Ranking the Best Seniors in College Basketball in 2015-16
In this era of one-and-done players in college basketball, there's a sense that those who opt not to turn pro early must not be good enough to play at the next level. This might be the case for many, but not every top performer is eager to be done with the college experience.
That's fine by us. The longer we can hold onto them, the better.
It's rare to find top-tier players in college who stick around all the way to their senior years, but there are some good ones out there. Not only are they incredibly experienced, but they also possess the traits needed to be leaders for their younger teammates.
We've ranked the 12 best seniors in college basketball based on a combination of their expectations heading into the 2015-16 season and how they've performed.
12. Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
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Maybe it's the rules changes that have led to an increase in scoring across college basketball, or possibly Virginia has realized that pushing the tempo can work just as well as winning with defense. Whatever it is, Malcolm Brogdon's early numbers in his final college season are benefiting.
The 6'5” guard has averaged 16.7 points per game on 47.5 percent shooting, both of which would be career highs. He's topped 20 points three times, including 28 points in the Cavaliers' lone loss at George Washington.
Virginia is scoring 81 points per game through six outings—nearly a 24 percent increase from the 65.4 average last season when it won the ACC regular-season title for a second straight year. That team rate might drop, but Brogdon figures to keep up the early pace he's on.
11. Tyrone Wallace, California
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California entered this season with a lot of hype, to the point it was getting billed as a potential Final Four team, thanks to a pair of highly touted freshmen who chose the Golden Bears over other more notable programs. Yet for the Bears to truly live up to their potential, it will come down to the veterans who were already in place, including Tyrone Wallace.
The 6'5” guard is scoring a career-best 18.7 points per game, up from 17.1 a year ago, on 52.6 percent shooting overall and 40 percent from three-point range. Wallace also leads Cal with 4.3 assists per game, and his 5.2 rebounds trail only freshman forwards Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown.
Cal began the season ranked but fell out of the Associated Press poll after losing to San Diego State and Richmond over the weekend in Las Vegas. Wallace had a combined 31 points in those games and his two lowest outputs of the year that came with his worst shooting percentages—something that can't happen if the Bears want to be true contenders in the Pac-12.
10. Shawn Long, Louisiana-Lafayette
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Loosely translated, Shawn Long might as well be Cajun for double-double. Over the course of his four seasons with Louisiana-Lafayette, the 6'9” forward has managed to score at least 10 points and pull down 10 or more rebounds 55 times in 105 games.
That includes three times in four tries this season, as he most recently went for 25 points and 16 boards against Loyola (Louisiana) after posting double-doubles in road losses to Alabama and Miami (Florida). For the year he's averaging 21.3 points and 12.0 rebounds, which puts him in line to average a double-double for the fourth straight season.
Long, who began his career at Mississippi State but transferred after one semester, is a career 49.9 percent shooter overall and also makes 35.9 percent of his three-point attempts. He's one shy of 100 treys for his career.
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9. Gary Payton II, Oregon State
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At this time last season we only knew Gary Payton II as the son of Oregon State's greatest player of the last 30 years. Now he's in line to challenge his father's rank among the best Beavers ever, following up a big junior year with even better numbers this season.
The 6'3” guard is again stuffing the stat sheet, leading the team in scoring (18.6 points per game), rebounding (8.0), assists (4.8) and steals (3.6). He's made 56.7 percent of his shots, almost all of which have come inside the three-point line as Payton prefers to score his points the hard way rather than settle on outside jumpers.
Oregon State suffered its first loss in five games last week, losing at home to Valparaiso, but in that game Payton had 25 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and three steals.
8. Stefan Moody, Ole Miss
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Ole Miss will have a hard time breaking into the upper tier of the SEC this season, and getting a third NCAA tournament bid in the past four seasons will be difficult to achieve. But if any of that happens, it will be due to the all-out effort Stefan Moody brings to the court on a nightly basis.
The 5'11” guard averaged 16.6 points per game last season, his first with the Rebels after starting his career at Florida Atlantic and then going to a junior college. But he only made 38.8 percent of his shots and didn't take full advantage of his quickness to beat defenders and get to the line.
That's not the case this year, as Moody has averaged 22 points per game and has attempted 49 free throws in seven games. He's a career 86.7 percent foul shooter, and with opponents needing to play off him to avoid the drive, this has enhanced his shooting numbers to 41.6 percent overall.
It doesn't hurt that Moody takes more shots than almost anyone in the country. He's attempted 113 field goals, which ranks fourth in Division I.
7. Marcus Paige, North Carolina
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A broken bone in his right hand has kept Marcus Paige from playing this season, though he's set to make his 2015-16 debut Tuesday night in North Carolina's showdown with No. 2 Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Without Paige, the Tar Heels lost at Northern Iowa and struggled in wins against Northwestern and Kansas State in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. The K-State game saw them trail by eight points with just over four minutes left before going on a 21-3 run to win by 10.
That rally was key for UNC's development, since prior to that it showed how the absence of Paige—a 6'1" guard who led the team in scoring as a sophomore and junior—impacted all areas.
“He’s our best player, (and) our best defensive player, and that’s what everybody forgets,” UNC coach Roy Williams told Andrew Carter of the News & Observer. “His intensity level helps raise everybody else’s level.”
6. Georges Niang, Iowa State
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One of the few Iowa State players from the Fred Hoiberg era who spent his entire college career at that school, Georges Niang has been a team leader since his sophomore year and has managed to maintain this label for three years.
In some ways, this means the 6'8” forward isn't any better than he was two seasons ago. But for the glass-half-full crowd, we can interpret it as establishing a three-year peak instead of hitting a ceiling, because his production remains key to Iowa State.
The Cyclones are 5-0 and haven't really been tested much, though Illinois gave them a push over the weekend in the Emerald Coast Classic in Florida. An upset might have happened if Niang hadn't stepped up with a season-high 23 points and eight rebounds on 10-of-15 shooting.
Overall, Niang is averaging 16.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists on 51.6 percent shooting, all of which would be career highs if maintained all season.
5. D.J. Balentine, Evansville
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Haven't heard of D.J. Balentine? Don't feel bad, most non-diehards haven't, because he has spent his career in the Missouri Valley Conference on a team not named Northern Iowa or Wichita State.
But the 6'2" Balentine is trending toward a third consecutive season of averaging 20 or more points per game, sitting at an even 20 through six games. He got a chance to share the spotlight with players from bigger programs this past weekend at the Wooden Classic, averaging 15.3 points and 5.7 assists in three games including 18 points against Kris Dunn and Providence.
The Purple Aces went 2-1, with the only loss coming to Providence, and they sit 5-1 on the season. With Wichita State struggling so far and other teams in the MVC expected to have off years, this could be Evansville's chance to make its first NCAA tournament since 1999. Last year it won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, with Balentine averaging 23.2 points in the tourney.
4. Caris LeVert, Michigan
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A supporting player on Michigan's 2013 Final Four team who broke through one year later as a sophomore, Caris LeVert was all the Wolverines had going for them last season before a foot injury sidelined him midway through.
He's back at full strength for his senior year, and the 6'7” guard is putting up career highs in points (18.5) and assists (4.0) per game. However, Michigan isn't doing much better than it did in 2014-15, sitting at 4-2 after losing by double digits to Xavier at home and to Connecticut in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Neither of those losses was because of LeVert, though. He had 29 points including five three-pointers against Xavier and went for 21 on 7-of-12 shooting against UConn.
3. Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
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The reigning Big 12 Player of the Year has picked up right where he left off and then some, though Oklahoma hasn't played as many games as most teams.
Through four contests the 6'4” guard has put up 22 points per game, starting off with a huge 30-point effort in the season-opening win at Memphis. Hield's last outing wasn't very good, though, as he scored 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting in a Sunday win over Wisconsin.
That dropped Hield's shooting percent to an even 50, along with 48.7 percent from three-point range. He was a hot-and-cold shooter last year too, going 10-of-10 one night against Oklahoma State and then two days later shooting 7-of-19, but regardless of the numbers, the effort never wavers.
2. Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
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One of the most versatile scorers in the country, Kyle Wiltjer is a few points ahead of last year's pace despite a dip in shooting efficiency through five games.
The 6'10” forward is averaging a team-best 18.8 points, most recently scoring 17 in Gonzaga's win Friday against Connecticut in the Battle 4 Atlantis third-place game. He made three of nine three-pointers in that game, which raised his outside shooting percentage to 29.6 percent, but it's still far below last year's lofty 46.6 percent clip.
Wiltjer is making a concerted effort to score more inside, using his increased strength to drive to the basket and not rely solely on jump shots, and this has translated into a 59.5 percent efficiency on two-point shots. Overall, he is shooting 47.8 percent, down from 54 percent as a junior.
He's a completely different player from the one who spent two seasons at Kentucky, when more than half of his field-goal attempts came from three-point range.
1. Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
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Michigan State has had its share of players who have headed to the NBA with eligibility remaining, though Tom Izzo seems to have a knack for holding onto his best ones longer than other coaches. Denzel Valentine is the latest in that string, as the 6'5” senior guard has taken his game up several notches this season.
The Spartans' 7-0 start and rise to third in the Associated Press poll have been due in large part to Valentine. He's averaging 19.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game, putting up at least 29 points three times including a pair of triple-doubles. The most impressive was against Kansas in the Champions Classic when he had 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.
“If you’re picking a national player of the year as this first stanza of the college basketball season wraps up, there’s really only one guy nobody can argue with,” Fox Sports' Reid Forgrave wrote, referring to Valentine.
Valentine is shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range, going 13-of-21 during the first two games of the Wooden Legacy this past weekend.
All statistics from Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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