Lets come right out and state the obvious. The ACC is not point guard rich this year. As I made this list I realized I was going to be ranking 3 guys who are not really point guards, and arguably only 2 guys who are the best players on their respective teams. The ACC is a big man's league in 2010, but that means that players who can get the ball safely into the hands of the big fellows are more valuable than ever.
One note about the reasoning behind this. I didn't simply take the best numbers, there isn't a mathematical formula here. I took the guys you'd want to pick if you were starting an ACC pickup game. That means good all around play, not just stats.
12. Durand Scott (University of Miami)- Scott is a freshman point guard. Worse than that actually, he's a freshman shooting guard being asked to play point guard. Given that he's done rather well, with respectable statistical averages. However those averages have mostly been compiled against a cupcake schedule, and when faced with ACC defense, Scott has wilted, averaging less than 2 assists per game as Miami has lost 3 of 4 games so far in conference.
11. Biko Paris (Boston College)- Biko, besides having the best name in the ACC, averages about 5 assists a game with a very respectable 2.7 A/TO ratio. Unfortunately thats about all he does. He's only hit double figures scoring 4 times all season, and is not a 3 point threat. Even his passing has gone away during ACC play, as he's only recorded more than 4 assists once in the ACC, while being defended by Scott when they played Miami. Its hard to justify putting him any higher when the team clearly plays better with the more aggressive Reggie Jackson in off the bench.
10. Javier Gonzalez (NCSU)- Fiery, excitable and erratic his first 2 years, Gonzalez started out this year scoring and dishing like he never had before. Unfortunately as the competition has stiffened, his numbers have dropped. Maybe when Chandler Parsons hit that 75 footer he took Gonzalez's game along with the victory, because since that point Javier hasn't scored more than 6 points or had more than 3 assists in a game, lowlighted by his 0 point, 0 assist, 4 turnover performance as the Wolfpack narrowly fell to Clemson this weekend. If he doesn't break out of this slump, he may be losing his spot to sophomore Julius Mays, who's come on strong as Gonzalez has faded.
9. Derwin Kitchen (Florida St)- A St Johns transfer playing his second full season of college basketball this year, Kitchen is another non-PG playing PG. He's been solid while filling the unenviable role of replacing Toney Douglas, the heart and soul of last year's FSU team. He moves ahead of Paris, Gonzalez and Scott despite similar stats because he's the starting point of FSU's tenacious D, and his numbers have if anything improved as his team has moved into ACC play.
8. Sammy Zeglinski (UVA)- It was difficult to tell where to rank Zeglinski right now, as it's difficult to tell quite how good his team is. He's certainly been a key cog of the Virginia machine, scoring double digits in 9 of their last 11 games, including 6 during their current 8 game win streak. He doesn't get a lot of assists, but in the nature of Tony Bennetts offense nobody really does. We're putting him here for now, although Kitchen and Scott might pass him by the end of the season (and if Reggie Jackson were starting for BC he'd already have passed this point)
7. Larry Drew II (UNC)- Like this UNC team as a whole, looks better on paper than in person. The stats (8.4-2.8-6.4 .457 from 3) say he's one of the best point guards in the league and when he's racing down the floor with Lawson-like speed its easy to believe the numbers. And certainly he has at times been brilliant. But then you see his numbers in the biggest games. 0 points against Syracuse. 6 points, 4 turnovers against Kentucky. 4 points 5 turnovers against Texas. Only 2 points against georgia tech. He's a solid player who's being asked to lead one of the nation's flagship programs, and like Greg Paulus his sophomore year, he does not appear to be completely up to the task. That doesn't make him a bad player, just not the type of star that UNC has had at point in recent years (IE: Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson)
6. Demontez Stitt (Clemson)- At this point we've moved into a different tier. The top half of the point guards in this league is clearly a level above the bottom half right now. Stitt is a veteran floor general of a top 25 team, a guy who's scoring has improved this year while his other numbers have held steady. He's come up big in big games (37 combined pts vs Duke & UNC)
5. Iman Shumpert (GTech) - The poster boy of the "not really a point guard club" but this guy is good no matter what position he's playing. The 30 point outburst against UNC was the highlight of a season that seems to be getting better with time. His lack of point guard skills has caused problems for Gtech at points, as the core of their team is in the post and their bigs have not been fed at points, but its hard to blame Shumpert, who's playing out of position and still excelling.
4. Ishmael Smith (Wake) - During his time at Wake, Ish has been up, down, and all over the place. He's shown a flair for the dramatic, with several big time late game shots to his credit, and at other times has not shown up at all (his visit to Duke his freshman year comes to mind) But after taking a back seat to Jeff Teague last year, Smith has clearly been in control of this Wake team, guiding them to the brink of ACC contention along with Al-Farouq Aminu. He's become a big time player, one who can dictate the flow of a game or come up big late
3. Greivis Vasquez (Maryland) - He would have started this season at #1, and he may still end up there. Nobody would be surprised to see him average a 15-7-7 the rest of the season, and nobody would be surprised if he got himself suspended for punching a fan. With Vasquez you never quite know what you're going to get. What can't be denied however is that he is supremely talented and that when he comes ready to play there is almost nobody in this league who can stop him. We'll see what the rest of the season brings, but whatever the case, it promises to be interesting.
2. Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) - If some players are said to be the heart and soul of their team, Delaney has been the heart and soul of this Vtech team, while playing the role of arms, leg, stomach, head and a few other body parts as well. Currently leading the ACC in scoring, Delaney has carried this Vtech team, scoring 20+ points 8 times, and singlehandedly keeping them in a game against Temple where he scored over 60% of his teams points and ended up with 32. He'd be number 1 except for the suspicion that his numbers have been mostly out of neccessity, while the guy ahead of him has been doing it all for a much better team.
1. Jon Scheyer (Duke) - The early ACC POY chants have calmed down considerably as Scheyer has returned to earth following a scorching start to the season in 2009. And there's certainly an argument to be made that he should be dropped below Delaney due to his recent slump, and Duke's resultant 2 losses. However first you should consider: Scheyer is the #2 scorer in the conference, and the #4 assist leader. He starts the best offense in the ACC (84.1 ppg), and his 4.0 A/TO ratio, while quite a drop from his otherworldly 8.2 stat from the beginning of december, still leads all D-I starters. He quite simply so far this season has been the most important player on the leagues best team. While this could certainly be reconsidered if Delaney or Vasquez makes a second half surge and Duke continues to struggle on the road. But for now Jon Scheyer is the #1 point guard in the ACC
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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