"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Here we go again: Donovan to Magic, Crean to Florida?

Billy Donovan, the main coach on the Kentucky-go-round last month is now going to coach the Orlando Magic for a cool $6m/year.

That leaves a big opening for a head coach, and you guessed it, Crean's name has already been mentioned:

From the Seattle PI:


The buzz later in the afternoon of course was the Billy Donovan-Orlando Magic deal and it was funny because Marquette coach Tom Crean walked right next to me before the night session of the predraft games and looked relaxed and cool. But he is probably going to be the Gators' No. 1 choice to replace Donovan.


Just when you thought it was a good week to give up smoking ...

Warrior plates for FIBs?


Digressing from Dominic James Mania ..

Courtesy of the guys at MUScoop.com .. from the Illinois bureau:

By DANA HEUPEL

STATE CAPITOL BUREAU

The Illinois Senate approved a bill Wednesday to allow private universities in contiguous states with more than 10,000 alumni in Illinois to request the plates.

Money from the specialty plates would go for scholarships for Illinois students who attend those universities. .. "I'd like to hear from the president of DePaul or Loyola what they think about having Marquette license plates running around the streets of Chicagoland," he said.


That might be the only good thing about living in Illinois!

You can get a UW license plate in Wisconsin, maybe the WI Legislature should get on the stick, and give us some MU plates.

Dominic James struggles in Orlando

Things are not going well for DJ in the Magic Kingdom. The most savage review of his play can be found on NBADraft.net which, despite the ridiculous fiction about Tom Crean's alleged wanderlust (a mind-blowing piece of lousy reporting, frankly), is in-line with what other three other draft observers are saying about DJ's performance:

"Dominic James appears to be the player that made the biggest mistake playing here. His stock is plummeting and it could have a lingering effect on next year as well, should he return to Marquette. James decided to enter the draft when it appeared coach Tom Crean might be leaving for greener pastures. After it became apparent that wasn't happening, James decided to continue to "explore his draft options". Big mistake. James first game in the camp he went scoreless on 0-3 shooting with 0 assists. Even worse than the terrible game, his inability to run a team has been exposed."
Wait, there's more. Here's the day two assessment from DraftExpress:
"...going up against players like Aaron Brooks, James looked very non-descript as an athlete, and almost tentative in the way he approached the game.

James rarely looked to score in this one, but his lack of size was apparent whenever he did. Given his shooting struggles and continuing tendency to waste precious of the shot clock by hanging onto the ball, these just aren’t good signs coming from a prospect that was thought of as a potential lottery pick at the beginning of the season."
This account of last night's game from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer seems to validate James' ineffectiveness against Aaron Brooks, who is a second-round pick at best.

ESPN's Chad Ford is more to the point about Dominic's performance, "he was the only player here to do virtually nothing in the game. If that's not the signal he needs to go back to Marquette, I don't know what is." FWIW, James' line from last night's game was 0 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 steal, 0-3 fg’s, 0-2 ft’s.

Not to be outdone, STATS via CNNSI jumped into the mix - - rather diplomatically:

James has shown good quickness and driving ability, and has done a solid job trying to get teammates involved. But playing in the same backcourt with Cook in Wednesday night's final game, James went scoreless as he missed three shots from the field and he failed to record an assist.

"This is an important step for me as far as the camp goes," said James, who averaged 14.9 points and 4.9 assists as a sophomore. "I really wanna come out here and perform well just so they can see I can run a team in a different manner than what I did in college because it's different personnel and it's a different style game when you get into the NBA."

It wasn't a style many players grasped Wednesday night."


If you are keeping score at home, that's an 0-4 night for DJ. In baseball, they refer to a performance like this as the Golden Sombrero. James will have a shot at redemption tonight when Team#3 takes the court at 6:30pm.

The guys at MU Scoop are talking about Dominic James' struggles early at the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando here.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

James: "I'm just looking for a guarantee"

Who needs a first round guarantee? According to CNNSI's Luke Winn, not Dominic James:

The chatter amongst NBA folks is that James wants to stay in the draft; and according to him, it may not require a first-round guarantee to make it happen. James said he would strongly consider something akin to what former Texas guard Daniel Gibson received last season, which was an assurance from Cleveland that he would not slip past its pick in the second round, and then a guaranteed two-year deal once he was selected in that spot. "I'm just looking for a guarantee, that's all," said James.
Is it just me, or does it seem that DJ desperately wants to close the book on his college career? Of course, DJ doesn't want to become the next Chris "The Polka King" Thomas either. Regardless, good luck this week in Orlando, DJ.

Still, with MU's own Travis Diener and Steve Novak signing guaranteed multi-year contracts based on second round draft slots - - James' logic is sound. Somewhat risky, but sound. Consider that players like Carlos Boozer, Michael Redd and even Jim McIlvaine benefited greatly by being second round picks. As second rounders, these players became free agents more quickly where they each cashed-in big time rather than being locked up with a deal that would have paid them less than the average annual value of their second contracts.

(FWIW, Daniel Gibson signed a two-year guaranteed deal with the Cavs worth $412,748 in this season and $687,456 in 07-08.)

Chad Ford breaks down Dominic James

The NBA pre-draft camp began yesterday in Orlando, and ESPN.com's Chad Ford listed Dominic James as one of the key entrants that GM's will be watching closely:

Dominic James, PG, Marquette

James was left off the roster until the last minute despite the fact that many NBA scouts had him ranked as a late first-rounder for much of the year.

He hit a horrific shooting slump in the second half of the season and watched his stock drop. But he's got the speed, strength and explosiveness to be a NBA player. He'll need to show more floor leadership and the ability to knock down jumpers here if he wants to get back into the first round.

By Ford's best guesstimate, 42 of his top 60 potential draft picks are not participating in this week's pre-draft camp...."that would leave only 18 draft spots for the 62 players here."

IMHO, things are breaking right for Dominic James at this camp. He was called in late - so you'd expect him to be hungrier than most. In addition, as Ford points out the talent level at the camp is sub-par which should provide James with an opportunty to shine against PG prospects like Taurean Green, Mustafa Shakur, and Jared Jordan - - - none of whom figure to be able to keep up with DJ' freakish athleticism, if not overall game.

At the pre-draft camp, you can find Dominic James on Team#3 where his teammates are:
  • Winthrop's Craig Bradshaw
  • OSU's Daequan Cook
  • ORU's Caleb Green
  • Maryland's Ekene Ibekwe
  • Texas A&M's Joseph Jones
  • OSU's Ron Lewis
  • KSU's Cartier Martin
  • Loyola's Blake Schilb
  • Wright State's Dashaun Wood (MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational)
This seems like a good mix for James. Wood is the only other PG on the squad - - and both Lewis and Cook are terrific outside shooters, which should help showcase James' passing abilities (not to mention his ability to take a defender off the dribble).

Some reports indicate that ESPNU will televise certain portions of the NBA pre-draft camp this week - -we'll post a schedule here if we can track one down.

DraftExpress has an assessement of Day One of the camp here - - no mention of DJ.

Monday, May 28, 2007

James gets invite to Orlando -- is his departure imminent?

Dominic James will now participate in the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando which starts on Tuesday. James was extended an invitation per Todd Rosiak (who also notes that Iman Shumpert took an unofficial visit to MU today).

What does this mean for DJ's basketball future? If you believe the Jonathan Givony at DraftExpress -- James' departure is a 'foregone conclusion'.

We shall see - - to put it kindly, Givony is not the most credible reporter on NBA draft-related issues.

In a related item, Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman rates James as the 6th best point guard prospect in the current draft pool.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Iman Shumpert Update

How good is Iman Shumpert?

According to Taylor Bell of the Chicago Sun-Times - - - he's exceptional. And the 6-4 combo guard from suburban Chicago lists MU as one of his top 5, and it looks like MU will get a visit from the rising junior. Here's the update from the Sun-Times.

Wait, there's more.

The Peoria Journal Star profiles the state of Illinois' fastest rising junior as well - - and the raves are consistent with the Taylor Bell report:

"He's been phenomenal all spring,'' said Dave Telep, national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. "He's a big, legitimate combo guard who I think may have a long-term future as a point guard. He's shot the ball well and has a tremendous basketball IQ.

"He's a case study in being a late bloomer. He's hitting his stride now. Some kids hit their strides early on. He couldn't be hitting it at a better time. There's no looking back now.''

According to the PJS, Shumpert has already visited Illinois, the Peoples' Republic of Madison, Bradley, ND and Northwestern unofficially. Looks like he will try to visit MU, Georgai Tech and Clemson unofficially as well -- then pare his list to five programs by Labor Day.

While it appears that Shumpert's recruiting will take time, he listed Tom Crean as a coach he has a comfortable relationship with.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Defending the paint

Here's the latest Cracked Sidewalks contribution from Ray Floriani of Hoopville.net and Basketball Times:


I can’t believe it was eleven weeks ago on a snowy, icy Wednesday the Big East Tournament tipped off. One of the media goodies is the Big East post-season guide which is loaded with statistics, the type yours truly loves to break down.

A recent favorite of mine has been two point field goal percentage. Below I’ve composed a list of the Big East rankings in two point FG percentage defense. This gives a good read on a team’s interior defense. Granted, not every two point attempt is in the paint but a great deal are. The fifteen foot jumper, as coach Al would have said, ‘has gone the way of the dinosaur’. Transition layups are different than post ups or put backs. Still, if you are not back on defense to stop the break and easy hoop, you have team defensive issues.

At any rate, the standings are below. (Only Big East regular season games were computed)

Two Point FG % by team

  1. SU -- 40%
  2. UConn -- 42%
  3. DPU -- 44%
  4. GU -- 44%
  5. Ville -- 45%
  6. Nova -- 45%
  7. ND -- 46%
  8. USF -- 47%
  9. MU -- 47%
  10. RU -- 47%
  11. PC -- 48%
  12. Pitt 48%
  13. SJU -- 50%
  14. UC -- 50%
  15. WVU -- 53%
  16. SHU -- 54%

A few notes:
  • No surprise at the bottom. Seton Hall struggled inside and West Virginia was very perimeter oriented but did a great job hiding defensive deficiencies.
  • Syracuse is at the top largely due to Darryl Watkins' and Terrence Roberts' presence inside.
  • UConn benefited from Haseem Thabeet’s conference-leading sixty rejections and probably a few other altered attempts.
  • Marquette finished ninth in this category as they did in overall field goal defense. The Golden Eagles, despite not being exceptional upfront, were not overly exploited in the lane on defense.

Ray Floriani

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Now, Orlando's coach fired for not playing Diener

A few days ago, we reported Steve Novak's coach, Jeff Van Gundy, was fired from Houston for not giving Steve enough playing time.

Well, now it's Travis Diener's turn. Brian Hill, Orlando's coach, was fired today for not giving Travis enough PT.

Clearly, the message has been sent to coaches around the NBA: Leave Marquette's NBA players on your bench at your own peril.

MU going to the Great White North Eh

The Marquette University men's basketball team is heading to the Kanadian Korner, also known as the Great White North later this Summer. Tom Crean's club will play in Vancouver in several exhibition games according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MU will play the games over the Labor Day weekend holiday in much the same way they tavelled to Costa Rica a few years ago.

More from Rosiak

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tim Buckley is back at Marquette; Blackledge?

As we reported some time ago, former MU assistant Tim Buckley is back with the Marquette basketball program per Rosiak's blog. Buckley, formerly the head coach at Ball State University, was hired as MU's director of basketball operations to replace the recently departed Todd Townsend (he left for an assistant's gig at Northeastern).

OK, its great to have Buckley back in the fold at MU -- but who are we kidding, he's back as the director of basketball operations? The man was a D1 head coach and most recently served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. This writer can't imagine Buckley settled for a director of basketball ops position unless he knew a bona fide assistant coaching position would open up on the MU bench soon. Hey, this is just speculation, but Buckley is decidedly overqualified for the role he just accepted. Kudos to TC for attracting strong coaching talent like Buckley, but let's watch this space.

Speaking of spectator sports, the Trend Blackledge academic progress watch is still in process. According to Rosiak's blog, Blackledge's academic status 'has yet to be determined'.

Umm, hello...what the heck is taking so long??

Finals concluded on May 12 and final grades are undoubtedly in (a no-brainer since graudation was held on May 20). As Crean himself said back in February when Blackledge was declared ineligible, "There's never going to be a double standard for academics; you're either taking care of it or you're not."

Academics with TC are binary. So why does he appear to be waffling or buying time now? Either Blackledge held up his end of the bargain or not.

The cynic might say that Dominic James' NBA dreams are part of the 'complicated process' involving Blackledge's scholarship.

Monday, May 21, 2007

DJ not invited to Orlando Camp

An "unofficial" list was released yesterday of the 60 NBA hopefuls that were invited to the Orlando Pre-Draft camp.

Marquette's Dominic James was not on that list of 60, but was one of three the "alternates."

That's pretty surprising. One would figure out of 60 guys, there's at least a dozen PGs. How DJ isn't one of the top 60 potential draftees, nor one of the top dozen PGs is interesting. This would solidify the idea that James isn't going to be a 1st round pick, for sure.

Additionally, the theory was that DJ wanted to test the waters and hope to "blow up" at the pre-draft camp to see if/where he'd be drafted. Yesterday's news would indicate the greater likelihood that he'll be back wearing #1 for the Warriors next season.

Andy Katz' blog has this:

Marquette sophomore guard Dominic James is an alternate for the Orlando pre-draft camp next week but that's not forcing him to withdraw from the NBA draft -- yet.

Marquette coach Tom Crean said that James has at least four workouts with NBA teams from June 6-18. Crean said he advised James that if he were going to test the draft process, then he had to maximize every day.

There is still a chance that James could be added to the Orlando camp roster, considering there are usually a number of players who are pulled by their representation as the week gets closer.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Van Gundy Fired for Not Playing Novak

Hot off the AP Wire:

HOUSTON -- Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was fired Friday, less than two weeks after Houston made yet another first-round playoff exit.

Jeff Van Gundy was ultimately done in by his inability to get the Rockets to be more than a first-round playoff team. Rockets owner, Les Alexander also added "The guy wouldn't play that Novak kid. I'm not paying him $600 g's a year to carry Ming's bags. I'm paying Novak to shoot the rock for 3. After Van Gundy screwed Steve out of some PT in front of his family in Milwaukee, I knew I had to fire him."

The Rockets went 52-30 this season but lost to Utah in seven games, raising the possibility Van Gundy was going to resign or be dismissed.

Well, there you go. My cut/paste function doesn't always work right, so I had to paraphrase a few lines up there, but you get the idea.

Clearly, the next Rockets coach better play Steve.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Ganzer / Rosiak on TWC Sports Roundtable

Jim Ganzer (IWB) and Todd Rosiak are special guests on TWC's Sports Roundtable show today, on Channel 32 on your Time-Warner Cable.

I've just gotten done watching it, and Ganzer (of MarquetteHoops.com) has a spooky encyclopedic recall of not just Marquette recruits, but also UW, UWM, and UWGB.

Here's hoping Dennis Krause has these guys on many times when the season starts.

The show is repeated many times. Fire up your Tivo:

Thursday May 17:
10:30 pm

Friday May 18
7am, 5:30pm, 11:30pm

Saturday May 19
1am, 7am.

Not sure if every one of those showtimes will be with Ganzer/Rosiak, as they repeat past episodes too.

Speaking of Dennis Krause, he had Tom Crean on last week for 30 minutes. Great interview. MarquetteHoops.com has part 1 of the transcript. Good read.

Cottingham to remain AD longer


JS Online's Don Walker is reporting that Steve Cottingham, Marquette's interim athletic director will continue for another year. The search for a permanent director will "be launched late this year." Also, Cottingham "nor any of MU's head coaches" would be candidates for AD. -- So the thoughts of Crean taking the position are officially put to rest.

Also to note, Mike Broeker has been named deputy athletic director, giving him rule over the Warrior Shoppe and the Nelligan Sports Marketing stuff.

There's no doubt it will take some time to fill Bill Cords' big shoes. Good luck to Steve and Mike with their positions.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Big East Tournament expanding?

  • 12 teams or 16 teams.
  • four days or five days.
  • selling 38,000 more tickets.
  • upselling corporate sponsorships.
  • convincing MSG that four more games from the Big East is good for business.
Per Andy Katz' blog today, the Big East is considering moving to a full 16-team conference tournament at MSG next spring. The guys at MUScoop picked up on this one - talk about it here.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Where are you now: Mike Bargen

Ah the wonders of Google. We now know that Mike Bargen, Marquette graduate, is the new head coach of the Butler (KS) Community College Grizzlies. Congratulations on your first head coaching position, Mike!

Here's a blurb on Bargen's latest recruiting success.

Maybe Mike's MUScoop Wiki page could use an update? Jump in!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Jamil Wilson feature

Jamil Wilson. Big Time Player -- and likely Tom Crean's top recruiting target for the class of 2009. An athletic and versatile SF, Wilson is exactly the kind of player MU has lacked for some time. He'd be a terrific fit for MU (and dozens of other programs, to be sure), the kind of player that'd help ratchet the program up a notch.

Prepspotlight.com feature on the talented Racine sophomore
.

Tim Buckley back to Marquette?

Nothing official on the former MU assistant and Ball State head coach -- but folks at MUScoop are talking about it.

Blogger's view of MU

Big East Basketball report offers perspectives on the state of MU hoops moving into 2007-2008. Nice work.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Dominic James Update

Dominic James has more than a month to make a decision about his basketball future, and early indications are he'll need all of that time to evaluate his options. According to today's Indianapolis Star, James remains a 'bubble player' who could be selected in either the late first or early second rounds of the upcoming NBA draft.

With help from Tom Crean, the NBA's draft advisory committee - - a small group of talent evaluators who assess the draftability of declared underclassmen -- is providing James with candid feedback on his value:

Crean values the committee as an independent, objective source of information. He used it in 2003 to get feedback on behalf of Dwyane Wade, who was taken fifth by Miami after his junior season. So far, however, the committee is less positive regarding James' status.......

......."In the case of Dominic it wasn't like he got great news that made it a no-brainer, but we've heard enough other things to be able to say there's an opportunity and an option. Now he has to do as much as he possibly can with it."
After completing finals next week, James will turn his attention to an aggressive workout schedule to prepare for the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando on June 4-8. Following the camp, the advisory committee will provide an updated assessment of James' draft prospects (on or about June 13).

Per the quote below, James sounds hungry -- but as a fan I have to ask, how and why did you lose your edge in the first place?
"I'm going to constantly be in the gym," he said. "Last year I came in with a chip on my shoulder. I got a lot of praise and kind of lost that chip. I've got that chip back."
I guess there might have been truth to the buzz on the message boards (largely from gr8one/Murff, who was ripped for this assertion throughout the season) that James had at least one eye on the NBA for most of his sophomore campaign.

If that chip on his shoulder had been present for the duration 2006-2007 season, James might have had much less to prove in Orlando next month.


UPDATED

Monday, May 07, 2007

Diploma Mills no more

In case you missed it, late last week the NCAA approved a new rule that prohibits prospective student-athletes from attending prep schools for a year to improve their academic standing following four years of traditional high school.

Per the Washington Post "the new rule states that upon entering ninth grade, athletes have four years to meet the eligibility standards in core academic courses to participate in college athletics; following those four years, they may take only one additional core course to achieve eligibility at any high school recognized by the NCAA."

The rule has far-reaching ramifications -- its also sure to largely elimiate 'reclassification' which is a high school euphamism for redshirting or repeating a grade.

Adam Zagoria has a couple of informative posts on his blog -- including this one which includes interviews with a couple of prep school coaches. The coaches are concerned about the status of players currently on their rosters - will these students be grandfathered-in?

Who knows, but the take-away here is simple: the pressure is on student-athletes to get their academic house in order much earlier in life. Gone are the days when marginal students can count on the extra year of prep school to overcome academic deficiencies.

Perhaps its merely a coincidence, but one of these 'diploma mills', Boys to Men in Chicago, will no longer have athletics in the 2007-2008 academic year. That's interesting since the school was founded by its now former basketball coach, Loren Jackson, and most of (all of??) the student body just so happened to play basketball.

How convenient.

Programs like Boys to Men are a far cry from established prep schools like South Kent (CT) or Notre Dame Prep (MA), which have deep academic roots dating back decades. While so-called diploma mills will be weeded out because of this new rule, traditional prep schools should be able to attract student-athletes earlier in their high school careers due to the emphasis the new rule places on academic progress over a four-year period.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

The $1.5M Man

$1,547,044

This just in......Tom Crean makes alot of money.

$1,547,044

More details here in an article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

What do you want for $1,547,044? I'll take what we've been getting -- these are very good times for Marquette hoops. But hey, I'm greedy -- and want a few more more things:

  • One (maybe two) 6-9, 245 pound PF/C's please. Ideally with good back to the basket skills. One, just one of these kids -- every other year;
  • One quintessential small forward that can annihilate the opposition, just as opposing SFs routinely do to MU (thank goodness Tucker, Chandler and Nichols are gone);
  • No more Juco players;
  • A February (or March) free of injury from a key starter;
  • Another year with Dominic James in the program;
  • A return trip to the Sweet 16 in 2007-2008.
What do you want for $1,547,044?

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

MU not going to lose scholarships in APR


Message boards have been buzzing over the NCAA Academic Progress Report data, which show that sanctions (read: scholarship losses) are being assessed for the first time under the program introduced several years ago.

Previously, Cracked Sidewalks analyzed MU's impact under the APR requirements in 2006 and 2005.

When they announced the program, the NCAA intended to use 4 years worth of data when analyzing teams. With the addition of the 2006-07 season to the APR data, the NCAA now has four years of data on schools.

The way the NCAA calculates the APR, teams get credit each semester for players that remain academically eligible and return for the following semester.

Each player theoretically has 4 points--one for staying academically eligible for the 1st semester--one for returning for the 2nd semester--one for staying academically eligible for the 2nd semester--one for returning for the next semester

Assuming the worst case--Blackledge neither passes spring 07, nor returns in the fall, and James doesn't return in the fall, MU's points this year look something like this:

Note that we don't know if Trend actually failed to stay academically eligible or is going to transfer--this is just the worst case conjecture for planning purposes.

Dominic James: 3 of 4 -- possible NBA
Lawrence Blackledge: 2 of 4 -- possible transfer/academic casualty
Jerel McNeal: 4 of 4
Wes Matthews: 4 of 4
Dan Fitzgerald: 4 of 4
Ousmane Barro: 4 of 4
Jamil Lott: 4 of 4
Mike Kinsella 4 of 4
Dwight Burke: 4 of 4
David Cubillan: 4 of 4
Maurice Acker: 4 of 4
Lazar Haward: 4 of 4
Total: 45 of 48

For 05-06:
Steve Novak: 4 of 4
Dominic James: 4 of 4
Jerel McNeal: 4 of 4
Wes Matthews: 4 of 4
Joe Chapman: 4 of 4
Ryan Amoroso: 3 of 4 - transfer
Dan Fitzgerald: 4 of 4
Ousmane Barro: 4 of 4
Jamil Lott: 4 of 4
Mike Kinsella 4 of 4
Chris Grimm: 4 of 4
Dwight Burke: 4 of 4
Matt Mortenten: 3 of 4 -- became ineligible
Team Total: 50 of 52.

04-05
Travis Diener: 4 of 4
Steve Novak: 4 of 4
Dameon Mason: 3 of 4 -- transfer
Joe Chapman: 4 of 4
Ryan Amoroso: 4 of 4
Todd Townsend: 4 of 4
Marcus Jackson: 4 of 4
Ousmane Barro: 4 of 4
Niv Berkowitz: 0 of 2 -- Dropped out middle of 2nd semester
Mike Kinsella: 4 of 4
Chris Grimm: 4 of 4
Total of 39 of 42.

For the 03-04 season:
Karon Bradley: 3 of 4 -- transfer
Carlton Christian: 3 of 4 -- transfer
Brandon Bell: 1 of 2 -- transfer
James Matthews: 1 of 2 -- transfer after 1st semester
Scott Merritt: 4 of 4
Steve Novak: 4 of 4
Terry Sanders: 4 of 4
Joe Champan: 4 of 4
Travis Diener: 4 of 4
Dameon Mason: 4 of 4
Chris Grimm: 4 of 4
Marcus Jackson: 4 of 4
Todd Townsend: 4 of 4
Team Total: 43 of 48.

The four year total is 177 of 190 possible points, for a total of 93.2%. The NCAA reports this number as an APR of 932.This number will be reported in the spring of 2008, to determine scholarships for the 2008-09 season.

The good news is that MU's poorest APR year will be removed from the analysis, and replaced with data from the 2007-08 season. Recall that in 2002-03, MU saw Bell, Christan, Bradley and James Matthews leave the program.

Tom Crean has a new job

Tom Crean has a new job...sort of. Reporter for WTMJ as he grabbed the microphone and interviewed Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets (a friend of the Marquette basketball program).

Take a look and listen on the WTMJ website

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

More recruiting updates

For what it's worth, ESPN's final 2007 rankings have Trevor Mbakwe ranked 73rd in the country and Scott Christopherson 144. Congratulations to both.

For the class of 2008, verbally committed Nick Williams is also currently in their top 100.

In addition for the class of 2008, MU is said to have at least 7 players strongly considering the university, per the ESPN list:

Iman Shumpert - Oak Park, IL top 100
Max Kenyi - Washington, D.C. top 100
Collin Chieverton - San Jose, CA top 100
Renaldo Woolridge - North Hollywood, CA top 100
Armond Battle - St. Louis Park, MN top 250
Patrick Jackson - Brooklyn, NY top 250
Rayshawn Goins - Cleveland, OH
Carrington Tankson - Osseo, MN


Beyond the ESPN list, other players that MU is known to be actively recruiting for the class of 2008 (most of these are names we have reported on in the past here at Cracked Sidewalks) include:

PG Jordan Theodore, Paterson, NJ
PG Rotnei Clarke - Claremore, OK

SF Luke Fabrizius - Arlington Heights, IL
SF/PF Jonathan Baldwin - Aliquippa, PA

PF Angel Garcia - East Chicago, IN
PF Dominique Rutledge - Edison, NJ
PF Quintrell Thomas - Elzabeth, NJ
PF Stan Simpson - Chicago, IL
PF Josh Crittle - Chicago, IL
C Michael Dunigan - Chicago, IL (have not seen MU mentioned with him in a while though)
C Maurice Sutton - Upper Marlboro, MD


For the class of 2009


SF Jamil Wilson - Racine, WI top 100 (MU offer in-hand)

In addition, Maquette has offered sholarships to three additional players in the class of 2009:

SG Nolan Dennis - North Richland Hills, TX
SF Michael Haynes - Chicago, IL
SF/ PF Erik Murphy - Southborough, MA

For the class of 2010, MU has already offered Evan Anderson (so has Wisconsin)

In addition, MU is very interested in Flavien Davis from Milwaukee. Davis is interested in Marquette, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Michigan and Arizona.