The first season is over in college classrooms, let alone basketball courts. Let’s take a look at some of the A’s that pulled it. Specifically, national individual leaders in 10 key statistical categories.
- Durham’s legacy of accomplishing something that has only been seen twice in Division I men’s college basketball over the past 90 years.
Duke freshman Cameron Boozer
The NCAA record books list the 1936 season scoring champions, only two of whom were freshmen. Jason Conley of VMI in 2002 and Trae Young of Oklahoma in 2018. Having some college miles often seems to help; Six of the past seven points leaders have been seniors or sophomores.
But Boozer’s 23.3 average through his first 12 collegiate games is more than anyone else so far, not to mention the 13.0 mark his father, Carlos, had as a freshman at Duke. Boozer has already scored 35 points twice, the most a Blue Devil has ever done, and has topped 25 points in six games. He is averaging a double-double.
“I enjoyed him as much as most people who saw him at Duke. I saw a lot of good ones,” Tom Izzo said after Boozer’s 18-15 double-double at Michigan State. “But his whole demeanor, maybe it’s his dad, maybe John (Scheyer) is doing a great job, maybe the kid is just a special player. But when he can beat you with passing, dribbling, rebounding, 3-point shooting, there’s not a lot of guys we’ve played against.”
By the way, the player right behind Boozer at 23.1 is BYU’s AJ Dybantsa. Another freshman.
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- A hometown kid who went to high school 2.5 miles from the college grounds where he is now a star.
Temin Lipsey of Iowa
He leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and is tied for the lead by two rebounds. Lipsey had 52 assists for the undefeated Cyclones. He committed just six turnovers. That’s a ratio of 8.67, second best in the country at 6.00. Purdue’s sack was pretty typical for Lipsey — not one punt, eight passes. He played in 112 games at Iowa State, all of which he started, and became the fourth player with the Iowa Cyclones to beat Iowa three times.
It’s a great way to still love your hometown.
- The 6-11 dunkmaster hangs around the basket, waiting for good things to happen.
Cooper Bowser of Furman
He has made 85 shots this season and missed only 16 of them. Leading the team with 81.2 goals percentage by 10 points. He has 21 consecutive games of 31 and 34 over his last four games and has blocked just three shots for a loss this season.
We are not exactly talking about external threats. Bowser has two 3-pointers in 79 career games, but none this season. Missed both. His 59.0 free throw percentage this season isn’t great either. But he’s averaging 13 points per game for a 9-4 team and doesn’t miss a beat in the paint.
- Ivy Leaguer, a sure bet from 15 feet.
Kenny Noland of Columbia
He has gone to the free throw line 36 times this season and has yet to miss one. The last entry was on February 8, 41 years ago. You don’t have to be good at math to know that his free throw percentage this season is 100 percent, the last perfect number for any player who has made enough shots. But Nolan probably wouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with some kind of mathematical equation. He had a 4.1 grade point average in high school.
- Watch out for the short guy with the beard and moustache.
Purdue’s Braden Smith.
McDonald’s across the street from Mackay Arena helps the makers of boilers that flow into him like a Big Mac. He is averaging 9.6 a game this season to lead the nation and is 18th in the Big Ten with 873 career assists and 204 away from the NCAA all-time mark. Purdue has had 11 games in its history where someone had 14 or more assists in a game. Smith owns seven of them. His career totals of 1,526 points, 584 rebounds and 205 steals come in 122 games for the Boilermakers. He did everything but shave for Purdue. As it turns out, he doesn’t have a triple-double, but coming close to 10 is a little shocking.
Ironically, Skyscraper U. — Purdue had 12 straight seasons with a player 7-foot-2 or taller — and it’s the 6-foot guard who is building the current legend.
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- The leading stealer in the Mid-American Conference.
Bowling Green’s Javontae Campbell
He played 45 games for the Falcons, including just three shutouts. This season, he has eight tackles in one game and six tackles in three games, one of the five players Bowling Green has pressured in one game where Campbell takes the other team’s pocket. His 3.69 steals average leads the nation, but he has accomplices in steals. The Falcons also lead Division I with 13 steals as a team.
- 6-8 floor double car.
Delrecco Gillespie of Kent State
His 12.6 rebounds are tops in the nation, and he’s given the rest of the Mid-American Conference a fair warning. In the league opener against Massachusetts, he grabbed 20 rebounds.
Gillespie also had 11 double-doubles in 12 games. That follows Kent State’s streak of double-digit wins in all three last spring in the NIT tournament.
- A quarterback who could lead his league at two different schools in a row.
Col. Gerald by Stephen F. Austin
It’s no better than a 6-9 colonel’s shot. He had 45 field goal attempts this season. It is all those who return it to the sender. He has 42 saves in 11 games, a 3.82 earned run average that is the best in the nation. Colonel led the Southland Conference in parts last season as the Northwestern State Devils, then Stephen F. Moved to Austin. Now that he’s shooting in a different uniform, he can repeat as Southland’s leader.
- A quarterback who went from never playing to never sitting.
Delaware Christian Happiness.
He spent two years at Virginia, playing exactly zero minutes. First a redshirt season, then an injury-riddled year. Then he transferred to Delaware, and now he barely leaves the floor. Bliss is averaging 38:51 minutes per game, the most in the nation. Only two other players are over 37.
Bliss averaged 14.4 points and has gone the distance in 4 of 11 Blue Hen games, including 45 minutes in an overtime loss at Delaware State. The most rest he saw was 6:28 in a loss at Southern Illinois State.
- Dead eyes from the land of the heart.
Milan Momcilovich of Iowa.
In the Cyclones’ most recent game, he made nine shots from 3-point range. He only lost two. It was his 26th game in which he had at least one game and was the reason he shot 55.2 percent from 3-point range. Iowa State certainly has that accuracy. The Cyclones are 40-8 in his career with multiple 3-pointers in a game.
Lipsey. . Momcilovich. . . No wonder Iowa State has won eight games by at least 25 points.
Just like Arizona has won seven straight games by at least 21 points. . . Michigan has at least 40 wins in 5 games. . and Connecticut have scored more than 63 points in a game since mid-November. . . and Purdue won its last three games by 28, 20, 28, including a 30-point victory over Texas Tech, which surprised Duke. . and Vanderbilt are 12-0 and just won their first ACC road game by 31. . North Carolina is 12-1, its best start since winning the national title 17 years ago. . . Gonzaga scored 90 points nine times.
Scored a lot of A’s there. But this was only the first semester.
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