Here are three sets of stats from freshmen PG last year. Player one is Derrick Walton, Jr. – can you guess who Players B and C are?
Player A:
Mins: 26.7
PPG: 7.9
RPG: 3.0
APG: 2.9
SPG: 0.6
TOPG: 1.5
FG%: 43%
FT%: 80%
3P%: 41%
Player B:
Mins: 28.1
PPG: 6.8
RPG: 2.6
APG: 3.7
SPG:1.3
TOPG: 0.8
FG%: 43%
FT%: 85%
3Pt%: 41%
Player C:
Mins: 31.7
PPG: 10.9
RPG: 3.2
APG: 4.0
SPG: 0.5
TOPG: 2.7
FG%: 37%
FT%: 76%
3PG: 35%
I was able to guess #2 (Monte Morris), but I had to cheat for #3. Interesting that Michigan played against both (and Walton wasn’t great in either game).
Monte’s assist to turnover numbers are ridiculous. I always loved his game and think he’s gonna develop into a special player. Think Michigan made the right move though by offering Walton as well. Couldn’t go wrong with either player and made sure they got one.
If I had to guess on player C, I’d say Andrew Harrison. We played against Kentucky and Walton didn’t play very well in that game. Plus Andrew had a really inefficient year of shooting.
Bam, you guys are good, Monte and Harrison. Monte’s A-TO ratio set a record, apparently. He’s an interesting comparison because of splitting the Michigan POY awards with Walton and the alternate reality where he jumped on the Michigan offer first. But the reason I picked these guys was because they were the only two freshmen on ESPN’s best returning PGs list:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/98805/players-to-watch-point-guards
In other words, if you were better than these guys as freshmen PGs last year, you were Tyler Ennis and headed to the NBA. Or I guess the UCLA player also going.
Walton’s stats compare pretty favorably to these guys. Very similar shooting numbers to Morris with a little more scoring a little fewer assists. Less usage than Harrison but much more efficient shooting and A-TO ratio. More reason to think Walton could be a very good PG next year.