Marquette's choice of 35-year-old Buzz Williams as new head basketball coach has hardly drawn the awe and accolades of fans and alumni. Whether it wins over players and recruits remains to be seen.

Sure, he's considered a good guy. Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie, who had Williams on his Texas A&M staff, has sung his praises as a recruiter and a well-organized guy, but if Marquette is as high-class as Tom Crean painted it to be, why does it seem nobody else wanted the job?

That Williams -- whose only head-coaching experience thus far was a 14-17 showing at New Orleans in 2006-'07 and not a well-known or highly-regarded assistant from a major program (as Crean was when he was hired from Michigan State) or a successful mid-major coach (Xavier's Sean Miller and Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant) were believed to be candidates) -- is handed the reins of the program is a sad commentary on where Marquette actually rates in the college basketball pecking order.

Maybe this will finally show that Crean was more smoke-and-mirrors than substance. Take away Dwyane Wade and the Golden Eagles win one NCAA Tournament game during Crean's tenure. The Big East? That's not an automatic promotion into the top-level of college hoops hierarchy ... De Paul has a rich legacy and is in the Big East, too. Same could be said for Providence or even Seton Hall (1953 NIT Champions, NCAA runner-up in 1989) ...

Yes, Crean's teams were very successful in the league and were frequently in the top 25, but Marquette is nowhere near the level Crean would have you believe.

If he really upgraded the program to a top-flight national level, wouldn't there be people beating down the doors of Athletic Director Steve Cottingham's office?

Al McGuire's teams of the 1960s and 1970s provided memories that will transcend generations, but they did not make Marquette one of college basketball's legacy programs like North Carolina, Duke, Kansas ... and yes, even Indiana. Crean's run to the Final Four in 2003 and the Golden Eagles' move to the Big East Conference were great memories, but also don't make Marquette a member of the national elite.

Crean's departure for Indiana isn't an indictment of the program -- like he said, it's Indiana basketball ... there are few programs that can compete with that tradition -- but the lack of interest in Marquette, which considered itself a major player on the national stage, gives the school the appearance of being a stepping stone.

Marquette is a program with a rich history, excellent practice facilities, an NBA home court, a dedicated fan base (for now) with an excellent academic reputation. But in no way is it one of the top programs in the country.

Perhaps Williams is the next McGuire -- who held a losing record in his final season at Belmont Abbey -- but the fact that he seemed to be the only viable candidate says a lot about the stature of the program.