I think the problem with college basketball from this point on is going to be a lack of Senior leadership. The NBA-High School rule is a problem for this. All the scholarships will go to high school studs that are going to stay for 1 year and leave, rather than for good players who are going to commit 4 years to college. Before the NBA-high school rule, the high school kids who wanted to go to the NBA right away did and then the players that went to college for the most part all committed all 4 years.I found some interesting stats regarding seniors of the top 16 teamsFinally, a summary of senior contribution in regards to team scoring and rebounding is calculated:1. Wisconsin- 3 PlayersAlando Tucker- 32 mpg, 20.4 ppg, 5.5 rpgKammron Taylor- 32.2 mpg, 13.1 ppg, 2.5 rpgJason Chappell- 15.2 mpg, 3.5 ppg, 3.1 rpgSenior Contribution- 50.4% of team scoring, 30.9% of team rebounding2. Ohio State- 2 PlayersRon Lewis- 27.3 mpg, 11.4 ppg, 3.6 rpgIvan Harris- 20.6 mpg, 8.8 ppg, 3.5 rpgSenior Contribution- 26.6% of TS, 21.3% of TR3. Florida- 2 PlayersLee Humphrey- 29.4 mpg, 10.2 ppg, 1.4 rpgChris Richard- 17.7 mpg, 5.0 ppg, 3.3 rpgSenior Contribution- 18.8% of TS, 12.6% of TR4. UCLA- No seniors5. North Carolina- 2 PlayersReyshawn Terry- 21.3 mpg, 9.6 ppg, 5.9 rpgWes Miller- 11.8 mpg, 2.6 ppg, .6 rpgSenior Contribution- 13.9% of TS, 15.3% of TR6. Kansas- No seniors7. Memphis- 1 PlayerJeremy Hunt- 23.2 mpg, 13.8 ppg, 2.8 rpgSenior Contribution- 17.8% of TS, 7.1% of TR8. Texas A&M- 3 PlayersAcie Law IV- 32.8 mpg, 17.0 ppg, 3.0 rpgAntanas Kavaliauskas- 27.7 mpg, 12.1 ppg, 6.2 rpgMarlon Pompey- 15.8 mpg, 3.6 ppg, 2.7 rpgSenior Contribution- 42.1% of TS, 32.6% of TR9. Washington State- 1 PlayerIvory Clark- 26.1 mpg, 9.5 ppg, 5.3 rpgSenior Contribution- 14.3% of TS, 17.6% of TR10. Pittsburgh- 3 PlayersAaron Gray- 29.0 mpg, 14.5 ppg, 10.0 rpgAntonio Graves- 28.2 mpg, 9.7 ppg, 2.1 rpgLevon Kendall- 25.7 mpg, 5.0 ppg, 5.5 rpgSenior Contribution- 40.5% of TS, 49.5% of TR11. Nevada- 3 PlayersNick Fazekas- 29.5 mpg, 20.6 ppg, 11.5 rpgKyle Shiloh- 29.5 mpg, 9.7 ppg, 3.3 rpgDenis Ikovlev- 25.3 mpg, 6.5 ppg, 4.0 rpgSenior Contribution- 45.6% of TS, 47.2% of TR12. Georgetown- No seniors13. Southern Illinois- 1 PlayerJamal Tatum- 32.1 mpg, 14.5 ppg, 3.0 rpgSenior Contribution- 22.3% of TS, 10.6% of TR14. Air Force- 5 PlayersDan Nwaelele- 31.4 mpg, 14.9 ppg, 3.4 rpgJacob Burtschi- 31.0 mpg, 13.5 ppg, 5.7 rpgMatt McCraw- 34.2 mpg, 11.2 ppg, 3.6 rpgNick Welch- 26.8 mpg, 9.6 ppg, 3.7 rpgJohn Frye- 10.1 mpg, 2.1 ppg, 1.9 rpgSenior Contribution- 71.6% of TS, 64.4% of TR15. Butler- 4 PlayersBrandon Crone- 27.3 mpg, 10.5 ppg, 4.5 rpgJulian Betko- 21.5 mpg, 4.5 ppg, 2.3 rpgBrian Ligon- 18.4 mpg, 3.7 ppg, 3.2 rpgMarcus Nellems- 13.3 mpg, 2.9 ppg, 1.7 rpgSenior Contribution- 31.1% of TS, 38.5% of TR16. Marquette- 1 PlayerJamil Lott- 11.3 mpg, 2.5 ppg, 2.1 rpgSenior Contribution- 3.2% of TS, 6.2% of TRSome interesting findings from this exercise:- Only 5 teams had more than a 40% contribution in either category(Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, Nevada, Air Force)- 8 teams had less than a 20% contribution in both categories(Florida, UCLA, UNC, Kansas, Memphis, Washington State, Georgetown, Marquette)- Only 7 seniors play more than 30 min/game on the top 16 teams in the country (3 on AF)- Average senior contribution of the top 16 teams Scoring- 24.9%o Rebounding- 22.1%By around 2010, will there be even 20% of seniors in division 1 college basketball? Maybe 10% of contributing seniors?Look at the Texas Longhorns last year, their starting 5 consisted of 4 freshmen and a sophmore. One of those freshmen, who they depended on as the leader of their team went to the NBA, most likely another one of those freshmen will be going to the NBA next year and now I don't think they even have seniors anymore. Maybe 1 or 2.The numbers of seniors in Division 1 must be ridiculously low and will continue to drop as the years go by as players that were recruited prior to the rule being enforced graduate.It's just gonna get worse and IMO ruin the game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SpursFan10 @ Jul 15 2007, 10:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Senior Leadership doesn't mean anything in college. Experience helps the most...</div> That's kind of the point. Obviously the longer you stay in college, the more experience you have. I think playa is right when he says that leadership is somewhat of a lost art in college basketball, but I don't understand why the rule has anything to do with it. Whether you skip college or go for 1-2 years, it won't change the amount of seniors you have on your team. If a player is seriously "that good," he's not staying 4 years anyway, and everybody knows that. Whether Carmelo skips college or goes to Syracuse for one year, how does that effect the amount of seniors they have?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>That's kind of the point. laugh.gif Obviously the longer you stay in college, the more experience you have.</div>What about last year's Florida team. The team that won it first. They started 4 sophmores and a junior... They gained experience which helped them win the second... You can gain the most experience as a Freshmam, like Carmelo probably did. He could have probably lead a team to the NC better than a few seniors could who haven't been to the NC.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Whether Carmelo skips college or goes to Syracuse for one year, how does that effect the amount of seniors they have?</div>If he goes to Syracuse for one year, then there will be one less senior on that team in four years. (Assuming they don't get any JUCO players.)
Florida is an obvious difference. Rarely do you see a team with four players in the same class that are that good and balanced. Experiance is usually exactly conincided with seniority however, because you've been with the team so long. I wouldn't be suprised to see the senior/junior classes become role players now as the sophmore and freshman classes become the college stars.
I think it is really more upperclassman leadership than senior.There has been a lack in senior leadership for a while and I think it really doesn't make the game worse. Upperclassman leadership is almost always a key to championships with a few exceptions. Look at Florida, led by upperclassman.
