Marquette's Greatest Players #11-26
The following is the fourth in a series of guest columns written by John Pudner ('88).Dominic James is the 17th best player in Marquette history already. If he leads Marquette to a couple of NCAA wins this year he could potentially break into the Top 10, whereas if he is a little off down the stretch, he could drop to the second best player on his current team because McNeal is so good...
Read the rest here...
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/01/marquettes-greatest-players-11-26.html
I know the criteria determine the rankings, but NO WAY is McIlvane ahead of Jim Chones.
McIlvaine should be about 35th. 11th? Holy smokes!
Love the list and effort that is being put into it. With that said, Mac shouldn't sniff the top twenty. As a radio color guy definitely, but not as a player.
I don't know, guys..., remember he led the nation in blocked shots in a year w/ some terrific big men. Not arguing the point, but he is due some props.
I know McIlvaine was the MVP of the conference his senior year, but Tony Miller was much more valuable to the MU team that year. Put it this way, there is no doubt the team's record would have suffered much more had Miller sustained a season ending injury than had McIlvaine.
McIlvaine indeed was an excellent help shot blocker, but was not a great rebounder nor much of a scorer. In the big win over Kentucky to get us to the Sweet 16, Miller, Key and even Amal McCaskill were much more integral to the win.
Mac was probably a little more valuable than Key their senior year, but Key was much more valuable the first three years. I don't see the logic in rating him higher than Key or Miller. I'd put him ahead of Eford, but even that is debatable.
Making the NBA isn't everything, particularly when your are a big man (Tom Copa spent parts of a couple seasons in the NBA, for goodness sake). If you ask UConn about their first NCAA championship team, there is no doubt they would consider Khalid El-Amin and Kevin Freeman and Ricky Moore much more important to the championship than Jake Voskuhl. Just because Voskuhl is 7 feet tall and is worth 6 fouls to an NBA team 8 years later doesn't change that.
McIlvaine was a complete non-factor in the win over Kentucky. In fact, McCaskill had a better game and Key was absolutely a beast. Of course, without Miller breaking that press, we don't win. This was without a doubt one of the biggest wins in the last 25 years.
I just think listing McIlvaine that high is really inexplicable and does a disservice to Key, Miller and Eford.
Its a shame that a post that is meant to honor MU's best players is leading to a criticism of a very good player who is still actively involved in the MU program. But I agree, Mac is not a top 20 all-time player. Then again, I'm not sure that DJ is either, not yet anyway.
You are right, of course, AlumKCof93. McIlvaine was certainly an exceptional player for MU. It's just that some of the guys listed below him were even more exceptional. And the radio broadcasts are much better with him, too!
McIlvaine is a great addition to the radio broadcasts.