McNeal stud of the game?

[Chili]

Really? Yeah he lead in scoring but he also had 75% of the TO's and played like garbage for most of the game.

[MR.HAYWARD]

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Jerel was horrendous, 6 out of 8 Ft's, Desean Butler abused him for 19 points in about 10 minutes.  He took dumb shot after dumb shot.   DJ was by far the catalyst  for this team today, Burke and Butler put in yoeman efforts and Wesley was very effective in a limited role.  He was the key that started the 2nd half run.  Jerel stunk on ice. 

[spartan3186]

+1

I also agree. James was the spark plug today. The offensive foul he drew on Ruoff was the catalyst this morning. After that James got pissed and led this team to Victory with his defense and court vision

[avid1010]

Couldn't agree more.  McNeal had the points and shot a decent percentage, but did not play a smart game at all (even for his standards).  DJ play great defense throughout and his assist to turnover ratio was 7/1 while McNeals was a pathetic 1/6.  I really give Buzz credit.  He realizes the need to have two of the big three on the court at all times, and the way he has handled his shallow bench has been very impressive.  He doesn't talk a big game, but he is WELL prepared.

[wadesworld]

+1

I also agree. James was the spark plug today. The offensive foul he drew on Ruoff was the catalyst this morning. After that James got pissed and led this team to Victory with his defense and court vision

Haha funny you say that.  A couple of my friends always pretend that I know everybody when it comes to Wisconsin sports so when something's happening they tell me to do something about it (for example today they told me to send a text message to Latavius Williams and said that everyone knows if I did that he'd come to Marquette).  When we went down 7 at the start of the 2nd half and then we made a quick turnaround to take the lead they asked me what happened, and I said "Dominic got pissed."  That ended the game for West Virginia.  And it was after a Ruoff elbow.  By the way, he reminds me of a tall Devensdorf.

[spiral97]

I'll relent here.. it was a tough call between the two of them when I made the choice.  I initially gave the nod to mcneal because of the additional rebounds.  I didn't realize bryant ended with 0 pts - second straight game that DJ's man has gone scoreless, simply incredible considering he often draws the most difficult defensive assignments.

Since the refs can reverse a T I reserve the right to reverse my SotG pick

[Chili]

I'll relent here.. it was a tough call between the two of them when I made the choice.  I initially gave the nod to mcneal because of the additional rebounds.  I didn't realize bryant ended with 0 pts - second straight game that DJ's man has gone scoreless, simply incredible considering he often draws the most difficult defensive assignments.

Since the refs can reverse a T I reserve the right to reverse my SotG pick

Nice work. I mean after watching the game McNeal just didn't pass the "eye test" as he was all sorts. DJ just played outstanding.

[muole]

wow.  you know a guy is having a good year when he goes for 26 and there is a whole thread of people ripping his day.  thats like kobe and iverson territory.  but i listened to the game on the radio and i'm sure there was a different feel when watching it.  btw - rel is averaging 23 ppg in conference so far.

[mcnealfan1]

yeah i agree muole, my opinion is i dont care how sloppy he played cause he got it done when it counted, without mcneal we wouldnt of even been in the game, no one else showed up except for james who shot terrible, mcneal is definitely my stud of the game

[Chili]

yeah i agree muole, my opinion is i dont care how sloppy he played cause he got it done when it counted, without mcneal we wouldnt of even been in the game, no one else showed up except for james who shot terrible, mcneal is definitely my stud of the game

james and mcneal shot about the same.

[spiral97]

james and mcneal shot about the same.

exactly.. and when you look at james' 7 assists you see he spent some of those points focusing on getting his teammates the ball rather than taking shots himself.  I was torn about not giving james' the stud last game and again this game.. ball protection and defense don't really show themselves in numbers very well.. sure there's the turnover count but there's no track of how much ball handling or traffic the guy had to deal with.. DJ had tons of both as he usually was the one with the ball in transition and directing the offense yet his turnover count (1) is spectacular.

[bilsu]

They all played great, but I want to give some props to Burke. He got two offensive rebounds in the second half that Butler ended up fouling him on. The first one was Butler's third , but Burke missed the two free throws. Then he was fouled again by Butler and made the two free throws. He was also fouled in the first half and made 2 free throws. I do not remember who fouled him in the first half, but getting those two offensive rebounds in the second half and drawing the fouls on Butler were hugh.

[chapman]

I couldn't dispute James, McNeal, or Matthews at the Stud.  James played solid every minute.  His defense has to be at an All-American level right now, even though he won't get attention for it.  He kept the team composed and was really a stabilizing factor when the game was close and before we exploded, and then he played he big part in running away with the game.  McNeal had some harmful moments, but his statistics say just how valuable he is to this team.  Matthews was also huge; from sitting out much of the first half to dominating at the beginning of the second.  Nothing like the value of senior leadership, eh?

[MUWarrior11]

 DJ

[WashDCWarrior]

I'd go with James also. Plus his three steals were all huge. Two prevented easy buckets, and the other created an easy one.

[willie warrior]

James was definitely the stud of the game. Immaculate defense; handled the ball excellently; some key steals etc. His three point shooting was the usual--not cool. But we need his ballhandling and rxcellent d.

McNeal played with his head up his butt for about 3/4 of the game.

[MR.HAYWARD]

yeah i agree muole, my opinion is i dont care how sloppy he played cause he got it done when it counted, without mcneal we wouldnt of even been in the game, no one else showed up except for james who shot terrible, mcneal is definitely my stud of the game

Mcneal is now tending to let his offensive frustrations affect his defense.  Not shooting the ball well and he pouts and gets torched on defense.  Butler used him.  You say mcneal got his points.  Sure he did he also shoots the most, amny of them ill advised whether they go in or or not.  many of his threes have the same driving lane that Wes has and wes drives on them for better shots.  Lastly, MU is probably winning in the first half if not for Mcneal's turnovers.  Yes he "got it done" but he also gave WVU about 10 points ...who did better when you use that point sysytem that has assists points etc as positives and the turnovers etc as negatives.  Oh and lastly Dj's man scored 0 points Jerel got torched.  Dont get me wrong i have said it before we need jerel, but he needs to play much much much smarter

[Pardner]

We had 8 turnovers yesterday, Jerel had 6 (apparently he has an injured finger to be fair).  He has that go to the hole mentality that you want.  That long three was a dagger yesterday.  I love the guy.  That said, he has to let the offense come to him like Wes does.  Wes has the knack of getting to the hoop and scoring and/or getting fouled on the drive, whereas Jerel gets muscled and doesn't get the foul call often.  Why?  The opponents cannot map Wes out--he could kick it out, pass it off, turn it around, or slip on through to the hole.  When he is driving, Wes has a way to turn his man so he isn't quite set.  Jerel is heads down. The D now knows he is shoot first.   They are keying on Jerel's tendencies--self scouting would tell Jerel that he is the "guy" our opponents want to stop.

In the end, great players have bad halves from time to time, but they seldom have bad games.  Jerel was all game in the 2nd half.

[mcnealfan1]

mcneal may have got torched but he still played good defense, sometimes a player can heat up to where their feeling it and its hard to miss, thats exactly what butler did, plus butler is a tough assignment, he's probably the second best player on the team if not the first, thats why i wasnt to amazed by james shutting down a player that averages 10 points and probably wouldnt be playin much if mazulla wasnt injured, dont get me wrong james is a great defender but shutting bryant down is not that impressive, by the mr hayward, mcneal pouts when he shooting poor, never, sometimes he may think he's fouled which a lot of times he is, refs just dont call it becasue he goes to the hole trying to finish, unlike mathews who goes to hole just lookin for contact not actually lookin to finish the shot, but point being is even when mcneal shoots porely or is having a bad game he shakes it off and plays thru it, which is what great players do, mr hayward i think you need to step your basketball IQ up

[mcnealfan1]

just like we needed mcneals 26 points and 7 rebounds willie warrior

[TallTitan34]

Jerel won't use this as an excuse but it may have affected his ball handling.

From Buzz's Postgame Press Conference and Rosiak's Article:

Williams also said afterward that McNeal has been playing with an injured pinky finger on his (right) shooting hand.

"They thought that he broke this outside bone on his pinky finger," he said. "They got x-rays and did all the stuff and said everything was OK, but that they wanted to protect it. So at Rutgers they put some sort of tape on his ring finger and pinky. Then this morning he had some sort of sleeve that fits on both fingers.

"So I saw him before the game and I said, 'So, is that some stuff that Kobe wears, or is that in relation to your injury?' He said, 'No, Coach, I don't want to tape it.' So I said, 'Well, let's make a deal: after you miss your first three shots, why don't you take that off during the first media time out?'

"He said OK. Then I don't think he took it off until the second media time out because we forgot about it. He came to the bench and he was rubbing it and I told him he needs to take it off."

[LastWarrior]

I'll relent here.. it was a tough call between the two of them when I made the choice.  I initially gave the nod to mcneal because of the additional rebounds.  I didn't realize bryant ended with 0 pts - second straight game that DJ's man has gone scoreless, simply incredible considering he often draws the most difficult defensive assignments.

Since the refs can reverse a T I reserve the right to reverse my SotG pick

Great call Sprial... DJ deserved it yesterday.  He's showing tremendous leadership and his defensive ability is on another planet right now

[MR.HAYWARD]

Hey Mneals mom...why you hatin on DJ.  If you think there was a good reason for Jerel giving up 16 to Butler in the first half just state it.  That is fine, but no need to go hatin on DJ by knocking his effort of eliminting Truck from the game.  Here is the deal hate on Truck and hate on DJ from giving him the 0-fer.  MAybe Truck is not the greatest, but it isnt like DJ didnt also shut down Reynolds is he a chump?  dont think so he went for 40 a few nights later,  then shut down VAughn, is he a chump?,  then shut down Rutgers PG.  You can argue for your boy all you want but dont need to hate on Dj to do it.

[mosarsour]

Hey Mneals mom...why you hatin on DJ.  If you think there was a good reason for Jerel giving up 16 to Butler in the first half just state it.  That is fine, but no need to go hatin on DJ by knocking his effort of eliminting Truck from the game.  Here is the deal hate on Truck and hate on DJ from giving him the 0-fer.  MAybe Truck is not the greatest, but it isnt like DJ didnt also shut down Reynolds is he a chump?  dont think so he went for 40 a few nights later,  then shut down VAughn, is he a chump?,  then shut down Rutgers PG.  You can argue for your boy all you want but dont need to hate on Dj to do it.

I'm with MR. HAYWARD on this one...DJ was Da Man! McNeal, although had great offensive numbers, was sloppy with the ball and wasn't himself on defense. Nobody responsible for 6 or a team's 8 turnovers deserves SOTG, 26 points or not.

[mcnealfan1]

haha mcneals mom, now that was funny, im just stating my opinion, obviously you didnt read my whole statement because i do believe i said dont get me wrong dj is a great defender but shutting down bryant was not that impressive to me considering who bryant is, bottom line tho is mcneal is the man, without him we are going no where, mark my words