2012-13 Player Review: #1 Jamal Ferguson

With the 2012-13 season now in the books, we take a moment to look back at the performance that each member of YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles turned in this year. While we're at it, we'll also take a look back at our player previews and see how our preseason prognostications stack up with how things actually played out. We'll run through the roster in order of total minutes played (lowest to highest). In honor of his recent announcement, we kick things off with freshman guard, Jamal Ferguson.

What We Said:

Minimum Expectation: I think Ferguson might be the only player on the roster that has no real expectation for this season. The upperclassmen are expected to carry various loads, the sophomores are expected to take steps forward, Steve Taylor has expectations based on his career at Simeon and the praise that Buzz has given him already. Even Jake Thomas has expectations, and he's only a walk on. But I don't think anyone is really expecting anything from Ferguson. I'm going to go with avoids anything in the next section...

Worst Nightmare: Ferguson gets hurt early and never gets a chance to crack the rotation. With the combination of seeing a MU practice is what sold him on coming to Marquette and his early commitment to MU, we shouldn't have any worries about Ferguson becoming frustrated with his experience in Milwaukee. And thanks to the Brewers, we don't have to worry about him getting suspended for accepting playoff tickets.

Wildest Dreams: The combination of TJ Taylor's departure and Ferguson's size and aggressiveness on defense and rebounding gives him a chance to get on the floor and he becomes invaluable to Buzz's rotation. With Vander Blue, Trent Lockett, and Todd Mayo likely splitting most of the time at the wing spots, there's space for a tenacious rebounder and defender to get on the floor to give those guys more of a rest than just sitting down for each other. Ferguson could be that guy, especially if he can score even a little bit.

Jamal, we hardly new ya. The player that was getting the best odds in the "Most Likely to Transfer After the Season" Pool paid the line on Tuesday, when he announced that he would be leaving Marquette to play ball somewhere closer to home.

It's not all that surprising. As anticipated the veteran depth at the guard position, made it tough for the freshman to see much floor time. Jamal appeared in just 13 games and logged just 65 total minutes this season. Of those 65 minutes, 30 came in two lopsided wins over Mississippi St and UMBC. He logged just 10 minutes in Big East play, again mostly in garbage time. And with Vander Blue and Todd Mayo both (most likely) returning, as well as more competition for minutes on the wing coming in next year's talented recruiting class, he decided it was best to seek his fortunes elsewhere.

From the little we did see of Jamal this season, it was obvious that he was a heck of an athlete. His speed and quickness were what really stood out. Those attributes will certainly serve him well in his next stop - especially if that ends up being a mid-major type program (Does Shaka Smart have any scholarships available?).

Best Game: There's not a ton to choose from, but waaay back in November, Ferguson logged 16 minutes, scored 4 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and dished out 3 helpers in a 33 point romp over UMBC. Even if it was in garbage time, against an overmatched opponent, if you set your career high in all the statistical categories in one game, that was the best game of the year.

Season Grade (1 - Worst nightmare to 10 - Wildest Dreams): Well, Ferguson was never able to crack the rotation and didn't make any notable contributions on the floor. The only thing that could have saved this from being a 1, would've been not transferring. But since we now know he will be departing the program, it's safe to say that this season was about as bad as we could have predicted.

We wish Jamal the best of luck in the future. There's still a lot of hoops in his future. Hopefully his season at MU will serve him well down the road.