College Basketball NPOY Race: Devonte Graham Won the Big 12 for Kansas

With the regular season just about a month away from ending, we?ll be doing different running themes with the blog. Every Sunday I?ve been putting out bracketology ? that will stay the same. As will Monday?s Contender Series. I?m going to start highlighting the NPOY race though and some potential winners. I did a huge scouting report on Trae Young back in December so for the time being we?ll use that as his breakdown. We?ll get into some other things I?m often asked about including bubble teams (those will run on Wednesday), coach of the year and other such awards.

Yeah, basketball is a team sport and whatnot, but I stand by my headline. Devonte Graham went out and won the Big 12 for Kansas. He did it on the biggest stage – with Gameday in Lubbock playing a top-10 team in Texas Tech in what was the biggest game arguably in the program’s history. All Graham did was go out and drop 26 while shooting 56% from the field and committed just two turnovers while playing all 40 minutes. That’s damn impressive. That’s how Kansas ends up winning its 14th consecutive Big 12 title.

Graham has now solidified himself in the top-7 in the country. That means the battle for the last All-American spot is going to be absolutely fascinating as you can make a case for any of the three guys. In my eyes, there are four locks for All-American: Jalen Brunson, Trae Young, Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley. That leaves a spot open for Graham, Trevon Bluiett and Keita Bates-Diop. Again, I’m not going to argue who you take for the last spot as long as its one of those three. I’m personally leaning Bluiett at the moment with Graham right behind him and KBD in the third spot.

Devonte Graham was the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year by most publications. That’s what happens when you’re a good player for a few years and then slide over to the lead spot. That’s what happens when you saw how Frank Mason made the same jump as a senior. Graham is living up to the hype. He’s upped his scoring to 17 points per game. He’s upped his outside shooting to 42%. He’s upped his assists to 7.2 per game. He’s made the jump. Oh, not to mention he basically plays 40 minutes per game and is 8th in the country in percentage of minutes played. Here’s a look at his advanced numbers:

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Graham has been solid all year on the offensive side of the ball. He’s scoring .981 points per possession, which is good for the 75th percentile in the country while Kansas is scoring 1.383 points per possession on Graham scoring or assisting. He’s been at his best in the pick and roll set. He’s scoring .988 points per possession out of this set and if you factor in his passing, Kansas is scoring 1.144 points per possession. All those numbers are pretty ridiculous and grade out as excellent per Synergy. This play in the second half against Texas Tech stood out, especially live. The Red Raiders were starting to make a comeback and then Graham decided to just be the best player on the floor. He started to use high ball screens from Lightfoot and Azubuike to get into the lane. From there he would find contact while going up and draw fouls. It was spectacular to watch as he did it without obviously jumping into guys. He likes to use that sweeping cross over to set up the screen and get into the lane. From there watch how he uses his should to draw contact but protect the ball at the same time.

The other place Graham excels in offensively is in spot up shooting. This was his staple during his first three years at Kansas. He only shot worse than 42% from three one time during his career and that was last year when he was a 38% shooter. That ain’t too shabby. Kansas likes to run that four guard set and what they look to do is drive, kick and make an extra pass. It’s sort of become its staple, taking over for the hi-lo Self used to love to run. Here’s sort of what I’m talking about. Kansas runs the dribble handoff up top, kicks to Svi. Instead of shooting a somewhat open three, he makes the extra pass to a relocated Graham who is wide open. It’s a thing of beauty.

I jokingly tweeted out ‘Kemba Graham’ last night as Devonte was taking over yet another game. However, that’s not too far off. His KenPom comparison is Shabazz Napier during his title run, but Graham may be even better than Napier was. Graham’s ability to play all 40 minutes shouldn’t be overlooked either. He’s a good defender and obviously controls the game on the offensive sideo f the ball for Kansas.

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Player of the Year Rankings

Shout out to Rob Dauster who is the first one I remember reading a weekly NPOY rankings blog. I?m not saying I stole this idea from him, but it helped.?

1. Jalen Brunson (Villanova)

2. Trae Young (Oklahoma)

3. Deandre Ayton (Arizona)

4. Marvin Bagley (Duke)

5. Trevon Bluiett (Xavier)

6. Devonte’ Graham (Kansas)

7. Keita Bates-Diop (Ohio State)

8. Keenan Evans (Texas Tech)

9. Caleb Martin (Nevada)

10. Jock Landale (St. Mary’s)

Coach of the Year Rankings

1. Tony Bennett (Virginia)

2. Chris Beard (Texas Tech)

3. Bruce Pearl (Auburn)

4. Chris Holtmann (Ohio State)

5. Chris Mack (Xavier)

6. Rick Barnes (Tennessee)

7. Mark Few (Gonzaga)

8. Brad Brownell (Clemson)

9. Eric Musselman (Nevada)

10. Bill Self (Kansas)