College Basketball's Possible Breakout Players in '09-10: An Early Look

Every year in college basketball we see players that we have heard of before that take their game up another level and become elite players.

A great example of this last year was Jodie Meeks. Meeks was a good player coming into the year, but this season saw him explode into one of the nations top scorers and best all-around players, who nearly led Kentucky to the NCAA tournament.

The question is who will do it next? Which athlete will take their game to the next level and lead their team to new heights?

Dexter Pittman

Pittman has slowly been developing into a solid center who averaged 10 points and five rebounds per game last year for the Longhorns. With A.J. Abrams graduating and Damion James currently headed to the NBA draft, this Texas team will need to look elsewhere for it's scoring and leadership. At 6'10, 298 lbs. Pittman has the size to be a truly dominant center. If he is able to keep his weight under control and Coach Barnes centers the Longhorn offense around Pittman, the results could be an explosion by Pittman. He could easily become a double-double machine at center similar to the way Luke Harangody has become at Notre Dame.

Chris Wright

Wright was highly recruited coming out of high school and was a huge signing for Brain Gregory and the University of Dayton. Already we have seen UD's tournament hopes ended due to an injury to Wright, and we have seen Wright play a huge role in leading the Flyers to the NCAA tournament and a first round upset of West Virginia. The scary part of this is that while Wright has been taking the Flyers to new heights and averaging 13 points and six rebounds, he has come nowhere near realizing his full potential. At 6'8" with a rapidly improving jump shot and a 40 inch vertical there is no doubt that Wright will be a player to watch in 2009-2010.

JaJaun Johnson

Johnson was part of a great recruiting class that included All-Big 10 picks E'Twuan Moore and Robbie Hummel. When Hummel went down with an injury early last season, Purdue head coach Painter asked Johnson to pick up most of Hummel's scoring and rebounding. Johnson did just that averaging 13 points and five rebounds. Johnson played well enough down the stretch to earn First Team All-Big 10 honors. Yet there is much more to come from Johnson. With continued improvement on his jump shot (that he had already extended to 15 feet), and a summer in the weight room, Johnson could become the premier big man in the Big 10 next season.

Yancy Gates

Gates was a big sign for the Bearcats last year and showed why during his freshman season, as he was the team's second leading scorer. At 6'9", Gates can hurt you inside as well as outside thanks to his 19-foot jumper. Gates struggled with consistency throughout the year and often settles for difficult shots, but another year could cure that. With a summer under coach Cronin Gates will improve his jumper, and with a year of experience, be more prepared to handle the college season. Gates could have quite a breakout year and if he does watch out for the Bearcats in the Big East

Jon Scheyer

Scheyer was part of the Duke team that made quite a lot of noise early in the season, and when the team began to slump it was Krzyzewski's idea of moving Scheyer to the point, which really allowed the Duke team to get back on track. With Gerald Henderson entering the draft, and no true point guard on the roster, Kryzyzewski and the Blue Devils are going to need someone to step up. With his success at running the point late last season Scheyer can once again fill the point guard spot. And with his silky smooth stroke and surprising quickness, Scheyer will also be able to pick up much of the scoring that will be left behind by Henderson. If Scheyer is able to handle both roles, of the playing the point and scoring, he could have an enormous season.

Jon Leuer

Leuer was a huge plus for the Wisconsin Badgers coming off the bench as the sixth man this past season averaging eight points and three rebounds per game. With the departure of Marcus Landry and Joe Krabbenhoft, head coach Bo Ryan is sure to ask more of Jon Leuer this season, most likely as a starter. The 6'10" forward is a match up nightmare and he's too big to put a smaller player on, but his three point jumper and ability to drive to the hole allows him to beat other big men. Improving his three point jumper and being used as a starter and one of the main offensive options this year will allow Leuer to become a huge match-up nightmare in the Big 10.

Verdell Jones III

Jones showed up in a big way last year for the rebuilding Hoosiers. As a freshman, Jones was given control of the offense and asked to perform like a veteran leader, not a freshman. Jones did that averaging 11 points and three assists per game. Jones was already showing signs of improvement as he averaged 19 points and four assists over the last four games of the season. With a year of experience, and a better understanding of the Tom Crean's offense, along with the incoming top 25 recruiting class, Jones will be able to continue to improve those numbers and improve his assist-to-turnover ratio this year. This season Jones could breakout into a young star point guard and Indiana's leader for the next couple of years.