in distant lands of the east

 

[Buffnik]

I think Buzz is a better coach than a lot of people give him credit for. Not a great coach but a very solid one.

His biggest issue is that his personality and his style tend to eventually rub fans wrong. With his young roster he should be able to have a stronger year next season if they keep him around. It also seems like the ACC is in a little bit of a relative down cycle so his timing may be good.

With all that I would doubt that he will be there long term. Even if he has a couple of good seasons the Wake fans consider themselves to be an elite program and want to contend for NCs. His style and personality will end up with him losing the fans and he will end up moving on.

North Carolina and Virginia will have great teams next year. Duke will be Duke. Syracuse and Pitt come in. Notre Dame and Louisville could.

Finishing top half of the ACC will be hard in 2013-14.

 

[CarolinaBuff]

A run to the Sweet 16 would do quite a bit for the Wake people to take notice to CU. I don't think it would have to be a win over UNC or an ACC team, although that would likely help.

They're starting to take notice of CU, but you're right that it will take something like that to really get their attention. The whole exposure thing is still bad out here. CU on tv has arguably gotten worse with the P12 network for those in distant lands of the east

There's no doubt it's gotten worse the Pac-12 not getting their network on DTV. The exposure was much better when most of our games were on Root or one of the Fox Regionals.

 

[CVilleBuff]

North Carolina and Virginia will have great teams next year. Duke will be Duke. Syracuse and Pitt come in. Notre Dame and Louisville could.

Finishing top half of the ACC will be hard in 2013-14.

Things are about to get nasty with the new additions, + return of Carolina to being great, + Virginia having a nasty team...Virginia will be top 20, if not better. Bennett's coaching and recruiting is the real deal, they're not messing around and the facilities are second to no one.

NC State is going to be a talented force, teams like Boston College and Clemson are going to be much improved. Wake is going to be much better, but so is the ACC

 

[cubuffs85]

They're starting to take notice of CU, but you're right that it will take something like that to really get their attention. The whole exposure thing is still bad out here. CU on tv has arguably gotten worse with the P12 network for those in distant lands of the east

Yes/no, I could get the FCS games, but they weren't all televised. The FCS production was worse than the P12 Network. Now all those non-conference games are televised. There's only one bar around me that has it in Northern VA(none I know of in MD), and some in DC I haven't seen. But the good news is CU is playing more games on the ESPN networks, which are all easy to get.

What college basketball needs more of flexible scheduling or atleast, flexible networks. There's no reason that Colorado/Arizona should be on P12 Network. And I thought the same thing during the Wake/Miami game, it was a regional telecast that was only available on TV here for the last 1/2 hour.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Yes/no, I could get the FCS games, but they weren't all televised. The FCS production was worse than the P12 Network. Now all those non-conference games are televised. There's only one bar around me that has it in Northern VA(none I know of in MD), and some in DC I haven't seen. But the good news is CU is playing more games on the ESPN networks, which are all easy to get.

What college basketball needs more of flexible scheduling or atleast, flexible networks. There's no reason that Colorado/Arizona should be on P12 Network. And I thought the same thing during the Wake/Miami game, it was a regional telecast that was only available on TV here for the last 1/2 hour.

The ESPN games are great. We haven't exactly been a regular on them, though. Hopefully that changes as our program continues to be an NCAA Tournament regular and improves -- I have no doubt it will change it. The quality of the Fox network games might have sucked, but it beats sitting in Virginia with Comcast and thus no hope of the Pac-12 Network anytime soon.

 

[cubuffs85]

The ESPN games are great. We haven't exactly been a regular on them, though. Hopefully that changes as our program continues to be an NCAA Tournament regular and improves -- I have no doubt it will change it. The quality of the Fox network games might have sucked, but it beats sitting in Virginia with Comcast and thus no hope of the Pac-12 Network anytime soon.

Yeah I agree, but it's still a much better number than it was 2-3 years ago. Obviously, they need to sustain it so more games will be on. The fact is nearly every game is on TV and every home game is, and that wasn't the case a few years ago. IIRC, some conference games didn't even make TV.

There's only one bar I know of here in Arlington that has it and that's annoying. I'd like to think the P12 Network will be more available soon, but that's probably optimistic.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Yeah I agree, but it's still a much better number than it was 2-3 years ago. Obviously, they need to sustain it so more games will be on. The fact is nearly every game is on TV and every home game is, and that wasn't the case a few years ago. IIRC, some conference games didn't even make TV.

There's only one bar I know of here in Arlington that has it and that's annoying. I'd like to think the P12 Network will be more available soon, but that's probably optimistic.

The only place I've even seen with the Pac-12 network, I'm 2 hours south of you, is a freakin' Jiffy Lube waiting area. That about sums up the situation for me right now :lol:

 

[cubuffs85]

The only place I've even seen with the Pac-12 network, I'm 2 hours south of you, is a freakin' Jiffy Lube waiting area. That about sums up the situation for me right now :lol:

Sorry about that, but a Jiffy Lube out of all places? Believe me, before the Hartford game I called multiple places within walking distance to me and one place told me they had it, only for when I got there for it NOT to be the case. I then went to a few other places and none of them had it, so I was quite disappointed I couldn't see the first game. When I spent the weekends at my parents across the Potomac, I called up a bunch of local places and NONE were televising it. It's just amazing too me how limited the P12 Network is in a major metropolitan area in 2013.

 

[Jello Bear]

Ouch.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...ent-newspaper-encourage-052828463--ncaab.html

 

[SECOBuffsFan]

I think he is gonna get fired right along with their AD

 

[CVilleBuff]

I think he is gonna get fired right along with their AD

It's looking much more likely due to recent events. After that Miami win on on Feb 23rd, Wake had pulled to 12-14 (5-9) and and a shot to push for .500 and an NIT bid (and had been playing very competitive ball the few games before that killing FSU and losses by 1 and 3 points). It looked like they had turned the corner and Bzdelik had a chance to hang on. Well, they've since lost 3 straight games in completely unimpressive fashion and now sit 12-17 (5-12). They finish with Virginia Tech, presumably will win, and they'll likely be a 10 seed in the ACC Tournament if they do get the W. Still, in a year in which each of the 3 other NC schools are Dancing, Deacs are even more frustrated than they'd usually be. Hard to see him survive, but Wake is a strange AD at times, so you never know. I have no doubt they'll be much better next year, whoever is coaching. The problem is the ACC is going to be downright brutal, and even being "much better" may not produce a record that really shows it.

 

[cubuffs85]

My guess is he'll get a 4th year, might be canned with a bad start. One way I can see him gone is if the AD is OR if the Prez and/or donors puts pressure on the AD to fire him. He'll probably be back to being an NBA assistant when he's canned.

 

[Dark Bohner]

My guess is he'll get a 4th year, might be canned with a bad start. One way I can see him gone is if the AD is OR if the Prez and/or donors puts pressure on the AD to fire him. He'll probably be back to being an NBA assistant when he's canned.

Bohn really deserves credit for the men's and women's basketball turnaround...just as much as he deserves blame for the cratered football program. The guy's tenure as AD is as gray as they come.

 

[cubuffs85]

Bohn really deserves credit for the men's and women's basketball turnaround...just as much as he deserves blame for the cratered football program. The guy's tenure as AD is as gray as they come.

I completely agree with you about his AD tenure being a mixed bag. Personally, I like Bohn. I had a few interactions with him and came away impressed. One of them was just in the middle of campus, he was walking by himself, unnoticed, I said hi to him and he responded back.

I don't think that will be good enough of Mac II doesn't work unless CU can somehow become a perennial Final Four contender. Basketball just isn't important enough to most of the CU community to offset the football disparity.

How many AD's can survive four football coaches in 7 years, including three of which they hired at a football-school like CU? And for those of you who say, Embree wasn't who he wanted to hire -- then why was he AD if he's just a figure-head. The primary job of an AD is to hire the people to lead program revenue generators, which is up until this year has only been football.

 

[CUFan]

Ouch.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...ent-newspaper-encourage-052828463--ncaab.html

Mediocrity?

 

[Buffnik]

Mediocrity?

It's what Wake is searching for under Bzdelik.