Robert "Buzz" Peterson, aka "the Buzzard", was hired on June 20, 2000, to replace Bill Self as the 27th head coach in Tulsa basketball history. Stacked with a team that returned 3 of the top 5 scorers from an elite 8 squad that finished the season ranked #9 in the AP poll, Buzz underwhelmed all season to the tune of a 21-11 record and a conference championship loss on his home floor to Hawaii. Driven by the disappointment of a season mired in disorganized leadership, the Tulsa players banded together and senior Marcus Hill carried the team to an NIT championship, defeating Memphis then Alabama in Madison Square Garden.
Clearly impressed by his 9.5 inept months as Tulsa head coach where Peterson ran a club with clear sweet 16 talent into the NIT ground, Tennessee tapped Buzz to replace Jerry Green on April 4, 2001. In a cruel twist of fate Tennessee never made the NCAA tournament under Buzz in 4 years after 4 consecutive trips to the tourney under Green, but the damage to the Tulsa program had already been done.
Stung by the ever accelerating carousel of basketball coaches that was spinning out of control, Tulsa AD Judy McLeod moved quickly to name Peterson's successor and decided upon long-time Tulsa assistant and TU alum John Phillips. Phillips was woefully under-qualified to lead a program with the history of Tulsa, but he promised stability and loyalty that coaches like Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Steve Robinson, and Bill Self hadn't provided. With 2 years remaining of Self's last recruiting class to work with, Phillips led the team to consecutive 2nd round losses in the NCAA tournament, but the cupboard was running bare and Phillips' inability to coach would rear its ugly head one last time before his lack of recruiting truly caught up with him. Leading 4th-seeded Wisconsin 58-45 with 4:07 on the clock, Tulsa appeared to be headed to yet another sweet 16, but the lead melted quickly and with 2 seconds left on the clock Devin Harris dished to an injured Freddie Owens in the corner and...
Wisconsin 60 - Tulsa 59 (March 22, 2003)
It was the end of an era.
Tulsa would go on to post 3 straight 9-win seasons in the midst of a coaching change and despite a slow resurgence under Doug Wojcik, the program has yet to return to the Big Dance in 6 seasons.
The purpose of this blog is to provide analysis on the University of Tulsa basketball team that you can't get from the Tulsa World, ESPN, or anywhere else for that matter. We'll also take a look at the college basketball landscape through a pair of Tulsa sunglasses to provide our perspective throughout the year. We'll probably spend a good amount of time on other CUSA programs as well as the OOC opponents for Tulsa. There might also be a college football post thrown in every once in a while, but we want to talk basketball first and foremost (even in July!). Thanks for visiting and please add your thoughts in the comment section to any and all posts.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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