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A Look at the Big East Freshmen

Angel Delgado

In the wake of Providence’s 83-70 loss to St. John’s, much has been made of the contributions of PC’s freshman class and just how much is reasonable to expect from the rookies. There have been ups and downs with all four newcomers, as Kyron Cartwright already has a double double under his belt, Jalen Lindsey started 5-6 from beyond the 3-point arc in Mohegan Sun before turning over his ankle, Ben Bentil scored 18 against Navy and had 10 rebounds Wednesday night versus St. John’s, while Paschal Chukwu had a nine rebound second half against Butler and has generally been solid on the glass when given minutes.

Those were the highlights.

There have been struggles mixed in, which is reasonable for freshmen, but how have they been in comparison to the rest of the league? Let’s take a look at the class of 2014.

The Top 100

In total, 13 Big East players were ranked among ESPN’s top 100 of 2014. They are listed by their ranking below:

14. Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall: 11.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists in 26 minutes per game

16. Isaac Copeland, Georgetown: 4.1 points, 1.9 rebounds in 13 minutes per game

31. LJ Peak, Georgetown: 9.7 points, 2.4 rebounds in 29 minutes per game

34. Paul White, Georgetown: 6.8 points, 3.1 rebounds in 21 minutes per game

46. Trevon Bluiett, Xavier: 12.5 points, 5.1 rebounds in 29 minutes per game

48. Angel Delgado, Seton Hall: 8.9 points, 9.1 rebounds in 25 minutes per game

61. Paschal Chukwu, Providence: 2.7 points, 2.6 rebounds in 9 minutes per game

71. Ronnie Harrell, Creighton: Redshirted

78. Edmond Sumner, Xavier: 6 games played, 7.2 minutes. 1.3 points per game (battled knee injury, possible medical redshirt)

82. Mikal Bridges, Villanova: Redshirted

83. Sandy Cohen, Marquette: 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds in 12 minutes per game

84. Jalen Lindsey, Providence: 4.3 points, 1.6 rebounds in 21 minutes per game

92. Phil Booth, Villanova: 5.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, 42% from 3 in 13.6 minutes per game

Summary:

Four freshmen have stood out in the Big East this season and all were justifiably ranked in the top 50. Bluiett and Delgado are neck and neck for the league’s rookie of the year, although Bluiett’s once astronomical shooting numbers have come back down to earth now that conference play has started. No other freshman has had an impact on both sides of the ball like Delgado, who is a near 10 rebound per game forward who scores almost 10 a night on limited touches (his 102 field goal attempts trails Whitehead by 15, despite the fact that Whitehead has missed the last six games).

Peak and Whitehead are the next tier down, with Peak getting huge minutes and a lot of shots (128 field goal attempts) and pre-injury Whitehead putting up solid numbers across the board, albeit inefficiently.

Prospects ranked in the 50-100 range have had less of an impact, although Booth has been an efficient option for Jay Wright at Villanova.

Lindsey is averaging just over four points per game for the Friars, despite getting 21 minutes a night, but one thing to consider is his role in the offense. His 70 field goal attempts are nearly 100 behind Bluiett, roughly 50 less than Whitehead (who hasn’t played in a Big East game yet) and almost 60 fewer than Peak.

There’s no denying that Lindsey has struggled to find the range on his jump shot of late, but Ed Cooley runs so much of his offense through LaDontae Henton and Kris Dunn that Lindsey has been relegated to corner 3-point shooter. Henton is one of only two Big East players taking more than 12 shots per game and he’s over 16 per (D’Angelo Harrison is next closest at 13.9).

Chukwu can’t seem to get consistent minutes in Big East play. When given over 10 minutes he’s contributed — 5 points and 4 blocks in just 12 minutes versus Marquette, and nine rebounds and two blocks against Butler — but he saw just three minutes in the Big East opener and played only 18 combined in the last two against Georgetown and St. John’s (he still managed to grab nine rebounds over the last two, despite playing the 18 minutes).

A case can be made for Chukwu to see more time. He’s turned the ball over just twice in 56 minutes of Big East play and he’s made 59% of his shots on the season. With the Friars interior options struggling to finish inside, perhaps it’s time to see if the 7’2 center can be as efficient in expanded minutes.

A Look at Big East Freshmen by Team

Butler:

Tyler Wideman: 3 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes per game

Jackson Davis: Has appeared in just 7 games and is averaging fewer than 5 minutes

Kelan Martin: 8.0 points, 40% shooting, 22% from 3 in 14.9 minutes per game

Creighton:

Leon Gimore: has played in only 7 games with little impact (less than 1 ppg)

Tyler Clement: Played in 12 games, averaging less than 7 minutes in those contests

Toby Hegner: 8.4 points, 3.4 rebounds in 23 minutes per game

DePaul:

Joe Hanel: 9 games played, 4.1 minutes a game

Georgetown:

LJ Peak, Paul White and Issac Copeland (see above)

Tre Campbell: 12 minutes, under 3 ppg

Trey Mourning: 4 games played

Marquette:

Sandy Cohen (see above)

* Duane Wilson is a redshirt freshman — not part of 2014 class

Providence:

See above for Jalen Lindsey and Paschal Chukwu

Kyron Cartwright: 3.0 points and 2.9 assists in 20 minutes per game

Ben Bentil: 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18 minutes per game

Seton Hall:

See above for Angel Delgado and Isaiah Whitehead

Khadeen Carrington: 8.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 22 minutes per game

Ismael Sanogo: 11 games played, less than 5 minutes played per game

Desi Rodriguez: 5 points, 4.5 rebounds in 16 minutes per game

Rashed Anthony: Less than 2 ppg in 10 minutes per game

St. John’s:

Myles Stewart: Less than 2 ppg in 6 minutes per game

Amar Alibegovic: 8 games played, less than 5 minutes per game

Villanova:

See above for Phil Booth and Mikal Bridges

Xavier:

See above for Trevon Bluiett and Edmond Sumner

Larry Austin Jr.: 11 games played, 5.1 minutes, less than a point, rebound and assist per game

Sean O’Mara: 12 GP, 5.1 minutes, 2.1 points per game

JP Macura: 13 minutes, 6.4 points per game

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

One Comment

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