[Cracked Sidewalks] Crowder joins McNeal, Wade, Lee, Chones & Meminger as 6th MU player ever named as one of the 10 best by the AP

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Crowder joins McNeal, Wade, Lee, Chones & Meminger as 6th MU player ever named as one of the 10 best by the AP

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (bamamarquettefan1)

Since 1948, the AP All-American team has been the gold standard.   Writers from across the country have selected the best players in the country, and today Jae Crowder became only the sixth player in Marquette history to be selected as one of the top 10 players in the country.  The following are the stats for each player, including the calculation of Win Credits for how many wins they generated for their team that season.  I did use Chones 1971 stats even though he was selected in the 1972 season that was cut short by his departure for the ABA:


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YrPtsRebAstStlBlkWC[/tr]

Dean Meminger	1971	616	117	105	71	15	6.9
Jim Chones (*1971 stats)	1972	520	333	41	20	57	7.2
Butch Lee	1977	628	121	104	77	15	6.8
Butch Lee	1978	495	87	137	88	11	6.9
Dwyane Wade	2003	710	209	145	71	43	9.6
Jerel McNeal	2009	693	159	137	71	21	7.3
Jae Crowder	2012	614	294	73	88	35	8.4

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/03/crowder-joins-mcneal-wade-lee-chones.html

[TallTitan34]

Not too shabby for a JUCO  

Great job Jae!

[bamamarquettefan]

Agreed, and really was amazed how well he stacked up against the all-time greatest MU seasons.  Obviously he had a few more games played than the 1970s stars, but also had to face much tougher competition over the course of the season, and really belongs in this group.

I've done the math and me and these 6 guys can beat anyone out there!  (I'd only see the court if two of the others got hurt).

[RushmoreAcademy]

Not sure how well Lee, Chones or Meminger could get up and down the court anymore, so you may see some playing time. :-)

[bamamarquettefan]

LOL, I am fresh off the World Summer Basketball Championship last year - with a photo in my office to prove it.  By coincidence, only 12 teams from the Montgomery area joined this "World" Championship, which happened to be played at the Montgomery YMCA.  However, at 46 years old at the time, I did play in the Open rather than 30 and over league, but since I was by far the worst player on my team, I am thinking anyone who was ever an All-American would probably dust me pretty good - though our point guard did start for Mississippi State.

On a serious note, as much as we want to appreciate anyone who has ever been an Honorable Mention All-American, or named by one of the several All-American teams that are announced, I do feel like Jerel was cheated a bit when all the talk was that he was our 25th All-American.  Yes he was, but he was only the 5th player picked as 1st or 2nd AP All-American and Crowder was the 6th, and we need to appreciate that this is an accomplishment even greater than most of our great All-Americans over the years.

I mean, Alabama has a lot of national championships, but I think this year's championship was more impressive than the years where they lost a couple of games and selected by one of 14 polls out there and/or were beaten in their one game against an integrated team in a bowl game after being named national champs.  I'm not for a second suggesting that any of our All-American honorable mentions were as bad as a couple of Alabama's "national championship" teams, but you do need to make a distinction.

Sorry, the Auburn is coming out in me.  JUCO PYO Cam Newton as Heisman winner, and now JUCO PYO Jae Crowder as one of the 10 best players in the country - what a ride, but the latter was even sweeter than the former for me even though we didn't go all the way.