[Rosiak's Blog] McNeal declaring for NBA draft

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McNeal declaring for NBA draft

Written by: Todd Rosiak


For the second consecutive year, a member of the Marquette Golden Eagles' backcourt will dip his toes into the National Basketball Association draft waters.

This time it's junior Jerel McNeal, who announced on Friday afternoon he'll file the necessary paperwork to declare himself eligible but not hire an agent, thus preserving his right to return to MU should he so choose.

"Throughout this whole process I was in a win-win situation no matter what I did, and the main thing is I was just trying to surround myself with people who were going to be honest with me and care about my future as much as I do," said McNeal. "That was a big part of my decision-making process."

The 6-foot-1 McNeal led the Golden Eagles in scoring at 14.9 points and steals at 2.2 per game, ranked second in assists at 3.5 per game and third in rebounding at 4.9 per game this past season.

But it was a strong finish to the year that convinced McNeal to give the process a try.

Over MU's final six games, McNeal averaged 23.0 points and 6.2 rebounds to go along with 52.3% shooting (51 for 97) and 42.4% shooting from three-point range (42.4%).

His best game was his last, as he poured in 30 points to go along with eight rebounds in the Golden Eagles' 82-81 overtime loss to Stanford in the second round of the NCAA tournament on March 22. McNeal scored 15 of MU's last 16 points against the Cardinal, including 3 three-pointers in overtime.

McNeal, who had until Sunday to declare himself eligible, now will await an invitation to the NBA pre-draft camp, which takes place from May 27-30 in Orlando. It'll probably be a couple more weeks before McNeal finds out whether he's made the initial list of invitees.

Last year, Dominic James wasn't among the initial invitees but earned an invitation in the days preceding the workouts.

Assuming he's invited and participates, McNeal would follow up the pre-draft camp by taking part in individual workouts for interested NBA teams. One notable change in the process this year is that the NCAA is now allowing teams to foot the bill for bringing in underclassmen for workouts; that wasn't the case in years past, as the players were the ones responsible for all workout-related costs.

"Right now I've got a couple of days until the deadline, then the next couple weeks you start getting an idea of whether you'll get the invite to Orlando," said McNeal. "With such a deep draft this year you definitely can't take those types of things for granted, whether you'll get an invitation. We're just going to let things keep going the way they've been going and see what people say, and we'll have an idea of where that stands in a couple weeks." 

Once the workouts are completed, McNeal will have until June 16 to decide whether to remain in the draft or return to MU for his senior season. The draft takes place on June 26.

With the abnormally high number of underclassmen -- and guards, in particular -- declaring to this point, McNeal would likely need a noteworthy performance in Orlando as well as a series of outstanding individual workouts to get himself into a position to be drafted.

Because of his size, McNeal will have to prove he can play point guard in the NBA, a position he rarely played at MU. And while his ability to score and defend give him a chance, his propensity for turnovers (team-high 98 this season and 333 in three seasons at MU) suggest it could be a rough transition.

If he returns, coach Buzz Williams will have McNeal, James and Wesley Matthews to go along with Maurice Acker, David Cubillan and junior-college transfer Jimmy Butler in the backcourt.

Should McNeal leave, Butler's presence in particular should help ease the transition for the Golden Eagles. Butler's size at 6-6 will add another dimension to the backcourt, as will his ability to score. He isn't nearly the defender McNeal is, though, which would put additional pressure on that end of the court on both James and Matthews.



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/25/mcneal-declaring-for-nba-draft.aspx