Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Twelve Days of Gheorgemas: Day 4

On the fourth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me...

Four Years of Marcus

Three Scummers Picking;
Two albums to look forward to; and
A fat guy in a jersey


At nearly every other school in college basketball's Division I ranks, the arrival of a skinny 6'4" kid with a good but not 5-star pedigree would be almost entirely unremarkable. Kids like that are roster fodder at the Dukes, Kentuckys, and Arizonas of the world.

But at William & Mary, still one of only five original NCAA programs never to have advanced to the NCAA tournament (stop me if you think that you've heard this one before), it heralded a four-year stretch that resembled nothing in the program's less-than-storied history. For the Wrens, Marcus Thornton was, is, and likely always will be sui generis.

Recruited by Jamion Christian, Thornton honored his commitment when the now-Mount St. Mary's coach joined Shaka Smart's VCU staff. Even after the 2011 Gatorade Maryland State Player of the Year signed with W&M, there were those that questioned whether his slight build would withstand the rigors of what was at the time a very tough mid-major conference, home to nightly rockfights, and players like VCU's 6'9", 235-lb Juvonte Reddic and Delaware's 6'9", 240-lb Jamelle Hagins.

It was a play against the latter mid-way through Thornton's first season that first got our attention. From our post that week:
With 8:04 remaining in W&M's game against Delaware, and the Tribe trailing by 8, freshman Marcus Thornton drove the lane, elevated, and cocked his arm back with malicious intent. Delaware's Jamelle Hagins, a 6'9", 240-pound sophomore who averages 2.6 blocks per game, rose to meet him. As the 6'3" Thornton's hammer dunk attempt crashed against the back of the rim and rebounded high in the air, I leapt from my couch with an audible gasp.   
Thornton's missed dunk was notable not for the result, but for its sheer audacity. Never in my 23 years as a Tribe fan (dear, sweet God in heaven - 23 years?) have I ever seen a W&M player even contemplate such a play. It was at once thrilling for what it portends and sobering for what it illustrates about the Tribe's current state of affairs.
Though W&M scuffled to a sadly not untypical 6-26 record that season, Thornton averaged 11.1 points per game playing in the shadow of W&M great Quinn McDowell. The freshman scored 28 in a memorable overtime loss to VCU, making 10 of 12 from the floor and 5 of 6 from the three-point line against a team that would eventually reach the Final Four. He was named to the CAA All-Rookie team, and served notice of his potential.

There were rumors after that season, possibly apocryphal, but entirely believable to the fragile-minded W&M fan, that several ACC schools inquired about Thornton's interest in transferring to a level where his athletic ability and obvious skill might be more suited. I have no idea if those whisperings were ever more than myth, but I choose to believe that Thornton stayed at William & Mary because he's a loyal kid who liked his coach and his school and his teammates.

Thornton made the leap in his sophomore season, becoming the guy in the wake of McDowell's graduation. His scoring average jumped to 18.8 ppg as he improved his shooting percentages to .440 from the floor and .435 from deep (from .371 and .336, respectively). He was named to the All-CAA Second Team, and became the third W&M player ever to be named First-Team NABC All-District (I don't have any more idea what that is than you do). He became a more consistent scorer, dropping double figures in all 30 games, even as he battled a tendency to play a bit too fast, turning the ball over a career-high 3.1 times per game. The Tribe improved by seven games, finishing at 13-17 and losing in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals.

In 2013-14, his junior year, Thornton and his teammates faced an entirely new challenge: expectations. Despite our preseason attempts to deny the obvious, W&M entered last season as a team on the rise. And despite the occasional stumble, Tony Shaver's squad at least met expectations, finishing third in the CAA with a 10-6 conference record (20-12 overall). Thornton remained a consistently dangerous scorer, despite being the focus of opponents' defensive game plans. He averaged 18.7 points per game and was named first team All-CAA, and almost carried W&M all the way to the dance.

Numbers don't tell the entire story with Thornton, though he's on pace to put up some of the most dazzling digits in W&M history. Even as Shaver has steadily improved the overall quality and depth of W&M's program, bringing in highly competitive CAA players like McDowell, Tim Rusthoven, and current sophomore Omar Prewitt, never in William & Mary's 322 years has a player with Thornton's combination of skill, athleticism, and that-guy stone-cold killer instinct worn green and gold. Athletic arrogance, we've called it here before, intangible but obvious in the way the greats carry themselves, their body language speaking volumes. Thornton has it in spades, and in truckloads greater quantities than any Tribe player before him.

As evidence, the single greatest Tribe basketball moment I believe I'll ever witness, authored by Thornton last January:


It's a measure of how Thornton has changed our expectations for W&M hoops that he had a hand in authoring perhaps the single most disappointing Tribe basketball moment I may ever witness, too. His last-second 18-footer against Delaware in the 2014 CAA Final looked good, right up to the moment when it didn't.

Never in my life did I expect a W&M player to hit a game-winning shot to send us to the NCAA Tournament. But I did with Marcus. Not once did I make it a point to attend a Kenner League game just to see one guy, one of our own, at that. I did that twice for Marcus. Never have I asked a serious question about whether a W&M player might be able to make an NBA roster. I do with Marcus, even it it's a longshot. And never, not ever, did I go to a W&M game knowing that our team had the best player on the floor. For at least three years now, I do with Marcus.

We're down to the final 22 games or so of his sublime collegiate career (depending upon how far W&M advances in March), with Thornton predictably scoring 18.9 points per game despite a slow start (his career-high 37 against Richmond helped push that average back where it belongs). As of this writing, he's 383 points from becoming W&M's all-time leading scorer and 34 three-pointers from passing David Schneider to top that category's leaders. The young Tribe owns a somewhat disappointing 5-3 record after a pair of close losses to Richmond and High Point.

But as a very wise man on social media once said, #inmarcuswetrust. And so we do, for just a few more months. It would be a shame, to some degree, if the finest player ever to take the court for the home team in Kaplan Arena were to complete his college career without a postseason tournament appearance. It would not, though, diminish what Marcus Thornton means to William & Mary. It's been an honor and a joy to watch that skinny, dreadlocked 6'4" kid from Maryland play for our team.

31 comments:

T.J. said...

excellent post

even better Vine

rob said...

i could watch that vine for days

zman said...

Roger Goodell just sent me the NFL's revised personal conduct policy for all NFL employees (because I'm a baller). The list of prohibited conduct reads like a BarBri criminal law outline. Only in professional sports would a conduct policy like this need to be explicit.

zman said...

Just learned that zdaughter and Ian MacKaye share a birthday. That's so fugazi.

Mark said...

So its awful having Barry Alvarez as an AD if you're the football coach, huh?

mr kq said...

I asked for a fugazi tee shirt for xmas.

zman said...

This is not a fugazi tshirt.

zman said...

If you like food with flavor then you need to try Bronco Bob's Smoked Bacon Chipotle Sauce. Best BBQ sauce I've ever had.

zman said...

So ... Columbia?

Clarence said...

Mini-summit at Tysons Corner. Mr. KQ, buckles, Clarence. Get some.

mr kq said...

Internet friends are cool. Sometimes.

Mark said...

Third straight morning with temps in the low 50s around here. I don't know how you up north fuckers do it.

Danimal said...

High 30's here! Mass anarchy.

rob said...

willis mcgahee is planning to give rugby a try. pun only intended after the fact. the drumbeat intensifies.

mayhugh said...

Quick queston: What is the appropriate response/level of annoyance I can express when my mother-in-law continually adjusts my thermostat without asking? I feel like I would never do this in someone else's house - can I treat this as an affront to how I run my household or should I focus on more glaring issues if/as they arise?

rob said...

you should lose your shit, and by so doing mark your territory. not cool of her at all. i set expectations for my mother in law early on by refusing to move my car until she buckled her seatbelt. really didn't care if she was safe or not - just wanted her to know who was in charge.

mayhugh said...

That is where I come down, too. I like to have it clear that I call the shots, at least in my own house. I try to pick my battles, but I feel like every issue is important on this front. Like when I came home one day when she was visiting and left my shoes by the front door and she said "Do those go there?"

The answer is they go where ever the hell I want them to go.

zman said...

zin-laws fuck with the thermostat but they are old and frail so I don't mind. I don't let them bring bric-a-brack or furniture into my house though. And no one changes the channel when I'm watching TV except for zson.

zman said...

zwoman found zson brushing his teeth with the old toothbrush she uses to clean the bathroom grout.

TR said...

I just drunkenly ordered my taxi to stop so I could urinate. On the shoulder off theTurnpike. Suboptimal conclusion to post-holiday party boozing.

TR said...

So I got that going for me...

Shlara said...

I think this is the year for the Wrens
And zfamily needs a reality show

mayhugh said...

Came home last night to a fully decorated house - mother in law took it upon herself. I do not have any specific objection to anything she put up, and such activities keep her out of my hair, but I am bothered by the notion that she thinks she has the right to do it. I mean, isn't this totally whacked?? BTW, she has rearranged my furniture before.

zman said...

zreality show would be more depressing than Little House on the Prairie. On Wednesday night my hot water heater broke. This inconvenience was compounded by zdaughter's stomach bug, which reared its head around 11:30 pm when she puked in her crib. The volume of her puke appeared to be greater than the volume of her body, and that's a neat trick of physics and biology but it's a brutal clean up project. It wound up all over her face, neck, hair, inside her Baby Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit, everywhere. Without hot water on tap I had to warm some water on the stove to clean her up.

Last night the valve connecting the water supply to the back of my fridge broke, sending water under my kitchen floor and into my basement ceiling tiles. I replaced this exact valve on 12/31/13 when the previous valve did this exact same thing and fortunately (for Kenmore, unfortunately for me) it only has a 90 warranty, so I guess I have to schedule this repair every 345 days.

Children! Homeownership! The American dream?

Danimal said...

Is Mayhugh's mom-in-law currently living with him? You guys and your mothers-in-law taking over your homes, remote controls, beds...it's a shame, a damn shame. My mother-in-law is a godsend having moved here from OH a couple of years ago. Only 3 miles away she is over often and is a huge help, but she knows not to eff w/stuff in my presence or not.
On the fridge valve - Z, did you put it on? I had this same exact thing happen when we moved into our house, but it was admittedly my fault. I/we (I had a buddy help) affix a metal connector onto a plastic tube that the water runs through - with plastic tubing, you must use plastic connectors; copper or metal tubing = metal connectors. I am probably speaking of a completely different mishap but in the event I'm on your page, "now ya know".

Danimal said...

Very curious about the circumstances with your mom-in-law Mayhugh. Unless she's a recent widow, yeah, that is whack. Is it new behavior? The decorating - that's terrific. The moving of the shoes - that needs to stop. NOW. Send me her digits - I'm happy to be your agent.

Danimal said...

And speaking of agent, I took my son to the Giants game a couple weeks ago. We got there early cuz we wanted to get out of the house. Walking on the grounds a guy comes up to us and says, "Hey, you want sideline passes?"...I said, "ummmm....sure, but..." He said, "there's no catch, I'm an agent and someone no-showed. I don't want these to go to waste."
He told us to go with him so he could introduce my son to a few players. I'm like "who the eff is this guy?" We hang out for 30 minutes and tells me his story - used to be Rosenhaus' VP, name is Danny Martoe. Give him a google - some interesting stories including a lawsuit on Drew. The guy was a nice as can be, unless a very good actor he seemed like a good dude. The Giants GM walked by us and Danny greeted him. He was blown off entirely. He said, "that's the residue from working with Rosenhaus for 8 years". Good stuff. We're BFF's now.

mayhugh said...

Danimal - thanks for your inquiry. MIL does not live with me - she lives far away with someone she is secretly married to. For several reasons, she is the black sheep of the family and out of all the family members, she is only really welcome to stay with my wife. When she visits, it is a 2-week minimum.

I probably have a shorter fuse than most when it comes to these types of (perhaps typical) family struggles, as I have no siblings and I don't really like being told what to do. Everyone at this point kind of accepts her behavior, but she's not 4 years old. Of course, if I'm not the bigger person on one occasion I might be perceived as the jerk of the family after that.

Thank you for asking - this was cathartic.

zman said...

2-week inlaw visits? Ooofah!

D'mal - I didn't know what the problem was last time around and I had Kemore come out and fix the fridge. The tubing into the fridge is copper so if the valve is plastic that might be my problem. Thanks for the tip.

Danimal >> Bob Vila

T.J. said...

there's a tad bit of new filler posted...

mr kq said...

Continuing on the Deemal theme - met your boy Buck, he appears to be Mayor of The Palm. Good times were had. Loved the Bud Light in the garage with Pops stuff.