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It was JMac's knee injury that really set him back. He was never the same after that. His explosiveness was gone (although there were flashes of it this year) and his lateral movement was limited. The other thing that gets lost is that JMac's primary role this year was not to be a scorer, but to shut down the other teams' best players. With few exceptions, his D this year was phenomenal, but that typically goes unnoticed.
It was definitely not his attitude. He has been positive all year and a leader on and off the court. I really believe that JMac was one of the people who held the team together, as much as was possible, through all the adversity they faced this year.
One of my concerns about next year is, who's going to step up and be a leader now that JMac's gone? Budinger, if he stays, is too quiet, reserved and passive. Hill just doesn't see to be a positive, steadying influence. Wise, if he stays, could very well be the man, as could Jerryd (but I'm growing less and less confident by the minute that he'll be with us next year). If we lose Bayless and if Wise decides to transfer, I'm not sure where the leadership will come from...
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