Roundtable: Early Impressions Of The NCAA Season
Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Who has impressed you the most over the opening two weeks of the season?
Andrew Ford (@AndrewFord22): In the latest mock draft by DraftExpress, Justise Winslow has jumped from a mid-lottery pick into the top five because of how good he’s been for Duke early in the season. Everyone thought he would come in and be a lockdown perimeter defender, which he has done. He’s been so much more than that, though. He made the highlight play of the season to date when he jumped completely over a Stanford Cardinal to block a shot. He’s an athletic freak, and he’s utilized his athleticism well to rebound, drive to the rim in the half court, and get out and run in transition. He’s shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc right now, and if he can continue to prove he has a viable outside shot to supplement the rest of his stellar arsenal, his draft stock will continue to rise.
Stephen Shepperd (@ShepHoops): I was a little down on Justise Winslow’s draft stock coming into the college basketball season, but his performance so far has blown my pants off. There were heaps and heaps of worries about his offensive skills coming into the season, but he’s shown that he has the abilities to be more efficient when scoring. With his defensive dominance and basketball IQ already present, his continuous improvement in the scoring department ball will only get him in higher graces with NBA teams.
Tom Fehr (@TJFsports): Jahlil Okafor. He’s just dominant in the post, and he has overwhelming strength paired with the occasional surprising bursts of quickness. His feel around the basket is just so advanced for being a freshman. Frankly, he shouldn’t be this good this quickly.
Spencer Layman (@nba_spen): I’m kind of afraid of being underneath Stephen in this post after his pants were “blown off.” Nonetheless, and this is incredibly biased because I am a huge fanboy, but I’ve been impressed with Jerian Grant. The Irish are 4-1 and he is averaging 17 points, 7.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. When he was out of school last spring semester, all he did was work on his game and it has showed so far. He’s been aggressive getting into the paint and kicking out to his shooters on the wings. His three-point percentage is down from the past couple years, but his True Shooting Percentage is the highest it’s ever been at 66.2.
Greg Mason (@votaryofhoops): I’ve been impressed by how well the Duke freshmen have responded to the pressure and expectations. In terms of teams, Gonzaga is potent and balanced. I like how quickly they’ve meshed. Finally, pretty random, but there’s a theme here: I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well Purdue freshman Isaac Haas is playing so far this season. He’s probably more of a four-year guy but he’s absolutely huge at 7-foot-2, 297 pounds. Also, he’s averaging 12 points on 75 percent shooting while pulling down 5.2 rebounds in 19 minutes a game.
Who have you been the most disappointed by?
Andrew Ford (@AndrewFord22): While the North Carolina Tar Heels were undefeated leading up to their loss to Butler this week, team leader and Naismith Award candidate Marcus Paige has been a little underwhelming. His stats in many major categories are currently significantly down from last season. Although Paige has a stronger supporting cast this season, he will likely need to be closer to last year’s version of himself than what he’s been so far this season for the Tar Heels to make some noise.
Stephen Shepperd (@ShepHoops): I may have been the highest on Kelly Oubre, Jr. on this site, so of course I’m probably the most disappointed in his performance so far. He isn’t getting anywhere near the minutes that many thought he’d get (10.7 minutes per game), which could give insight into where Bill Self sees his current ability. For him to keep his top-10 draft pick status, he’s going to need to earn some more minutes and be much more of a threat on the offensive end of the court. He’s shown what he can do in this past summer’s showcases, but it may scare scouts away if he’s not able to replicate it against college level athletes.
Tom Fehr (@TJFsports): This might be a bit unfair, but I’ll say Wayne Selden. I was hoping to see a noticeable improvement in his game coming off a good-but-not-great freshman year, but I just haven’t seen it so far. Though, last game against Rider he was forced to play distributor at times and thrived with a bunch of fantastic passes. He finished with 9 assists but didn’t score, and honestly he should have had more than 9 assists. His vision and the occasional wow-worthy pass has always been what I’ve loved most about him as a prospect, but he needs to keep the turnovers down and develop more as a scorer to have a good future in the NBA.
Spencer Layman (@nba_spen): It’s only been two games for him but so far Chris Walker just looks lost. I’ve always thought he was a “potential project” but I was really hoping to see him grasp the game better. Again, this is such a small sample size overreaction, so please take this with a grain of salt. I’ve just always been a fan of his since high school, so my disappointment stems from having high hopes for him. I still think he can get there, I’m just not sure how long it will be before he grasps the game.
Greg Mason (@votaryofhoops): I’m with Spencer. The Florida sophomores have been pretty disappointing so far. Chris Walker again got himself suspended and so far Billy Donovan doesn’t really trust him to be an integral part of the rotation. I love his energy and athleticism. He just really has a long way to go in terms of understanding the game. His five-star counterpart, Kasey Hill, has also struggled big time to start the season. Florida has major depth issues and Hill simply hasn’t stepped up to the challenge. He’s shooting an abysmal 23 percent from the field this season. He’s undersized but he’s lightning fast. He will need to play better if the Gators hope to make another tournament run. Keeping with the Purdue theme, I expected A.J. Hammons to take another step forward this season and so far it hasn’t happened.
Who seems to have improved the most since last season?
Andrew Ford (@AndrewFord22): There are plenty of candidates here, but I’m going with Montrezl Harrell. He’s been ridiculously efficient from the field (DUNKS!), and his scoring average is up four points per game from last season. Perhaps the most significant development for Harrell to this point is his newfound shooting touch. He struggled from the free throw line during his first two seasons at Louisville, but this season he’s getting to the line more than ever (7.5 times per game), and he’s shooting a much higher percentage (77%). Throw in the fact that he’s shot some threes and looked decent doing it, and it becomes easy to see just how much Harrell has improved.
Stephen Shepperd (@ShepHoops): Andrew Harrison may have gotten a bad wrap as “not the one who hit those big shots in the tournament” last season, but he’s making sure people know “which Harrison” he is this season. Because of Calipari’s platoon system, he’s earning less minutes per game (20.5 mpg down from 31.7 mpg last year), but his offensive efficiency is up. He has a 124.7 ORtg, 56.1 eFG%, and 41.7 3PT% which are all up from last year and higher than his brother, Aaron. His leadership abilities and overall “coolness” on the court is undeniable so far, and while his brother may still go higher in the draft, it’s looking like it’s Andrew who will benefit the most from returning for his sophomore season.
Tom Fehr (@TJFsports): This is a cop-out, but Kentucky. They’re terrifying. They’re freakish gigantic monsters that absolutely crushed the soul of my poor Jayhawks. Not only that, but they have deep enough talent to use platoon swaps, similarly to how I handled playing people online in College Hoops 2K8 with Kansas (great game series that was sadly discontinued). This year’s Kentucky squad is so much more impressive than last year’s team, which for a significant portion of last year was just Julius Randle putting up numbers and a bunch of underperforming pieces around him.
Spencer Layman (@nba_spen): Not sure he’s improved the most, but R.J. Hunter is looking so impressive this year. (I will beat that Georgia State Panthers drum all year long.) His points, assists and steals are all up from last year. He looks to be more of a vocal leader this year and more comfortable demanding the ball. R.J. is also using his dribble more to create his own shots, either getting into the paint for floaters or lay-ups, or creating step-back opportunities.
Greg Mason (@votaryofhoops): Hmm, tough one. Arkansas looks like they’re going to be a dangerous team come tournament time. The big question with them over the past couple of years has been how well they’ll perform on the road. In their one away game this season they beat SMU pretty convincingly. Although the score was much closer than the actual game, the Razorbacks basically came out and punched SMU in the mouth. Bobby Portis is definitely their best offensive player but they’re no one man show. They’re loaded with athletes and equally important they’re buying the defensive mentality that coach Mike Anderson is selling.