Another Marquette Interlude

When Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wes Matthews came on the Marquette scene 4 years ago, everyone knew they were 3 pretty good players, but who knew they’d blow up this large. To say the least, Marquette’s backcourt has been impressive this year. Drawing comparisons to great back courts of the past few years in Villanova and Illinois, they have Marquette undefeated in the Big East looking down on everyone but the dreaded Louisville Cardinals. (Are they just destined to haunt Marquette forever?) After pouring over the numbers Marquette has the look of a top 5 back court of the past 15 years. In fact, they probably would have the look of a National Championship contender also, if they had a player over 6'6 (or however tall Lazar Hayward actually is). To be clear I’ve only included teams with at least 3 guards featured heavily, mainly because I feel like that is a more effective strategy in college. When pressing works so effectively and three pointers so important, it seems like the more guards on the court the better. I can't in good conscience rank Marquette any higher than 5th though, considering the season is not over and they haven't played the meat of their schedule yet, so I'll take another look after the season. It's the only fair way to do it. So with no further ado, here are the best 3 man (or more) college backcourts of the past 15 years.

5. 2008-2009 Marquette
Everyone knows the stats by now. They average a ton of points, they’re all closing in on George Thompson (Except Matthews, damn you Tom Crean!!). These guys are serous, but the story goes on for this Marquette team. As great as their backcourt is, they could run into some serious trouble when the schedule picks up. These other back courts all advanced to the Sweet Sixteen or better, and 2 won national titles, but with at least some kind of help from the front line. Matthews McNeal, and James are all doing incredible things this year, but they cannot do it alone. If history tells us anything, Dwight Burke or Joe Fulce will need to provide something in the front and if they do this could be a very special year for Marquette. More importantly are we sure Scott Merritt doesn’t have any eligibility left? Maybe like 5 games in March?

4. 2005-2006 Villanova
Ahh yes Villanova. Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray, Randy Foye and...and...that white kid. About a month ago a friend of mine called me looking for the name of the white guy, the first thing that came to my mind was Steve Blake. I thought he looked like Blake, but I knew Blake was from Maryland and a lot better. I had to call someone else, the Internet got involved and we all remembered, oh yeah Mike Nardi. He’s not all that memorable, but Nardi could fill it up, he shot 40% on threes in this season. Post man Curtis Sumpter injured himself either in the end of the previous season or at the start of this one and was unavailable, making for a unique 4 guard look. Of course the real stars were the other three, with Foye emerging as leading man. Foye averaged a healthy 20.5 with Allan Ray chipping in to the tune of 18.5 per game. Lowry (who I always call Mike, then remember that is Will Smith from Bad Boys) ran the point and played the same stingy defense that has earned him playing time in the NBA. They lost in the Sweet Sixteen to eventual champion Florida, but may have done better had Allan Ray’s eye not popped out of the socket just a week before the tournament began. Yikes.

3. 1999-2000 Michigan State
Meet the Flintstones. Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell, and Morris Peterson will always be remembered for their name and no one will forget where they are from. They put Flint on the map during their championship run in 2000. A memorable game against Florida in the National Championship painted Mateen Cleaves as an incredibly gritty, determined leader and probably put him in the first round of the draft later that year. He took a backseat as a scorer to Morris Peterson but handed out a hefty 6.9 assists per game. Cleaves would go on to be a hall of fame towel waver in Sacramento. Peterson was money from downtown, shooting 42.5% and averaging 16.8 points per game. Bell was the same steady player he is now, playing in every game and hitting free throws and threes, while providing perimeter defense. The numbers for these guys aren’t as flashy, but National Titles never lie, they were tough. Jason Richardson was a freshman who didn’t contribute a ton, but would later be leaps and bounds better than all of the Flintstones.

2. 2004-2005 Illinois
The closest to an undefeated team many have seen in their lifetime Illinois was a Matt Sylvester miracle away from being undefeated heading into the National Championship. Alas they’d end their season with 2 losses. Most teams would be fine with 2 losses, I feel like these guys would have preferred one come at a different time though. Deron Williams, Dee Brown, and Luther Head, led a very versatile Illinois team into the National Championship game with one loss, but ran into an all time great powerhouse in North Carolina. Carolina would go on to have 4 first round picks off that team, while Illinois barely got 4 into the NBA. But rest assured 3 came from that backcourt. Williams took over in the NCAA tournament, showing serious range and clutch shooting ability, and defense. Brown was a one man show on the fastbreak, leaving everyone in the dust and Head provided lethal outside shooting.

1. 1996-1997 Arizona
Without question, THE backcourt to which all others are compared to. Marquette can look to these guys for inspiration. Arizona had a 4 man big rotation, with Eugene Edgerson being the 4th at 6'6 and full of scrap. He’d later have a hellvuan afro. Jason Terry has probably had as much practice as anyone at the role of 6th man and it started here when Mike Bibby came aboard as a freshman starter. Not that Terry could complain, as Bibby averaged 13 and 5 and made life easier for everyone else. Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon were the main scoring threats on this team at 18.9 and 18.4 points per game. Simon missed the early part of the season with an academic suspension and the ‘Cats went only 6-4 in their final 10 games. But this team just found ways to win. Even though they did not win a tournament game by more than 8, they won the National Championship. When you have great guards it gets a little easier to squeak out games at the line. Everyone but Simon later did serious damage in the NBA. On the plus side for Simon he is an all time great CBA player, and great free throw shooter.

I'd like to give a shoutout to statsheet.com. What a site. If you love college basketball or refs, go here now.

A Marquette Interlude

Too often a players collegiate achievements are crowded with doubters insisting, "He’ll never be anything in the NBA." Specifically this argument crops up when my friends and I discuss the Marquette back court. I would refer to them as "The Big Three", but I’m tired of everyone being "The Big Three". "The Tantalizing Trio", "The Triple Threats", or if you include Hayward "Hawk, Block, and Two Smoking Barrels" would all be better. Anything is better than "The Big Three". What happened to clever nicknames? Phi Slamma Jamma, Run-TMC, or The Fab Five? All were better nicknames, but now every time there are three good players its "The Big Three". Anyway that foolishness is beside the point. The point is that during arguments about these gentlemen, they are eventually written off as great college players who, aside from McNeal, have little pro hope. I'll be the first to admit, I have doubted them for a long time and neglected to spend the time and effort analyzing their prospects. But let us really break this down and compare these guys to some pros and see if they have a shot.

We’ll start with James. Dominic James burst on the scene as a freshman averaging 15 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and a few seasons worth of highlight dunks and blocks. He had picked up where Dwyane Wade had left off a few seasons before. Marquette was desperate for another star after a few less than stellar seasons wrought with injury and little at guard after Travis Diener. After a sophomore season that was not quite as stellar as his entry into the college world (To be frank, he didn't see a shot he didn't like all season. I think once the ball came to him on the bench and he threw up an airball), James declared for the NBA Draft. After going through the pre draft camps and workouts James quickly found that his lack of jumpshot and shaky point guard skills were not going to get him any higher than the second round, if that. He quickly withdrew his name and is now playing in his senior season. James has seemed a new man this year, working relentlessly on the defensive end, and doing more to get his fellow guards involved, while at least appearing to try and dribble less. Despite his athletic ability, one of the drawbacks on James is his diminutive stature. Listed at a mere 5-11, James would likely struggle to guard a lot of bigger guards in the NBA. However it seems that it has always been those point guard skills that have been holding him back in the eyes of scouts. If he keeps developing those this season, he seems a lock for a second round pick. For fun, lets look at players 6 foot or less in the NBA this season.

NBA Players 6 Foot or Under
Speedy Claxton
DJ Augustin
Sean Singletary
JJ Barea
Will Bynum
Allen Iverson
Aaron Brooks
TJ Ford
Kyle Lowry
Sebastian Telfair
Nate Robinson
Chucky Atkins
Jameer Nelson
Dee Brown
Brevin Knight

If James is able to turn around his jumpshooting and free throw woes, while maintaining his explosion and defensive effort, there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to carve out a Chucky Atkinsesque niche on a team. At the very least, if Dee Brown is able to keep grasping onto 10 day contracts, one has to think James could do the same.

Few players have made greater one year strides in Marquette history as Wes Matthews. After being the forgotten man to an extent the past three years, Matthews has taken over the show this year averaging a robust 18.9 points per game. His new found assertiveness can be seen especially at the stripe where he has had at least 5 free throws in every game except 3 this year. Most impressive about Matthews is his shooting percentage, which has skyrocketed almost 10% this season. Perhaps it is a coincidence, perhaps not, but since Tom Crean has left Marquette, Matthews game has gone to another level. Could it be because the new coach is a little less about himself? Who knows, but if I had to guess I'd say Crean lived in a house with lots of mirrors and Buzz might not even own a home. Personally, I'd rather play for the second guy. With the way he is shooting threes this year, combined with his overall improvements on the offensive end, Matthews has certainly thrown his name into the draft discussion. He will at least garner looks in the second round, perhaps carving out a Charlie Bell type role after a few years. Players who play as smart as him and are as smooth offensively and work that hard defensively usually find a way to stick around.

Now onto the crown jewel of the Marquette backcourt, Jerel McNeal. McNeal has been a terror on the defensive end since he entered college. Playing the passing lanes to perfection and locking up anyone he was assigned to. I doubted McNeal earlier in the year and was treated to this quote by a friend of mine:

In Sports Illustrated, when referring to Jerel McNeal, Connecticut point guard A.J. Price, "He never gambles. He only goes for a steal when he's sure he can get it."

McNeal is not just a defender in name only, he gets after it. When watching the second half of the West Virginia game the other day my dad treated me to a bit of wisdom himself. "I figured it out, I know who he reminds me of, Sidney Moncrief!" Naturally I doubted him without ever having seen a minute of Moncrief play and proceeded to look up Moncrief on basketballreference.com. Moncrief has almost exactly the same measurements as McNeal. I attempted to verify the comparison on youtube and found this Moncrief Interview. The few highlights they have on there do a pretty good job of proving his point. McNeal seems hellbent on proving himself as a future pro this season. He has taken more threes than free throws, as if to say, "HEY GUYS I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS, I CAN SHOOT NOW!!!" I'll give him credit though, he has been hitting at a much more regular clip than any of his firs three seasons. The deciding factore in getting a guy from that first round bubble into a secure pick is usually tournament play. If "McSteal" is able to get Marquette deep into the tournament, I think he has a great shot of securing a round one pick and working his way into a NBA rotation. Taking a page from the book of the recent great guard groups of Illinois and Villanova, it looks like the Marquette backcourt will not let their stars burn out in college.