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Tumultuous.
If you had to pick a word to describe Todd Mayo's first year as a member of the Marquette men's basketball team, that would probably be it.
He had a stellar start to the season, only playing less than 15 minutes in a game once and hitting for double digits in points eight times in the non-conference section of the schedule. As the Big East season started, Mayo's minutes never dipped, but his scoring started disappearing, most notably because his three point shooting was failing him. Perhaps the most notable thing about Mayo's Februrary was his suspension for one half against West Virginia.
As much as Mayo struggled coming down the stretch, he seemed to shake it off once the NCAA tournament started. He made six of his ten three point attempts in Marquette's three tournament games and ended up prompting Buzz Williams to have a quite emotional moment at the post-Florida game press conference.
That emotional moment made it all the more surprising when Mayo was indefinitely suspended over the summer. As we would come to find out, suspension might have been a strong word, as it was Buzz doing something he's done with a player every summer since he came to Marquette. But Mayo is back now and ready to contribute.
Minimum Expectation: No drop off in his offensive play across the length of the season. Mayo averaged just short of 8 points a game last year, so expecting 10 a game from him this year with no fade out should be pretty easy. From what Buzz said about Mayo's defense last season, I don't know if there's a way for him to improve on that end, so expecting more of the same is a safe bet. Oh, and no more friggin' suspensions.
UPDATE: Never mind about the suspensions thing.
Wildest Dreams: Mayo starts mixing in rebounding and passing into his game, allowing Buzz to go crazy with the rotations without any drop off on the floor at any of the guard or wing positions.
Worst Nightmare: The 21 year old sophomore has peaked as a player and ends up locked into a sixth man role, coming off the bench for either offensive or defensive reasons.