[Cracked Sidewalks] Matthews on pace for top 5 all-time MU NBA players; McNeal best pro player not in NBA

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Matthews on pace for top 5 all-time MU NBA players; McNeal best pro player not in NBA

Written by: jpudner@concentricgrasstops.com (bamamarquettefan1)

While Brandon Roy was the star, the Trail Blazers unbelievable rally from a 23-point deficit to defeat the Mavs and even the series 2-2 today capped an incredible week in the pros for Marquette grads.

Thursday an award was presented “to the Trail Blazers player who best represents the true spirit of (Marquette great) Maurice Lucas through contributions on the court and in the community, as well as in support of teammates and the organization.” That night Dwyane Wade and Wesley Matthews lit it up with 32 and 25 points respectively. Two days earlier Jerel McNeal scored 35 points and had 8 assists to lead the Rio Grande Valley Vipers into the championships of the NBAs minor league.

While I don’t focus much on the pros until MUs season is over, it was a great week to remember these MU all-time greats as well as Steve Novak (Spurs) and Doc Rivers (Celtics coach) also still alive in the playoffs, and Jimmy Butler as works out to try to join Lazar Hayward as a surprise NBA 1st round pick (currently DraftExpress picks him to be the 7th pick in the 2nd round).

In this light, I did reflect on a good post on MUScoop by MerrittsMustache that included the following: “It would be nice to see guys like Diener, Novak, Lazar and the Big 3 be recognized for what they accomplished at MU … (but) they're obviously not on the same level as Wade, Ellis, Lee, Thompson, etc.”

First off, I agree with the statement. In fact, when I rated the greatest MU players of all time in “The Ultimate Hoops Guide: Marquette University,” several years ago, that is the exact order I had the four greatest of all-time, with the late, great Lucas just a couple of spots behind them. However, I do believe a balance has to be struck between the nostalgic who believe today’s players aren’t anywhere near the great 70s players, and the modernists who discount the greats from decades past because athletes get better and better every generation through better training techniques.

AP writers rating indicates McNeal was one of best 5 MU players ever

I do believe that Jerel McNeal did reach the level of play of our all-time greatest players his senior year. While I'm a stat nerd, I always thought the one subjective constant since 1948 has been the AP All-American team.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/all_america.html

Only five times in history have the AP writers from across the country agreed that a Marquette player was one of the best 10 players in the country that year:

Dean Meminger, 1971
Jim Chones, 1972
Butch Lee, 1978
Dwyane Wade, 2003
Jerel McNeal, 2009

Despite all the accomplishments of Bo Ellis, Earl Tatum, George Thompson, and all the other greats, even during their best year they were never judged as one of the best 10 players in the country, so I do believe McNeal has to be viewed as on the level of these all time greats if judging just how good a player got while on the court at MU.

Certainly, the fact that Jerel never made a Sweet 16 or was drafted by the NBA may hold him back. Maybe, if Jerel had “choked” in big games to prevent MU from advancing that could be held against him. However, the fact is that MU was eliminated due to a lack of depth and height. The last two times MU was eliminated (by Stanford and Missouri), Jerel played two of the greatest games of any Marquette player ever â€" scoring 30 points both time.

McNeal's credentials as best NBA minor league player

Certainly I was as disappointed as anyone that Jerel didn’t get drafted, and then had troubles in Europe. But he is right on the verge of the NBA. Right now I believe there is a strong case that Jerel McNeal is the best pro player NOT in the NBA as he is dominating the top NBA minor league. Jerel:

1. Was one of the top 5 scorers in the NBA-D League in leading his team to a 28-12 record and first place, until he was,
2. Called up to the New Orleans Hornets for 10 days due to Chris Paul’s injury during which time the Vipers only went 5-5, and
3. After Paul’s return, came back to the Vipers to lead them in scoring in all five playoff games including clinching the semifinals win by leading the team with 35 points and 8 assists to send them into Sunday’s championship (apparently he is as good in the clutch in the D-League as he was verses Stanford and Missouri).

Wesley Matthews on pace to be top 5 MU NBA scorer

In addition to the under-appreciation I believe some have for Jerel’s status as one of only five MU players to be picked as one of the Top 10 players in the country his senior year by the AP, I also don’t believe all fans realize that Wesley Matthews is on place to become one of the top 5 players in MU history if judged by how good they proved to be in the NBA. In just two seasons, Matthews has amassed 2,069 regular season points, the 12th best of any MU player in history. If Matthews can keep up his pace of 1,300 points this year for just 5 more seasons, he would become one of the top 5 NBA scorers in Marquette history:

Most NBA points - MU alums
1 Dwyane Wade 13908
2 Maurice Lucas 12312
3 Don Kojis 9931
4 Glen (Doc) Rivers 9418
5 George Thompson 8128
6 Jim Chones 7663
7 Jerome Whitehead 4531
8 Dean Meminger 2538
9 Larry McNeil 2525
10 Earl Tatum 2515
11 Tony Smith 2514
12 Wesley Matthews 2069
13 Chris Crawford 1663
14 Lloyd Walton 1432
15 Jim McIlvaine 1083

The book isn’t closed on either of them, or Butler or Hayward. As of today, I have them ranked as the 11th best and 17th best of all-time with Hayward at 20th, but I do give credit for NBA performances. We may look back on Matthews and McNeal as two of the very greatest of all-time if they keep playing at their current level.

Updated rankings after 2011 seasons

Rank First name Last Years Played
1 Dwyane Wade 2002, 03
2 Maurice (Bo) Ellis 1974, 75, 76, 77
3 Alfred (Butch) Lee 1975, 76, 77, 78
4 George Thompson 1967, 68, 69
5 Dean Meminger 1969, 70, 71
6 Jim Chones 1971, 72
7 Maurice Lucas 1973, 74
8 Don Kojis 1959, 60, 61
9 Earl Tatum 1973, 74, 75, 76
10 Terry Rand 1954, 55, 56
11 Jerel McNeal 2006, 07, 08, 09
12 Dave Quabius 1937, 38, 39
13 Jerome Whitehead 1976, 77, 78
14 Tony Smith 1987, 88, 89, 90
15 Larry McNeil 1972, 73
16 Travis Diener 2002, 03, 04, 05
17 Wesley Matthews 2006, 07, 08, 09
18 Jim McIlvaine 1991, 92, 93, 94
19 Lloyd Walton 1974, 75, 76
20 Lazar Hayward 2007, 08, 09, 10
21 Glen (Doc) Rivers 1981, 82, 83
22 Bernard Toone 1976, 77, 78, 79
23 Dominic James 2006, 07, 08, 09
24 Ed Mullen 1933, 34, 35
25 Gary Brell 1970, 71

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2011/04/matthews-on-pace-for-top-5-all-time-mu.html

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I believe McNeal's defensive effort at the end of the loss to Villanova game in the BET was one of the worst defensive plays I've ever seen by an MU player. For some reason, "choking" seems to only apply to offensive performance. If that wasn't a choke, I don't know what was. I still have no idea what he was doing.

[bamamarquettefan]

Are you serious?  I lay out that the guy scored 30 points in each of the two biggest NCAA games he played, is one of only 5 Marquette players ever chosen as one of the Top 10 players in the country, and you counter that he made a bad defensive play in his last CONFERENCE playoff game.

Do you curse D-Wade every night for choking in his last CONFERENCE playoff game?  Just to jog your memory, D-Wade committed TEN (10-that's double digits) turnovers in his final CONFERENCE playoff game, to blow a game against No. 9-Conference USA seed UAB in which No. 1 seed MU was a 9 1/2 point favorite but lost by 7.  By your logic, we should remember Wade as a choker for one of the worse tournament performances ever in his final CONFERENCE playoff game rather than remember him dunking on Kentucky's heads repeatedly to take MU to the Final Four a couple of weeks later.

It constantly amazes me that some people think whether or not a ball bounces in or out at the buzzer makes someone a bigger choker than if someone plays so terribly in a big game that his team gets blown out so there is no buzzer beater either way.

While Marquette was doomed by the time Wade took the bench with his 10 turnovers, McNeal was still in there at the end despite playing back-to-back days after registering all 205 minutes in the five regular games leading up to the Big East Tournament.  And despite never getting a break, McNeal was able to help MU rally from 17 down to turn the game into a 50-50 game that if you remember from media reports, ended with, "The scoreboard is showing a one-point game....The ball is bouncing around the cylinder of the rim....The buzzer is sounding. In or out? 'It seemed like it was rolling around forever,' Villanova coach Jay Wright would say later."

Guess what.  D-Wade is still the greatest player in MU history and not a choker despite having a terrible 10 turnover game, and Jerel is still one of the greatest MU players and not a choker despite blowing one defensive assignment.

[bamamarquettefan]

I believe McNeal's defensive effort at the end of the loss to Villanova game in the BET was one of the worst defensive plays I've ever seen by an MU player. For some reason, "choking" seems to only apply to offensive performance. If that wasn't a choke, I don't know what was. I still have no idea what he was doing.

To address the two items in bold.  As for having no idea what he was doing, as I recalled it, Redding got penetration on whoever we had guarding him (might have been Wes), which forced McNeal to decide whether to step up to stop Redding's penetration or stay on his man.  I can't find the footage, but the ESPN account of the game seems to back that up:

Reggie Redding had the ball near the top of the key for Villanova with less than 10 seconds left and the Wildcats were down one ... it was all up to him. "I knew time was running down so I said, 'Hey, I've got to make a play," Redding said. "I drove and Dwayne's man (Jerel) stepped up on me. Dwayne made a great second cut and I hit him with a pass and he finished it for us. "I felt like it was up there 20 seconds. It hit every part of the rim. I'm just saying, 'Please drop, please drop."

So apparently the guy with the ball saw exactly what Jerel was doing - stepping up to stop him - and from his vision it required Duwayne Anderson making a second cut after Jerel stepped up to cut off Redding's drive.  So if Jerel made a mistake in deciding to stop the drive rather than force a pass that required a second cut, it certainly was a close call split second decision.  You could even argue that it was the right decision because the extra time required to force Redding to dish the ball rather than shoot on his drive almost resulted in time running out.  Remember, the refs actually had to review the final shot by Anderson to determine whether or not he got rid of the ball in time, so a split second difference and Jerel moving over to cut off Redding could have WON the game.

Even if you insist Jerel made the wrong decision on the play, I would have to say there were at least 5 worse defensive plays made by a Marquette player virtually every game this season until late in the year.  I LOVE the team this year, but despite our wonderful offensive play we had players guarding no one and watching other players without guarding anyone while their man cut to the hoop for layups many a time this year.

I'm sure you weren't serious in saying it was the worst play you've ever seen a Marquette player make, but just in case anyone reading thought it might be, I didn't want to grab the quick recount.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Who is the next Wes?  Jimmy mentioned with some Benford quotes.

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/chris_dortch/04/22/next-wes-matthews/index.html

Jimmy Butler, Marquette
It's appropriate to end this list with another Marquette player. Scouts know that, in order to get on the floor for Golden Eagle coach Buzz Williams, you have to defend and play hard. So the 6-foot-7 Butler has that going for him. What he also has, just like John Holland, is something upstairs. Williams calls him "the most intelligent player I ever coached."

"That's something that stands out about him; he's very intelligent," Marquette assistant coach Tony Benford said. "He's an extension of a coach out there. He knows where everyone's supposed to be."

The knock on Butler is his shooting range. But he's got great athleticism and uses it to get to the rim, get fouled and shoot a ton of free throws. And he can guard three positions. If all that sounds familiar, well ...

"He reminds me of Wes Matthews," Benford said. "A utility guy who lives at the free-throw line, can really guard, does a little bit of everything."

[Dr. Blackheart]

I'd have to agree on Jerel's brain cramps as seen in that Nova game in the BET. First, he drove 1 on 5 to the hoop with MU up 1 with 12 seconds still on the shot clock...and 16 on the game...and NOVA had no time outs. Then he totally froze on defense and didn't slide over to cover Redding while pinching his man Anderson. Instead Jerel takes a half step toward the sideline and then gets clay feet in the lane--and covers no one.  El Matador

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUuL1DK48Wc

[brewcity77]

Jimmy Butler, Marquette

The knock on Butler is his shooting range. But he's got great athleticism and uses it to get to the rim, get fouled and shoot a ton of free throws. And he can guard three positions. If all that sounds familiar, well ...

Am I the only person who is tired of hearing about this? I realize Butler isn't a volume shooter from three, but as a junior he hit 50% of his threes (16/32). Last year, his percentage dropped to 34.5% (20/58) but he was more willing to shoot the three and seemed to always hit them in the big situations when we really needed them.

For his career, Butler hit 38.2% from three, which is better than Lazar (35.7%), Jerel (34.6%), Wes Matthews (34.1%), Wade (33.3%), and Dominic James (29.0%), and equal to Acker and Cubillan (both career 38.2%). He may not have been a constant threat that those guys were, but when he steps out, he can deliver.

[77ncaachamps]

I'd have to agree on Jerel's brain cramps as seen in that Nova game in the BET. First, he drove 1 on 5 to the hoop with MU up 1 with 12 seconds still on the shot clock...and 16 on the game...and NOVA had no time outs. Then he totally froze on defense and didn't slide over to cover Redding while pinching his man Anderson. Instead Jerel takes a half step toward the sideline and then gets clay feet in the lane--and covers no one.  El Matador

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUuL1DK48Wc

Yeah. He reads steals well but covers like a see through blouse on a stripper.

And worst of all, Len Elmore gets the platform to rip on the "lost" Jerel.

0:35 Look at Buzz and especially DJ's face. Sour Grapes!


BTW, that was one HELL of a team. Forget the fact that there wasn't a true center: Mo, JFB, Zar, Rel and Wes. Whoooowee. Run it all day!

[Lennys Tap]

I'd have to agree on Jerel's brain cramps as seen in that Nova game in the BET. First, he drove 1 on 5 to the hoop with MU up 1 with 12 seconds still on the shot clock...and 16 on the game...and NOVA had no time outs. Then he totally froze on defense and didn't slide over to cover Redding while pinching his man Anderson. Instead Jerel takes a half step toward the sideline and then gets clay feet in the lane--and covers no one.  El Matador

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUuL1DK48Wc

+1. After Jerel's out of control, too early drive to the hoop he got caught watching the ball on defense, neither staying with his man nor helping out. Reminded me of Jamail Jones early this season. I'm with Rican - considering that McNeal had started 125+ games and had been at one time been named Big East defensive player of the year that play was inexcusable and one of worst in MU history.

[marquette99]

Alright Rican - I concede the jury has sided with you on jerel's defensive play vs nova.  Still think the 30s vs both missouri and stanford make him an overall clutch player, but most knowledgable fans who watched the nova game seem to agree with your appraisal.

And I will say I always thought dominic was the defensive star, and brought the pressure to create weak passes jerel could steal - but he was typically excellentanticipating off ball, whatever happened on that play.

[bamamarquettefan]

I believe McNeal's defensive effort at the end of the loss to Villanova game in the BET was one of the worst defensive plays I've ever seen by an MU player. For some reason, "choking" seems to only apply to offensive performance. If that wasn't a choke, I don't know what was. I still have no idea what he was doing.

After reviewing the video evidence, and the collective (painful) memories of everyone else, I will have to drop my protests and acknowledge this was one of the worst defensive plays ever seen by an MU player.  If you are scoring at home on this argument:

Puerto Rico 1, Alabama 0