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With the season wrapped up, it's time to provide the bookend for the Player Previews we wrote to start the season. We'll take a look back at what we thought about each of the Marquette players back in November and see if we did a good job of prognostication. We'll go through the roster in the order of total minutes played, which means we start with senior forward Jae Crowder.
Hit the jump!
Minimum Expectations:
Maintains his 2010-11 level of offensive production. I would hope his defense would see some improvement, but I'm not holding my breath.In My Wildest Dreams:
Jae builds upon his solid first year of D-1 hoops. Staying out of foul trouble, getting nearly 35 minutes a game and averaging something close to a double-double every night.In My Worst Nightmare:
He gets injured? I honestly don't see a scenario (other than injury) where his game regresses significantly in 2011-'12. Crowder's too smart and too skilled a player to have his game slip from last season's production level -- unless, of course, he shoots worse than 61% from the free throw line. That would give me an ulcer. Don't do that, Jae.
Holy crap, did that just happen?
Marquette's first conference player of the year since Dwyane Wade.
The fifth player in MU history to rack up 1,000 points in just two seasons.
The ONLY player in MU history to register 1,000 points AND 500 rebounds in just two seasons.
Barely missed breaking Marquette's all time single season steals record, and he's a 6'6", 245 pound forward, playing defense mostly in the post.
Ken Pomeroy's kPOY calculation had Jae Crowder marked as the EIGHTH most valuable player in the country.
We renamed the Jimmy Butler Player Of The Game award.
Mick Cronin said he voted for Jae Crowder for Big East Player Of The Year because the Absolut Weapon "affects winning more than anyone in our conference."
I don't even have the ability to properly assess what we saw this season. Is it late June yet? I want to see Jae get drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft now.
Best Game: Big game for a big stage. In a game where Big Boy Ball was being played and the refs were letting everything go, Jae threw up 17 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals and saved his only made three pointer of the game until Marquette needed a dagger to beat Murray State and put the Golden Eagles into the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.
Season Grade (1 is Worst Nightmare, 5 is Minimum Expectation, and 10 is Wildest Dream): It's a 10. If that's not a Wildest Dream season from a player, I don't know what is. I refuse to accept arguments from anyone on this.