Shaka Smart imagines Giannis Antetokounmpo actually playing at Marquette
The Bucks superstar took to social media to wonder about his NCAA eligibility and if he could play at Marquette.
- Former Marquette coach Buzz Williams will return to Milwaukee with his new Maryland team.
- Williams’ return coincides with the jersey retirement ceremony for beloved former player Jerel McNeal.
- The game presents a stylistic challenge for Marquette, as Williams’ teams are known for physical play and offensive rebounding.
- Current Marquette coach Shaka Smart and Williams have a professional relationship, sharing a coaching mentor.
There will be an interesting collision course between the past and present of Marquette men’s basketball on Nov. 15 at Fiserv Forum.
Buzz Williams, a former MU coach, will be in town with his new Maryland team, the first game for Williams in Milwaukee since leaving in 2014. Jerel McNeal, a beloved former Golden Eagles player, is getting his jersey raised into the rafters and many former teammates, including several who played for Williams, will be in the house.
The current members of the MU team probably aren’t concerned about any of that. But the way that Williams’ teams like to play poses a tough challenge to a Golden Eagles squad that needs a victory against a high-major opponent.
There will be a lot of story lines to track in this one.
How does Buzz Williams feel about his time at Marquette?
A lot of things have changed since Williams was in charge of MU’s program, including the building that the team plays in.
Williams has reflected on his time at the school, when he went 139-69 from 2008-2014. His teams reached the NCAA tournament five times in six seasons, advancing to two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight.
“It was a special time,” Williams told the Journal Sentinel’s John Steppe at Big Ten media day in October. “I shouldn’t have got that job. I said it when I got it and I’ve said it every time since.
“I should have never got that job at Marquette. The six years there … obviously we have four children. They were all really young, but they were old enough to remember it. I’ve been back to Milwaukee, just haven’t been back for a game.”
Williams was a young head coach at New Orleans in the 2006-07 season, but resigned because of the difficulty of coaching there in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Former MU coach Tom Crean hired Williams as an assistant, and Williams took over after Crean left for Indiana.
“They interviewed me 14 times in seven days,” Williams told Maryland reporters this week. “My wife was involved in three of those interviews.
“There were three or four people that had really big guts that stepped out of their comfort zone to make a decision to hire me. That’s a top 15 job no matter who the coach is there.”
Does Buzz Williams have a relationship with Shaka Smart?
Williams had tremendous on-court success at MU, but his tenure was also clouded by off-the-court issues and tension with the school’s administration.
Williams jumped to Virginia Tech, where he spent five seasons and making three NCAA tournaments.
In what’s become a pattern for the peripatetic Williams, the Texas native got restless and took the job at Texas A&M in 2019. After five seasons and three NCAA tournaments there, Williams bounced to Maryland to replace Kevin Willard.
The Golden Eagles and Terrapins already had inked a home-and-home series, with MU winning last season in College Park, Maryland.
Williams and MU head coach Shaka Smart have crossed paths before. When Smart was at Texas, the Longhorns beat Williams’ Texas A&M team in the 2019-20 season.
The coaches also shared a coaching mentor in the late George Raveling. When Williams was at MU and Smart at Virginia Commonwealth, Williams spoke at VCU’s sports leadership graduate program and interacted with Smart.
“He’s a great person, a great leader,” Williams told the Journal Sentinel.
How does Buzz Williams’ team match up with Marquette?
MU fans know that Williams’ teams play a physical brand of basketball.
His last two squads at Texas A&M had the best offensive-rebounding percentage in the nation.
“He does a great, unbelievable job coaching (rebounding),” Smart said. “And he always has had tough, rugged guys that go to the glass.”
This season’s Maryland roster has a 6-foot-8 banger in senior Pharrel Payne, who followed Williams from Texas A&M. That kind of player has been an issue for MU in recent seasons. The Golden Eagles ranked No. 247 in opponents’ offensive rebounding percentage last season
MU senior Ben Gold has been strong on the defensive boards through the first four games, but this will be a big test for him and frontcourt teammates Caedin Hamilton and Royce Parham.
“His aggressiveness, you can see the intentionality with his rebounding,” Smart said of Gold. “For him to have nine rebounds in about 25 minutes (vs. Little Rock) is a really, really powerful thing.
“Obviously coming off last year that’s been an area which we wanted to grow and be better. Three out of four games we’ve been very good on the offensive glass. We want to keep building that. The defensive glass we have to do by committee and a big deal on the defensive glass in putting a body on the offensive player. And we have one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country coming in here Saturday.”
Jerel McNeal getting his jersey retired
McNeal can be seen as a connective piece between the Williams and Smart eras at MU.
McNeal was recruited by Crean but played one season under Williams. McNeal left the school as the all-time leading scorer – since shattered by Markus Howard – and was also the Big East defensive player of the year for the 2005-06 season.
“Truly a two-end of the floor guy,” Smart said. “Didn’t take a possession off on either side.
“He did it the old-fashioned way. He just earned it. He earned everything he got.”
Smart, now in his fifth season at MU, has developed a bond with McNeal and often has McNeal speak to the team.
“The fact that his jersey will be in the rafters till the end of time is a tribute to him,” Smart said. “He belongs up there.
“Really grateful for his continued support of the program. When he talks to the guys, he’s like E.F. Hutton, they are locked in to what he says. Because he has an authenticity about him, a realness about him.”
