2008-09 SEC Bomber Award

The next addition to the series is the SEC’s player most willing to fire the bomb from long-range.

Considering this is formulated as minutes per three attempted, this category relies heavily upon a player’s three-point percentage and the amount of minutes played, along with other intangibles such as what role the player filled on the team. So, needless to say, this isn’t necessarily a positive category nor a negative one.

Wanted to note that I’ve gotten a couple of tips that these rankings seem to be a bit dry. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the beast with these rankings, and there’s not much I can do to improve that. These posts are serving as something interesting and unique to quell the true college hoops fan’s hunger for the sport until the season comes around.

Once the categories have been exhausted, I’ll be breaking down incoming recruits, and eventually moving onto preseason awards and rankings. Until then, skim over (or absorb) these posts!

Now, for the standard explanation of this whole process—you can skip this if you’ve read it before...

These awards are meant to effectively and accurately pick the best (and worst) performers in each category. Thus, a line was drawn roughly around the area of 15 games played and/or 40 minutes—one full game—played as a minimum. This was done to limit the effect of outliers bringing to our attention surprising walk-ons that could be, according to the stats, future superstars.

Obviously, these awards are not all-encompassing. Players that transferred or any other players that didn’t play for any reason last season are not included.

Be sure to understand that each of these categories, alone, are misleading. For example, if a player won Least Minutes/Assist but also finished last in Least Minutes/Turnover, it is not as impressive. Combining these rankings and statistics will give a more clear and well-rounded picture, but these rankings are fun nonetheless.

 

The winner is...

TROY BREWER—Georgia (transfer): 3.75—Last Year: 3.29

Brewer was a work in progress from the moment he stepped foot on Georgia’s campus. Brewer had talent but was an absolutely awful shooter, considering his 22.5 percent effort from behind the arc, despite attempting an average of over 10 per every 40 minutes.

Brewer never saw the amount of minutes he wanted, and opted to transfer after two years under Dennis Felton.

The others...

2. Tay Waller—Auburn (senior): 3.82—Last Year: N.A.

Waller, already awarded the 2008-09 Nothin’ But Net Award, was arguably a more potent three-point threat than the famed Jodie Meeks of the Wildcat Blue last season. Waller served as Auburn’s main (if not only) offensive weapon from long-range, and he was an extremely effective one.

He’d challenge for SEC Player of the Year is the Tigers had a chance to be a good team in 2009-10.

3. Renaldo Woolridge—Tennessee (sophomore): 4.10—Last Year: N.A.

Woolridge excelled in no area other than ball-handling and selflessness in his freshman season with the Vols. The guard/forward barely hit 30 percent from the floor, and was under 28 percent from three. Still, he hoisted 69 of his 90 shot attempts on the year from there.

Woolridge has an enormous amount of improvement to endure before truly becoming competitive in the SEC.

4. Rickey McPhee—Georgia (senior): 4.26—Last Year: N.A.

Proving the ineptitude of Georgia’s offense under Felton, McPhee ranks as the second UGA player in the SEC’s top-four most prolific three-point shooters. Unlike Brewer, however, McPhee has a workable game with a nice jump-shot.

If McPhee could become more versatile inside the three-point line, he could play an important role in Georgia’s backcourt next season.

5. Jodie Meeks—Kentucky (NBA Draft): 4.30—Last Year: 5.10

Meeks, one of the league’s biggest superstars in 2008-09, clocks in with his fourth-consecutive positive mention and the only player to have made all four lists thus far. Meeks has always been a dangerous shooter, and he was called upon to step up last season by Gillispie.

He did so in an enormous way, serving as the only SEC player to qualify for the league’s minimum attempts and shoot over 40 percent from three. Meeks’ departure was a massive blow for Kentucky.

6. David Huertas—Ole Miss (overseas): 4.38—Last Year: 4.38

Although it’s irrelevant, this was the first player I’ve noticed to match his efficiency number from the previous year. Pretty neat.

Anyway, Huertas’ loss should limit or destroy the Rebels’ chances at overtaking MSU in the West next season, as he poured in over 18 points per game from all over the floor.

7. Rotnei Clarke—Arkansas (sophomore): 4.47—Last Year: N.A.

Clarke is one of, if not the single-most talented rising sophomore in the league. Clarke did everything for the Razorbacks last season, and did so with efficiency numbers generally saved for upperclassmen.

Clarke will be an SEC superstar if Arkansas can ever find its feet, although this seems unlikely for 2009-10 due to the team’s heavy off-season losses.

8. Chris Warren—Ole Miss (junior): 4.67—Last Year: 4.22

Warren suffered a season-ending injury toward the early part of the season, and his team suffered heavily because of it. Warren is nothing short of a genius at the point-guard position, and is a tremendous all-around asset for the Rebels.

Warren shot effectively from three during his freshman season, but barely hit 30 percent of them last season.

9. Cameron Tatum—Tennessee (sophomore): 4.67—Last Year: N.A.

Tatum is a talented guard/forward who suffered from the Vols’ lack of guards a season ago. He put up 134 threes in 217 attempts and brought down just 32.1% of those.

Tatum is competitive at every aspect of the game, but needs to improve to challenge for a starting position. His free-throw percentage, defense and rebounding all need tweeking.

10. Brandon Hollinger—Alabama (graduated): 4.98—Last Year: 7.49

Hollinger was a backup shooter whose effectiveness absolutely plummeted when senior Ronald Steele left the team. Steele was one of the league’s best point guards, and was able to build chemistry with Hollinger that led him to hit over 43 percent of his threes during his junior year. During his last year for the Crimson Tide, he shot just 17.5 percent from that range.

 

The opposite end of the spectrum…
Minimum of 10 total threes attempted set

 

1. Perry Stevenson—Kentucky (senior): 101.00—Last Year: N.A.

2. Tasmin Mitchell—LSU (senior): 59.84—Last Year: 13.20

3. Brian Williams—Tennessee (junior): 55.90—Last Year: 185.00

4. Terrance Henry—Ole Miss (junior): 34.65—Last Year: N.A.

5. J.P. Prince—Tennessee (senior): 34.08—Last Year: 39.08

6. Michael Washington—Arkansas (senior): 30.03— – Last Year: 17.33

7. A.J. Ogilvy—Vanderbilt (junior): 29.59—Last Year: 448.00

8. Ramon Harris—Kentucky (senior): 27.36—Last Year: 24.36

9. Ray Shipman—Florida (sophomore): 23.70—Last Year: N.A.

10. Darshawn McClellan—Vanderbilt (junior): 22.74—Last Year: 47.90