Xavier 2015 Season Review: JP Macura Report Card

Thanks to everyone who participated in our inaugural Banners on the Parkway postseason player report cards. We'll be breaking down each player's grades for the rest of this week and on into next week, where we'll reveal the top three finishers according to the community. We'll also be assigning and explaining our own grades of each player. We'll start with the player who got the lowest community ranking and work our way up to the MVP. If you've missed any of the previous players, check them out in our Season in Review section.

Hey everybody, it's JP Macura! Macura dazzled Xavier fans with his sheer hubris on offense before even setting foot on campus, drilling a step-back three ball at the buzzer to send his high school team to the state final. Almost the entire community found his efforts in a Xavier uniform satisfactory, and a dozen folks even found him worthy of an A. Obviously this is very promising stuff coming from a true freshman playing in one of the toughest leagues in the country.

Offense: C

JP Macura was capable of being the very best offensive player on the floor at times, a fact he demonstrated with 11 points in 12 minutes on 4-4/3-3/0-1 shooting against San Diego and again with 13 points in 13 minutes on 4-5/2-3/3-3 against Alabama. When he was going well, he was like a match to tinder on the offensive end, a veritable towheaded Pistol Pete. Unfortunately, he'd also throw up the occasional complete nightmare game, like his 0 points and 3 turnovers against UTEP or 0 points on 0-8 shooting in the two Butler games not played at Cintas.

Defense: C

Like his offense, JP's defense was a mixed bag. I don't think he was as bad as his reputation in containing a ballhandler, but he certainly wasn't a defensive stopper. His off-ball work was predicated far more on stalking the passing lanes than it was remaining near his defensive assignment. Except for maybe James Farr, the switch to the 1-3-1 did more for JP than anyone else on the team. He came alive when freed to create havoc at the top of the zone, and his huge wingspan and generally frenetic activity were often the catalysts of effective defense.

Overall: C

I loved it when JP would check into a game this year because you knew something was about to happen. He was fearless on offense, shooting on touch, attacking off the bounce, and often showing a propensity for making eye-catching passes. Of course, all of those things would at least occasionally backfire on him, leading to crazy misses and ridiculous turnovers. On defense, he was about as likely to force a steal as anyone on the team, but the trade off was that he would occasionally get completely baked when he gambled and lost. JP was an exciting bench piece and a promising freshman, but his inconsistency keeps him at a C on the year.