Tom Crean has brought another Mr. Basketball into the fold. Scott Christopherson was honored today as the co-winner of Mr. Basketball in the state of Wisconsin. It is the first time in the 26 year history of the award that two players have won the award.
Congratulations to Scott.
You can find a complete article on Mark Miller's WisHoops Basketball Site
OUTSTANDING.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Scott!
can someone tell me why everyone thinks tom crean is such a good recruit. I mean yeah he got lucky, REAL lucky with dwayne wade but other than that what is it? I mean looking at the rivals top150 weve got one guy at 146, thats it. I mean schools like purdue and iowa state have 3 or 4 ahead of that. Is it something im not seeing?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the poster above, although not with his grammar. Crean's entire reputation was for recruiting, but we just haven't seen it.
ReplyDeleteWith the Al McGuire Center, Dwyane Wade on our side, a recent FF appearance and the Big East, we should be getting players. Why are we not?
You watch the NCAA and you see almost every team in the tournament has more talented big men and wing players. The talent of our point guard is unquestionable, but even McNeal and Matthews are limited both size-wise and athletically.
What is going on?
agreed. The only good big man Crean recriuted was Merritt, and he didn't want to bang with the big boys. Barro will be a senior and is still a project who looks lost at times. Lott, Burke et al. have major weaknesses (can't shoot, too small) and are not D-I calibre.
ReplyDeleteAs for Christopherson, I really like his game but will he get much of a chance next year? He should probably redshirt, although he'll probably be MU's best outside sooter.
why is everyone whining about Crean? We were ranked all year, he'll never compete with the blue chip so called, NC's Duke, OH state, etc..compare Milwaukee to Chapel Hill and there is no comparison to the 18 year old prospect. the fact he has done as well as he has can't be overlooked. Al used to say, give me one blue chipper a year and he'd be set. When OOze was in the double-double mode we were happy. Its VERY COMPETITIVE on the recruit trail and a 14th best class 2 years ago and ranking all year speaks for itself. By the way, what was Cube ranked when we got him. Next year we are going to be incredible with a maturing team, all the contributors back and some new talent to shore up weak spots.
ReplyDeletenot to say that we wont be better than this year but you mean to tell me that a school like iowa state (the middle of some farm), and Purdue deserve to have a better recruiting class than us?
ReplyDeleteFirst off, we have TWO guys in the top 150, one of which is in the top 100 in Trevor Mkwabe.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's DWYANE Wade, not Dwayne Wade.
I would expect a true Marquette fan to know that.
You are forgetting Amo who decided to transfer for reasons which will not be publicized on this board.
Finally, what does "deserving" have to do with anything. In Iowa kids dream about going to Iowa or Iowa State. In Indiana, kids dream about going to IU or Purdue.
We have some great talent on the MU team and just landed another Mr. Basketball so the result is, more bitching from the fans. No wonder Kevin O'Neill and Rick Majerus left. MU fans are whining little babies.
There's one big thing that people tend to forget about in recruiting basketball players and that is playing time. Unlike college football where nobody contributes until sophomore or junior year and there are dozens of scholarships available, plus the odds of injury, hoops doesn't have that. There are only five guys on the court and 40-minutes to divvy up amongst a team. Sure, "programs" like Duke, UNC, Kansas can re-load and players may be willing to wait a year on the bench. But the programs that can afford that luxury are few and far between. Most premier recruits want to play…and play right away.
ReplyDeleteLook to next year at point guard. MU has Maurice Acker ready to take over the point guard back-up duties. He was MAC Freshman of the Year in 2006. You have Cubillan who'll have one year of seasoning and can spell that position for 5-10 min/game. Then, you have/don't have Dom.James returning, not to mention McNeal and Matthews. If you are a true, top flight PG, why would you come here when you are third or fourth in the pecking order?
MU, realistically, has to recruit "needs" and forecast what they "need" one, two seasons down the road. Why spin wheels on a top flight PG they no will not go to MU because he won't play? It's well known that MU needs a good big guy down low. We have that in Mbakwe next year and we got a shooter in Christopherson. Not too bad.
The BIGGEST disappointment I've had w/Crean is how poorly his class of 2003 turned out to be. The kids he got signed prior to the final four season did not turn out at all. They either didn't perform well on the court, the classroom, or in the lockeroom and subsequently transferred. And, it is that huge gap that has really f'd up MU for the last couple years. Think about it. MU had no underclassman of quality getting better and better in each successfive year post-final four playing under Diener and Novak. This is the class that would have graduated this year.
And as you all saw, look who we celebrated on Senior Day 2007 - Mike Kinsella and Jamil Lott. You didn't see Dameon Mason, Carlton Christian, Brandon Bell, Karon Bradley and three other players I'm blanking out on. Now, had any of these guys stayed, would we have Matthews AND McNeal AND James? Probably not. It just shows you how fickle destiny can be in the recruiting wars sometimes and how things can turn out for the best…or the worst.