Fansided

30 greatest college basketball players this century

By Cody Williams

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
10 of 31
Next
SYRACUSE, NY – MARCH 25: John Wall #11 and Darius Miller #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats react at the end of the first half against the Cornell Big Red during the east regional semifinal of the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Carrier Dome on March 25, 2010 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY – MARCH 25: John Wall #11 and Darius Miller #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats react at the end of the first half against the Cornell Big Red during the east regional semifinal of the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Carrier Dome on March 25, 2010 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

22. John Wall, Kentucky (2009-2010)

  • 2010 Wooden Award Finalist
  • 2010 Consensus First-Team All-American
  • 2010 SEC Player of the Year

Coming out of high school, the hype surrounding John Wall from Word of God in Raleigh, NC was unreal. He was being anointed as the next big thing in the basketball world. Naturally, he landed with John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats, looking to be the next one-and-done to make a massive impact on college basketball for one year before departing to the ranks of the NBA. And that’s exactly what he did.

Now, it’s worth noting that Wall wasn’t necessarily the scoring monster that many of the other one-and-done players on this list were in their lone college season. In fact, Wall averaged only 16.6 points per game in his single season leading the Wildcats, but for good reason. He just happened to be on a team that also had DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and Eric Bledsoe — you know, the typical murderer’s row of Kentucky youngsters. And even in that group, Wall was the leading scorer.

What’s more, Wall filled up the rest of the box score as well, proving to be an all-around impact player. On the year, Wall averaged 16.6 points, 6.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, leading the team in all of those categories aside from rebounding (he was third behind Cousins and Patterson). What’s more, he led Kentucky’s run to the Elite Eight that season with similarly impressive numbers, going for 14.5 points, 7.8 assists, five rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

So yes, the production itself wasn’t out of this world, but in context, he deserves a spot in these rankings.