FanPost

MBB Top 20 Players Since the Natty - #19 to #16

In the first installment, I explained my methodology and which players are eligible, and set out the honorable mentions and the 20th spot, which I'm adjusting to move Osby up into a tie. While I liked both Osby and Tucker, hopefully the sophomores will sweep them clearly out of the Top 20 by the end of the year.

Previously:

Honorable Mentions:

Robert Carter

Anthony Cowan

Damonte Dodd

Nick Faust

Dino Gregory

Kevin Huerter

Justin Jackson

James Padgett

Diamond Stone

Rasheed Sulaimon

Top 20:

Cliff Tucker -€” 20(Tie)

Boom Osby -€” 20(Tie)

#19 -€” Travis Garrison -€ PF, 6' 9", 241 (oddly specific) lbs.

4 years (02-03 to 05-06),

8.4 Career Win Shares (17th), 2.9 Peak Win Shares (26th)

Garrison was a solid contributor, but gets here mostly on longevity. He played 125 games, starting 71, and had 2,392 minutes.

On offense, he was a career 44.8% shooter from inside the arc, which is...not great for a 6.9" forward. I don't have data for this, but I think some of that was too many long-2s, which weren't yet something people were as conscious of as they are now. He had a flirtation with being a stretch-four, with 74 attempts from three over his sophomore/junior years, hitting at a respectable rate 35.7% and 37.5%. For whatever reason, that part of his game shrunk rather than expanded his senior year—while his minutes fell, his per-minute 3pt attempts also dropped.

His passing was meh, but he didn't turn it over all that much either.

Remember everyone's frustration with Robert Carter as a rebounder? Yeah, well, that was basically Garrison too.

He was a perfectly ok defensive player, and that's where the majority of his Win Shares come from. As I mentioned in the prior post, however, I'm fairly suspicious of DWS, particularly going back earlier than the 2010s.

I'd be perfectly ok with dropping him to 20th or 21st, or moving him up to 18th. There just isn't a lot to separate these guys.

#18 -€” Adrian Bowie -€ SG, 6' 2", 190 lbs.

4 years (07-08 to 10-11)

8.7 Career Win Shares (16th), 3.2 Peak Win Shares (22nd)

Did you know he was a ball boy for Maryland growing up? Bowie : Md ball boy :: Hills : wrestling.

Like Garrison, his making the list is largely the product of being a 4-year contributor. He was a starter his sophomore and senior years, playing 135 games, starting 60, and getting 2,605 minutes.

He never averaged double-digit points, or more than 3.5 assists. He had a season shooting 40.9% from three, but it was only on 1.3 attempts per game, and his career average was 33.2%. He played defense, but wasn't a special defensive player.

What else to say? In the grand scheme of things he was very good at basketball, and he was a Terp, and he was a local, but he was a bit of a stretch to be a 2-year starter at a program with aspirations for getting into the tourney and making a run.

#17 -€” Terrell Stoglin -€ G, 6' 1", 185 lbs.,

2 years (10-11 to 11-12)

7.1 Career Win Shares (18th), 4.4 Peak Win Shares (10th)

Now, basically the opposite of the last two guys. He had one season of being an important bench option/part-time starter on a team where Jordan Williams was the primary option, and then one year of being the featured scorer.

Stoglin had the top single-season per-game scoring average in the program since Walt Williams. He was a good 3-pt shooter (38.4% on 7.4 attempts his sophomore year), and FT shooter (career 80%), and an important source of scoring on a couple of mediocre-at-best Maryland teams that would have been worse without him, for all his faults.

And there were definitely faults. He carried a negative AST/TO ratio his sophomore year (though, to be fair, he shared the ball fairly well his freshman year when he had more people to pass to—6.1 assist on a per-40 minute basis, and 29.2 AST%). He managed to only put up 0.7 steals per game in 32.7 minutes, while also failing the eye test on defense (both on ability and effort).

I'd had him as low as #19, but that sophomore year was too good offensively. He had a lot of volume and was reasonably efficient.

#16 -€” Alex Len -€ C, 7' 1", 225 lbs.

2 years (11-12 to 12-13)

6.1 Career Win Shares (21st), 5.0 Peak Win Shares (5th)

His sophomore year was really very good by any measure, but I think win shares still sells him short. He was a good rebounder and good (and very important) defensive player, and his stats held up quite well in conference play.

In hindsight, while he was looked at largely for his potential, he actually put up numbers of a relatively well-rounded college big man. Reasonably efficient scoring, ok FT shooter by his sophomore year, rebounded his position (and sometimes more than that), blocked shots and (to my view) altered or deterred a bunch more, didn't have that big a fouling problem (though I had a problem with Turgeon's IMO overly-traditional foul trouble management techniques), and had more turnovers than were ideal but not at a really problematic level.

His monster game against Duke/Plumlee (19, 9, and 3) and game winner against N.C.St. definitely made some memories.

I'm inclined to give him some bonus points for being a high draft pick and having one of the top-2 NBA careers (at least so far) of anyone on this list, being the first of Turgeon's out-of-nowhere Euro pickups, and feeling important for the program at the time, but it really isn't enough to actually jump him up the list.

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