McNeal......

[NYWarrior]

wow.   A net negative performer on the floor.  scary.

http://marquettebasketball.blogspot.com/2006/12/big-ten-wonk-preview-by-numbers.html

[ecompt]

I fear Jerel will cause me to have a heart attack before he leaves MU. 

[mu_hilltopper]

I have to cut and paste that line for discussion ..

McNeal records a check-that-again 7.5 steals for every 100 defensive possessions he plays. (Perspective: Mike Conley of Ohio State currently leads the Big Ten with 5.7 steals per 100 poss. But, incredibly, Crean actually realizes a net negative from having McNeal on the floor in terms of possessions. The sophomore guard coughs the ball up an astounding 7.7 times for every 100 offensive possessions he plays.) But even aside from their opponents' charity, Marquette's defense has been sound across the board--with the glaring exception of defending the three. Opponents have hit 39.8 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.

WOW!  That's a love him and hate him kind of paragraph. -- Where'd he get those stats, anyhow?  .. I wonder what those figures were last year .. has he gotten any better taking care of the rock? .. and .. what's really frightening is that those stats were generated over 9 OOC games, 6 of which shouldn't be considered BE quality teams.

[NYWarrior]

if its any consolation (and I believe it is), McNeal's numbers in conference play last season were noticeably better than his OOC production......everything from scoring, FG%, A/TO ratio, rebounds.  He had an excellent Big East season as a freshman, results that nobody anticipated based on his early season production.   While we only have one season+ to consider, that is a positive for MU.  That said, he's averaging more turnoves per game than he did as a freshman.

Still, I don't understand why he shoots ANY THREE POINTERS AT ALL.   He is not a shooter, he's a scorer.  20% this year and a rotten 28% last season bear this out -- I'd like to see him play to his strengths more. 

[mu_hilltopper]

Unfortunately, I don't take a lot of solace from that .. it's one thing to be a freshman, have a bad OOC experience only to pour it on in the 2nd half.

It's quite another to .. regress .. the next year .. with that extra year under your belt .. and a summer full of individual workouts to combat exactly your shortcomings, of which, TOs had to be one.

Gulp.

As for the 3 pointer attempts, I agree .. on an interview on a local news station, Jerel was talking about what he worked on during the off season:  shooting range, outside the arc.   Obviously, the staff keeps the green light on for him.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Actually that happens all the time Hilltopper....the "sophomore slump"

Players that do well their first year and then they either think it will be just as easy or they have a false sense of confidence to take on too much.

His junior and senior seasons will be phenomenal, but he still has a lot to learn.

[DoubleMU0609]

I'd be really happy if this slump only lasted the first 10 games of the season.  Game #11 is supposed to be a pretty good one...

[ecompt]

Why is it that TC doesn't want to put any clamps on him? Is he afraid of losing him emotionally? I cringe when Jerel goes up from anywhere outside 10 feet.

[NYWarrior]

Coach K reigned-in Grant Hill from deep, Kevin O'Neill did the same with Tyrone Baldwin. Jerel is somewhere in between.........shot selection is important

[Harrison]

I disagree about summer wokouts necessarily helping Jerel.  yes, Summer workouts can help with maybe tightening up the dribble, improving the stutterstep with the left hand or whatever maybe a weakness and I am sure jerel has improved on those in the offseason.  However, 90% of Jerel's mistakes are mental.  Simply bad choices.  Driving one on 4 things like that.  the quintesseantial jerel turnover so gar this year was the one that could have cost us the Duke game.  Mu is up by 6 and an Mu player shoots with approx. 2 minutes left.  jerel tracks down the rebound in the corner and immediately races to the lane where 4 Duke defenders were still standing and attempts some crazy spin move between them all for a turnover.  Duke runs down and thankfully misses the shot.  Mu comes down and i beleive that is when DJ hit the hoop and 1 to go up 9.  Nevertheless, Duke comes down and hits a 2 or a 3 and that is a completely different game.  Jerel should have backed that ball up and realized possesion and the clock were in MU's favor, also why dribble drive with4 Duke players and attempt a spin move.  To replay the play it is a very highly questionable decision before adding in the significance of the score and time.   A very very poor decision maker at this point.  has gotten no better than last year.

[DoubleMU0609]

Harrison I agree with you completely, but I think that's why McNeal will get better as the season goes on.  In individual summer workouts he couldn't work on any decision making skills in a high pressure situation.  But now that he has 10 games under his belt this year I think he and the coaching staff will be able to identify what decisions he should be making and when.  If I remember correctly he did the same thing last year.  As the season went on last year he got more comfortable with the system and as a result played more within it.

[Harrison]

I WOULD HOPE SO THE KID IS A 1.5 YEAR STARTER AND 40 GAMES INTO HIS CAREER NOW!!