McSteal

[marquetteff03]

Anyone think McNeal will play tonight?

Got the feeling from the article in JS yesterday that he will play.

McNeal also said he was "day-to-day" when asked if he expected to play tonight against St. John's, but added he won't take the court unless he's certain the injury won't negatively impact the Golden Eagles.

"It hurts pretty bad but I'm just trying not to focus on it," he said. "I know I'd be able to suck it up and tough it out and play with it, but I really don't want to hurt my team. I can't be out there and be a person that's hurting his team more than he's helping it."

[Big Papi]

I think he is going to be out for all of the BE tourny and I am starting to get a bad feeling that he might not play the first weekend of NCAA games if we make it that far.

[ozmetal71]

The announcers on ESPN last night mentioned a couple of times that McNeal is going to miss the BET, and that MU wasn't saying whether he would be available for the NCAA tournament.

My guess is that he is going to be reevaluated after the BET next week to gauge his availability to play in the NCAA.

I think that MU and McNeal are smart to shut him down for the BET and increase his chances of playing in the NCAA.

[Big Papi]

At the very least, there is enough uncertainty about his playing situation that the committee won't be able to penalize us with a lower seed if McNeal does not play.

[Sweenz]

I think that is why Marquette is saying he is day to day, in reality I think he is done for the year, even if we make it to the Sweet 16... but Crean doesn't want the committee looking at who some consider the team's best player OUT. If this was the NFL or Hockey, they would have to tell a little bit more whether he was doubtful, questionable, or probable.

My guess he is out for the year, and Crean is doing the smart thing by calling him day to day. Marquette doesn't look too bad the last two games as other people have picked it up whether it be Fitz or Cub...

[Chili]

Marquette doesn't look too bad the last two games as other people have picked it up whether it be Fitz or Cub...

OR MIKE KINSELLA!!!!!!!!!!


STEVE NOVAK WHO???? Kinsella is a career 80% 3pt shooter. Hey JJ Redick, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

[marqfan22]

I think he'll play tonight.

[NavinRJohnson]

I tend think he may play tonight as well…the gamesmanship on this one works both ways. I'm not suggesting there is any faking going on or anything like that, but as much as they need to create the impression that he will be back for the NCAA tournament, I'm sure they would also like Jamie Dixon to think he will not play, forcing them to prepare for either scenario. Not that its that big a deal, but every little bit helps.

It seems to me that so long as there is no real damage, that type of injury would have the potential to start to feel better very quickly. If the swelling is reduced both the feeling and motion should improve dramatically.  Its been nearly a week already so... Of course, I'm not a doctor, but I pretend to be one on Internet message boards.

[ghinterm]

If it was the NHL he'd have an "upper body injury" and would be a game time decision every day.  I love hockey but apparently there are only two injuries in hockey: upper body injury and lower body injury.

He seemed to be careful in clapping his hands last night when they showed him, although it's rather pointless to clap your hands with that gear on anyway so I'm not prepared to make an amateur medical diagnosis based on that.

[mosarsour]

the smart thing to do is shut him down for the BE tourney and make sure he's available for the NCAAs.

[mu03eng]

I think he sits the rest of the BE and plays in the dance.  We beat Pitt already without McNeal, why chance a further injury to do it again when it isn't must win???  The injury sounds like one of those that just takes time to get the strength back and the swelling down.  I'm 99.9% McNeal will play in our first game of the NCAA tourny.

[NavinRJohnson]

I don't understand the logic of automatically saying he should not play in the BET. If he feels ok and the doctors agree, he should play.

The simple fact of the matter is, if we survive tonight, I think we have a real shot at winning this thing - meaning he can have an impact on the NCAA tournament if he plays in the BET tournament - with the possibility of drastically improving our seed.

As much as I would be fine with a 6 seed, there is a huge difference between a 6 and a 3 seed I think we could potentially get if we win the BET. Of course nothing is guaranteed, just as nothing is guaranteed where the NCAA tournament is concerned - "saving" him presents risk just as letting him play does.

[augoman]

I agree..., further, he gets rusty by sitting.  The only guy I know who seems better after an injury is the amazing Mike Kinsella.  It might take a few games to get the cobwebs out of his system, and better now than in nc2as.