Ranking the Best Backcourt Duos in College Basketball
No matter how many rules get changed in college basketball, the importance of guard play remains the same. Without a strong backcourt, teams will struggle to run an offense and move the ball around effectively to get into position for a quality shot.
This is already evident during the first month of the 2015-16 season, as the teams that are getting the most out of their guards are the ones having the most success.
We've ranked the 10 best backcourt duos based on their individual play, how they work together and the overall importance to their respective teams. Follow along as we dribble down the court with the best guard tandems in the game.
Honorable Mention: Trent Mackey and Dallas Moore, North Florida
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North Florida made the NCAA tournament last season behind a treasure trove of long-distance shooters, and the Ospreys are at it again in 2015-16. They rank fourth in the country in three-point field-goal percentage, at 45.6 percent, with their top six players all shooting at least 37.5 percent from outside.
Leading this charge are senior Trent Mackey and junior Dallas Moore, each of whom is playing 34 minutes per game as part of North Florida's three-guard lineup. Mackey leads Division I in made threes at 42, hitting at a 54.5 percent clip, while Moore is scoring 20.2 points per game while also dishing out 5.8 assists.
All four of North Florida's losses this season are to power-conference competition, but it opened the year with a 93-81 win at Illinois and last year won at Purdue.
10. Alex Caruso and Anthony Collins, Texas A&M
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Texas A&M won its first six games this season to reach the finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas, beating Texas and Gonzaga along the way, and sit at 8-2 entering Saturday's matchup with Baylor. The Aggies have a quartet of senior guards who have paced the way, two as scorers and two as facilitators.
Alex Caruso and Anthony Collins are the tandem we went with for this ranking, because without their combined 87 assists it would be unlikely A&M would be off to such a strong start.
The 6'1" Collins is a graduate transfer from South Florida who had 569 assists in 101 games over four seasons with the Bulls, including an injury-shortened 2013-14 campaign that qualified him for a medical redshirt. With A&M he's averaging 5.0 points and 4.3 assists, having started all 10 games so far.
The 6'5" Caruso chips in 6.8 points and 4.4 assists as well as 2.5 steals per game.
9. Demetrius Jackson and Steve Vasturia, Notre Dame
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Notre Dame used a four-guard lineup much of last season to win the ACC tournament and reach the Elite Eight, but this year the rotation features more frontcourt play with the insertion of V.J. Beachem and Bonzie Colson into the lineup. The Fighting Irish are still driven by their guards, though, with Demetrius Jackson sliding into the role that Jerian Grant held in 2014-15 while Steve Vasturia remains a dangerous outside shooting threat.
Jackson, a 6'1" junior, is playing the same amount of minutes as last season but without Grant to defer to he's upped his scoring from 12.4 to 17.8 points per game. A 42.9 percent three-point shooter, Jackson is making 55.2 percent of his shots thanks to a much-improved mid-range jumper. He's also dishing out a team-high five assists per game.
Vasturia, a 6'5" junior, is shooting 52.4 percent overall and 44.4 percent from outside. His 13 points per game includes a career-high 21 in Notre Dame's Dec. 2 win at Illinois.
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8. Grayson Allen and Matt Jones, Duke
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Duke's lost two-thirds of the starting backcourt from its national championship team but somehow managed to get more explosive and be more experienced a season later.
Matt Jones started the final 13 games last season but only reached double figures in three of those contests. This year The 6'5" junior has done so in eight of 10 games, including a career-high 23 points on Dec. 2 against Indiana. He's averaging 13.6 points and shooting 45.8 percent from three-point range, draining at least three treys in five different games.
Grayson Allen is a strong candidate for breakout player of the year, as the 6'4" sophomore who rarely played last season (until being an offensive savior in the Final Four) is tied for 17th in the nation in scoring at 21.4 points per game. He's shooting 50.4 percent overall and 45.5 percent from three-point land, and with Duke missing a reliable point guard he's done most of the ball-handling and leads the Blue Devils with 32 assists.
7. Bryn Forbes and Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
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It's often felt like Denzel Valentine is single-handedly leading Michigan State this season, which is why he's a strong early contender for national player of the year honors. Four 25-point games and a pair of triple-doubles will do that for you.
But as superb as Valentine—who leads the Spartans in scoring (18.6 points per game), rebounding (8.5) and assists (7.2)—has been, he's getting plenty of help in the backcourt from fellow senior Bryn Forbes.
Forbes, now in his second year with MSU after spending two seasons at Cleveland State, has scored in double figures in five straight games and nine of 11 overall. He's averaging 12.2 points per game as the team's top three-point shooter, hitting 45.3 percent so far. That includes a key 5-of-9 performance from outside in MSU's 71-67 win against Louisville on Dec. 2.
6. Keith Frazier and Nic Moore, SMU
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Barring a last-minute (and very unlikely) change of heart by the NCAA, one of the best backcourt duos in the country will be done playing together on March 6. That's when SMU's final regular-season game is scheduled for, since the Mustangs have been banned from the postseason.
And with Nic Moore in his senior year, we won't be seeing him paired with Keith Frazier beyond that point, so enjoy the remaining 24 games that SMU has left to play. We can only hope they're as entertaining as the first seven.
Moore leads SMU in scoring (15 points per game) and assists (4.5) while Frazier chips in 14.4 points and 2.3 assists. Each had 15 in the Mustangs' 82-58 win Dec. 8 against Michigan, one of three victories they have against power-conference opponents so far.
5. Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, Louisville
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Mass program departures due to graduation, transfer and dismissal left Louisville without much of a backcourt to speak of when the 2014-15 season came to a close in the Elite Eight. Coach Rick Pitino knew his team needed dynamic players on the perimeter to score and guide the offense, and he felt his best bet was to tap into the lucrative college basketball transfer wire.
He picked up a pair of good ones in Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, fifth-year seniors who previously had played at Cleveland State and Drexel, respectively. That pair has combined for 32.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
"Their leadership ... has been invaluable to U of L's otherwise young team," Jeff Greer of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote.
Lee, who averaged 21.4 points per game for a bad Drexel team last year, is scoring 18.8 per game and shooting 53.7 percent from the field. Lewis, who began his career at Penn State before going to Cleveland State, is hitting a career-best 41.7 percent of his three-pointers.
4. Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet, Wichita State
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Wichita State lost a combined six games in the past two seasons but has dropped four games already in 2015-16. However, the Shockers' 2-4 start included very limited contributions from senior guard Fred VanVleet, who suffered a hamstring injury during the preseason that limited him to only one full game in that span.
He's been healthy the last three games, which consequently have been Wichita's three best of the season: a 15-point win at Saint Louis and then solid home victories over UNLV and Utah.
"Now that we've got Fred back, things are a lot easier," Ron Baker, the other half of Wichita State's stellar backcourt, told Bleacher Report's C.J. Moore. "He's definitely the head of the snake."
Baker leads Wichita in scoring at 15.8 points per game and adds 3.3 assists. He's shooting 41.1 percent overall, but in the four full games VanVleet missed he was only 37 percent from the field.
VanVleet sits at 9.8 points and 4.2 assists overall, but in the three games since his return, those rates are 12.7 points and 5.7 assists.
3. Rasheed Sulaimon and Melo Trimble, Maryland
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Duke's loss has been Maryland's gain, enabling the former ACC charter member to hold on to a little piece of its past while now playing in the Big Ten.
Rasheed Sulaimon was dismissed from Duke in late January, his playing time having dwindled to fewer than 20 minutes per game after starting 50 times in his first two seasons. He transferred to Maryland and was eligible immediately as a graduate student, and his presence alongside sophomore Melo Trimble has provided a great balance of youth, experience and talent.
This was evident even in the Terps' lone loss, at North Carolina, when Sulaimon and Trimble combined for 41 points, 15 assists and made 9-of-14 three-pointers. Since then the pair have traded off taking the lead, notes Daniel Martin of CSNMidAtlantic.com.
"On nights when Sulaimon is a featured scorer, Trimble distributes," Martin wrote. "When the sophomore has the hot hand, Sulaimon dishes the ball around."
Trimble is averaging 15.8 points and 5.3 assists while Sulaimon scores 10.5 points with 3.7 assists per game and also shoots 46.2 percent from outside.
2. Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis, Kentucky
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Another year, another great backcourt pairing for Kentucky. The hardest part is picking which two of the Wildcats' three top-scoring guards make up the best tandem.
Tyler Ulis is an automatic in whatever twosome, the 5'9" sophomore who is almost always the smallest guy on the floor but still manages to have the biggest impact. When he missed one game with an elbow injury and was limited in the following game, Kentucky was at its worst in 2015-16 and lost at UCLA for its first regular-season loss since the 2013-14 season.
Overall, Ulis is scoring 12.1 points per game and dishing out a team-best 5.4 assists, his assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.88-to-1.
When Ulis is paired with Jamal Murray, one of the Wildcats' two exciting freshmen guards (the other is Isaiah Briscoe), they have the best combination of ball movement, shot selection and overall game flow. Murray leads Kentucky in scoring at 15.5 points per game, and though he's only hitting 33.3 percent of his threes that's tops for the Wildcats so far.
1. Isaiah Cousins and Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
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Oklahoma's season is likely going to come down to how it handles a lack of interior size and scoring, but for now the formula of outstanding perimeter play and lights-out shooting is working just fine. Heck, seniors Isaiah Cousins and Buddy Hield might be good enough to keep the run going regardless of how the Sooners frontcourt shakes out.
That pair is our choice for the top backcourt duo in college basketball, the key to a 7-0 start in which Oklahoma is winning by almost 25 points per game and shooting a Division I-leading 48.7 percent from three-point range.
Hield and Cousins are combining to score 36.4 points per game, with Hield's 22.1 putting him 12th in the country. Each is shooting at least 50 percent from outside, with Cousins at 54.8 percent.
"We know how to find each other," Cousins said, per Guerin Emig of the Tulsa World. "When we’re hot, we build off each other’s momentum. We both understand each other."
All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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