As I watching hoops this weekend, I was thinking about various statistics. Last week in this space, I examined the top assist makers in the Pac-10 and SEC, but what is an assist? Are there bad assists when a player dominates the ball for 30 seconds and makes a desperation pass to a teammate who bails him out by making a basket? Yes, and there are fantastic plays in which a teammate is set up for a dunk, but blows the bunny. There's no such gray area with rebounds. This week, I'll hit upon the top rebounders in the SEC and Pac-10 that I haven't already profiled. I've written about players like Nikola Vucevic and DeMarcus Cousins before, but they are still excellent. So are these players:
SEC
Jarvis Varnado, F, Mississippi State Bulldogs
Varnado is known mostly for his shot-blocking prowess, but he is no slouch on the boards. The 6-foot-9 senior has improved his rebounding (along with his scoring) in each of his four seasons in Starkville. This year, Varnado is averaging 10.8 rebounds and has posted 17-board efforts twice in his last four games. He has seven double-doubles and has scored double-digits in all but one game. Then, of course, there are the blocks. He is leading the nation at 5.1 blocks (although Hamady N'Diaye actually has 5.2 but has played one less game). In five games this season, Varnado has blocked seven or more shots, and it's not like opponents don't he is coming. The Bulldogs center has even improved his free throw shooting and has made his last 15 attempts over three games. Enjoy Varnado as Mississippi State enters conference play.
Patrick Patterson, F, Kentucky Wildcats
In keeper leagues, players like Patterson are the keys to winning championships. They are on the fringe of going pro each season, but are either not healthy enough (like Patterson) or not quite good enough (a player such as Texas swingman Damion James) that they keep coming back year after year and producing big numbers. Patterson might not be quite big enough to dominate in the pros, but he should make a nice rotation player for an NBA team in the next year or two. While the WIldcats freshmen have garnered the most publicity, Patterson just continues to produce. In his junior season, he is providing 16.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. He has actually been in a relative slump on the boards with just 19 rebounds in his last four games, but there are only so many boards to go around, and Cousins has been a rebound vacuum cleaner. As long as Patterson stays healthy, he should bring more double-doubles.
Lucas Hargrove, F, Auburn Tigers
Last week I looked at DeWayne Reed, and this week we get another Tiger. The 6-foot-6 senior has been through the SEC wars and is ready to bang on the boards for a fourth season. Hargrove has been given more offensive opportunities this year, and he has responded by scoring a career-high 13.7 points per game. He has hit double-figures in nine straight games, including 22 points against Alabama A&M on Dec. 1 and 20 points on Dec. 29 against Charleston Southern. Of course, those are small schools, and the competition will become quite fierce when SEC conference play begins in earnest. On the boards, Hargrove has been inconsistent. He has three double-doubles (including both games in which he scored 20+ points). The emergence of center Brendon Knox has taken some pressure off of Hargrove. Consistent double-doubles are too much to expect, but he should continue to score in the mid-teens.
JaMychal Green, F, Alabama Crimson Tide
Green came to Georgia prior to the 2008-09 season as a highly touted prospect. His freshman season showed promise as the 6-foot-9 forward provided 10.6 points and 7.6 rebounds. As a sophomore, Green has continued to hit the boards (7.0 rebounds) but has improved his scoring under new coach Anthony Grant. The Montgomery, AL native is now averaging 16.0 points. He was the key to two early wins for the Crimson Tide against Michigan and Baylor in which he had 20 and 22 points, respectively. Green has been on fire from the field of late. He has made 31 of 43 shots (72%) over his last four games, so he isn't try to make anything from the perimeter. That's good. He could use some help from the free throw line (69.6%), but that is a small complaint for an emerging talent.
Pac 10
Alex Stepheson, F, USC Trojans
It appears that the demise of basketball in Los Angeles that I wrote about a few weeks ago was premature. The Trojans have bought into the Kevin O'Neill system and have the bigs to bang with any opponent. Stepheson, a former UNC Tar Heel, was a steady presence on the boards through the middle of December, but it seems he has fallen off in the last couple of weeks. The 6-foot-9 junior is still averaging 8.3 rebounds and had three straight double-doubles, culminating in a 19-point, 15-rebounds performance against Tennessee, who had not been beaten prior to taking the loss from the Trojans. The last four games have shown that Stepheson is prone to foul trouble. While USC has continued to win, Stepheson has only averaged 5.0 points and 5.4 rebounds over his last five games. He'll likely be back when he stops hearing whistles.
Reeves Nelson, F, UCLA Bruins
Drew Gordon's departure from UCLA (he recently announced he is heading to New Mexico) meant that there were more minutes for Nelson. The 6-foot-8 freshman did not play much in the first five games of the season. His role has increased, and he has produced correspondingly. Nelson is currently averaging 10.1 points and 6.0 rebounds, but he has scored in double-digits in each of the last six games. Nelson hit his career-high with 21 points on Dec. 27 against Delaware State. He went 7 of 8 from the field and is shooting 63.1% for the season. The tantalizing prospect for fantasy owners is that Nelson has upside potential, so he may get better. Not much was expected from him prior to the season, so he is a work in progress, but he gets to do it in game action rather than on the practice court.
Jamal Boykin, F, California Golden Bears
The Bears are a perimeter team. No one would tell you otherwise, but every team must have a guy to track down the long misses. While California hoped that Max Zhang and/or Markhuri Sanders-Frison would help Boykin on the interior, it really hasn't happened yet. So the 6-foot-8 Boykin is left to battle opposing bigs by his lonesome. The former Duke Blue Devil is providing 11.6 points and 6.8 rebounds. He had double-doubles in Cal's two biggest games of the season. Both of them turned out to be losses, but Boykin battled against New Mexico (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Kansas (15 points, 15 rebounds). None of the schools in the Pac 10 are blessed with huge frontcourts, so Boykin could progress nicely in the fifth year of his career.