McDuffie Appreciation Thread

[ShockingButTrue]

Markis plays, and always has, with effort on D.

I see him on the court displaying the supreme confidence that comes from being coached by someone like GGG for several years. We've seen that look over the years from R. Clemente all the way to Markis. His young teammates have made many understandable mistakes over the season that young players often do. He lets 'em know about. He's not the first GGG player to do so when teammates lose focus.

[ShockerFever]

I’ve been paying extra attention to this since it’s been floated around SN a few times and as I suspected and other posters before me have said, this “McDuffie doesn’t acknowledge or high five teammates” stuff is completely bogus. I’m sorry, not calling you a liar or anything, but it’s just not reality.

It has changed recently, which is good.

[C0|dB|00ded]

A couple games back when Mike gave MM the star of the game and had him do a post-game interview I was really turned off by what I heard. Markis talked about the struggles of the young team and how he knew he just had to be the "leader" and take the team on his back. It is clear that his definition of "leader" is different than most of ours on this board. We define leader via The Marshall Way where the assists are just as important as the buckets. His definition of leader was taking over games a la Michael Jordan while his teammates just watch. If he can score like Jordan that will win some games, but if you remember the arc of Jordan's career, he didn't start winning championships until he learned how to get his team involved. Playing like early Jordan will get you a pile of scoring trophies; playing like mature Jordan will get you a handful of championship rings.

Forgive the dated Jordan references - I haven't watched the NBA seriously since I was a little kid.


T


...:cool:

[AZ Shocker]

On that note Cold...when I was an NBA watcher (haven't been for the last 10 years)...every time a guy went for 40-plus points his team would more times that not lose. I don't know if that has changed in recent NBA years...but from I recall it usually wound up as a loss. Get teammates involved ala MJ was a great example!!!

[im4wsu]

I feel Markis is a leader in scoring and we really need his points, BUT it would be nice to see him acknowledge his team-mates on their assists to a lot of his points, help his players up from the floor, show enthusiasm for their play and etc. He appears to be more interested in his performance and not the team performance. I would like to see him just add the team personality to his offerings and he than be the unquestionable team leader.

I notice that when MM makes an offensive play, more times than not he is focused on the inbounds press. When some of the frosh make a score, they're back pedalling beyond midcourt and celebrating, instead of focusing on the inbound press. Just sayin'

[pinstripers]

I notice that when MM makes an offensive play, more times than not he is focused on the inbounds press. Just sayin'

I noticed that once last night. Once.

[ShockingButTrue]

From Markis, or the frosh?

[SHOXAAC]

I, as others have noted, believe MM has been a better leader lately...still not to the standard as former players (not just Bake & FVV). He has been smarter with shooting in the flow of the offense. His taking over a possession with his making a play is much more under control. He is the best leader of any player this season...BUT in a post game interview I never heard Bake or FVV speak of leading by carrying the team on his shoulders as he referenced after the Tulane game. Yes, I know, Bake & FVV had a more experienced cast of players, but my money still says they wouldn't make that kind of statement.

[proshox]

This is revisionist history. Fred and Ron had senior year stretches where they didn’t trust teammates.

It was rough to watch. New comers are hard to play with (Fred and Ron weren’t in near the same situation - lower competition, they had each other plus a few glue guys with experience).

[ShockerFever]

I, as others have noted, believe MM has been a better leader lately...still not to the standard as former players (not just Bake & FVV). He has been smarter with shooting in the flow of the offense. His taking over a possession with his making a play is much more under control. He is the best leader of any player this season...BUT in a post game interview I never heard Bake or FVV speak of leading by carrying the team on his shoulders as he referenced after the Tulane game. Yes, I know, Bake & FVV had a more experienced cast of players, but my money still says they wouldn't make that kind of statement.

They used more we's and less I's when talking.

[Shockm]

....................help his players up from the floor, ..........................

I’ve heard this example used so often, to denigrate McDuffie. I was listening to former Georgetown Coach John Thompson (during the Houston UCONN game tonight) say an interesting comment from a coach who has obviously been interested in building leadership on his teams “Some players sprint harder to help their teammates up from the floor than they sprint down the floor when transitioning from offense to defense. As their coach, I’d rather they sprint harder to stop the other team on defense.”

He obviously doesn’t hold in as high esteem as many on this board, the main characteristic that many on here connect with leadership. He sounded like true hustle and playing with ones hair on fire during game action are more important actions for leaders than helping a teammate up from the ground. As soon as I heard his comment, I thought about many of you who denigrate Markis. You probably don’t know what you’re talking about and McDuffie probably doesn’t deserve your unjust criticisms. Whatever you think, McDuffie plays very hard all the time.

[Walker]

I’ve heard this example used so often, to denigrate McDuffie. I was listening to former Georgetown Coach John Thompson (during the Houston UCONN game tonight) say an interesting comment from a coach who has obviously been interested in building leadership on his teams “Some players sprint harder to help their teammates up from the floor than they sprint down the floor when transitioning from offense to defense. As their coach, I’d rather they sprint harder to stop the other team on defense.”

He obviously doesn’t hold in as high esteem as many on this board, the main characteristic that many on here connect with leadership. He sounded like true hustle and playing with ones hair on fire during game action are more important actions for leaders than helping a teammate up from the ground. As soon as I heard his comment, I thought about many of you who denigrate Markis. You probably don’t know what you’re talking about and McDuffie probably doesn’t deserve your unjust criticisms. Whatever you think, McDuffie plays very hard all the time.

I don’t recall anybody in particular denigrating McDuffie alone for not helping teammates up, it’s more something that was kind of a team wide occurrence that was noticeable but seems to have gotten much better.

No knock on Thompson, but I if were coach, I’d like to see my team sprint in transition and rush to pick up a teammate. While transition D is more urgent, little details like picking your teammates up, high fives, good body language are crucial in maintaining esprit de corps and team cohesion. It’s possible to maintain both.

[Shockm]

Thompson made the comment when there was a collision under the basket immediately following a made basket. I’m not sure that he was being critical of the three players rushing in to their teammate, but not getting back, if the ball is inbounded quickly, could leave them vulnerable to a fast break. You can dismiss his comment if you want but he does have some experience and cred. whether you like it or not.

[Walker]

Wasn’t dismissing Thompson. He certainly has more basketball knowledge and experience than I do. Being a novice though, I can still observe how other teams and coaches do things. While Thompson wasn’t horrible, he’s certainly not the coach his father was. If you look at teams like Villanova, Jay Wright has his guys hustling in transition D and doing little things like hustling to help teammates up. Good transition D and being a good teammates aren’t mutually exclusive. Our Shocker teams have been great at both, and I imagine it’s why we’ve been so successful. We’re getting back to it as well.

[Stickboy46]

[60Shock]

Anyone care to challenge Taylor's story as to whether Markis is a leader or not, or can we now put this to rest?

[shockrah]

Can't post this enough!

[Shockm]

That article on MM's evolution into a team leader is great. He's a great kid who is lucky to have great parents. It would appear that the players look up to him. But people on here know more than others because they watch him on television (or maybe person too). The players probably have to say good things about said one of our esteemed posters. Why would we want to let facts get in the way of a good story or group lynching (not meant in the racist way that some would jump to a conclusion). :) He's really come a long way during his college career. I think he has NBA potential. Some on here would differ with that but I undersold FVV and I won't make that mistake again. He has a chance. I especially like the following parts of the article.



“It’s been a very big weight on him and you can see him struggle with it at times because he has to be the one to step up and take that big shot,” Derek McDuffie said. “But he’s never said to me, ‘Dad, I don’t want this challenge.’”

McDuffie’s flourishing isn’t an underdog tale. He was highly recruited out of high school with NBA expectations. He was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, then led WSU in scoring and rebounding as a sophomore. But all of that seemed like distant memories after an offseason foot injury effectively turned McDuffie into a shell of his former self last season.

He returned to Paterson obsessed with with becoming bigger, faster and more lethal for his senior year. Once his foot injury was fully healed, the lift on his shot returned. At 6-foot-8, McDuffie can shoot over virtually anyone now. The difference has been staggering: A career 34 percent three-point shooter before this season, he’s now making 39 percent beyond the arc.

“When I’m set, I know it’s money now,” McDuffie said. “I put in the work and the time (last summer) and that’s where I got that confidence. Now I believe every shot is going to be a make.”

That doesn’t make McDuffie immune from forcing a bad shot or committing a turnover. He feels the pressure to deliver on such an inexperienced team. Sometimes that leads to a crazy shot, but a team like WSU, with so many new players still finding their way, desperately needs a big shot-taker like McDuffie.

“The big moment is not for everybody,” Bright said. “Trust me, I’ve got kids in the NBA right now who don’t like the big moment like Markis McDuffie does. Whenever the first line of the scouting report says, ‘Stop McDuffie,’ and you’re scoring 20-plus, you’ve got to be something special.”

For the first time in his career, McDuffie can be considered an unquestioned leader. His voice is heard constantly on the court. He isn’t afraid to take charge in a huddle. He’s leading by example on the court by hustling for loose balls, boxing out consistently and staying locked-in defensively.

His words and actions carry weight with the five freshman on the team. They know he is the final player at WSU that links these new-era Shockers to the program’s storied past.

“Markis is somebody we can depend on if we need a basket,” freshman Jamarius Burton said. “I know to find him when in doubt and he’ll take care of the rest.”

[ShockAzs]

It's almost... Almost like he reads shockernet. Great stuff

[im4wsu]

MM's conference versus non-conference stats are very consistent. Here is a chart that reflects the net-per-game change from non-conference games average to conference games average for each player (Bryson is omitted due to no action in conference games). The 8.6 minutes for AM means he played more minutes-per-game in conference games than in non-conference games. The yellow highlights are improvements (except for fouls and turnovers).

wsuconf.png