Friday Night Lights

Grades Bad, Settled for a Juco

"I could hoop yo, all-American my age group yo
Grades bad, settled for a juco"

-- Cam'ron

Amid the excitement of, you know, the other four college basketball teams still vying for a national championship, word came out of Milwaukee yesterday that Marquette University signed junior-college transfer Darius Johnson-Odom, an explosive combination guard out of Hutchinson (Kansas) Junior College. To be sure, self-coronated recruiting guru Buzz Williams and his staff need to find viable replacements for the terrific trio of Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, and Jerel McNeal, and there's no doubt that Johnson-Odom can play, averaging over 22 points per game while battling tough competition at his level.

But oh, that level. For all of his faults, not least of which was the manner he departed the school, former coach Tom Crean primarily recruited four-year players who earned their degrees after their time at Marquette. Rarely did Crean take risks on junior college players (one of his jucos, Mike Kinsella, actually played at academically impossible Rice prior to injuring his ankle and going the juco route), and rarely were there more than two on the roster at any one given time. This strategy dovetailed nicely with Father Robert Wild tightening admissions standards, making MU-rah-rah far more selective in the process. All outward appearances, and NCAA graduation rates in the nineties, pointed to one conclusion: Tom Crean ran a team that was truly comprised of scholar-athletes.

Fast-forward just one year and one day from Crean's early April, 2008 departure to Indiana. Williams has now brought six junior-college players into the program. First, there was the Tyler tandem of Joe Fulce and Jimmy Butler. The former was hobbled by knee injuries for most of the season, yet he did turn in an energetic performance at Providence that helped the team to perhaps their best road victory of the season. Butler was a solid contributor all year, pulling down key rebounds and making strong drives throughout the Golden Eagles' stretch run.

Milwaukee natives Dwight Buycks and Monterale Clark were added to the roster as Buzz's tenure progressed, Buycks for the 2009 season, and Clark for the 2010 campaign. Canadian Liam McMorrow entered the fold as well, eligible for the 2009 season provided that his health improves. Then came yesterday's signing of Johnson-Odom. 2010's roster will feature at least six junior college players, quite the sea change for the humble Midwestern program.

For those that are unfamiliar with the reputation problems plaguing players that hail from junior colleges, the New York Times does a pretty good job of explaining, as does the AD at Blinn College, a noted juco in Texas:

“We provide an opportunity to those kids who don’t meet N.C.A.A. academic requirements, to enable them to continue academic careers. Whether right or wrong, a lot of them wouldn’t go to college if athletic avenues weren’t available to them.”

Why does it matter? Well, I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it's not all that important, though the requirements mentioned by Blinn's AD can be easily met by even below average students. But I'll try to explain. Some alumni brag about their school' s postseason record, despite the fact that their alma mater is a diploma mill on the order of, say, the University of Wisconsin. Others like to talk up academic records -- "Well, we may not win, but we play the game the right way." Under the tenure of Tom Crean, and during the season immediately following his, with his core group of players, Marquette was both. It's an honor shared by very few teams. We won and we played the right way.

Perhaps we'll still win. Perhaps these jucos will prove me wrong; they could be academic all-stars who wanted to take a shot at high-major programs after a year or two of refinement. Just count me as an alumni who hopes for the best interest of his alma mater, on and off the court.