Most Improved MU Player - Ever

Comments in the All-Milwaukee Metro MU All-Star Team thread got me to thinking (always a dangerous situation).

Which player improved the most during his MU career from the player he was when he entered MU to the player he was when he left?

For me, three candidates immediately come to mind: Tony Smith, Earl Tatum, and Chris Crawford.

Smith was a one-dimensional offensive player when he entered MU. He could get to the hoop and finish because of his superior athleticism. But he had no shot whatsoever outside of about five feet - kind of like George (Sugar) Frazier. But unlike Frazier, Smith developed not just into a solid outside shooter, but a very good outside shooter. He didn't shoot a lot of treys, but he did make a combined 44.4% his final two years. He also became a much better ball handler, good enough to do a solid job at point his senior year.

His freshman year was pretty respectable. He averaged 8.1 ppg on offense and was a very good on-ball defender. But no one expected him to average 23.8 ppg his final year at MU, let alone set the MU single-game scoring record, which still stands more than a quarter century later.

As for Earl, he came into MU having been viewed as one of the Top 25-30 high school players in the country in Mount Vernon, so expectations were extremely high. Al called Earl "the black Jerry West." Talk about setting the bar high. But Earl was nowhere near ready to contribute as a freshman. He played in only 16 games and averaged 1.5 ppg. That was the first year freshmen were eligible, but when he was on the court, it was painfully obvious he was in way over his head. He looked completely lost on both offense and defense.

He improved a ton his sophomore season and started every game and continued to improve as a junior. But his senior year was one of the best seasons I've ever seen any MU player have, good enough to be selected as second team A-A. After the DePaul game in Chicago, All commented that it was the best game he had ever seen any of his players ever have. Earl didn't average as many ppg his senior season as Tony Smith did, but he didn't have to not playing alongside Walton, Lee, Ellis, and Whitehead. But make no mistake, that was as terrific a senior season as any player I've seen at MU.

Then there's Chris Crawford. CC was one of the finalist for Mr. Basketball in Michigan his senior year of high school, but he did pretty much a whole lot of nothing his freshman year at MU. Like Earl, he averaged 1.8 ppg, and he played in only 18 games. Two other freshmen in his his class - Pieper and Abraham - were a ton more productive than he was. His sophomore year was only slightly better - 6.2 ppg. I doubt anyone would have predicted he'd finish hid career at a 1,000-point scorer. But he did.

His senior year was nowhere near as outstanding as Tony's or Earl's were, but he did average just a tad under 15 ppg (14.9). I would rank his progress from freshman to senior season behind Tony's and Earl's, but he did improve quite a bit over his four-year career.

I'm sure I am missing quite a few other potential candidates for "Most Improved Warrior." Anyone else care to weigh in? (I'm guessing Murff will add a few players from the 50s.)

Jimmy would be on there for me. He looked lost when he got there, and turned himself into a first round pick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MUfan12

Jimmy would be on there for me. He looked lost when he got there, and turned himself into a first round pick.

---

Jimmy was my first thought. My roommate at the time and I both thought he had NBA potential from his first year because of his size and raw ability, but it was really raw. Developing into a guy who was an absolute lock-down defender (his defense on Tu Holloway is still one of the most impressive single-game feats I've ever seen from a Marquette player) and leader on the offensive end was phenomenal.

Vander was another guy that really improved. I wish we could've seen what he was as a senior. He was always a solid defender, but he improved every facet of his offense. He went from a guy who couldn't score at any level as a freshman to reliable at all three levels as a junior. His three-point shooting wasn't great, but certainly better than the 16% he had when he arrived.

Amal McCaskill went from a guy who couldn't play at all when he got here to an NBA player by the time he left. He and Jimmy were the 2 that came to mind for me.

Jimmy played almost 20 mpg his first year at MU, and was usually over 20 mpg by the season's end. He was the fifth leading scorer on a team that has the three amigos as seniors and Lazar as a junior. So while he certainly did improve, I don't think it completely came out of nowhere. Chris Crawford I think is a much better example.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Markedman

Amal McCaskill went from a guy who couldn't play at all when he got here to an NBA player by the time he left. He and Jimmy were the 2 that came to mind for me.

---

I second this. Amal never got off the bench as a junior in high school in the game I saw St. Joe's play and wasn't a rotation player at all for that season.

Crawford, McCaskill, Jimmy in that order.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheSultan

Jimmy played almost 20 mpg his first year at MU, and was usually over 20 mpg by the season's end. He was the fifth leading scorer on a team that has the three amigos as seniors and Lazar as a junior. So while he certainly did improve, I don't think it completely came out of nowhere. Chris Crawford I think is a much better example.

---

At 5.6 ppg. The sixth leading scorer was 2.8 ppg.

He became a valuable glue guy by the end of that sophomore year, but nowhere near the player he would become.

I would go with McCaskill. A great example of how using a redshirt year for a big guy can really help out.

I think Crawford was considered to be a good player coming in, but I think part of his issue was related to playing baseball all offseason as opposed to basketball.

A few comments about Jimmy. I watched a few of his games when he was a freshman in juco, including the game his team lost in the NJCAA Tournament. Fulce was the star of that team (second team juco A-A while Jimmy was Honorable Mention). Two other starters on that team also went to D-1 the next year besides Joe and Jimmy - the 7'0' center who went to Iowa State and a guard who went to Central Florida or somewhere like that.

Joe fouled out near the end of regulation or early in overtime, and Jimmy took over. He was unstoppable. I think he ended up with over 40 points.

But that team played nothing but 2-3 zone, and I wondered while watching their games if Jimmy or Joe would be able to handle man to man when they got to MU. It was obvious in the open scrimmage at Madness that Jimmy had no clue. He had played no man for at least a year, and they had just started practice earlier that week. He couldn't stay in front of his man, and he was completely out of it in terms of rotations and team defense. But what did anyone expect?

But Jimmy picked up Buzz's defensive philosophy and principles before BE play even began.. Offensively, Jimmy basically had to just stay out of the way and let the Amigos and Lazar get their shots. He simply had to keep the ball moving and crash the offensive glass - which he did exceptionally well, even as a sophomore.

I think Jimmy's progress from year to year was consistent, but he was already a productive player his first year at MU. Earl and Chris - as well as Amal - rode the pine their first year because they weren't ready to contribute. Tony contributed off the bench, but I think his senior year he was a more dominant player than Jimmy was.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phantom Warrior

But Jimmy picked up Buzz's defensive philosophy and principles before BE play even began.. Offensively, Jimmy basically had to just stay out of the way and let the Amigos and Lazar get their shots. He simply had to keep the ball moving and crash the offensive glass - which he did exceptionally well, even as a sophomore.

I think Jimmy's progress from year to year was consistent, but he was already a productive player his first year at MU. Earl and Chris - as well as Amal - rode the pine their first year because they weren't ready to contribute. Tony contributed off the bench, but I think his senior year he was a more dominant player than Jimmy was.

---

For me, this exemplifies why I put Jimmy atop my list. He made huge strides from the start of that season through the end. I think as far as basketball IQ goes, Jimmy is one of the highest IQ players we've had here in a long time. He just got the game and learned the game incredibly well. Went from a virtual non-factor to start the season to our 6th man by the end of the year, and the next two years was a team leader.

The word that comes to mind for me when I think of him is savvy. He just got it, and if he didn't, he was a quick student and absorbed about everything. I suppose there are other arguments for players who improved more during their stay at Marquette, but in terms of overall improvement, I don't know that I've seen anyone improve more from what Jimmy was when he arrived to what he is now. That might go for just about any player in any sport.

I just thought of another player whom I think is a candidate for most improved MU player ever - Robert Byrd.

Byrd was a freshman on the team that won the championship in '77, but he almost never saw the floor. Here are RB's stats for his four years at MU.

Freshman: 12 games (out of 32), 0.8 ppg and 0.7 rpg

Sophomore: 21 games (out of 21), 1.2 ppg and 1.1 rpg

Junior: 29 games (out of 29), 5.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg

Senior: 27 games (out of 27), 11.7 ppg and 10.0 rpg

That, my friends, is an awful lot of progress. In fact, the only other MU player to average at least 10.0 rpg since Byrd was David Boone.

Byrd was an incredible force on the glass as a senior, and he also was a decent threat to score on put-backs or after nice passes from teammates. He also was a tough-as-nails defender.

I don't think there is another played I've seen at MU who transformed his body as much as Bryd did. By the time he was a junior he was absolutely chiseled.

I can't believe I forgot about Bryd in my initial post, but I'm also surprised no one else mentioned him.

Byrd looked good in practice his first two years, but he was a victim of the numbers game those years.

I don't know. Looking at the forwards on the 1977-'78 team, I'm not overly impressed.

Toone started at one forward spot and averaged a whopping 9.3 ppg. He was also a defensive liability.

Payne was the other starting forward. He averaged 6.8 ppg and a decent 5.2 rpg.

Olive Lee was a freshman - talented but not experienced. He averaged only 3.5 ppg.

And Dudley was the fourth forward. He averaged 2.2 ppg and 1.3 rpg.

Byrd couldn't beat out any of these four for minutes, even Dudley.

Playing in only 21 of 28 games and averaging 1.2 ppg tells me that RB was simply not very good his sophomore year.

Part of the problem was that Robert was very skinny. He ended up getting wiry strong. But, the talent and rebounding skills were there. He needed physical development.