I saw several comments yesterday that show some members do not think McNabb will be elected to the Hall of Fame. That surprised me, as I am of the case that if his career ended today, McNabb is a sure Hall of Famer. I am unsure what the case is against him, so I will present my case and hope to generate some discussion about why he is or is not a Hall of Famer.

Without speaking directly for some people who are against McNabb to the Hall, I feel as though we, as fans of the Eagles, are too close to this situation. We need to step back and forget how we felt after the post season losses but remember what McNabb did to lead us there. We need to forget the controversies the team went through when he was here, forget about how we thought of him as a person and respect him for what he did on the field.

First, I want to put some out some stats that the voters will certainly be looking at as they weigh the case for McNabb.

- 97-57-1 record

- 6 Pro Bowls

- 9-7 record in the playoffs

- 36,250 passing yards (15th all time, ahead of Jim Kelly, Tom Brady, Troy Aikman and Steve Young, to name a few)

- 230 TD passes (23rd all time, ahead of Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese, Troy Aikman and Bart Starr, again to name only a few)

- Only 115 interceptions (behind Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana and Jim Kelly, to name a few)

When you look at his percentage stats, his INT% (INT/Pass attempts) puts him 3rd overall at only 2.2% of passes intercepted. His TD% drops him down a bit, as he is 81st all time in TD% at 4.4%. However, I feel as though voters will look more at the raw data then the percentage stats.

You also have to account for his rushing yards. He has 3,400 yards rushing, which puts him around #7 on the All-Time QB list. To go along with that, he rushed for 28 touchdowns, which means he had a direct hand in 258 total touchdowns.

In 2004, the one year he had a dynamic receiver, he put up his best numbers with 3,875 passing yards with 31 passing yards. He led the Eagles to a Super Bowl before losing to a very good New England team. Imagine if he played with serviceable wide receivers his entire career?

Yes, McNabb never won a Super Bowl. That didn't stop Kelly or Marino from making the Hall. It seems that people that are arguing against him only seem to remember the passes that bounced before the receiver or the team's inability to win a Super Bowl. They don't remember the incredible stats he put up in the regular season with limited weapons.

Football is a team game. The QB has probably the greatest role in the team's success but he can't do it all by himself. You can't automatically rule McNabb out of the Hall of Fame simply because he did not win a Super Bowl. The one year he had weapons, he led the team to the Super Bowl, where a one game sample size is not large enough to generate an opinion.

I fully support retiring Donovan McNabb's jersey and his Hall of Fame candidacy. I would love to hear why he shouldn't make the Hall of Fame.

From the FanPosts, a thorough breakdown of JoshuaR from The Mikan Drill! -- Scott

Malcolm Thomas has the tools and athleticism to be a contributor in the NBA but can he show he is a well-rounded basketball player and not just an athlete? Thomas put up a good showing in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, earning first team honors, which no doubt piqued the interest of a few scouts. Standing at 6'9", Thomas has an impressive 7-foot-2 wingspan, which helped him to his 7.0% block rate in 2010-11 while anchoring the 3rd most efficient defense in the nation.

If Thomas wants to fit into a NBA rotation, he will have to be committed to defense on a nightly basis, as this will be the only way he will be able to garner any minutes. This is his biggest strength though, coming out through a hunger to play defense, the basketball IQ of knowing when and where to rotate and the eagerness to box out and rebound.

It is easy to say at 6-foot-9 that Thomas is undersized to play defense in the NBA. However, Thomas currently is projected to be a fringe rotation player, meaning he will not be matched up against star players most likely but instead matched up against the likes Amir Johnson of Toronto or Matt Bonner of San Antonio. When facing these players, Thomas should be able to hold his own on the defensive end. He showed a passion for working on the defensive end and the knowledge of where to rotate along with the athletic ability to get to the right spot on the floor to play help defense.

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[Added to the front page - Jordan]

I think we have a pretty good idea of who the Sixers are going to target, assuming they stay in the #16 spot in the first round. Although I am sure I am going to step on the toes of what I am sure is a brilliant article by the writers of this site, I decided to jump the gun and give my second round targets for the Sixers.

The Sixers currently hold the 20th pick in the second round. We must assume they stay in this position. That likely takes players such as Keith Benson and Nolan Smith off the board, two players who will likely be drafted early in the second round. Let's look at players who I would like the Sixers to target in the second round.

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Wake Forest does not send a ton of guys to the NBA but their recent players have had some quality careers. It got me thinking; would they win a hypothetical 3 on 3 tournament against the alums of other top universities?

The first assumption is that this is discussing the professional careers of these players, not what they did in the collegiate game. Of course, an international team or high school team would crush any of these teams but they are not being included in this exercise.

Before we look at the teams, let's discuss the rules. Like any pickup 3 on 3 game, this game will played in a halfcourt setting, with the first team to 11 (by 1s and 2s), make it - take it with players calling their own fouls. The games will be a best of 3 series, with one series being played in a day, with the winners moving on to play another 3 game series the next day. In the mold of European soccer, the championship game will be a one game matchup.

I felt like seeding the teams and setting up a hypothetical bracket would not be a worthwhile exercise, as much of the debate would be centered around the seeding of the teams, instead of who would be the best team. I also did not want to inject my own bias into the debate from the start but allow you to decide who is the best team. I will discuss a few of my thoughts on each team as we goalong but nothing too indepth at this moment.

You will see the teams in alphabetical order, after putting our own Wake team first in the list. The teams are composed of 4 players, which would obviously allow for one substitute in a three on three tournament. For the most part, I selected the four best players, although I did make some exceptions if one team needed a ball handler or a big man and it was a toss up between somewhat comparable players. If you want to change the makeup of a team if it would influence your decision, feel free to do so.

One last note before we get to the teams: You have to take the players where they are in terms of age but you can assume they are 100% healthy. For example,  even though Caron Butler is out for the year, we are going to assume he is healthy for this exercise but keep in mind he is 31. Same goes for a matchup like Tim Duncan against Kevin Love: Duncan has had the better career to date but he is much older. Can he handle this many games in a short period of time?

Now that we have the schematics figured out, let's get to the teams I selected.

Wake Forest

Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Josh Howard, James Johnson

I really like how Johnson has played since his trade to Toronto as he is finally getting a chance to show what he can do. I personally think this could be the strongest team but let's look at the other 15 teams.

Arizona

Andre Igoudala, Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry, Channing Frye

This is a team I think would thrive in a an uptempo game, which is hard to play in a halfcourt setting. How will this aging team react to this many games?

Duke

JJ Redick, Loul Deng, Elton Brand, Shane Battier

I decided to add Battier in over some other players since I like what intangibles he can still bring to a team. Feel free to argue that someone else should be added in his spot.

Florida

Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Mike Miller

A big roster that will cause as many matchup problems as they face. If you take away Horford, they may struggle to score.

Kansas

Kirk Hinrich, Paul Pierce, Nick Collison, Brandon Rush

Not a very strong team from a great basketball school, which is kind of surprising.

Kentucky

Rajon Rondo, John Wall, Tayshaun Prince, DeMarcus Cousins

This athletic team could pose big matchup issues with some teams. They can go small with Rondo/Wall/Prince or a little bigger with Prince and Cousins on the court at the same time.

LSU

Marcus Thornton, Anthony Randolph, Tyrus Thomas, Shaquille O'Neal

Thorton is turning into a scorer but Randolph and Thomas have shown they are more athletes instead of players and they round out the team with an aging Shaq. In my mind, they are a Cinderella team if they win a few matchups.

Memphis

Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Shawne Williams, Chris Douglas Roberts

Not much here outside of Rose and Evans but that may just be enough.

Michigan State

Jason Richardson, Zach Randolph, Morris Peterson, Shannon Brown

Not much to see here in my opinion.

Syracuse

Jonny Flynn, Carmelo Anthony, Wesley Johnson, Hakim Warrick

Do you think Carmelo and serviceable but not great teammates around him is enough for him once again?

Texas

DJ Augustin, Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson

A very strong team, especially with Aldridge's recent emergence. One of the top teams, in my opinion.

UCLA

Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday, Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

Another juggernaut filled with young stars. Quite the formidable foursome.

UConn

Ben Gordon, Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor

Several good perimeter players but they don't have a whole lot of size on the interior.

UNC

Ty Lawson, Raymond Felton, Antawn Jamison, Ed Davis

Several solid players but no stars.

USC

Nick Young, OJ Mayo, Taj Gibson, Demar Derozan

Yuck

Washington

Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Spencer Hawes, Jon Brockman

A healthy Roy paints this team in a pretty decent setting.

I think a Final Four of Wake Forest, Texas, UCLA and Florida would be a fun final grouping to watch. What do you guys think? Hopefully this will spark some fun dialogue.

I believe Jackson and Wallace have a ton in common as football players. They are both 24 (although this is only Wallace's second season, compared to Jackson's third), extremely fast and explosive deep threat wide receivers.

I have seen many commenters blast Jackson for his streakiness or inconsistency. As you will see with this comparison, I believe that is a trait of big play receivers and there is little wrong with that. I have also seen many debates over wide receivers that some commenters would rather have on the Eagles than Jackson. While this is not the main purpose of the post, feel free to debate this aspect as well.

Let's get to some stats: We will be looking at per game data, since Wallace appeared in 16 games, while Jackson appeared in only 14 games. This will normalize the stats since Wallace played more game.

Total yards from scrimmage:

Jackson: 82.85 per game

Wallace: 74.43 per game

Touchdowns per game (total):

Jackson: 0.5 per game

Wallace: 0.56 per game

Yards per catch:

Jackson: 22.5

Wallace: 20.2

Now for some advanced stats: (Definitions and stats from Football Outsiders)

DYAR:

Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. This gives the value of the performance on plays where this WR caught the ball, compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and then translated into yardage

Jackson: 110 (41st WR)

Wallace:413 (1st WR)

DVOA:

Defense-adjusted Value Over Average. This number represents value, per play, over an average WR in the same game situations. The more positive the DVOA rating, the better the player's performance

Jackson:2.4% (43rd WR)

Wallace:46.3% (1st)

Effective yards

Effective Yards, listed in red, translate DVOA into a yards per attempt figure. This provides an easy comparison: in general, players with more Effective Yards than standard yards played better than standard stats would otherwise indicate, while players with fewer Effective Yards than standard yards played worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate. Effective Yards are not the best way to measure total value because they are more dependent on usage than DYAR.

Jackson: 755 (1,056 standard yards)

Wallace: 1,180 (1,152 standard yards)

Catch rate:

Catch Rate represents the percentage of passes to this receiver completed. This is a reference to incomplete passes, not dropped passes

Jackson: 49%

Wallace: 61%

The advanced stats love Wallace. Alot of this may be due to the down and distance Wallace was targeted on, as opposed to Jackson. A WR cannot control all that goes into these stats, so while they are not the end all be all for a WR, they are interesting.

Finally, I wanted to look at the streakiness of both players. I looked at the 4 highest and 4 lowest yardage outputs of the season.

Jackson (lowest):

3 for 19

2 for 24

2 for 26

2 for 32

Wallace (lowest):

2 for 24

2 for 25

3 for 33

3 for 43

Jackson (highest):

7 for 109

4 for 135

5 for 153

4 for 210

4 total 100 yard games

Wallace (highest):

3 for 105

5 for 110

3 for 116

8 for 136

7 total 100 yard games

I thought this was an interesting comparison between two young WR in similar situations. We did not really touch on the return game for Jackson, which Wallace does not really do. You can see that they had similar outputs this season, with both of them having big games but also struggling for production in some games.

I think what was most beneficial about this exercise was that it showed the streakiness in a second big play WR. Wallace had some big games, like Jackson, but he also had some low output games. These will happen with these types of WRs and should not be a knock against them.

It will be intriguing to compare these players as the years go along and see if one puts himself far ahead of the other in terms of production.

I have become obsessed with charting usage and offensive rating, with thanks to the Michigan State blog, The Only Colors. With possession percentage and offensive rating come courtesy of Statsheet.com, I charted the top 25 players in terms of possession percentage in the Big 10 so far this season.


First, let's go over some of the key advanced stats that will come into play, if you do not already know what they mean.

From KenPom's definition of key terms:

Percentage of possessions used (%Poss): A measure of personal possessions used while the player is on the court. Simply assigns credit or blame to a player when his actions end a possession, either by making a shot, missing a shot that isn’t rebounded by the offense, or committing a turnover.

Offensive rating (ORtg): A measure of personal offensive efficiency developed by Dean Oliver. The formula is very complicated, but accurate. For a detailed explanation, buy Basketball on Paper.

What the following chart will show is which players are using their possessions most efficiently. The higher up on the Y-Axis a player is, the more points per possession they create. Again, these are the top 25 Big 10 players in terms of possession percentage as of games completed December 31, 2010.

One important thing to note: There was no minutes played requirement for this chart. There was a 9 game minimum (although most players have played in 12 or 13 games) but there was not a minute requirement. That is why you will see some role players like Brandon Paul or Victor Olapido who play less than half the game but use a bunch of possessions when they are in the game.

The first thing you have to notice is that the Big 10 Player who uses the highest percentage of possessions, Verdell Jones III, has the lowest offensive rating of the sample. Meanwhile, Christian Watford of Indiana has a 114.7 offensive rating. Jones only plays about 60% of the minutes but it would bode well for the Hoosiers to have Jones use less possessions, taking a back seat to Watford more often, as Watford is the more efficient player. 

When you look at some of the most efficient players of this sample. it is many expected names: John Shurna, Jared Sullinger, Jon Leuer and Demetri McCamey. One of the reasons their usage rate is not as high as some players is because they play so many minutes, increasing the number of possessions they are on the floor, thereby decreasing the percentage of possessions they use as a whole.

One player that surprised me was Jordan Taylor out of Wisconsin. He has the 2nd highest offensive rating in our sample and the 7th highest in the Big 10 as a whole (top 40 in the nation). Part of the reason his usage percentage is this high is because of his high assist rate (30.6%) (updated). Does he warrant becoming a more focal point of the offense or he is thriving in his role?

There is a big cluster of players centered around the 110-115 offensive rating. This is expected as this efficiency is deemed to be close to the average for a useful player. Anyone above that mark is exceptionally efficient and anyone below that is struggling a bit. Any players below 100 rating (Paul, Jones, Cartwright) should probably have their possessions cut.

Any other interesting things you saw? Any comments. questions, criticisms are welcome.

With thanks to the Michigan State blog, The Only Colors (seen here) I wanted to give a visual representation of the Deacon offense this season. While the defense has been equal in contributing to our struggles so far this season (currently 246th in KenPom adjusted efficiency), defensive stats are not as developed as offensive stats.

So today we are going to look at the individual offensive ratings and usage percentages for the 131st ranked team in offensive efficiency to date. I believe many of the results of this exercise will already be known but it will be nice to see in visual form. (All numbers courtesy of Statsheet.com).

Click through for a look at our offense statistically.

Continue reading this post »

The Sixers offensive efficiency currently sits at 103.8 (23rd in the NBA). This is approximately a 2% decrease from last year's efficiency of 106.1 (20th in the NBA). In part 1, I showed a scatterplot that showed that the high usage players of the Sixers are not necessarily the most efficient players, showing the shots and minutes may not be going to the right players.

In this part, I wanted to take a look at the shot locations of the players. The stats I will use come courtesy of Hoopdata and 82games.com.

First, let's look at the team as a whole. In 2009-2010 the team took jump shots 67% of their total field goals, with a eFG% 44%. This season, the team has attempted jump shots on 72% of their field goals, with a eFG% of 42%. This shows that the Sixers are relying more on jump shots than last year, while shooting worse from the field. But who are the main culprits of this?

I am going to look at some of the high usage perimeter players: Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks and Lou Williams. For purposes of this exercise, any shot outside of 10 feet is considered a jump shot.

Andre Iguodala: 7.5 of his 11.5 field goal attempts have come from outside 10 feet (65.2%). He has a 39% eFG% from jumpers.  Last year, he took 9.1 of his 13.7 field goal attempts come from this distance (66.4%) with a eFG% of 42%. So while his attempts have dropped slightly, so has his eFG%.

Jrue Holiday: 6.3 of his 12 field goal attempts come from jump shots (52.5%) while shooting a 42.8% eFG% from that distance. Last season, 4.2 of his 7.1 attempts were jumpers (59.1%) while shooting a 50% eFG%. So, similar to Iguodala, his percentage of jump shots has decreased but so has his effective field goal percentage.

Jodie Meeks: 5.2 of his 7.5 shots are jumpers (69.3%). His eFG% from this distance is 51.9%. Last year, he shot 3.6 jumper per game out of 4.8 field goal attempts (75%) with a eFG% of 52%. Meeks' usage rate has actually decrease from last season but since he is playing more minutes, he is taking more shots, most of which are jump shots.

Lou Williams: 6.1 of his 9.2 field goals (66.3%) have been jump shots with a eFG% of 39%. Last season, 5.9 of his 10.6 field goal attempts were jump shots (55.6%). His eFG% from this distance was 46.5%. Again, we see a player whose eFG% on jumpers is sliding.

There is not really one or two players who you can point to behind the cause of the rise in jump shots but the fall of eFG%. We see players like Meeks and Holiday increasing the number of jump shots while others (Iguodala) are taking less but have a lower eFG%.

One thing I found positive and surprising through this was that the team free throw rate has actually increased despite the rise in jump shots/field goal attempts. It has risen from 20.4% last year to 22.5% this season. So even though it looks like they are settling for jump shots more this year, they have also increased their rate at which they get to the foul line.

I think a major part of why the offensive efficiency has decreased from last season is the increased number of jump shots the team has taken combined with the lower eFG% they are shooting from this area.

Front Paged from FanPosts [Editor's Note]: This post was done by our good friend JoshuaR. He's done some fantastic breakdowns for us (re: Barnes, Sullinger, Jones) and early draft boards over at Ridiculous Upside. He loves college basketball (assumption), which is always appreciated here.

With thanks to the SBNation Michigan State blog, The Only Colors (seen here), I wanted to take a look at the offense of the Sixers so far this season. In part 1, I came up with a scatterplot that illustrates the offensive efficiency of the individual players based on usage.

The midpoints of the graph are somewhat arbitrary. I decided to use a 105 offensive rating for the midpoint (about a point higher than the team). I then used a  20% usage rating for the midpoint, as this is commonly accepted as average for an individual.

• Players in the upper right quadrant are high usage, high efficiency players. This is what you want to see and should continue to be the focal points of the offense.
  
• Players in the upper left quadrant are players that use a lot of possession but do not have the offensive rating to justify the usage. They should lower their usage rate, as they are hurting the offensive efficiency of the team.
  
• Players in the lower right quadrant are low usage- high efficiency players. It could be useful for them to start using more possession, assuming they stay at a similar offensive rating.
  
• Players in the lower left quadrant are players that don't use a ton of possessions and have a low offensive rating. They should see limited minutes.
  

Some observations:

As expected, Turner is in the lower left quadrant. His struggles are well documented but I would continue to give him minutes. He is only a rookie and it is too early to give up on at this point in his career. It is yet another proof for how poorly he has been playing this season.

Another fairly obvious point is that Meeks deserves more possessions. I think he has played fairly well of late and has potential to continue to be a contributor to the team. He has one of the highest offensive ratings on the team, yet he is below average in terms of usage percentage.

You can see why the offensive efficiency comes in at 23rd in the NBA right now. There are few players that fall in the upper right quadrant and too many in the upper left quadrant. You can ignore Brackins since his scatter point comes in limited minutes but players like Speights, Holiday and Hawes are a cause for concern.

I think this is a pretty accurate representation of the good and bad for the offense so far this season. In part 2, I will jump into some stats that I think show why the offense is in the bottom tier of efficiency in the NBA. Anything jump out at you with this scatter plot?

Update: Part 2 Here

[From the FanShots. I honestly haven't paid enough attention to college ball yet this season so big ups to Josh -- Scott]

If you missed Part 1 (see it here). I will supplement this board with some thoughts on a few players and a few links to my site when appropriate. Comments always accepted.

Some assumptions before you get to the list:

- This is a list of all eligible draft players and assumes all will enter the draft.

- This is not a mock draft but a big board of the best prospects available, ranked by talent.

1) Kyrie Irving, Duke, G (Freshman) (rising): Even though he is injured now, I think he is the most NBA ready player in this draft. Great at getting to the rim (seen here).

2) Perry Jones, Baylor, F (Freshman) (steady): Athleticism through the roof, has not had to show too much yet with strong team against weak competition.

3) Harrison Barnes, UNC, F (Freshman) (falling): Has not yet proved the hype yet but potential is still there. I am a little worried about him turning into Marvin Williams, but not ready to quit on him yet. Needs to be more aggressive (here),

4) Jonas Valanciunas, C (18) (rising)

5) Enes Kanter, unknown, C (18) (rising)

6) Jared Sullinger, Ohio State, F (Freshman): I am not as high on Sullinger as other people. He has put up numbers but he has not showed me he has the moves to do it at the next level. If he gets two feet in the paint, he can score in college but can he replicate that in the pros? (here)

7) Terrence Jones, Kentucky, F (Freshman) (rising): Jones is one of the freshman I have been most impressed with so far. His footwork is polished (here) and he can score in a variety of ways.

8) Donatas Motiejunas, F (20) (falling)

9) Josh Selby, Kanses, G (Freshman) (falling): Selby has shown he is a great player but others have had more time to prove it.

10) Kemba Walker, UConn, G (Junior) (falling): Leading contender for player of the year right now. Probably second best player at getting to the rim (here)

Continue reading this post »

Looking at the Football Outsiders' Drive stats (seen here) it showed me just how great both the offense and defense are playing. It got me thinking about which unit I was more impressed with, the offense or the defense. This will depend on your preseason expectations, but let's take a look at the current stats.

I like to look at efficency stats because it puts all teams on a level playing field. The numbers can become skewed if one teams has more drives than another (allowing for more yards, turnovers, etc) but by normalizing the stats on a per drive basis, it makes it much more useful to compare to the rest of the league.

Offense

Yards per drive: 33.64 (8th)

Points per drive: 2.35 (2nd)

Turnovers per drive: .079 (4th)

Drive Success rate: .705 (10th)

For context, Drive success rate is defined as:

the percentage of time that a team will get a first down or touchdown in a given set of four downs. Introduced in the Pro Football Prospectus 2005 essay "Debunking the Myth of Drive Momentum" by Tim Gerheim and Jim Armstrong.

 

 See here

Defense

Yards per Drive: 27.55 (10th)

Points per Drive: 1.92 (22nd)

Turnovers per drive: .200 (1st)

Drive Success Rate: .672 (15th)

For me, the offense has been more impressive. With Kolb slated to lead the helm early in the season, I expected there to be a learning curve for him and have some struggles. When Kolb went down and Vick came in, I was wary of what Vick could do with the offense.

Obviously, Vick has greatly exceeded expectations. The Eagles have one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL both in scoring points and limiting turnovers.

As far as the defense, they have been a pleasant surprise as well. They are the best at forcing turnovers and have done a nice job of holding the opposing offense at bay while Vick takes care of the offense.

So which unit has impressed you the most? I think both sides have their positives and negatives, so it will be interesting to see if there is a split vote or an overwhelming majority for one side.

This started off as a comment but got too involved, so I made a fanpost. It's early but let's take a look at how Barnes, Jones and Sullinger (Sams' top 3 right now) stack up against each other.

Thanks to statsheet.com, we can easily compare the three players so far.

Here is the link comparing Barnes, Jones and Sullinger. It's easy to add someone as well, if you want to look at someone else. Tobias Harris, anyone?

Note: Before we begin, I wanted to apologize for linking to my own site so much. I do not know how much college basketball readers here watch and while I provide a limited sample size of clips with these posts, they can often tell us much more than just reading about it or digging through box scores. Don't click on them if you don't want to but I thought they might be a useful tool for some.

Everyone is concerned about Barnes. What is most daunting to me is his lack of aggressiveness so far. He averages about 11 shots per game but has a free throw rate of only 26.2% (compared to NBA average of 31.2%- the only average I could find). This shows what I have been seeing, which is that Barnes is settling for jump shots and not seeking contact, to get to the line.

Will this change as he becomes more comfortable in the college game and UNC's system? I hope so. While UNC has been decent on offense so far (39th in adjusted efficiency) much of their success has come against weak opponents. In their 3 losses, UNC has an offensive rating of 88.2 (Minnesota), 90.3 (Vandy) and 91.8 (Illinois). They need some to step up and score consistently and if Barnes wants to be the #1 pick, he needs to fill that role.

Conversely, many people are jumping on the Jared Sullinger bandwagon. While he does a ton of good stuff, he needs some refining (as do most freshman, of course). His breakout game was against Florida but many of his buckets came off of OSU breaking the press and Sullinger getting open dunks. I wrote here that Sullinger has a limited arsenal of post moves right now. While he will continue to score in college, he needs some work on the offensive end to compete against NBA players.

That said, his rebounding rates are great and he gets a ton of easy points after attacking the offensive glass. I think that is his biggest strength right now and something the Sixers could use.

My favorite of the three so far is Jones. He has showed awareness on the court and an above average basketball IQ. Watch him seal the defender here and get an easy layup (here). That is a move I have not seen from Sullinger, who has tried to bully his way past the defense so far. Jones shows awareness of recognizing the defense and taking advantage of the holes.

Baylor has not played much competition yet, so it has been hard to draw any conclusions on him yet. If you get a chance, definitely catch a Baylor game. Watch Jones, but LaceDarius Dunn and Quincy Acy are a joy to watch as well.

I know this is kind of a redundant post, but feel free to jump in with your own thoughts on these three.