All Decade team Marquette Men's Basketball

[Cheeks]

Tough, especially since some greats only played a small portion in this decade based on graduation.

Limit to 5, positions not relevant

Nominees - min 2 full years

Markus Howard
Sam Hauser
Vander Blue
Davante Gardner
DJO
Jae Crowder
Jamil Wilson
Junior Cadougan
Chris Otule
JaJuan Johnson
Duane Wilson
Sacar Anim
Luke Fischer
Andrew Rowsey
Haanif Cheatham
Matt Heldt


Less than 2 years if you wish to consider

Lazar Hayward
Dwight Buycks
Jimmy Butler
Mo Acker

[94Warrior]

Markus
Jae
JFB
Vander
DJO

[#UnleashSean]

Jimmy is missing from this list.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

min 2 full years

Why?

[Cheeks]

Jimmy is missing from this list.

He didn't play two full seasons this decade.  He played 1.5.  Buycks was same situation.

[LloydsLegs]

Too 3 no brainer:
Markus
Jimmy (if Jimmy counts under these rules)
Jae

Other 2:

DJO
Davante

If I need a third:

Sam

[Cheeks]

Why?

I considered half of what a normal college student athlete's life span is...2 years. That was my logic.  Also how to account for the 2009-10 roster...Lazar Hayward played for 3 months...does he count? Mo Acker?  I modified the original post to include at the bottom, but that was the struggle.

[94Warrior]

He didn't play two full seasons this decade.  He played 1.5.  Buycks was same situation.

If you want to split hairs, 2010 is part of the last decade.  But, I'll keep him on my list, his 1.5 year were better than any of the other candidate's 2 years.

Top 5 for the next decade:
Garcia
Bailey
Lewis
Torrence
Mane

Honorable Mention:
Elliott
Akanno
Osa

[94Warrior]

Vander is also a no brainer. 

He was the best player on the best team of the decade.  He brought us a Big East Championship in the Old Big East, and an Elite 8.

[Galway Eagle]

Vander is also a no brainer. 

He was the best player on the best team of the decade.  He brought us a Big East Championship in the Old Big East, and an Elite 8.

The 11-12 team was the best team it was just severely undermanned down low which lead to 7 terrible matchups

[Badgerhater]

DJO
Crowder
Blue
Howard
Cadougan — no one on that list competed harder then him and achieved more winning with his talent.

Those who transfer are disqualified

[Johnny B]

Why not just define who qualifies for us instead of making it confusing with the "if you want to consider these guys" thing.
Anyways
Markus
Vander
Jae
Lazar
Jimmy

[mileskishnish72]

JFB, Jae, Vander, Markus and the Big Sheesh . If Jimmy's illegal, slide in the mandible.

[Cheeks]

Why not just define who qualifies for us instead of making it confusing with the "if you want to consider these guys" thing.
Anyways
Markus
Vander
Jae
Lazar
Jimmy

JB, do whatever you wish.  I was trying to put structure because without a doubt some would say one guy only played one semester in the decade, another did 4 years, etc.

I tried, but so whatever you wish.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Chicos ruins a thread that he started, only him!

[brewcity77]

First Team

PG - Markus Howard: The all-time leading scorer in Marquette history, has an ability to take over a game on offense like none other I've seen, including Wade.
SG - Darius Johnson-Odom: Solid two-way player who could light it up at the arc, slam it down, and held his own on defense. Brought energy to every game.
SF - Jimmy Butler: Solid offensive player who could score at all three levels, but really shone as a defender with his length and athleticism. His lockdown of Tu Holloway was the stuff of legends.
PF - Jae Crowder: 2nd team All-American and the best all-around player at Marquette since Wade. No one played harder on every possession and was as valuable on both ends of the floor.
C - Henry Ellenson: Could take over a game on both ends. Solid shot-blocker who improved defensively as the season went on, using his length & otherworldly rebounding ability to end possessions.

Second Team

PG - Andrew Rowsey: He was only an offensive threat, but he was an amazing offensive threat. Could create for himself or others and "The Thing" was the most lethal move in the sport.
SG - Vander Blue: Grew into his offensive role but was a great defender from the jump. The 2014 team would've been a lot better had he come back.
SF - Jajuan Johnson: Tough call between him, Jamil, and Sacar. JJ just had a smoothness to his game, was always a solid offensive player, and became a more complete defender as he progressed.
PF - Sam Hauser: Yes, he left, but he executed his role flawlessly. An ideal second or third offensive option and a very good system defender.
PF - Davante Gardner: He was tremendous fun to watch, such a remarkably gifted offensive player. Misses first team largely because of what his senior year team didn't do coupled with his defensive deficiencies.

Also considered: Sacar Anim, Jamil Wilson, Luke Fischer, Theo John

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

First Team:
Markus
Jae
JFB
Lazar
Hank

Second Team:
DJO
Avante
Sammy
Vander
Rowdy

[brewcity77]

If you want to split hairs, 2010 is part of the last decade.  But, I'll keep him on my list, his 1.5 year were better than any of the other candidate's 2 years.

Top 5 for the next decade:
Garcia
Bailey
Lewis
Torrence
Mane

Honorable Mention:
Elliott
Akanno
Osa

Considering there are 12-year-olds that will play their entire Marquette careers in the next decade, this feels a bit premature

Though if you're right, 2021 & 2022 are going to be lit.

[MU82]

First Team

PG - Markus Howard: The all-time leading scorer in Marquette history, has an ability to take over a game on offense like none other I've seen, including Wade.
SG - Darius Johnson-Odom: Solid two-way player who could light it up at the arc, slam it down, and held his own on defense. Brought energy to every game.
SF - Jimmy Butler: Solid offensive player who could score at all three levels, but really shone as a defender with his length and athleticism. His lockdown of Tu Holloway was the stuff of legends.
PF - Jae Crowder: 2nd team All-American and the best all-around player at Marquette since Wade. No one played harder on every possession and was as valuable on both ends of the floor.
C - Henry Ellenson: Could take over a game on both ends. Solid shot-blocker who improved defensively as the season went on, using his length & otherworldly rebounding ability to end possessions.

Second Team

PG - Andrew Rowsey: He was only an offensive threat, but he was an amazing offensive threat. Could create for himself or others and "The Thing" was the most lethal move in the sport.
SG - Vander Blue: Grew into his offensive role but was a great defender from the jump. The 2014 team would've been a lot better had he come back.
SF - Jajuan Johnson: Tough call between him, Jamil, and Sacar. JJ just had a smoothness to his game, was always a solid offensive player, and became a more complete defender as he progressed.
PF - Sam Hauser: Yes, he left, but he executed his role flawlessly. An ideal second or third offensive option and a very good system defender.
PF - Davante Gardner: He was tremendous fun to watch, such a remarkably gifted offensive player. Misses first team largely because of what his senior year team didn't do coupled with his defensive deficiencies.

Also considered: Sacar Anim, Jamil Wilson, Luke Fischer, Theo John

I like this, brewski, with one exception.

I'd either go position-less and take Vander over Henry ...

Or I'd go with Davante over Henry because I'd give the edge to the guy who helped us go S16-S16-E8 vs the guy who played only one postseason-less year

[🏀]

First Team:
Markus
Jae
JFB
Lazar
Hank

Second Team:
DJO
Avante
Sammy
Vander
Rowdy

Switch Vander and Hank, that's my teams.

[brewcity77]

I like this, brewski, with one exception.

I'd either go position-less and take Vander over Henry ...

Or I'd go with Davante over Henry because I'd give the edge to the guy who helped us go S16-S16-E8 vs the guy who played only one postseason-less year

By that logic, however, Junior Cadougan should be first team ahead of Markus Howard, which is just silly. Junior was a slightly below replacement level player.

If you could swap freshman Henry for any year of Gardner, it would've made that team better. He wasn't a great three point shooter, but he was better than DG. He was better defender. He was a better rebounder. But Henry was the only NBA player on his team. Gardner always played with other NBA players, and all his NCAA runs came with at least 2 other NBA players on the roster.

I think Gardner is closer to the honorable mention spots occupied by Luke Fischer and Theo John than the first-team spot I gave to Henry. DG was fun to watch, but he was no Henry Ellenson.

Regarding Vander...I always try to keep these fairly true to position, and Vander was competing for a spot with DJO and JFB. Him and Sammy would be the first two off the bench.

[MU82]

By that logic, however, Junior Cadougan should be first team ahead of Markus Howard, which is just silly. Junior was a slightly below replacement level player.

If you could swap freshman Henry for any year of Gardner, it would've made that team better. He wasn't a great three point shooter, but he was better than DG. He was better defender. He was a better rebounder. But Henry was the only NBA player on his team. Gardner always played with other NBA players, and all his NCAA runs came with at least 2 other NBA players on the roster.

I think Gardner is closer to the honorable mention spots occupied by Luke Fischer and Theo John than the first-team spot I gave to Henry. DG was fun to watch, but he was no Henry Ellenson.

Regarding Vander...I always try to keep these fairly true to position, and Vander was competing for a spot with DJO and JFB. Him and Sammy would be the first two off the bench.

I think you misunderstood me.

For me, it was close between Gardner, a very solid 4-year contributor, and Henry, who only was around for 1 year (but excelled in that year). So, because it's close IMHO, I'm going with the guy who helped us to all that postseason success.

But sure, if we are going strictly with talent, regardless of how many years that talent was provided and how much postseason success a player had, Ellenson obviously was better than Gardner.

I guess you're free to call that "silly," brewski, but I merely call it a difference of opinion. I'm certainly not gonna argue with you over something that's as ... well ... silly as a hypothetical all-decade team.

[Eye]

I went with Howard, Crowder, DJO, Butler and Blue. Hayward only playing 2/3 of a season wasn't enough. 1 year wasn't enough for Ellenson, Rowsey was close. Like someone said above, any traitors who transfer aren't eligible for my team.

[brewcity77]

I think you misunderstood me.

For me, it was close between Gardner, a very solid 4-year contributor, and Henry, who only was around for 1 year (but excelled in that year). So, because it's close IMHO, I'm going with the guy who helped us to all that postseason success.

But sure, if we are going strictly with talent, regardless of how many years that talent was provided and how much postseason success a player had, Ellenson obviously was better than Gardner.

I guess you're free to call that "silly," brewski, but I merely call it a difference of opinion. I'm certainly not gonna argue with you over something that's as ... well ... silly as a hypothetical all-decade team.

I think Henry gets forgotten by our fanbase, maybe because it was only year, maybe because of Wally, but he was fantastic that season. I know it's fanbase homerism, but his 8 SOTGs in one year was only bested by Crowder, Howard, and Rowsey. He single-handedly made that season respectable after a couple really down years.

Henry was the closest thing we had to an Anthony Davis or Zion Williamson. Henry had the ability to dominate games like no other big we saw in the decade. Put him on any of those teams DG played on and they would be better. Put him on any team since he left and they would be better. His pro career hasn't been what he hoped, but he was one of the best college players we had this decade. I get celebrating the postseason success, but I feel that including DJO, Jimmy, & Jae on the first team did that, as did including Vander & DG on the second team.

As a collegiate player, Henry was everything we wanted him to be, we just wished he would've been it longer. While Gardner was more than anyone expected, our expectations were never as high and his supporting cast was always better which, to me, means we are appreciating the circumstance more than the player.

[MU82]

I think Henry gets forgotten by our fanbase, maybe because it was only year, maybe because of Wally, but he was fantastic that season. I know it's fanbase homerism, but his 8 SOTGs in one year was only bested by Crowder, Howard, and Rowsey. He single-handedly made that season respectable after a couple really down years.

Henry was the closest thing we had to an Anthony Davis or Zion Williamson. Henry had the ability to dominate games like no other big we saw in the decade. Put him on any of those teams DG played on and they would be better. Put him on any team since he left and they would be better. His pro career hasn't been what he hoped, but he was one of the best college players we had this decade. I get celebrating the postseason success, but I feel that including DJO, Jimmy, & Jae on the first team did that, as did including Vander & DG on the second team.

As a collegiate player, Henry was everything we wanted him to be, we just wished he would've been it longer. While Gardner was more than anyone expected, our expectations were never as high and his supporting cast was always better which, to me, means we are appreciating the circumstance more than the player.

Every word of that post is reasonable, brewski.

I am definitely not one who underappreciates Henry. I enjoyed watching that team, despite a few cringe-worthy games. Went to the Nov event at Barclays and had a great time, and of course loved beating F%cky. And Henry was the main reason that season was tolerable, to be sure. Getting him also established early on that Wojo could land great recruits.

So I obviously have no problem with him being on your (or anybody else's) All-Decade team. Not that you would care if I did!