This week's SEC/Pac-10 Roundup features a lot of seniors. Generally, when a player reaches his senior season, you can tell a few things about him without knowing anything else. You already know that he isn't good enough to play in the NBA because if he were, he would have left already. You can also guess that he might be more physically mature than the starry underclassmen he faces, and he will certainly have more experience, especially if he accrued playing time as an underclassman. The juniors on this report are closer to being stars, but the seniors are worth knowing because some of them lead their team in scoring and can help fantasy teams in a pinch.
Jermaine Beal, G, Vanderbilt Commodores
Through 22 games, it looks as if Beal has successfully defended his starting spot against highly touted freshman John Jenkins and remains the Commodores shooting star. The 6-foot-3 senior is leading Vandy with 14.4 points per game and is hitting 38.2% of his three-pointers. Beal has been especially hot in the last four games even though the Commodores lost two of them. In that span, he has provided 20.5 points and 3.8 threes on 60.7% from long range. Take that, Jenkins (the freshman is hitting 45.7% of his threes, but he'll have to wait until next year to be a starter). Beal was the team's point guard as a sophomore, but he has become more of a shooter as an upperclassman. His assist averaged has dipped the past two years and he is only averaging 2.9 assists, which is tied for the team lead with Brad Tinsley. Beal won't offer much help elsewhere, and Vanderbilt may have peaked already with their 10-game winning streak from December to late January. It will be interesting to see what Kentucky brings on Feb. 20, but before that the team gets to play Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss.
Brandis Raley-Ross, G, South Carolina Gamecocks
The Gamecocks are pretty much a one-trick fantasy pony. You have Devan Downey, who single-handedly took out Kentucky, and then you have his support. Players like Sam Muldrow provide rebounding and defense, but Raley-Ross has become the secondary offensive option by default. The 6-foot-2 senior spends the majority of his time waiting for open looks from three-point land and has been converting 40.7% of his three-pointers this year. At 10.2 points per game, he rarely scores in bunches, but if you're looking for a guy that can get you 15 points on a given night, he may be your man. In the win over the Wildcats, Raley-Ross had 17 points, one short of his season-high set on Nov. 27 against Jacksonville. He has actually been slumping a bit with his three-point shooting in SEC play and has made just 7 of his last 23 three-pointers (30.4%) over the last five games. Of course, that dip in production could mean that a hot streak is just around the corner, and the four-year Gamecock could have bounce back games against Florida and Georgia, even though he only scored 11 points combined when South Carolina met the two teams earlier in the year.
Chandler Parsons, F, Florida Gators
If fantasy leagues had a category for game-winning, buzzer-beater three-pointers, then Parsons would be one of the most valuable players in the game. While I haven't heard of such a league, one could be created: the Chandler Parsons Project Invitational. Parsons beat North Carolina State with a desperation 75-foot heave (his only field goal of the game) on Jan. 3 and moved a bit south to beat the Gamecocks of South Carolina with a buzzer-beater on Jan. 23. It was quite a month fpr the 6-foot-9 junior and, most importantly to fantasy owners, he moved into the starting lineup on Jan. 16 so that he is guaranteed more minutes. Parsons is coming off his best fantasy game of the season with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists in a win over Mississippi State. Even though he was playing a steady 25 minutes coming off the bench for the first two months of the season, his overall numbers - 10.9 points and 6.7 rebounds - are somewhat diminished by the lack of full playing time. Getting the extra minutes hasn't helped his scoring, but he is averaging nearly a rebound more per game in the last seven. Florida has a lot of offensive options, but Parsons isn't someone to ignore.
Chris Warren, G, Mississippi Rebels
Through three months of the season, Warren has shown that the ACL tear that ended his sophomore year after 11 games hasn't affected his production in the slightest. The 5-foot-10 junior may spend more time on the perimeter than he did as an underclassman, but he also a much more effective shooter than he was prior to the injury. Warren is converting 40.7% of his three-pointers for 3.1 threes per game. His scoring (16.8 points) and assists (3.4) have diminished slightly from the start of his second year, but that is mainly because the Rebels have more options and Warren has garnered slightly less playing time. He is still one of the most consistent scorers in the SEC and hasn't scored less than nine points in a game this season (and only nine points twice). In nine games against SEC compettion, he has only been held under three treys once (two against LSU). Eniel Polynice (4.1 assists) does more of the offensive facilitation, but there are many sets in which Warren is the designated passer and he accrues a handful of assists per game. With Ole Miss in contention for the SEC West crown, they could get inside the bubble and make the Big Dance.
Dwight Lewis, G, USC Trojans
One could speculate that it might be hard for Lewis to figure out how to end his Trojan career. The senior was there during the heights of O.J. Mayo, but now that the team has put itself on postseason probation, there might not seem a lot to play for. After opening the Pac-10 season well, Lewis has hit a shooting slump and has only converted 27.7% of his shots (13 of 47) over his last four games. He had a real stinker against Stanford on Saturday with a 1 of 10 performance and just four points. Other than the game where he was benched after six minutes for disciplinary reasons, Lewis has played huge minutes and is averaging 35.1. He had three straight 20-point games in mid-January but hasn't found much consistency other than that brief flurry. On the season, he is averaging 13.3 points (down a point from last year). With just seven regular season games left in his collegiate career, maybe he'll be able to string something together and give his few remaining owners some value.
Nikola Dragovic, F, UCLA Bruins
It's been quite an interesting season for the 6-foot-9 Serbian. He was suspended in November in connection with an assault case but only missed two games. It took him about a month to get back and figure out his role on the team, but he has settled into a steady if unremarkable place in the Bruin offense. He has scored in double-digits in 11 of his last 13 games and has brought his scoring average up to 11.5 points. Dragovic had his best game of the season in a Jan. 28 loss to Oregon with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Like many European bigs, he fancies himself a three-point artist, but he is making just 30.5% of his long range shots, including 2 of 12 over the last three games. With one more loss, UCLA will equal its loss total of the last two seasons and it wouldn't surprising to see coach Ben Howland give increasing time and opportunity to freshman Tyler Honeycutt, since he embodies the future of the program. Dragovic can get hot from outside, but one should keep his expectations for the Bruin senior modest.
Michael Dunigan, C, Oregon Ducks
I wrote about Dunigan earlier this year in my Think On Center article after he rolled off three straight 20-point games, two of which came on a trip to Washington (both Duck wins). It looked like coach Ernie Kent might be able to take himself off the hot seat with the play of his 6-foot-10 sophomore. Sadly, it seems that scoring and rebounding burst was just a flash in the pan and Dunigan has gone back to the inconsistency that was a consistent part of his freshman season. In his last eight games, Dunigan has only provided 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds which are slightly less than his disappointing season averages (10.4 points and 5.5 rebounds). Fouls have not been a big problem for the big man and he has only accrued four fouls once this season, but he needs to get more shots. In the last eight games, he has only had as many as 10 shots once. He'll need to be more aggressive and the Duck guards will have to look for him more often. I had high hopes for Dunigan prior to last season, but it appears that it will take another year before he can be a decent fantasy producer.