(2024) G - Paul McNeil Jr.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

McNeil is listed as a 6'5" SG on 247 and a 6'5" SF on Rivals.  TDH calls him a guard.  Attends Richmond HS in Rockingham, NC.  He bills himself as 6'6" on his Twitter account @PaulMcneilJr with a GPA of 3.3.  Trent Markwith of Relentless Hoops called him one of the top performers he saw at Crossroads Elite in August saying:  "2024 G Paul McNeil took over the 3rd quarterfinal game at Crossroads Elite. Scored 15+ down the stretch, including 10 straight at one point. Showed great vision too. Impressive mixture of shooting, passing, and ball-handling at 6’6”.  From the same event, Eric Bossi referred to him as a potential 5-star talent.

247

Rivals

Hudl

MaxPreps

Today from Mike Schumann and The Daily Hoosier:  https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-basketball-recruiting-hoosiers-offer-2024-guard-paul-mcneil-jr/?fbclid=IwAR2Iw89Ta7jXI4s3A29FqXoN-a7lQWALYnHLZsH6oUBtS8u_CcvlyXClgIQ

Richmond Observer July 2021

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Basically background; no great revelations but we do get mentioned.

https://www.richmondobserver.com/sports/item/13680-unc-the-latest-to-visit-mcneil-during-early-recruiting-rush.html

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

In a fall league event playing for the Richmond Jammers, McNeil had a 40 pt. game early today and a 32 pt. game in a late afternoon game.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Florida State offered.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Mostly a pre-season story on McNeil's high school team but includes a couple of comments on McNeil.

https://www.richmondobserver.com/sports/item/14199-season-preview-talented-raiders-shooting-for-conference-state-titles.html

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Season opener Richmond wins 63-59 led by McNeil's 21 pts.  He added 8 reb and was 6-6 FT.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

On 11/24/2021 at 6:01 AM, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Season opener Richmond wins 63-59 led by McNeil's 21 pts.  He added 8 reb and was 6-6 FT.

Story on this game and includes additional stats for McNeil.

https://www.richmondobserver.com/sports/item/14266-paul-mcneil-the-official-richmond-county-male-athlete-of-the-week.html

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

FINAL (OT) | Richmond 69, Uwharrie Charter 67.  With 3.3 seconds left in OT, McNeil drove the lane and laid the game-winning bucket off the glass.  He had a team-high 27 points, including 5 pts in OT and added 10 reb.   From his coach:  “Paul is going to do what he does. We wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game,” Pettigrew said. “It starts and ends with him. He does a great job of passing the ball and helping the other guys score.

Full game story at:  https://www.richmondobserver.com/sports/item/14288-baldwin-mcneil-combine-to-aid-raiders-in-ot-thriller.html

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond (3-0) defeats Pine Forest at the buzzer 66 - 64.  McNeil 28 pts.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond (4-0) defeated Jack Britt (0-4) 82 - 59 Saturday night.  McNeil with 21 pts. on 7-16 FG; 3-10 on 3s; 4-4 FT; 7 reb; 7 asst; 2 stl; 2 blk; 1 TO.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond defeated Southern Lee 70 - 44.  McNeil 14 pts. all in the first half; 8 reb; 3 stl; 2 blk.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond (6-0) with a 68 - 40 win over Pinecrest.  McNeil 17 pts. and 14 reb.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond (7-0) defeated Forsyth Country Day School 63-54.  McNeil 14 pts. and 8 reb.  Richmond is off until the 21st.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

On 12/11/2021 at 10:23 AM, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Richmond (6-0) with a 68 - 40 win over Pinecrest.  McNeil 17 pts. and 14 reb.

I watched a replay of this game.  It was Richmond leading 31-27 at the half and only gave up 14 points to Pinecrest in the entire second half breaking the game open in the 3rd Q scoring 19 points.  McNeil had 9 of his 17 points in the 3rd and 6 of his 14 rebounds.  For the night I had him with 8-16 FG; 0-4 on 3s; 1-1 FT; 4 asst; 2 stl; 4 blk; 2 TO.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Richmond  76               Jack Britt HS   41

McNeil put on quite a show tonight and played less than 21 minutes as he was subbed out with 3:37 left in the 3rd with a 36-point Richmond lead and a running clock for the remainder of the game.  I had him with 32 pts on 10-17 FG; 4-10 on 3s; 8-8 FT; 5 reb; 3 asst; 3 stl; 2 blk; 1 TO.  I thought several of his 3s were ill-advised simply because he was so far beyond the 3-point line but he was still 40% on the night.  I think he's got very good reaction time and sees the court very well.  Twice he went up for a turnaround jump shot, saw a teammate open and passed off for the easy lay-up.  Richmond play a tough trapping man-to-man defense and forced an untold number of TOs as a result.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Full story at the link below.

Indiana: “That was a big offer for me. They came down to my practice, and they said they liked me on the wing, they liked how I defended, scored in the post a little. Then they offered me.”

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/2024-wing-paul-mcneil-jr-brings-length-confidence-to-the-floor

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

247 lists McNeil as a SG whereas Rivals calls him a SF

Yesterday Jamie Shaw of Rivals called him a wing in the link I posted immediately above.

 

Later in the day this was McNeil's tweeted reply --

GUARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lillurk]

11 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

247 lists McNeil as a SG whereas Rivals calls him a SF

Yesterday Jamie Shaw of Rivals called him a wing in the link I posted immediately above.

 

Later in the day this was McNeil's tweeted reply --

GUARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Always strange to me when hoopers care tons about positional labeling or height listing

[ziggyiu]

3 hours ago, lillurk said:

Always strange to me when hoopers care tons about positional labeling or height listing

When people (especially coaches, media) put labels on you that limit what you know you are capable of it can be frustrating and discouraging. Those labels by people in a position to dictate how you move forward on your desired path can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy (theirs) that makes it incredibly more difficult to rise up against to prove them wrong. 

[lillurk]

41 minutes ago, ziggyiu said:

When people (especially coaches, media) put labels on you that limit what you know you are capable of it can be frustrating and discouraging. Those labels by people in a position to dictate how you move forward on your desired path can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy (theirs) that makes it incredibly more difficult to rise up against to prove them wrong. 

Eh I get that and in the abstract of course you’re right if it literally limits you; in specific being called a “wing” vs. “forward” or “guard” means very little from a scout (someone who has literal impact on your deployment like a coach is a different story).

I was thinking about insisting you’re 6’ (a million dudes) or that you’re not 7’ (Durant) or that you’re not a center (most bigs at every level since about 2009).