Jeronne Maymon Leaves Marquette

Normally I wouldn't post something about other teams, but this event could affect UW recruiting in the future.

Jeronne Maymon, a Marquette freshman forward, announced that he was leaving the team effective immediately yesterday. He had been averaging 4 points and 4.2 boards in about 16 minutes coming off the bench. Early reports indicate that he is leaving due to broken promises made by head coach Buzz Williams, including 25-30 minutes per game, a starting spot, being a key part of the offense, and being able to play small forward and maybe some shooting guard. However, Maymon was, as previously stated, receiving less than 15 minutes of playing time most games, came off the bench, as involved in the offense as a Tim Jarmusz, and playing center for most of the time, with probably no playing time at the 2 or 3 at all. More news should come out tomorrow from a press conference with Jeronne and his father Tim. Where ever J-May lands (early speculation is Tennessee), I wish him the best of luck.

Now, what does this have to do with Wisconsin, other than taking schadenfreude over Marquette's woes? There's two big things...

1. This is the more fun one to speculate about, but not very likely to happen... Vander Blue comes back to the University of Wisconsin. When he decided to commit to Marquette, he said, "Jeronne being there was a big plus. We have been playing together since third grade. We are more than friends, it is a brotherly love with us. Some kids would get jealous of the way we worked together, but we both want to be successful and we will always push each other. I know we will always have each other’s support and love. He told me he would take me under his wing, and he also told me it wouldn’t be a cake walk. He said there would be good days and bad, and that there would be breakdowns, but that we would fight through everything together.”

Now Jeronne no longer being there might not being a good enough factor to leave Marquette, but what Jeronne tells him about Coach Williams breaking promises might. Blue was quoted saying, "Coach Williams told me you can't just put a number on someone. He said players have to play, so it might be at the 1, at the 2, or even against a smaller lineup the 3." Given Marquette's current roster for the next season, I really doubt Vander sees any time at the 1 and not much at the 2. Marquette has had a 3 or 4 guard line-up for nearly a decade, and unless Buzz changes his recruiting priorities, tall 1s/short 2s like Vander are going to be stuck at the small forward spot, much like Maymon being stuck at the center despite being a 3/4. That isn't conducive to Vander getting the NBA as a point guard. Meanwhile, Bo Ryan would have him play mostly 1, and some 2 mixed in, maybe the 3 occasionally if he goes to the 3-guard line-up that he's been successful with so far this season.

2. That leads me to the bigger and significantly more likely outcome from this... Wisconsin having an edge in recruiting head to head with Marquette. Any kid in Wisconsin being recruited by the two schools will likely second guess any promises made by Buzz Williams due to his broken ones with Jeronne. In the back of their head, they'll question if Buzz is just saying whatever it takes to get the kid to commit to his program. Conversely, Bo has a no frills attitude, refusing to make any promises regarding to playing time, starting spots, etc. I really think the Maymons are going to hurt Marquette's recruiting ability in the Midwest. Which is good for Wisconsin.