Post by MCIGuy on Sept 14, 2014 10:56:14 GMT -5
Once it was official that Josh was returning I’ve been bullish on the prospects of this team. However I don’t expect the media to share such an opinion. Not after last season’s disappointment and the early flameouts in tournaments from previous years. And it is expected that a disregard for a team could also have an effect on how one views its players. So I get that the world was not going to drop any rose petals at D’Vauntes’ feet in regards to preseason recognition. But what this year’s edition of Lindy’s Sports College Basketball did was ridiculous.
First of all every year Lindy’s puts together a Top 25 list for all five positions. In the last few years the lists now consist solely of returning players, freshmen are now only included as honorable mention. There is a noticeable lack of star power going into this college basketball season because for one of the rare few times not one single player from the three All-American lists will be returning for the following season. Still despite all of this DSR was not included in the top 25 shooting guards. But here are some names of people that did make this list:
Kellen Dunham of Butler. Denham, a junior, not only had inferior stats to DSR last season he also played on an inferior team that lost twice to Georgetown.
Trevor Cooney of Syracuse. This guy, another junior, had a far worse overall fg% compared to DSR (he shot 40%), a far worse 2 pt fg% and a worse 3 pt fg% despite playing alongside better talent. He also was a worse FT shooter and averaged less rebounds and assists than DSR, He did beat out DSR in steals per game so I suppose that gave him the edge.
Rasheed Sulaimon of Duke. He was supposed to become a star last season after a successful first year but ended up falling over a cliff. Lost his starting gig for awhile and shot barely above 40% from the floor, averaging just under 10 points for the year.
D’Angelo Harrison of St. John’s made that list too. More on him later.
So then I thought since DSR in some people’s eyes is more of a combo perhaps Lindy’s was speculating that he would be playing the role of point guard this season. However he wasn’t in the top 25 for that list either. The great Ryan Arcidiacono was as well as the ever-regressing Quinn Cook. No surprise that #1 on the list was Marcus Paige, the junior from UNC. People, including NBA scouts, think very highly of Paige. But when you look at the numbers DSR matches up very well with Paige. This isn’t about who is the better NBA prospect, these lists are about who are the proven best returning college players. So how can DSR go virtually ignored?
It gets better...or worse. Further inside the issue in the sections that break down each conference, the people who put together the expected All Big East first team left DSR off that list too (he was relegated to the pre-season second team). This is despite the fact that DSR was a choice for the 2013-2014 All Big East Second Team after last season and that five of the six members of the First Team, including Markel Starks, are no longer around. Hell, one could make a great argument that DSR should have been selected First Team All BE last season. How can anyone conjure up a pre season BE First Team list and keep him off? He is THE returning leading scorer in the Big East, something that typically gives one a lot of street cred with the media. He is the #7 returning rebounder in the Big East! Yes, you read that right. He is the seventh best returning BE player in as far as rebounding numbers are concerned, one spot ahead of Mikael. He is #2 returning player in 3 Point FG%. In fact he is one of only two BE players who leads all returning players on his team in points, rebounds and assists. The other guy who can say the same is LaDontae Henton of Providence. And Lindy’s loves them some LaDontae Henton. He is #6 on their Top 25 small forward list. And he is a First Team All BE selection by the magazine too.
The other First Team All Big East picks besides Henton are JayVaughn Pinkston of Villanova, Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones of Butler (yes, Butler has two people on that First Team so I suppose Butler is going to be very, very good), and D’Angelo Harrison.
Harrison, despite often being a headcase and a mental midget and never getting St. John’s to the NCAA in tournament during his previous three seasons, is the magazine’s choice as Big East Player of the Year. That’s not a terrible selection. But Harrison shot .381 from the floor on his way to his 17.5 average while DSR shot .445 on his way to 17.6. DSR also beats out Harrison in assists and rebounds. Not enough though I guess for Lindy’s to think as highly of DSR as it does of Harrison. Lindy’s even lists Harrison as the best NBA prospect in the Big East which if true is pretty sad for the Big East. Frankly I don’t even consider Harrison the best NBA prospect on his own team.
Bleacher Report, who by the way picked DSR as their pre-season Player of the Year in the Big East ( bleacherreport.com/articles/2172236-predicting-the-2014-15-big-east-all-conference-teams/page/2172236-predicting-the-2014-15-big-east-all-conference-teams ), rightfully pointed out that the numbers DSR put up as a soph were an output expected more from juniors and seniors. Those numbers alone should have garnered more respect for D'Vauntes. A little more at least. Who would have thought Bleacher Report would be a better voice of reason?
I’ll post some further breakdown of Lindy’s overall view of the Gtown team in this thread later.
First of all every year Lindy’s puts together a Top 25 list for all five positions. In the last few years the lists now consist solely of returning players, freshmen are now only included as honorable mention. There is a noticeable lack of star power going into this college basketball season because for one of the rare few times not one single player from the three All-American lists will be returning for the following season. Still despite all of this DSR was not included in the top 25 shooting guards. But here are some names of people that did make this list:
Kellen Dunham of Butler. Denham, a junior, not only had inferior stats to DSR last season he also played on an inferior team that lost twice to Georgetown.
Trevor Cooney of Syracuse. This guy, another junior, had a far worse overall fg% compared to DSR (he shot 40%), a far worse 2 pt fg% and a worse 3 pt fg% despite playing alongside better talent. He also was a worse FT shooter and averaged less rebounds and assists than DSR, He did beat out DSR in steals per game so I suppose that gave him the edge.
Rasheed Sulaimon of Duke. He was supposed to become a star last season after a successful first year but ended up falling over a cliff. Lost his starting gig for awhile and shot barely above 40% from the floor, averaging just under 10 points for the year.
D’Angelo Harrison of St. John’s made that list too. More on him later.
So then I thought since DSR in some people’s eyes is more of a combo perhaps Lindy’s was speculating that he would be playing the role of point guard this season. However he wasn’t in the top 25 for that list either. The great Ryan Arcidiacono was as well as the ever-regressing Quinn Cook. No surprise that #1 on the list was Marcus Paige, the junior from UNC. People, including NBA scouts, think very highly of Paige. But when you look at the numbers DSR matches up very well with Paige. This isn’t about who is the better NBA prospect, these lists are about who are the proven best returning college players. So how can DSR go virtually ignored?
It gets better...or worse. Further inside the issue in the sections that break down each conference, the people who put together the expected All Big East first team left DSR off that list too (he was relegated to the pre-season second team). This is despite the fact that DSR was a choice for the 2013-2014 All Big East Second Team after last season and that five of the six members of the First Team, including Markel Starks, are no longer around. Hell, one could make a great argument that DSR should have been selected First Team All BE last season. How can anyone conjure up a pre season BE First Team list and keep him off? He is THE returning leading scorer in the Big East, something that typically gives one a lot of street cred with the media. He is the #7 returning rebounder in the Big East! Yes, you read that right. He is the seventh best returning BE player in as far as rebounding numbers are concerned, one spot ahead of Mikael. He is #2 returning player in 3 Point FG%. In fact he is one of only two BE players who leads all returning players on his team in points, rebounds and assists. The other guy who can say the same is LaDontae Henton of Providence. And Lindy’s loves them some LaDontae Henton. He is #6 on their Top 25 small forward list. And he is a First Team All BE selection by the magazine too.
The other First Team All Big East picks besides Henton are JayVaughn Pinkston of Villanova, Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones of Butler (yes, Butler has two people on that First Team so I suppose Butler is going to be very, very good), and D’Angelo Harrison.
Harrison, despite often being a headcase and a mental midget and never getting St. John’s to the NCAA in tournament during his previous three seasons, is the magazine’s choice as Big East Player of the Year. That’s not a terrible selection. But Harrison shot .381 from the floor on his way to his 17.5 average while DSR shot .445 on his way to 17.6. DSR also beats out Harrison in assists and rebounds. Not enough though I guess for Lindy’s to think as highly of DSR as it does of Harrison. Lindy’s even lists Harrison as the best NBA prospect in the Big East which if true is pretty sad for the Big East. Frankly I don’t even consider Harrison the best NBA prospect on his own team.
Bleacher Report, who by the way picked DSR as their pre-season Player of the Year in the Big East ( bleacherreport.com/articles/2172236-predicting-the-2014-15-big-east-all-conference-teams/page/2172236-predicting-the-2014-15-big-east-all-conference-teams ), rightfully pointed out that the numbers DSR put up as a soph were an output expected more from juniors and seniors. Those numbers alone should have garnered more respect for D'Vauntes. A little more at least. Who would have thought Bleacher Report would be a better voice of reason?
I’ll post some further breakdown of Lindy’s overall view of the Gtown team in this thread later.
