Decourcy's Sporting News MU Preview

[bma725]

Found this while looking for info on Tyshawn Taylor....

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=295674

Posted: October 26, 2007
Mike DeCourcy

Can you have too many guards? We know the answer to that now. Villanova forever answered that question with its 2005-06 team. You can have too many quarterbacks. You can have too many doughnuts. But you can never have too many guards. You simply play them all.

Because Marquette Coach Tom Crean recruited shooter Steve Novak years ago, the Golden Eagles built a taste for spreading the court into their schemes. Now that will come in even handier as Crean endeavors how to rotate Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal, Dominic James, David Cubillan and Maurice Acker.

You will not see all five of them on the floor at once, not unless a whole bunch of guys foul out. But you will, on occasion, see four of them, with Matthews forced to handle the power forward duties, but at the same time, the opposing power forward will be forced to deal with the nightmare of keeping in front of Matthews.

It was fairly clear last season that James was given the chance to take command of the team and do what he could with it. And James showed that he has a long, long way to go in developing as a true point guard, and that his jump shot just isn't reliable enough for him to function as the offensive force he attempted to become. Though he shot only 38.4 percent from the field, he took 76 more attempts than his closest teammate.

A stunning performance to rescue the Golden Eagles from a possible road loss to Valparaiso, in which James scored the team's final 18 points, appeared to orient him more toward finding his own shot than running the team. It seems unlikely Crean will allow that to happen again. James is not without point-guard skills. He is a natural leader and had five or more assists in 20 games -- games in which Marquette went 15-5.

If James chooses not to embrace the pure point role, Acker could take the job. Of course, he would need to be as reliable against Big East competition as he was as a freshman for Ball State in the MAC and against the Golden Eagles' regulars in practice last season. James impressed with his speed, control and creativity, but that was during practice. Cubillan is a terrific shooter and promising player, but probably not suited to playing point guard full time.

Marquette can be fairly certain what it will get from McNeal and Matthews, and it likely will be even more than what the two delivered as sophomores. They have continued to progress as scorers and defenders. McNeal is as good against the ball as anyone in the country, and Matthews can take an opponent's best wing out of the game. McNeal's value to the team was obvious in the five games he lost to injury; Marquette was a sub-.500 team without him. If he can improve his shot selection, McNeal can rank with the nation's best and most complete guards.

The wealth of backcourt players will make less painful the continued dearth of big bodies. The Golden Eagles have three veterans who can handle the two inside spots. Center Ousmane Barro has improved every year on campus, to the point where Marquette now can throw him the ball against single coverage and expect him to convert. Dan Fitzgerald doesn't play big, but he is 6-9 and an adept shooter and passer. Lazar Hayward has a chance to be special. He can attack defenders off the dribble, finish at the rim and hit the occasional deep jumper. Hayward needs to advance as a rebounder to justify more playing time.

Marquette did not add any no-doubt contributors with its recruiting class, but did improve the overall athleticism in the post. Some of the team's recent frontcourt recruits lacked the spark to excel against Big East opponents, but Trevor Mbakwe is the type to make a difference -- if not now, then in time.

Barro is a capable shot-blocker who provides fortification at the back of the defense. He would be more valuable if he rejected more than the 35 he managed last year, but being selective also helped him to avoid foul trouble.

With the lack of a consistent low-post scoring presence, the Golden Eagles' halfcourt offense can occasionally stagnate. Expect a greater reliance on pick-and-rolls in those situations. At the vanguard of the four-guard attack, that's what Villanova did. Marquette won't be following the Wildcats' blueprint precisely, but it's good to know it's there.

X-factor: It seems odd to call a star an X-factor, but reasonable people could make a case against James being a star after he struggled through an inconsistent sophomore season. But he still has two full seasons to turn his surpassing athleticism and burgeoning skills into the total point-guard package. It's easy to forget he quarterbacked NCAA Tournament teams his first two seasons, no easy feat. If James gets to the business of becoming a great college point guard instead of focusing on pro prospects, he can reach every goal he might imagine.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Pretty fair write up... and DeCourcy knows his stuff.

There are some question marks with MU, but there are a lot of positives too. A LOT.