Coach Buzz William's famous preseason Boot Camp is over. Lots of Hokie basketball players and staff tweeted today about surviving it.
Bootcamp .... Accomplished #bootcamp #hokienation #vt pic.twitter.com/uBSolH3aU8— Malik Mller (@MM_U1L) October 6, 2014
Persevered through the physical and mental toughest experience of my life and proud of it! There are http://t.co/TdQTHXJCU5— Malik Mller (@MM_U1L) October 6, 2014
@JustinBibbs10:Finished @TeamCoachBuzz BootCamp.Craziest thing I've ever experienced. #getBETTERtell him @Dev_11VT pic.twitter.com/z8ue32OQCi— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) October 6, 2014
After completing boot camp 2k14-15 we earned some slides. Thanks to @TeamCoachBuzz an islideusa http://t.co/2lPap38sdE— Ahmed Hill (@MedHill_14) October 6, 2014
If you don't know about Boot Camp you can find more information at http://coachbuzzwilliams.com/2014/10/vt-boot-camp-2014/ or http://coachbuzzwilliams.com/2014/10/views-from-the-sideline-my-1st-boot... And here's a video from Buzz's Marquette days
I don't think anybody rang that bell. I'm excited about this season. Big things are coming.
What's next..— Adam Smith (@AdamIIILM) October 6, 2014
Comments
It means, Melvin... It means that I am... less than.
Any Wet Hot American Summer reference will get a leg from me
Ha! Perfect GIF!
This is awesome! These guys will never forget the seasons under Buzz!!
those who survived will be stronger players and ready to compete in the ACC.
Lost in football season is the great future of our basketball team. I expect there to be a lot of growing pains this year, but in 2 or 3 years Buzz will have built a respectable program.
If this doesn't get you pumped for basketball season I don't know what will. Couldn't help but notice a couple of the guys in the Marquette video playing in the League now (Jimmy Butler, Lazar Hayward). Would love nothing more than to see a bunch of guys joining E Green in the pros. The future of roundball looks very promising in the Burg. Looking forward to an awesome season!
speaking of EG saw a bunch of pics of him on nate robinsons IG on the team fishing trip looked like he was having alot of fun and meshing well with the team! love to see guys that are part of the team even off the court! hopefully get to see alot more of him on the court this year too.
Awesome! I've said this before but I think EG fits Denver's system well. They're a fast-paced, guard-centered team that loves to shoot the 3 ball in a hurry. Never really considered EG a PG either, hope they use him at the 2 more than the 1. Not to mention, Ty Lawson is one darn good PG so he wouldn't get a lot of time behind him anyways. But yeah, I think he can really contribute off the bench. Gotta start somewhere, right?
I am just glad there doesnt appear to have been any additional attrition so that we will have a complete squad this season. I was worried we might lose one or two more during boot camp and be seriously short going into the season.
One other thing I am impressed with is that the three walk-ons for last season stuck it out and made it through boot camp considering how many of the scholarship kids decided to leave.
I am actually excited for VT basketball. I just want to see improvement and I definitely think we will.
Was Isiah Ford allowed or did he participate in any of this? Not sure how this works for a 2 sport guy or is his focus simply on football until the season ends? Could be good timing with the bye week to at least particpate in some capacity assuming he could handle it giving the grind of football and the need to probably rest. though it would be good to build the camaraderie and maybe even carry over some of that to the gridiron.
he is focused only on football for now. he has said once football season is over but not until then he will try and walk on for the basketball team.
Folks really, really need to get over the dream of Ford being a two sport star at Tech. He's a great footballer. If he tries to come in and play for Buzz, and is accepted, then he'll be coming in at the most loaded position on the team. With zero practice time before the ACC shedule. With zero basketball conditioning which is different from football conditioning. At the most loaded positions on the team. For a partial schedule.
Folks just need to be realistic about it.
Ford has already said that he's going to walk on to the team and I believe Buzz has already said that he welcomes him. Whether he's going to be a contributor or not remains to be seen, but he will be on the hoops team.
My post was about trying to inject some realism into the hopes for him to star in two sports, as I made clear. He could certainly join the team, but a little bit of reality should be expected about his contribution. Which was my point.
The original comment was just asking whether he participated in boot camp. Your comment then implied that he wouldn't be playing for the team by saying "if he tries to come in and play for Buzz." He's going to come in and play for Buzz, but nobody is making him out to be a savior for our basketball team. They would just like to see a kid who wanted to play two sports do so.
Beat me to the punch. Leg.
I don't think anyone implied he'd "star" in basketball. Just simply questioned how much his participation, if any, is in basketball since football is in full swing. Either way, if someone is excited about seeing what he can do in basketball, let them be. Why not? The kid is a great athlete on the football field. He may be in basketball too. We shall see.
I don't think fans are having the dream -- Isaiah Ford was promised the opportunity to play 2 sports. That was one of the factors in his choosing VT.
He's not gonna be a star in basketball, but something like what Bryan Randall did is not too unreasonable.
Jeff King too.
Jeff King's hook shot against Duke was AWESOME. Without that shot, in a tie game with 2:00 to go, I think Duke pulls away for the win.
It was important to never get the can't compete with the big boys monkey on our back.
Not so fast my friend....the kid averaged 30 ppg and 6 boards a game his senior year. He scored 59 points in a game. In the very least his explosiveness and speed can cause problems for the opposition. I think he could come off the bench and inject some energy. Don't forget Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers....they did it.
Yep. And with our lack of bigs we're going to be playing a ton of small ball this season. More depth at G never hurts when you're running 3 - 4 guard lineups and playing pressure/trapping D. Another athlete who can rotate in to bring fresh legs on defense and who can finish on the break isn't something to sneeze at.
I just wonder if he'll get a personal boot camp upon reporting to Coach Buzz.
Just judging by who "won the day" for the days they had pictured in Hahn-Hurst, we are definitely going to be playing a lot of 3-4 guard lineups. I think Shane Henry will get the bulk of the minutes and JVZ and SPP will rotate with him. The key for it to be a 3g lineup vs a 4g would be keeping JVZ out of foul trouble and Buzz trusting Beyer to get at the 4.
Here is an article that seems to answer everyone's question on whether Ford will or wont play basketball: He will
Richmond Times Dispatch: Excelling on Football Field, Tech's Ford to take shot at Hoops
I especially loved this quote from Devin Wilson about Ford missing Boot Camp:
Gets me going. The man spits knowledge!
Thanks for posting these. Great to see this from Buzz. Given his background I can see why he's so passionate about it all. Also 78% of NBAers are bankrupt 3 years after retirement? Damn.
The number for NFL players is very similar. Essentially - every guy thinks he's going to be All-Pro for a decade or more. He blows all his money in his first contract, and very few ever see a second contract. Those that do tend to rely on unscrupulous 'financial advisors' who are either just members of their posse or who realize that the athlete is to careless to ever check their own finances, and in turn waste the bucks. Almost no players live below their means while they're playing, and almost none know how to dial their spending down once they're finished.
A lot are actually just their agents who, as part of their cut, take care of their complete financial lives which is part of the problem. If you never look at your bank account or know what you are spending then it's incredibly difficult to know what you can and can't afford.
Either way, I knew the number was high, but seeing that only 1 out of every 5 pros is NOT bankrupt 3 years after playing is a pretty shocking number.
So you agree with me about that. Players who are stupid enough to think 'their boy' can handle their money, or that are too lazy to watch their own money will overwhelmingly end up broke. As much as anything, those that live to the limits of their paychecks will go broke, almost guaranteed. Not caring enough to be smart about their money while they are either playing or afterwards gets them broke. Are there morally upright agents? Sure. Are there corrupt or ineffective advisors? Absolutely. Players not caring about their money leads them to make bad choices in selecting their money people.
I think we are in complete agreement which makes what Buzz is doing all that more important. I think classifying everyone as unscrupulous is a bit of a stretch, but your point about thinking someone else can do it is spot on. Buzz's point is even more valid with the "take care of the small dollars" part. Unfortunately what we see with athletes is a microcosm of society as a whole; most suck at handling money. I wish there was a basic finance course (budgeting, basics of rates, basics of investing, etc) required in both HS and college. No offense to any Humanities majors out there but I had to sit through one of those classes and I gained absolutely no useful knowledge or skills from it yet there is no course I can take to learn how to manage money? It's pretty shocking really. But hey, I did get a good nap in every M,W,F.
edit: wow my grammar was HORRIBLE
Agreed on Buzz & the financial perspective. I watched the clip & thought - 'I wonder if they're understanding what he's getting at? I sure hope so...'
I'd estimate that there aren't a dozen of the 300 head coaches in NCAA hoops that teach their players similar life lessons. I'd imagine Buzz is informing them on much more than this, but I'm just EXTREMELY thankful that he cares so much.That's just one example of how he is crafting a solid program, brick by brick. Wins will result eventually, but responsible young men are being formed even before the first game begins.
Absolutely. Basketball will fade but, in just these two clips, you can learn SOMETHING about simple money management or how to present yourself and what the future implications might be. Maybe the learning portion of boot camp should be open to all students because they are certainly, as you said, life lessons.
If Buzz teaches basketball as well as he teaches life, we are going to have great teams.
has anybody else noticed that buzzwilliams dot com redirects to the uva basketball site? LOL
I, for one, don't appreciate being trolled by LOLUVA. But damn I respect it.