[Cracked Sidewalks] It's Good to Be Jerel McNeal

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

It's Good to Be Jerel McNeal

Written by: hilltopper91@gmail.com (Kevin Buckley (aka Hilltopper))



It's a good week to be Jerel McNeal.

First, he carries the team on his back to beat the Badgers, with 26 points, 7 rebounds in 39 (T-h-i-r-t-y  N-i-n-e) minutes.

Then, he racks up Big East Player of the Week, for the second time in his career.

But that's "just" the Big East.

Today, Rivals.com came out with their "Power Rankings" and ranked McNeal the #1 SG in the country.

Wes came in at #17, and DJ got the #15 best PG, Lazar #15 best Small Forward.

http://marquettebasketball.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-good-to-be-jerel-mcneal.html

[jzolt]

Don't forget Lazar, he did get mentioned as well.

[mu_hilltopper]

I mistakenly looked for him under PFs and didn't see him, so assumed he wasn't top 25. 

Wrong list.

[dsfire]

Lawson above Curry?

edit: Oh, and congrats to Jerel, that's some nice recognition.

[StillWarriors]

MSN has him 8th in the weekly player of the year rankings.

This is great for Jerel and good pub for the team. Have to say I'm surprised at the ranking seeing that he probably wouldn't get the vote for player of the year on the team at this point.

Who care I guess. Nice to have multiple guys in the mix!!

[AlumKCof93]

With that ranking and his play at the end of last year, is it fair to say he's the best player at MU since Dwade?

[mviale]

Its a long season and he had a great game.

[bilsu]

With that ranking and his play at the end of last year, is it fair to say he's the best player at MU since Dwade?

What about Diener?

[RawdogDX]

he's may be the best pro prospect since dwade but deiner was a better college player.

[Doctor V]

this is a fun list for the following reason- We are who we thought we were??

it just shows why MU should be held up to great expectations this season

i understand the limitations- no center and no depth, a new coach

but people we have 4 players in the top 20 of their position, and all are upper classmen!

quick comparison and i know ima get reamed for this, but i dont care

UConn- #1 center, #24 SG, #10 PF
Pitt- #2 C, #2 SF, #5 PG
MU- #1 SG, #11 PF, #15 PG, #17 SG/SF

you cant tell me that MU should not be just as good, if not better than these teams based on these rankings- I am not saying they are, just saying they should be much better than most people think (and much better than they have been)

Also, i highly doubt that there will be many more MU teams with 4 guys in the top 20 at their position in college basketball, let alone all upperclassmen! (the final 4 team was prob close- wade, diener, rjax, and merritt?, but they had the x-factor in wade and travis, as well as a solid bench)

this is why i think this team must do something special this year- if they can patch the 5 position a bit and get some more big bodies on the floor (on their way) I think this team NEEDS to be special, because we may never get to see another like it