The Sports Brewery

Best of the Best

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 at 7:00 am by SKI in Basketball, NCAA Basketball

With the Conference Tournaments and the Big Dance right around the corner it’s time to take a look at who has been the best player in college basketball this year. Maybe seeing what some of these kids have done this year will help you when selecting your picks in your bracket.

I give you my top 5 players of college basketball.

5. Devan Downey, Guard South Carolina (22.5 ppg, 3.6 ast, 3.2 reb)

Downey is the best pure scorer in college basketball this year. He can score on any team, against anyone, at anytime when he’s on and can single handily win you ball games. He lacks the well rounded game to be #1 but if a team is looking for someone to put the ball in the hole he’s your man. Though South Carolina hasn’t been very good this year watch out in the SEC tournament, because it only takes one guy getting hot for 3 games to make some noise.

4. Greivis Vasquez, Guard Maryland (19.5 ppg, 6.4 ast, 4.7 reb)

The senior point guard has the Terps primed to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament this year. Behind his 19.5 ppg and his 6.4 ast (which is 4th in ncaa) Vasquez has been leading this strong Maryland team all year and if it wasn’t for the likes of my #2 choice would be the best point guard in the country. And there is nothing scarier to teams in the tournament than a senior point guard who wants to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

3. Luke Harangody, Forward Notre Dame ( 24.1 ppg, 10.0 reb, 1.8 ast)

Before going down with a knee injury Harangody was playing the role of the senior big man to perfection. Averaging a double double and 2nd in the nation in scoring he was using his extra years of experience to compile these massive stats for the Irish. Now if I was talking about potential for the NBA he would not be that high on my list, but since were just talking college ball, him and every player like him will always be  monsters in the college game. The NCAA tournament and his health are both in doubt for the Irish, but if they somehow sneak in and he gets healthy they could be a tough opponent for any team.

2. John Wall, Guard Kentucky (17.0 ppg, 6.2 ast, 4.1 red)

Now we get to the big guns. What more can be said about Wall. He came in as the Man. People expected him to be the Man and he has been the Man. There are only a few recent guys who had such high expectations coming in and have delivered on what people thought (Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant) and you can just about add Wall onto that list. All that Wall needs to do now is deliver in the tournament and you can put his name right alongside those 2, then expect to see him play against those 2 the following year in the NBA. As for the tournament, there going in as a 1 seed and any loss before the final 4 will be a bad loss.

1. Evan Turner, Forward Ohio State (19.5 ppg, 9.4 reb, 5.8 ast)

A lot of people probably have John Wall as there #1 on their list, but for anyone that does I bet you’ve never watched Evan Turner play or you know nothing about basketball. Turner is by far the best well rounded player in college this year. You might look at his stats and think that there are others that are better, but you have to watch him play to see why he’s the best. His game already mirrors that of an NBA player. Being able to go inside and out, rebound on both ends and be a selfless player. And hes tough and plays hard. Look back earlier in the season when he took that nasty spill and fractured 2 vertebrae in his spine. They said he was going to be out for 8-12 weeks, but he came back in just over 3 weeks and since then has gotten his Buckeye team to 6th in the country and probably a 2 seed for the tournament. As for the tournament Ohio State is my sleeper team to win it and Turner is the big reason why.

Honorable Mention:

Demarcus Cousins, Kentucky (15.9 ppg, 10.1 reb)

Landry Fields, Stanford (22.1 ppg, 8.6 reb, 2,8 ast)

Artsiom Parakhouski, Radford (21.6 ppg, 13.2 reb)

Demetri McCarney, Illinois (15.1 ppg, 6.9 ast)

Tags: Basketball, Devan Downey, Evan Turner, Greivis Vasquez, John Wall, Luke Harangody, ncaa basketball