No love for muscoop.com!From his email:
What? Just because it’s a little warmer out, we can’t talk Marquette Hoops. Be honest, you Golden Eagle “basketball junkies” have been gathered around the water cooler, on internet message boards and at family gatherings waiting, hoping and wondering…”when will get another dose of Marquette basketball news?” Fear not my friends…your hopes and wishes have been answered. So hang on…here comes another Marquette Basketball Newsletter…”Early Summer” edition…
WELCOME BACK “BUCK”…
Head Coach Tom Crean recently hit another home run in welcoming back former Marquette assistant, Tim Buckley to the Golden Eagle basketball family. Tim replaces Todd Townsend, who recently accepted a full time position at Northeastern University in Boston (an amazing and well deserved opportunity for Todd). Tim brings a wealth of recruiting and coaching experience to Coach Crean’s staff having been the head coach at Ball State University for six years and stints as an assistant at both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa. Tim’s hire was so significant and impactful that most experts actually ranked our recruiting class several notches higher once they discovered Tim was on boardJ Welcome aboard and welcome back Tim!!
"He was the first person I ever hired," said Crean. "It took me all of about 10 minutes to call him when I got the job. He's directly responsible for a lot of things that happened after he left, especially with us having an involvement with Dwyane (Wade). He was constantly in my ear talking about how good he thought Travis Diener was. Our friendship has remained strong for a lot of years, and he really was here on the true ground floor.
"For him to come back and see where it's at now, see where our facilities are at, to have the 1,000,001 capabilities he has as a person and a coach means a lot. This is a great time to have him back. He'll help me and our entire program in a lot of ways."
HANDING OUT THE HARDWARE:
24 wins…11 Big East wins…victories on the road at UConn, Pitt and Louisville…back to back wins over Hall of Fame coaches Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski…yet another pre-season tournament championship…a #8 seed in the NCAA’s…#22 in the RPI…finishing 18th and 19th in the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls respectively…Jerel McNeal staking claim to Big East Defensive player of the year…that, my friends, is a lot to celebrate. So we did.
Always a first class evening and yet another chance to reflect on a 24 win season, this year’s annual awards banquet was a night to remember. Sophomore guard Jerel McNeal was honored as the 2006-07 men's basketball Most Valuable Performer, McNeal, a BIG EAST All-Conference Second Team member and BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, led the Golden Eagles and ranked second in the conference with 76 steals this season, the fifth best single-season total in school history. He ranked 10th in the nation, averaging 2.6 steals per game, and was one of only four players in NCAA Division I to average at least 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
Other award winners included: Ousmane Barro, Dan Fitzgerald and Lazar Hayward (Most Improved Players); David Cubillan (Super Sub Award); Wesley Matthews (Floor Burn Award for the player who gives up his body for the most loose balls and Oluoma Nnamaka Consistency Award for competing at a high-level every day); and Dominic James (Bart Miller Standard of Excellence Award for exemplifying excellence on and off the court).
Statistical award winners were: Matthews for the highest free throw percentage (77.0 PCT); James for the most assists (167); Barro for the most rebounds (234); and McNeal for the most deflections per game (11.17) and most charges drawn.
DOMINIC CHASES HIS DREAM:
After declaring for the NBA draft in late April, sophomore Dominic James was recently invited to the prestigious NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando, Florida. In Orlando, Dominic will compete and work out in front of countless NBA coaches, scouts and general managers over an exhaustive four day period. This marks the 3rd consecutive year that Coach Crean has produced a representative from Marquette for this prestigious event. All of us at Marquette wish Dominic the very best in pursuing what has been a life long dream.
MEANWHILE BACK AT THE AL McGUIRE CENTER:
The first session of summer school is in full swing and the entire returning Marquette roster is hard at work in the classroom, on the court and in the weight room. This is a critical time of the year in the Golden Eagles development…a chance for our players to get ahead academically, work incredibly hard to improve their strength, conditioning and physical skills on the court. It also provides a tremendous environment for our team to bond and continue to build upon that all important word and x-factor…”chemistry”. Per NCAA rules, we as coaches, are prohibited from working with our team during the summer months, but newly appointed Director of Physical Performance, Jayd Grossman and strength coach, Todd Smith, are hard at work on a daily basis to continue to build our team. Word has it that there have been some extremely competitive “pick up” games at the McGuire Center since the start of summer schoolJ
“NEW GUYS” UPDATE:
Won’t be long before the Class of ’07 makes their inaugural appearance at 770 N. 12th St. in downtown Milwaukee (that is the location of the McGuire Center). Here is an update to wet your appetite regarding what we think is an outstanding recruiting class. The year ended on a tremendous note with all of early signees playing deep into the post season. Highlights included, Scott Christopherson claiming Mr. Basketball honors in Wisconsin and guiding his team to the state championship game…another down year at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Massachusetts as Damian Saunders helped lead his team to a 32-1 record against the nation’s very best competition…Trevor Mbakwe finished runner up in Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball balloting and led his team to the quarter finals of the Minnesota state tournament while posting incredible numbers…and Patrick Hazel capped off his senior season with an appearance in the prestigious Jordan Classic all star game played at Madison Square Garden…oh and let us not forget Maurice Acker…the former MAC freshman of the year is chomping at the bit to get that red shirt tag off and start playing for keeps. And what good would a news letter be if we didn’t check in with the experts over at ESPN.com and get their take on the Golden Eagles recruiting class.
Marquette: B
Like other teams in the conference, Marquette went for size andf athleticism in the '07 class. It landed a trio of athletic rebounders and shot-blockers in 6-8, top 100 prospect power forward Trevor Mbakwe (Mendota Heights/Saint Bernard's), 6-7 workman like power forward Patrick Hazel (Blairstown, N.J./Blair Academy) and 6-7 high flying, shot blocking power forward Damian Saunders (Fitchburg, Mass./Notre Dame Prep). Sharpshooting 6’2 Scott Christopherson (LaCrosse, WI./Aquinas) was recently named Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball and continue’s Tom Crean’s outstanding track record of attracting big time guards to Milwaukee.
AND THIS FROM EARLIER IN THE YEAR AS COACH CREAN DISCUSSES THE ’07 CLASS:
http://marquette.scout.com/2/591172.htmlCAMP CREAN:
Already over 1,100 youngsters have enrolled in head coach Tom Crean’s 2007 Marquette Summer Basketball camp. The dates are below and you can easily enroll by going on line to
www.gomarquette.com. Hurry, space is limited…it is three weeks of fun filled basketball and incredible instruction from Coach Crean, his staff and all of the Golden Eagles.
Marquette Basketball Summer Camps
Session 1, June 11-15 (Ages 5-17)
Session 2, June 18-22 (Ages 5-17)
Session 3, July 16-20 (K5-8th grade only)
RECRUITING TRAIL TID BITS:
Although NCAA rules, again, prohibit me from commenting specifically on our recruiting efforts. I can tell you that it has been an extremely productive spring and is surely to be a very busy summer as Coach Crean et al continue to build for the future. Camps, tournaments and summer leagues will find the Golden Eagles leaving no stone unturned from coast to coast in our pursuit for a national championship.
SUMMER LINKS:
Don’t just rely on me to get your Marquette basketball fix…log on and “click” away to these outstanding sites dedicated to Marquette basketball. BEWARE… an unflattering opinion or two may be lurking at these various sitesJ
www.marquettehoops.com – Jim Ganzer aka “TheIWB” always has the latest on the Golden Eagles
http://www.jsonline.com/index/index.aspx?id=36 – Blogs, articles and all the breaking Marquette basketball news from beat writer Tod Rosiak
www.crackedsidewalks.com – dedicated to the famous quote from legendary Hall of Fame coach Al McGuire…"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk."
WAIT ‘TIL NEXT YEAR:
Dare we delve into the minds of the so called experts, pundits and prognosticators as they predict what the future holds for Tom Crean’s Golden Eagles and the 2007-2008 basketball season? Yes…we dare. Knowing full well we NEVER put the “cart before the horse” or believe all that we read. However in the spirit of summer fun…let’s take a look.
In Bracketology expert, Joe Lunardi’s, 1st look at next years NCAA tournament, Mr. Lunardi has the Golden Eagles as a #3 seed (EXCELLENT)…playing #14 Austin Peay (NOT BAD)…and the EAST Region in….OMAHA at the QWest Center.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology?id=2278133Resident ESPN college basketball expert, Andy Katz, ranks the Golden Eagles at #14 in his first look at the ’07-’08 campaign.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2853904Enough already, the anticipation of the 2007-2008 season has me in a veritable basketball frenzy. Time to get back on the phones and convince talented, intelligent, athletic, superior rebounding, pure shooting and dazzling ball handling young men everywhere know about the wonderful opportunities awaiting them at one of college basketball’s most tradition laden and successful basketball programs ever to grace the college basketball landscape since Dr. Naismith hung his first peach basket.
I hope your summer is off to a wonderful start…until next time…keep up the support on the outside, I’ll keep you informed on the inside.
Jason Rabedeaux
Assistant Coach
Marquette Basketball
The Big East Conference
