Our series on freshmen continues this week at CFHI with the Big East. With all the attention given to the league’s best recruits, perhaps the best newbie in the league to this point--LaDontae Henton--received virtually no attention outside of Providence during the summer. Henton is averaging 13 points and eight rebounds for new head coach Ed Cooley. I wrote about him more last week so I won’t expound on him any further here. Let’s take a look at the rest of this year’s freshman crop and see who is living up to the hype and who isn’t.
Andre Drummond, center, Connecticut Huskies
Drummond caused a massive uproar in the recruiting world back in August when he decided to skip a year of prep school and commit to UConn this year. Through eight games, the results have been largely underwhelming. You can call me persnickety, but as someone who drafted Drummond in the first round of the Big Chief Invitational, I expect more than 7.3 points and 6.3 rebounds over 22.4 minutes and 33% shooting from the charity stripe. I repeat, 33% FROM THE FREE THROW LINE. The results were more encouraging in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, but Saturday’s line of one point and one rebound in 17 minutes against Arkansas was less encouraging. Drummond has been a beast on the offensive glass grabbing 20.8% of the Huskies’ misses and he is blocking shots at a 13.4% clip, so it’s still too early to give up on him. He has had issues with foul trouble that have led to limited minutes, but given Jim Calhoun’s successful history coaching big guys, you would think that’s correctable.
Chane Behanan, forward, Louisville Cardinals
It has been a very solid start for Behanan. He is averaging 10.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and a block. Behanan has tallied three double-doubles including 14 points and ten rebounds in Louisville’s latest win over Vanderbilt. The 6-foot-6 Cincinnati native has excelled on the defensive glass grabbing 25% of opponents’ misses. Currently, that ranks him second behind Herb Pope in the conference. That’s pretty good company in to be in. Behanan is Louisville’s best interior player, so if he can avoid the injury bug that’s been going around there, there’s no reason that kind of production won’t continue.
Jabarie Hinds, guard, West Virginia Mountaineers
With the lack of guard depth for the Mountaineers and the pedestrian play of Darryl Bryant last season, many expected Hinds to see significant playing time right away. He has gotten that playing time and he has been the best freshman guard in the Big East. Hinds is averaging 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and four assists. He is shooting efficiently at 55% and if your league rewards thievery, Hinds leads the conference with nearly three steals per game. If he is still available on your waiver wire (and he shouldn’t be), I would advise picking him up as he has been one of the best all-around fantasy guards in the first month.
Maurice Harkless, forward, St. John’s Red Storm
Much like former Big East compatriot Boston College, the Red Storm faced a massive overhaul of their roster with only one player returning from last year’s squad. After a third of Steve Lavin’s bushel of recruits were ruled ineligible, it became evident that Harkless, the highest ranked recruit left, would be leaned upon heavily. He has responded well averaging 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds with his standout performance being a double-double at Rupp Arena. He has taken the most shots on the team and sports a usage rate north of 25%. He has been adept at slashing to the basket and getting to the free throw line (8-for-10 against Kentucky). His outside game could use a little work as he is only shooting 5-for-24 from three.
Khem Birch, forward, Pittsburgh
Birch has easily been the most disappointing freshman of the bunch. With the starting spots in the Pitt front court seemingly up for grabs, it looked there was an opportunity for the highly regarded Canadian to see the court right away. Birch is only averaging 4.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. His playing time has been spotty ranging from just three minutes against Long Beach State to 28 minutes against Penn where he did manage to post a double-double (15 points and ten rebounds). Birch has shown some flashes in the little playing time he has had shooting almost 60% from the floor and sporting a block rate of 16% (six of those blocks coming against Robert Morris). However, it looks like Nasir Robinson and Dante Taylor will be doing most of the work in the paint for Jamie Dixon. If you’re holding onto Birch in something other than a keeper league, I would cut him loose and look elsewhere.
D'Angelo Harrison, guard, St. John’s Red Storm
Harrison has been a nice, steady third option behind Nurideen Lindsey and Harkless for the Red Storm. He is averaging 13.3 points and 3.3 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in seven of the Johnnies’ nine games including a 16- point performance against Arizona at Madison Square Garden. He won’t pass the ball much or put up gaudy rebounding numbers, but he can give your back court a boost in points if he’s still available in your league.