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Following 2016 potential draftees

Of the 45 players currently averaging 20 or more points per game this season, only two of them are teammates. They also just happen to be the only two freshmen on the list.

There are other freshmen tandems around the nation projected to be drafted higher -- and certainly others in higher-ranked classes who arrived with considerably more hype.

But the title of best freshman scoring tandem has to go to Florida State's Malik Beasley and Dwayne Bacon.

And it's not really even that close.

"A lot of people overlook us because it's Florida State," said Bacon, who leads the team with a 20.6 points per game scoring average. "But I mean, we're just going to keep doing what we're doing and pretty soon they'll see. They won't only see the success for me and him; they'll see the success for the team."

Bacon is slightly ahead of Beasley, who is right at 20 points per game. But Beasley is the only freshman in school history to reach double figures in scoring in his first five games.

The one game Bacon didn't score at least 10 points? It ended in the Seminoles' only loss of the season, to Hofstra.

Bacon and Beasley, who committed on the same weekend they made an official visit to Florida State, have already developed a synergy that usually comes with years of playing together.

"It wasn't easy to do what we're doing," Beasley said. "It took a lot of hard work in the summer. We had a lot of things we had to fight through."

What's made their scoring success easier is sophomore guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes' willing transition to more of a facilitator. Rathan-Mayes led the team in scoring last season and ranked ninth in the ACC with a 14.9 average. But he's sacrificed his shot attempts so the freshmen can shine.

"When you have three scorers, it just makes us harder to defend," Bacon said. "I know for a fact there will come a time where it's going to be X[avier]'s night, and he's not going to miss."

Florida State returns to action Wednesday at Iowa after having a week off. So the Seminoles pair's names will be missing from this week's Freshman Tracker of the 15 best performances from last week. But rest assured, the Seminoles duo will likely return soon.
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https://espn.go.com/mens-college-ba...ida-state-seminoles-duo-production-unmatchede

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FWIW - Bacon is old for a freshman. He's 20 already. He's legit though! damn good player, I've been posting about him here for some time. since he was rated 4 stars.

PG_AB said:
Bump

Gonzaga(-9½) @ 4-0 Washington state 11pm FS1
BYU @ Utah 10pm PAC12
Florida St @ Iowa(-5) 9:15pm ESPNU
Indiana @ Duke(-9½) 9:15pm ESPN
6-0 UTEP @ New Mexico St. 9pm ESPN3
I would have ND-Illinois up here, but Mike Thorne Jr tore his meniscus and is out for the season.
Wisconsin @ #14 Syracuse(-5½) 7:15pm ESPN2
#24 Louisville @ #3 Michigan St(-7) 7:15 ESPN
Butler @ #17 Cincinnati(-5½) 7:00 CBSSN
Seton Hall @ George Washington 7:00
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I haven't seen a ton of Mich St games so far, but Bryn Forbes looks like the best shooter in the country.

And Brandon Ingram in the first half v Indiana... Wow.
 
Grayson Allen reminds a lot of Manu as a scorer with his run/jump athleticism and the way he attacks the basket and shooting. Doesn't have Ginobili's all around game but the scoring.
 
seattlejazzfan said:
Grayson Allen reminds a lot of Manu as a scorer with his run/jump athleticism and the way he attacks the basket and shooting. Doesn't have Ginobili's all around game but the scoring.
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And he was a complete no-show in Duke's only game vs top competition.
 
seattlejazzfan said:
Bad games happen. Forget the way he played in the national championship - completely irrelevant. First game of the season is much more important.
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Uhh, ok. What you do vs. a team full of NBA size and athletic talent is kind of notable. It was their 3rd game too.
 
Tonights random musings;

-LSU was getting whooped at the start that game. Impressive stat line but they let up 108 points at home, and a 15 pt lead in the first half.. to North Florida state..

CVRNttLWoAAAATd.jpg


-Blakeney was ice cold again.. 2points on 1/5 shooting in 19 minutes..

- Tacko Fall with a monster game vs Stetson 11/12 from the field, 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks in 24 minutes. Would use one of the 2nd rd picks on him for sure.

- Pascal Siakam with 10 orebs, 23 boards total and 24 points, 5 blocks, 2ast, 1 stl. Remember the name!

- Demetrius Jackson for ND is so damn consistent - 20 points, a handful of assists and a good shooting night from 3, again. Auguste with a solid stat line tonight too 16/14/4/1/2blk. Malcolm Hill with 19/3/3 for the Illini.

- Deyonta Davis was solid for MSU in a very shaky first half, his efforts went understated in that victory. Damion Lee was very impressive for UL, he looks good playing defense.

- Syracuse almost won, they got annihilated on the boards by Wisky 51-25.. So not the best showing for the Lydon experiment. to be fair hes out of position and a freshman though. The Zone looked good, it was the rebounding that KILLED em.

- 21 blocks thru 7 games for Vandy's 7-footer Luke Kornet. Wade Baldwin IV in cruise control - 20points on 8 FGA's.

- Baylor's Taurean Prince with an off-game vs the Prairie View A&M Panthers.. 8 points 5 turnovers.

- 16, 10boards(5 offensive) 14asts, 3stls, 1 block only 3 to's for Kris Dunn.. 6'9" So. Ben Bentil's strings together another solid game for Providence.

- Daniel Hamilton with yet another crazy stat line.. on 10 FGA's -- 14pts, 13 rebs, 7 asts, 2stl, 2blks in 26 minutes..

- Poor shooting game for Isaiah Whitehead vs GW

- Kassoum Yakwe with 9/3/1blk/1stl in limited minutes in his debut, in a bad loss to Fordham by St. Johns.

- Ellenson with 16 8 3ast, 3 blks in 28. Luke Fischer with 14 and 6 in 21minutes. Cheatham with 6 assists and 1 3pointer made.

- 24 and 15 for Josh Scott of Colorado

- 9 points 2 rebs, 3 ast, 2 stls in 32 minutes for Malik Newman vs Texas Southern

- 13, 10 and 2 3pt makes in 18 minutes for James Webb III vs Williamette.

- Jarrod Uthoff with 15, 8, 4 asts and 5 blocks vs Florida St. Malik Beasley with another strong showing. Sub-par performance by Dwayne Bacon in this one. Rathan-Mayes with 15points on 15 shots and 5asts and 5TO's.

- 26, 13 and 5 blocks for Poeltl vs BYU

- Meh showing from Juwan Evans of OK St. 5 turnovers..

- 0 rebounds from Thomas Bryant in 26 minutes vs Duke. This is who DX had in the first round over Ivan Rabb in those initial mocks?!

-24-6-2-1 from Brandon Ingram 4/6 from 3. Monster showing. Troy Williams dropped Matt Jones with a crossover in this game, was a damn good highlight, clean AF.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxzLEbT9_NE

- Check these highlights out from Brandon Ingram. The media's killed him for having a few bad games to start his campaign.


Duke fans I know don't think he's that good..
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33yqZwg9WD4

Here's the only highlights I can find of Simmons game last night. Looks like he was running a layup line vs a bunch of 6'6" forwards..
 
Damn, LSU's basketball crowds have already thinned out that much? I guess the "lets go watch Simmons" hype didnt last long.
 
PG_AB said:
Tonights random musings;

-LSU was getting whooped at the start that game. Impressive stat line but they let up 108 points at home, and a 15 pt lead in the first half.. to North Florida state..

CVRNttLWoAAAATd.jpg


-Blakeney was ice cold again.. 2points on 1/5 shooting in 19 minutes..

- Tacko Fall with a monster game vs Stetson 11/12 from the field, 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks in 24 minutes. Would use one of the 2nd rd picks on him for sure.

- Pascal Siakam with 10 orebs, 23 boards total and 24 points, 5 blocks, 2ast, 1 stl. Remember the name!

- Demetrius Jackson for ND is so damn consistent - 20 points, a handful of assists and a good shooting night from 3, again. Auguste with a solid stat line tonight too 16/14/4/1/2blk. Malcolm Hill with 19/3/3 for the Illini.

- Deyonta Davis was solid for MSU in a very shaky first half, his efforts went understated in that victory. Damion Lee was very impressive for UL, he looks good playing defense.

- Syracuse almost won, they got annihilated on the boards by Wisky 51-25.. So not the best showing for the Lydon experiment. to be fair hes out of position and a freshman though. The Zone looked good, it was the rebounding that KILLED em.

- 21 blocks thru 7 games for Vandy's 7-footer Luke Kornet. Wade Baldwin IV in cruise control - 20points on 8 FGA's.

- Baylor's Taurean Prince with an off-game vs the Prairie View A&M Panthers.. 8 points 5 turnovers.

- 16, 10boards(5 offensive) 14asts, 3stls, 1 block only 3 to's for Kris Dunn.. 6'9" So. Ben Bentil's strings together another solid game for Providence.

- Daniel Hamilton with yet another crazy stat line.. on 10 FGA's -- 14pts, 13 rebs, 7 asts, 2stl, 2blks in 26 minutes..

- Poor shooting game for Isaiah Whitehead vs GW

- Kassoum Yakwe with 9/3/1blk/1stl in limited minutes in his debut, in a bad loss to Fordham by St. Johns.

- Ellenson with 16 8 3ast, 3 blks in 28. Luke Fischer with 14 and 6 in 21minutes. Cheatham with 6 assists and 1 3pointer made.

- 24 and 15 for Josh Scott of Colorado

- 9 points 2 rebs, 3 ast, 2 stls in 32 minutes for Malik Newman vs Texas Southern

- 13, 10 and 2 3pt makes in 18 minutes for James Webb III vs Williamette.

- Jarrod Uthoff with 15, 8, 4 asts and 5 blocks vs Florida St. Malik Beasley with another strong showing. Sub-par performance by Dwayne Bacon in this one. Rathan-Mayes with 15points on 15 shots and 5asts and 5TO's.

- 26, 13 and 5 blocks for Poeltl vs BYU

- Meh showing from Juwan Evans of OK St. 5 turnovers..

- 0 rebounds from Thomas Bryant in 26 minutes vs Duke. This is who DX had in the first round over Ivan Rabb in those initial mocks?!

-24-6-2-1 from Brandon Ingram 4/6 from 3. Monster showing. Troy Williams dropped Matt Jones with a crossover in this game, was a damn good highlight, clean AF.
Click to expand...

Just noticed that Ingram is like a year and a half younger than Skal. Also Poeltl is looking great. Most likely first true C off the board.
 
NCJazz said:
Just noticed that Ingram is like a year and a half younger than Skal. Also Poeltl is looking great. Most likely first true C off the board.
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Yeah, the ages are really staggered inside of these classes - for a wide range of reasons. Ingram's one of the few freshman thats younger than Sophomore, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.

Unless there's some international player on the radar born in December of 1997, Dragan Bender will likely be the youngest player in this draft.


The way people dismiss young players like Ingram after a few poor showings is kinda scary.


Poeltl's a beast, I still like my rich mans Robin Lopez comparison. I'd also say he looks like a better prospect than pre-draft Steven Adams at this point.
 
Ingram definitely looks a little bigger (as in stronger) now than he did in his past highlight videos.
 
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