Mac McClung

[Norm Peterson]

I don't want to keep bumping the Yavuz Gultekin thread to talk about a freshman guard at Georgetown.  @Jacob Padilla and I had an exchange about him about a month ago.  I commented that I looked at his HS highlight film and assumed he was a Rivals 4-star, maybe top 50 talent, and was shocked to find out he was unranked by Rivals.  I thought they, and college coaches across the country, totally missed on him.

 

Jacob responded by saying:

Posted November 23

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 9:47 AM, Norm Peterson said:

When I first saw Mac McClung's highlight tape, I thought this kid has to be a high-level 4-star, maybe top 50.  I was shocked SHOCKED to see he wasn't ranked.  Rivals was clearly asleep at the switch on this kid.  Unexplainable.

 

Patrick Ewing wasn't asleep.  Got himself the sleeper steal of this recruiting class.

Quote

 

 

As you well know, there's more to basketball than highlight dunks. He's 1-17 from 3 this season and has more turnovers than assists. Great athlete, but there's a reason he wasn't ranked more highly than he was. 247 had him at 245. 

 



Edited December 31, 2018 by Norm Peterson

[Norm Peterson]

In the 7 games since Jacob made that comment, Mac McClung is shooting over 32% from three-point range and averaging almost 17 points per game.  He's scoring more than 12 ppg on the season as a whole.  He put up 18 points in 25 minutes in a 1-point loss at Syracuse.  As a true freshman.  I'd like to see another unranked true freshman scoring in double figures for a Power 6 conference team. 

 

I'm not going to do the work to scan the rosters of all the P6 basketball teams to see whether any other true freshmen are averaging double figure scoring and, if so, what their recruiting rankings are.  But if anyone knows of any others who are averaging double figure scoring and weren't at least Rivals 4-stars, I'd be curious who they are.

[AuroranHusker]

JPJ was around 13 for 54 to start the season, then he made 18 of 33. It happens. Basketball is not a predictor from past results. Development of skill and athleticism are not a straight line......

[atskooc]

He put up 38 against Arkansas-Little Rock.

[Jacob Padilla]

He's shooting 28.8 percent on the season on 4.9 attempts per game. He's averaging 13.2 points on a .475 eFG% He's got a 102.4 offensive rating and he's not a good defender. He's taken more than 2 free throws in just 6 of his 15 games (and he hasn't gotten there in 7 of them).

 

He's incredibly streaky from 3: 0-14 (4 games), 6-15 (4 games), 3-16 (3 games), 10-21 (3 games), and 2-7 against Creighton. 8 bad games, 7 decent to good ones, and still shooting just under 29% overall.

 

Here are his numbers against high major teams (seven games; he's only played three Big East games so far - two good ones and one bad one against that defensive stalwart Creighton):

14.3 ppg, 45% FG (30.8% 3FG), 72.2% FT, 2.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.1 tpg, 0.6 spg

 

He doesn't do much else besides score, and he's not a terribly efficient scorer. He's a terrific athlete for sure and can do some special things, and he could be pretty good down the line. But he's not a great player now.

 

RE your question about freshmen, here are the guys averaging double figures in a high-major conference who were outside of 247's top-150: Xavier Johnson (Pittsburgh, No. 232), CJ Elleby (Washington State, NR), Isaiah Joe (Arkansas, No. 171), Rasir Bolton (Penn State, No. 206), Wynston Tabbs (Boston College, No. 287), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (Illinois, No. 370). It's as much about opportunity as anything else. 

[AuroranHusker]

On 1/23/2019 at 3:00 AM, Jacob Padilla said:

He's shooting 28.8 percent on the season on 4.9 attempts per game. He's averaging 13.2 points on a .475 eFG% He's got a 102.4 offensive rating and he's not a good defender. He's taken more than 2 free throws in just 6 of his 15 games (and he hasn't gotten there in 7 of them).

 

He's incredibly streaky from 3: 0-14 (4 games), 6-15 (4 games), 3-16 (3 games), 10-21 (3 games), and 2-7 against Creighton. 8 bad games, 7 decent to good ones, and still shooting just under 29% overall.

 

Here are his numbers against high major teams (seven games; he's only played three Big East games so far - two good ones and one bad one against that defensive stalwart Creighton):

14.3 ppg, 45% FG (30.8% 3FG), 72.2% FT, 2.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.1 tpg, 0.6 spg

 

He doesn't do much else besides score, and he's not a terribly efficient scorer. He's a terrific athlete for sure and can do some special things, and he could be pretty good down the line. But he's not a great player now.

 

RE your question about freshmen, here are the guys averaging double figures in a high-major conference who were outside of 247's top-150: Xavier Johnson (Pittsburgh, No. 232), CJ Elleby (Washington State, NR), Isaiah Joe (Arkansas, No. 171), Rasir Bolton (Penn State, No. 206), Wynston Tabbs (Boston College, No. 287), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (Illinois, No. 370). It's as much about opportunity as anything else. 

 

Stick the knife in a little deeper.... X.

 

 

Xavier Johnson was 'N'! Ughh.

 

He'd have been such a great addition to the 2018-19 Huskers. Fit into that Evan Taylor/Anton Gill minutes "type of role player" that Amir Harris hasn't (thus far).

Edited January 24, 2019 by AuroranHusker

[49r]

 

 

 

[49r]

What's spooky is these guys called it several weeks ago:

 

 

They have been earning a reputation for...well...getting EVERY PREDICTION CORRECT...and way before anyone else.  This twitter account has only been around since early April, but they haven't missed a prediction yet.

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by 49r

[bleujay]

according to hoyatalk, this one was seen coming by a few people. they got worried when ewing went out of his way to clarify that mac was going to return. that was a couple weeks ago, if you go look at their 100+ page thread on him, people suspected something like this and have connected it to the dismissals from earlier in the season.

[hhcmatt]

On 5/13/2020 at 7:40 PM, 49r said:

What's spooky is these guys called it several weeks ago:

 

This stuff is easy.  Here we go.

 

Eduardo Andre will be an interesting pickup for someone when he transfers in 2021

[49r]

Making his decision today.  Sounding like BYU might be the choice.

[49r]

I guess I meant to say Texas Tech...

 

 

[Norm Peterson]

On 1/23/2019 at 3:00 AM, Jacob Padilla said:

He's shooting 28.8 percent on the season on 4.9 attempts per game. He's averaging 13.2 points on a .475 eFG% He's got a 102.4 offensive rating and he's not a good defender. He's taken more than 2 free throws in just 6 of his 15 games (and he hasn't gotten there in 7 of them).

 

He's incredibly streaky from 3: 0-14 (4 games), 6-15 (4 games), 3-16 (3 games), 10-21 (3 games), and 2-7 against Creighton. 8 bad games, 7 decent to good ones, and still shooting just under 29% overall.

 

Here are his numbers against high major teams (seven games; he's only played three Big East games so far - two good ones and one bad one against that defensive stalwart Creighton):

14.3 ppg, 45% FG (30.8% 3FG), 72.2% FT, 2.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.1 tpg, 0.6 spg

 

He doesn't do much else besides score, and he's not a terribly efficient scorer. He's a terrific athlete for sure and can do some special things, and he could be pretty good down the line. But he's not a great player now.

 

RE your question about freshmen, here are the guys averaging double figures in a high-major conference who were outside of 247's top-150: Xavier Johnson (Pittsburgh, No. 232), CJ Elleby (Washington State, NR), Isaiah Joe (Arkansas, No. 171), Rasir Bolton (Penn State, No. 206), Wynston Tabbs (Boston College, No. 287), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (Illinois, No. 370). It's as much about opportunity as anything else. 

 

Did you see Mac McClung just signed a two-way deal with Golden State?

 

"Mac McClung delivered the goods in the 2022-2023 Las Vegas Summer League. Since then, the Warriors never took their eyes off him. He averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from the 3-point range."

 

Golden State Grabs Lakers’ Summer League Standout Mac McClung - Last Word On Basketball (lastwordonsports.com)

 

How many players who grew up in this country and were unranked by Rivals have played in the NBA?

 

So, I stand by my position expressed the first semester of his freshman year of college that Rivals just whiffed on him.

[HB]

Scoreboard Norm on this one, for sure. 

[bleujay]

On 9/12/2022 at 9:52 AM, Norm Peterson said:

 

 

 

How many players who grew up in this country and were unranked by Rivals have played in the NBA?

 

 

I would say it happens more often than we think, Norm. Russell Westbrook may have been unranked up until the recruitniks caught wind of his commitment to UCLA. Curry was unranked.

Then you have journeymen like Kent Bazemore and Delon Wright. Lots of guys like that who just inch their way up to the league. Lightly recruited, make improvements during their college years to the point where an NBA team can see their potential.