ACC's Top 25 Players: No. 13, Jeff Allen – Va Tech

Jeff Allen is not a great player. He never has been in his three-year career at Virginia Tech and you shouldn’t expect him to become one this year. So why is Jeff Allen the No. 12 player on this list?

Luck. Yep, luck. He’s lucky because he gets to play with arguable the best guard combo in the conference. Seniors Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson are every opponent’s focus and the pair open things up for Jeff Allen down low. It worked that way last year and it will again this year.

First though, let’s get the bad news out of the way.

At 6-7 and a chubby 230, Allen is a short power forward and an overweight small forward. He’s not a superior athlete, he’s not going to run past anyone and he’s no threat from behind the three-point line (he’s made 21 in three seasons).

Worse yet, after three full seasons as a starter, his numbers have never really improved. His scoring and rebounding actually dipped his junior season (13.7/8.4 to 12.0/7.4), as did his shooting percentage (.488/.470).

Hell, after reading the last couple of paragraphs, I’m almost ready to drop Jeff Allen off this list…almost. Yet, it’s easy to just look at the numbers from the past. It’s a bigger challenge to look ahead.

If you’ve actually gotten a chance to watch Allen play, you can see improvements in his game. He’s slimmed down since walking onto campus as a freshman at 260 pounds and even though he can barely outrun the refs in a foot-race, he does run the floor well and his footwork and ball-handling skills have gotten better each and every year. He’s created a solid quick-release, which makes up for the fact he can’t really out-jump most defenders

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