The 10 Best Inside-Outside Duos in College Basketball
Sometimes, it takes two in order to make things go right. And not only that, but it takes two for things to be out of sight.
Many college basketball teams heed this sage advice. One star is good, but two stars are better. And when the two stars feed off of each other, exchanging energy like two electrical poles, then you have something very good indeed.
These are the 10 best such combinations in the nation right now. They are the top inside-outside duos college basketball has to offer.
The duos are ranked based on individual statistics, overall team performance, leadership roles on the team, quality of opposition and the perceived chemistry between the two players.
Statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.
10. Isaiah Taylor and Myles Turner, Texas
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Every Texas fan knew they needed Myles Turner if the Longhorns wanted to do big stuff this season. Mission accomplished.
The Longhorns aren't world beaters, but at 14-4 and No. 17 in the nation, they're tracking ahead of the 23-10 regular season of 2013-14 and the dreadful 16-17 of the year before.
Both post man Turner and point guard Isaiah Taylor have shown some inconsistencies, including in clutch situations. But despite fewer minutes than forward Jonathan Holmes, Turner has inched ahead of the senior in scoring (11.8 per game) and rebounding (6.8 per game). His ability to bang bodies inside and force bigs to respect his shot outside the post frees things up for Taylor, Holmes and center Cameron Ridley, among others.
Taylor, meanwhile, has had a tough time regaining full strength after missing 10 games with a wrist injury. He's only shooting 30 percent from the floor in five games since his return. He has found other ways to help, with 3.8 assists and more than a steal per game on average during that time, but it's clear the recovery is still in process.
Even so, when the cylinders are firing, this is a formidable combo—and the freshmen probably have better days ahead of them.
9. Frank Kaminsky and Bronson Koenig, Wisconsin
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Frank Kaminsky could be on this slide all by himself.
The big man's a one-man band of inside-outness, handing out 2.4 assists and making one three-pointer each game while pulling down 8.2 rebounds.
Bronson Koenig could also have been replaced by either of the Badgers' two top non-Kaminsky forwards, Nigel Hayes and Sam Dekker. But the roulette wheel has to stop somewhere, and with point guard Traevon Jackson sidelined with an ankle injury, the sophomore Koenig, with 2.1 assists per game, is Wisconsin's top active helper.
At least among the team's non-Kaminsky contingent.
8. DaVonte Lacy and Josh Hawkinson, Washington State
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DaVonte Lacy is not what you might call a natural distributor. His job is to put it in the hole.
So while he only gives out 2.3 helpers each game, Lacy, a pure shooter, scores 17.2 points per game on 11.4 shot attempts, including 2-6 from three-point range. That scoring output puts him fourth in the Pac-12.
Josh Hawkinson is not far behind him in scoring, and he is also a little more well-rounded in his skill set.
The 6'10" sophomore is eighth in the conference with 15.2 points a game, but he also tops the Pac-12 with 10.9 rebounds. If that weren't enough, he also averages 1.4 blocks per contest. So he's a strong presence on both ends.
Taken together, Lacy and Hawkinson score 45 percent of their team's points. If the Cougars were not a mediocre 9-9 overall, these two would be a lot more prominent on the national landscape—and probably even higher on this list.
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7. Phil Forte and Le'Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State
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Meet Phil Forte and Le'Bryan Nash, the most powerful one-two scoring punch in the Big 12.
Nash, the inside force, ranks second in the conference with 17.6 points per contest; Forte's right behind him with 17.2. Combined, they account for 49.7 percent of Oklahoma State's offensive output.
So, yeah. Pretty big combination there.
At 6'7", Nash is not massive, but he's very effective in the post, grabbing 6.1 boards and blocking about a shot per game.
They're mainly a scoring duo—Forte only averages 1.8 assists per contest—but they know their role and do their jobs. And the 13-6 Cowboys would be lost without them.
6. Stanley Johnson and TJ McConnell, Arizona
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What're you lookin' at, bro? You're looking at the underrated half of one of the country's best tandems.
Stanley Johnson's name is understandably on everyone's lips. The Wooden Award watch list forward paces the No. 7 Wildcats with 14.8 points 6.8 rebounds per game.
But a lot of that production flows through TJ McConnell, who ranks third in the Pac-12 with 5.8 assists per game. (Although, to be fair, a lot of McConnell's statistics flow right back through Johnson, with a chunk of McConnell's assists coming from the leading scorer—even though Johnson often creates his own shot.)
Honorable mention goes to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Johnson gets the nod because he has better statistics, even though Hollis-Jefferson is more of a pure post presence.
5. Kevin Pangos and Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga
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Is this the year for Gonzaga? A certain team of anthropomorphic trees from Lexington might have something to say about that, but the third-ranked Bulldogs are still looking darn good.
Weak conference, shmeak conference. Good is good, and this year good is Gonzaga.
A big part of the team's success lies in the emergence of power forward Domantas Sabonis. Though Kyle Wiltjer is the team's top forward, he doesn't provide the inside presence of Sabonis.
Sabonis comes off the bench for the 'Zags, but his play has increased his minutes to 21.3 per contest, often seeing more court time than starting center Przemek Karnowski.
The son of European legend Arvydas Sabonis entered the season as an unknown on American soil, but he quickly took the mystery out of the equation. From Gonzaga blogger Ricky O'Donnell of SB Nation:
"What Gonzaga lacked was energy and physicality in the front court. Hopes were always high for Wiltjer, and so far he's exceeded expectations by turning himself into one of the better scoring big men in the country...He's the prototypical stretch four, but the reason he's not on many draft boards is because he lacks the strength to handle pro-caliber players both on the glass and defensively. That's where Sabonis comes in.
"
In many ways, Sabonis and point guard Kevin Pangos anchor Gonzaga. They're second and fifth on the team, respectively, with 12.6 and 9.8 points per game. Pangos leads the group in assists with five, and Sabonis is first in rebounds with 6.6.
Pangos is finding Sabonis more and more down on the block, and that tandem could help carry Gonzaga to a one-loss regular season.
And after that, who knows?
4. Treveon Graham and Briante Weber, VCU
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Treveon Graham and Briante Weber have been a solid core for the 16-3 Rams.
Weber, the indefatigable point guard, does a little bit of everything and thrives in coach Shaka Smart's "Havoc" defensive style.
Weber averages 8.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds each contest. But where he really stands out is steals: His four swipes per game top the nation, and it's not particularly close, as he leads the second-place man by a full steal per game.
One of the beneficiaries of this turnover-forcing approach is Graham, who leads VCU with 17.3 points a game on 47 percent shooting. He's got range, though, hitting at 43 percent from beyond the arc. He also chips in an average of 6.8 rebounds, good for second in the Atlantic 10.
3. Georges Niang and Monte Morris, Iowa State
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For sheer statistical output, if nothing else, it's tough to surpass power forward Georges Niang and point guard Monte Morris.
The more famous of the two is Niang. He's messing up other frontcourts with 14.8 points and a versatile game that sees him handling the ball (for better and worse) a lot more than your average 6'8" 21-year-old.
With that dynamic presence, you need a stabilizer.
That's Morris. The rock of the Cyclones leads the team and the Big 12 with 5.8 assists per game and paces the entire country with an insane 5.44 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“It sticks with me,” Morris said of turnovers in a Jan. 21 interview with Brian Hamilton of SI.com. “If it’s a good turnover, I’m fine with it. I can live with them. But unforced turnovers, I can’t really live with.”
That's a guy you can trust to get the basketball to the guy who needs it—and when he needs it.
2. Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor, Duke
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Not only two of the top freshmen in their position in the country. Not only two of the top freshmen overall in the country. Two of the best players, period, in the country.
And they didn't have any problem gelling.
The Blue Devils hit on some hard times with those two straight losses a couple of weeks ago, but they've rebounded with their two young leaders pointing the way.
In Duke's rebound wins over Louisville and Pittsburgh, Okafor averaged a crisp 16 points and five boards per game while Jones notched 16 points and six assists each contest. In the former, four of Okafor's buckets came with assistance from Jones. In the latter, two of Jones' makes were helped by kick-outs from Okafor.
As good as Okafor is, he's a post player through and through. He needs someone to feed the beast. And that someone, more often than not, is Jones.
That symbiosis is part of what makes this a great combination.
1. Aaron Harrison and Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
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The tough part about putting any part of Kentucky's No. 1 roster on a list like this is narrowing down the Wildcats you want to single out.
Aaron Harrison gets this nod for leading Big Blue with 11.5 points and 4.1 assists per contest. Willie Cauley-Stein paces the Cats with 6.9 rebounds, but he is really here because of the senior (if you will) leadership along with Harrison.
A testament to that leadership? They are tied for first on the team in minutes played, with 25.2 apiece. On the ocean-deep Wildcats, that's a telling statistic.
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