Most college basketball organizations that award national postseason awards don’t hand out “breakout” or “surprise” player awards. There is no shortage of candidates.
With just one month into the 2022-23 season, more players have already appeared on the national scene than preseason expectations.Last season the players Iowa With forward Keegan Murray Wisconsin Guard Johnny Davis broke out as a star in the first few weeks of the season. They proved they could maintain a high level of play and were selected in the NBA Draft Lottery.
College multi-year players haven’t made an appearance this season, but many have played more roles on quality teams. Like Davis and Murray, can they keep it up long term? Time will tell.
For now, our writers are using this week’s dribbling handoff to name the most surprising players.
Ricky Council, G, Arkansas
I always thought council was good. I knew the staff were excited about his enrollment. But it’s simply not common for someone to move to a better league or better program and become significantly better.The 6-foot-6 guard shot 43.7% off the field and averaged 12.0 points last season was recorded. Wichita teams finished 6-9 in American Athletic Conference; currently, he is averaging 19.2 points on 52.6% shots from the field with a 9-1 Arkansas team that ranks 7th on the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1.
The council actually leads the SEC in scoring. How unexpected is this?
Unexpectedly, despite having two Arkansas players on the preseason list, top 100 and 1 The Council was nowhere to be found in place of college basketball players (No. 13 Nick Smith and No. 44 Anthony Black). It looks like a failure, especially if the Council leads the Razorbacks to their first Final Four since 1995. — Gary Parrish
We don’t know if Penn State will host the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011, but if it does, pickets will be one of the biggest reasons.former Siena Saint was a hot transfer candidate in Spring 2021 after leaving the MAAC. At his PSU last season, he played his 37 minutes in one night, shooting 42.0% of his shots and averaging 13.3 points. This season he popped out. Pickett ranked in the top 10 in KenPom’s Player of the Year algorithm thanks to averaging 16.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists. He is the only player in the country with an average of 16/7/7. He was too good to be called his breakout player, but it’s amazing how good he was in his first six weeks. Usually the PSU he doesn’t tend to tune into the game, change it. Pickets are worth the ticket. — Matt Norlander
Seeing Arizona tycoon Umar Baro develop into a bona fide star is no surprise in itself. The four-star recruit often blossomed into college star, and he was a consensus Top 80 talent in the NBA Academy’s class of 2019. But that’s certainly how he got here.
Contract with Baro Gonzaga It took me a while to get comfortable at first. After being redshirted, he played sparingly in his 2020-21 season, averaging 6.3 minutes and 2.5 points per game. When Tommy Lloyd got a job in Arizona, Barro followed him into the desert. Still, it doesn’t completely change his production profile. Last season he appeared in a career-high 37 games and averaged 6.8 points in the rotation, but he was still mostly just another player.
But this year? Varo blossomed into a wild beast. He started every game, averaging 18.1 points per game and 9.4 boards for the 9-1 Wildcats. This put him third among all Pac-12 players in points per game and first among all his Pac-12 players in rebounds per game. . And his 74.7% off-the-field goal percentage ranks him #1 among players in the conference and among the top 20 nationally in all conferences. The Wildcats scored his No. 1 offense in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency index, and he’s No. 1 in field goals scored this season, making him one of Barro’s most surprising breakouts. is building a true competitor with one of his. — Kyle Boone
Marquette qualified for the 2022 NCAA Tournament in Coach Shaka Smart’s first season, but was not thought to be able to sustain that momentum in 2022-23. With top scorers Justin Lewis and Darryl Mossel leaving after his 30.2 points per game run, and no big-name transfer to replace that production, repeaters were on the way. Several have answered the bell, but Jones stands out for his aggressive production. Through 11 games, he more than doubled his scoring last season with a team-high 16.4 points per game. The 6-foot-4 guard has been at his best in some of Marquette’s biggest games, with him scoring 20 points in one win. Baylor26 losses to Wisconsin, 25 wins Notre Dame.
Jones signed a contract to play under Smart’s predecessor, Steve Wojciechwski, but he proved to be a great fit for Smart’s system. In an era where players frequently make coaching changes, Jones and Smart show that it doesn’t have to be. — David Cobb
