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.