As we press forward, and continue to provide similar weekly looks into each conference, I gain new found respect for our boss Perry "Big Chief" Missner. While I'm as sarcastic as they come, and every now and then offer a little wit; creativity, or at least creative thinking isn't my forte. Perry's unenviable task is to come up with these weekly topics, my job is to write about them. This week, unfortunately, Perry hasn't given me much to work with! You see, a quick glance over ACC statistics shows an overwhelming trend. There is a glaring lack of quality, diverse, big men! So much so, you have to go 30 players deep to find the first true forward (Virginia Tech's Jeff Allen, with a modest 2.1) in the conference's assist totals.
The flip side of this equation is we have a plethora of guards who are contributing tremendously on the boards. And we also have a few hybrids who are fantasy relevant, but not enough to be fully featured here. Virginia Tech's Terrell Bell is likely listed at both guard and forward, and though playing about the same as he did last season, the Hokies' depleted bench is allowing Bell to put crooked numbers in a box score with more regularity. He's averaging 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Similarly, Maryland's Cliff Tucker is giving us 4.2 boards and three dimes. So if your league relies heavily on ACC players, take a look at these dual position guys who can help dish it out.
But honestly, that's as far as we can go with "Big Men who can Pass." Luckily the glaring hole in the middle of most ACC lineups enables a plethora of "Little Men who can Board." And away we go!
Derwin Kitchen, G, Florida State
Kitchen is rapidly becoming one of my favorite players in the ACC. Maybe it's because he just hung a season high 22 points on Duke. Or maybe it's because the 6-foot-4 senior is pulling down a solid 5.7 boards out of the guard slot, and already has four double-digit rebounding efforts this year. Kitchen quite simply is a good fantasy contributor across the board, but isn't great in any one area. What else he isn't is consistent. Kitchen has really struggled to string together back-to-back solid performances all season, which makes him awfully hard to recommend if your league uses crazy weekly average scoring. But if you are in weekly totals league, Kitchen makes a good second or third option at guard. His shooting percentages are terrific, and with the 'Noles owning a big win in conference already, they simply need Kitchen to be there second scoring option. I'm expecting a somewhat more consistent second half here.
Durand Scott, G, Miami
Maybe I was a little over zealous in predicting Scott would be an All-ACC performer as a sophomore. That's not to say he's been bad, but the native New Yorker hasn't quite taken that step into superstardom. He's rebounding at nearly the same clip he did last season, which is a solid 4.4 per game. And while his scoring hasn't jumped off the charts, he is warming up now that the conference season has begun. Scott's averaged 17.7 points in three ACC contests, numbers that are likely to continue as January becomes February and March. Nearly 18 points and 4.4 boards from a guard...sign me up. It's likely we haven't seen the best of Scott yet.
Nolan Smith, G, Duke
It seems like every column we write these days has a metion of Smith. Most of that is because he's been that good, but it's also in part due to how wrong we were in projecting Smith's fantasy value earlier this season. Notice the use of "we" and not "I"...
Smith's season to date has been nothing short of wonderful. But his nine games since Kyrie Irving went down have been even better, to the tune of 22.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists. Irving's injury isn't the only contributor to Smith's all around emergence as a senior. He's only sat out one minute of Duke's three ACC contests. Duke is also jacking up an average of 22.4 3-pointers. Take a lack of big bodies, add in long rebounds, plus never leaving the court ... and you've got a recipe for continued success. With no reason to expect Irving's return any time soon, Smith shows zero signs of slowing down.
Iman Shumpert /Glen Rice, Jr. /Brian Oliver, G, Georgia Tech
I almost did a double take when browsing some statistics for this piece, and think that Georgia Tech may have the best rebounding backcourt in all the land. These three guys are all averaging between 4.7 and 5.5 rebounds. To me, that's unbelieveable. And if you think it's solely a result of a lack of girth up front, I'll remind you that 6-foot-10, 258 pound Daniel Miller is hitting the glass at a similar rate (5.3 rpg). Shumpert is the stud here, he leads the Jackets in virtually everything (16.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 steals) and is coming off his second 30-point effort against the Tar Heels in his career. Rice's scoring has increased significantly over his last six outings, pouring in a cool 18.0 points over that short span. Oliver remains a bit of an enigma however. He had a whopping 32 points in a late November contest against Syracuse, but has only scored in double-figures four times in ten games since. His minutes are also all over the place, but he probably has G/F eligibility in most leagues. And when you can get five rebounds from a guard, you can live with the ups and downs in some other categories. While Roy Williams may argue Georgia Tech's relevance in the ACC, there is no denying the 'Jackets have three valuable fantasy commodities on their perimeter.
If you have any thoughts on what you'd like broken down by our staff in the coming weeks, feel free to shoot me an email. You may just set yourself up with a week's worth of reading about your passion!