My NCAA Sophomore Crush: Isaiah Briscoe
By John Bauman
My pick for my NCAA Sophomore Crush, Isaiah Briscoe of Kentucky, is a player most assumed would not make it to a sophomore season in college basketball. Briscoe came to KU highly-touted like his teammates Jamal Murray, Tyler Ulis and Skal Labissiere, but those three are already off living the life of NBA draft picks, while Briscoe is gearing up for the start of the next semester of classes at Kentucky.
Briscoe’s return to college basketball is a gain not just for Kentucky fans, but fans of the sport. He’s a fun player to watch as he throws alley oops to his talented Kentucky teammates or finishes fast breaks while showcasing some of the athleticism that made him the 13th ranked player in the 2015 ESPN 100.
The knock on him coming into college is that he struggled with his shooting, and unfortunately those concerns still remain after one season at Kentucky. He made five of 37 three point attempts last season – I don’t know what’s more scary, that he shot 13.5 percent from three or that he attempted just 37 three pointers in over 1000 minutes of game action.
As basketball falls more and more in love with shooting, Briscoe stands out as a player who doesn’t fit the current climate. But look past the shooting woes and you find a really good basketball player.
You can start with his defense, which is excellent. Just like defense wins championships, defensive standouts will always have a place on championship teams. Somebody would have taken a chance in the second round on Briscoe because of his defensive prowess, and coach John Calipari of Kentucky has to feel comfortable knowing he has a defensive ace entering the 2016-17 season.
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He’s also an oddly good penetrator and finisher at the rim. He scored 190 points at or around the rim last season, per shotanalytics.com. For reference, that’s the same amount of points that UNC power forward Isaiah Hicks scored. However, he doesn’t overwhelm defenders with athleticism or quickness when attacking the rim. Instead, he does a kind of off-tempo dance of euro steps and dribbling moves to get in position to finish. It’s fun to watch and he makes tough finishes look a lot easier than they are.
He’s a throwback player in that respect with a lot of skills as a driver and scorer that many college basketball players don’t have. Watch him finish a drive or two and you might mistake him for Dwyane Wade. Watch him clank an open jumper off the rim and the same player comparison comes to mind.
Briscoe is my sophomore crush, and like anyone does for their crush, I worry about his future and what it holds at Kentucky. He’s returning for his second season at UK, which seems like a good thing. But as you know, Calipari’s unstoppable recruiting train is bringing in the next round of blue chippers who will feel entitled to playing time at Briscoe’s natural position, point guard. They are PG De’Aaron Fox, the sixth best player in the 2016 ESPN 100, and SG Malik Monk, the ninth best player in the same ranks. Briscoe won’t have any playing time handed to him next season.
The goals for Briscoe next season are simple – help Kentucky win games of course, but also continue to develop on the offensive end. Hopefully Briscoe gets the minutes at point guard to thrive and knocks down a couple more threes to make draft scouts and Big Blue Nation really happy.