Updated Rankings for College Basketball's Best Shooting Guards in 2014-15
College basketball may have a scoring problem, but don't fault the nation's best shooting guards.
Up and down this list of the top 20 shooting guards in college basketball, the numbers are just silly.
We have a player who is putting together the best statistical season for a freshman guard in the last decade, the nation's leading scorer, who makes close to 50 percent of his threes, and another freshman guard who has made 51.5 percent from distance in conference play. Oh, and he comes off the bench.
No position in college basketball has been more productive this year.
Before you meet the 20 best 2-guards, a reminder of how these rankings are configured: production, team value, team success and the eye test.
Here is the preseason list. Small forwards are up next week.
Just missed the cut: D.J. Balentine, Evansville; D'Angelo Harrison, St. John's; Jordan Sibert, Dayton; Trevor Lacey, North Carolina State; Naz Long, Iowa State
20-16: Foster-Dunham
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Marcus Foster, Kansas State
Preseason rank: 11
Foster and the Wildcats (12-11) haven't exactly lived up to expectations. Foster even got benched in the conference opener. But he's come back strong—15.8 points per game since the benching—and K-State has won five of its last nine games to at least get on the bubble.
Gary Payton II, Oregon State
Preseason rank: Unranked
Just like his pops, he's a stat-stuffer and a thief on the defensive end. Payton is averaging 12.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and ranks third in the country with 2.9 steals per game.
Tyler Kalinoski, Davidson
Preseason rank: Unranked
Kalinoski is the leading scorer on one of the nation's best offenses. He's a great shooter—43.3 percent from deep—and one of the better creators at his position, averaging 4.2 assists per game. He dropped 20 points and had three assists earlier this season against defensive juggernaut Virginia.
R.J. Hunter, Georgia State
Preseason rank: 7
Hunter has one of the smoothest strokes in the game, although he's struggling from deep (30.3 percent) this season. He's still dropping a cool 19.7 points per game, and he's improved creating off the bounce, averaging a career-best 3.5 assists.
Kellen Dunham, Butler
Preseason rank: 19
Dunham has benefited from the return of Roosevelt Jones this season and has become a more efficient scorer. The junior guard is averaging 16.3 points and knocking down 41.8 percent of his threes after shooting just 35.5 percent from deep last year.
15-11: Hawkins-Newbill
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Corey Hawkins, UC Davis
Preseason rank: Unranked
Hawkins is the only player on this list shooting at least 50 percent inside the arc (50.0 percent), 50 percent outside the arc (52.6 percent) and better than 80 percent from the free-throw line (80.6 percent). That kind of efficiency for someone who takes nearly a third of his team's shots is ridiculous.
Darrun Hilliard, Villanova
Preseason rank: 13
Villanova is quietly 20-2, and Hilliard is putting together another All-Big East season. He's averaging a team-best 13.2 points for the balanced Wildcats.
James Blackmon, Indiana
Preseason rank: Unranked
Indiana didn't have high expectations this season—at least for IU standards—but Blackmon has helped Tom Crean's club jump out to a 6-4 start in the Big Ten and has given Crean some job security. Blackmon leads the small-ball Hoosiers in scoring at 16.5 points per game.
Aaron Harrison, Kentucky
Preseason rank: 10
The numbers may not compare to some of the other shooting guards, but you deserve some dap if you're the leading scorer on the nation's No. 1 team.
Last season, Harrison didn't heat up until the NCAA tournament. He struggled with his shot early this year, but he's come on in SEC play, shooting 39.6 percent from deep in SEC games. He's also been at his best in close games, averaging 17.3 points in Kentucky's three SEC games that have been decided by single digits.
D.J. Newbill, Penn State
Preseason rank: Unranked
Newbill is one of the best high-volume scorers in the country. The Nittany Lions are once again one of the Big Ten's worst teams—currently 2-8 in conference games—but what's almost more impressive is the consistency with which Newbill puts up numbers, considering he doesn't have much help and often has to create for himself.
Newbill is averaging 21.5 points per game and has had 13 games of 20-plus points, having topped 35 twice. And he's not just a chucker, either; he leads Penn State with 3.1 assists per game.
10. Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
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Preseason rank: 9
If anyone tries to tell you that Virginia isn't that talented, don't listen.
Virginia has the best 2-3 combo in the country out on the wing. Brogdon, 6'5", and Justin Anderson, 6'6", are both long athletes who can really shoot and guard.
Brogdon has been a rock for the Cavaliers the last two seasons, and he's come on since the start of the ACC season. In conference games, he's averaging 14.0 points and making 45.5 percent of his threes and 95.5 percent of his free throws.
(Note to Virginia fans: Anderson will be on next week's small forwards list.)
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9. Quinn Cook, Duke
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Preseason rank: Unranked
After three campaigns as a point guard, Quinn Cook moved off the ball this season to make room for freshman floor general Tyus Jones.
Not only has Cook accepted his new role, he's having the best season of his career.
Cook has put up great numbers. He's averaging 14.5 points per game, making 56.0 percent of his twos, 38.8 percent of his threes and 92.0 percent of his free throws. Plus, he deserves some credit for how dominant Jahlil Okafor has been.
Cook's ability to stretch the floor gives Okafor some more real estate to work on the blocks, and he's also given Mike Krzyzewski a consistent secondary scorer he can count on.
8. Phil Forte, Oklahoma State
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Preseason rank: Unranked
Phil Forte should wear a Fitbit. No one has to work harder to get open, but once opponents get tired of chasing him, he burns them.
Forte is averaging 17.1 points per game, and he's shooting 41.5 percent from deep and an impressive 47.5 percent on his two-point jumpers, according to Hoop-Math.com.
Forte is also a sneaky good defender, averaging 2.2 steals per game. Once thought to be just a throw-in to help land Marcus Smart, the undersized guard has become the face of Oklahoma State's program.
7. Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington
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Preseason rank: Unranked
The NCAA's scoring leader at 23.4 points per game, Harvey is one of the best stories in college basketball.
He walked on at Eastern Washington, worked his way to become a starter late in his freshman year and is now the star on a team that could end up in the NCAA tournament. Eastern Washington is currently in second place in the Big Sky but has the same number of conference losses (one) as first-place Sacramento State.
Harvey is making 47.6 percent of his threes and averages an NCAA-best 4.3 treys per game. If he can continue that pace, it would put him tied for 22nd in NCAA history for single-season threes per game.
He put himself on the national radar earlier this season with 25 points in a win at Indiana. In four games against major-conference schools, he's averaging 25.3 points per game.
6. Devin Booker, Kentucky
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Preseason rank: Unranked
It's hard to compare Kentucky guys with the other best players in the country because of the platoon. Booker averages 10.6 points per game, but he only plays 21.0 minutes per contest.
You can't ignore, however, how good he's been when he's on the floor. Booker is shooting 48.2 percent from deep, and bump that up to 51.5 percent in SEC games.
At any other school, he'd be playing starter minutes. Let's say, for instance, he was in D'Angelo Russell's spot at Ohio State. Russell plays 32.9 minutes per game. If Booker was getting those kind of minutes at the rate he scores the ball, he'd be averaging a solid 16.8 points.
5. Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
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Preseason rank: 8
Hield started the season scorching hot by making all seven of his three-point attempts in Oklahoma's opener.
The junior guard is streaky, but when he's on, he's one of the hardest guys to stop in the country because of his ability to pull up from just about anywhere in transition. It's really difficult to keep Hield from getting his shots.
Hield has also improved this year as a defender, and he's one of the better rebounders at his position in the country, averaging 5.4 boards per game.
4. Stanley Johnson, Arizona
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Preseason rank: 4
Johnson has lived up to the hype, and he's been even better than expected.
Coming into college, his reputation was as a bulldog who could overpower guys at his position. He's figured out how to do that at the college level, but he's also a much better all-around scorer than anticipated.
The knock on Johnson was that his jumper was suspect, and he's shooting a very respectable 39.3 percent from distance. He's also doing plenty of slashing, drawing 6.2 fouls per game.
He's bought into Arizona's defensive mentality, and he's rebounding (7.0 RPG). There's really not much more Sean Miller could ask from his star freshman.
3. Terry Rozier, Louisville
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Preseason rank: No. 14 point guard
Rozier had as monumental a task as any player in the country this season: replacing Russ Smith.
Smith was one of the most underappreciated players in college basketball. He was thought to be reckless, but he was actually incredibly productive.
Rozier has almost been his equal. Smith averaged 18.2 points per game; Rozier averages 18.5. Smith had a 113.9 offensive rating, per KenPom.com; Rozier has the identical offensive rating. Smith averaged 2.0 steals per game; Rozier averages 2.1.
The only area where he falls short is assists—4.6 to 2.4—but hey, he's just a sophomore. And you could probably make the argument that Rozier is the better defender.
2. Ron Baker, Wichita State
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Preseason rank: 2
Baker has filled Cleanthony Early's role as go-to scorer for the Shockers quite nicely. Wichita State is not on the same level as last season, but that's not because Baker hasn't been able to adequately fill Early's shoes; it's because WSU's depth and talent are not on par.
The Shockers have still been good—20-3 overall and 10-1 in the Missouri Valley—and Baker is having a season that should put him in the All-American conversation. He's averaging 15.9 points and shooting a career-best 40.1 percent from deep.
His teammate Tekele Cotton is known as one of the best defenders in the country, but Baker is not far off. Baker, with his long wingspan and excellent defensive awareness, is one of the best defenders at his position in the country as well.
1. D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State
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Preseason rank: Unranked
Last month, I wrote about how D'Angelo Russell was having one of the best freshman seasons for a guard in the last decade.
Russell, at the time, had a 114.5 offensive rating, per KenPom.com. Only two players in the last 10 years used 28 percent of their teams' possessions and had an offensive rating that high as freshmen: Stephen Curry and James Harden.
Since then, Russell has bumped his offensive rating up to 120.9. And now it might be time to start comparing what he's done not just with the best freshmen, but with the best guards of any class of this era.
His efficiency numbers are better than the best seasons for both Harden and Curry in college. He's averaging 19.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.8 steals per game and shooting 44.6 percent from beyond the arc.
And the lines he's put up recently seem unrealistic. He had 22 points, six rebounds and 10 assists against Indiana and then followed that up with 18 points, 14 boards and six assists versus Maryland.
And despite a two-point loss to Purdue on Wednesday, Russell amassed 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.
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