Is any SG in college basketball better than D’Angelo Russell?
Ohio State Buckeyes freshman shooting guard D’Angelo Russell is the best at his position in college basketball
If anyone dislikes Ohio State’s freshman shooting guard D’Angelo Russell as a basketball player, then more power to them.
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It might be easy to hate Russell, and it’s somewhat understandable why someone might. The way that Russell plays the game of basketball is reminiscent of many transcendent athletes that look like the game comes way too easy for them. In college, Kevin Durant had it, Michael Beasley had it, Derrick Rose had it, and so did Anthony Davis.
Now Russell has it, and he has that same swagger that a lot of athletes before him have, and he doesn’t do a thing to hide it.
Russell has a sophomoric smile that makes his opponents feel that he’s a better player than them, which is he is. He’ll clap with a perceived air of arrogance, when he’s only cheering for his teammates success after watching them complete a big time alley oop, or even making a simple hustle play in a game.
He’ll look at his opponents in contempt as if they should never think about guarding him and then he’ll use his handles to embarrass his defenders, getting to any spot on the basketball court that he desires while on route to finishing with yet another double-digit scoring night.
On the year Russell has only scored in single digits once, meaning that he’s scored in double figure points at least 22 times in his awesome freshman campaign.
He’ll even shoot a cold-blooded three-point dagger in front of his defenders grill, and then stare them down as if they never should have gotten in the space to dare challenge them.
All of these traits are the reason why Russell is the best shooting guard in college basketball.
The numbers speak for themselves. On the year the lefty shooting guard from Louisville, Kentucky is averaging 19.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.8 steals per game, while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the three-point line.
In Russell’s last four performances alone he managed to have better games than most collegiate basketball players careers, playing against teams in the Big Ten that were supposed to defeat Russell’s Ohio State squad. Guess what, they all left home being upset.
Northwestern? They were the recipient of a 33 point, seven rebound, six assist game that featured one of the sickest bounce passes known to college basketball.
No. 23 Indiana? They were upset as Russell finished with 22 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and outplayed a stud freshman in James Blackmon Jr. As for No. 16 Maryland? They never stood a chance when Russell had 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and two steals and outshone another freshman in Melo Trimble who a lot of people though was on par.
When Russell played against Purdue on the road inside of Mackey Arena, he didn’t have a good shooting night going 7-for-18 from the floor and 2-for-7 from the three-point line, but still managed to finish with a great stat line of 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Ohio State would end up losing to a good Purdue team 60-58.
In his last four games Russell has led Ohio State to a 3-1 record, had two blowout victories against two ranked opponents and nearly missed out on three triple doubles in three games. In fact he probably would have had one triple double had it not been for cramps when he played against No. 23 Indiana.
On a brighter note, if an athlete is struggling from the same physical condition as LeBron James it’s not all bad.
Like the biggest star from the Buckeye State, Russell is playing for the school that James would’ve signed to if he went to college, and he’s making people inside the walls at Ohio State believe that he can help lead them to an improbable championship run as their football team did earlier in the year.
However unlike James, Russell looks like a combination of great NBA All-Stars, and olympic gold medalists such as Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, and Jesus Shuttlesworth wrapped into one player, and to paraphrase Michael Jackson, it never looked so good, and I doubt it ever could.
Like only Jesus can, people already are claiming that Russell can save the Big Ten.
What would be more impressive to see Russell do, and a mission that’s a lot more challenging than saving a conference where Michigan lost to the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is to see if at the age of 19-years-old he could be the next freshman, after Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. to lead Ohio State to the 2015 NCAA Championship game.
In the college basketball landscape where there are a number of championship contenders such as Kentucky, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Villanova, it would be a blessing if Russell could get Ohio State to the elite eight.
The way Russell’s playing who really wants to bet against him?
Next: College Basketball Player Rankings: Okafor's back at No. 1
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