Big 12 Basketball: Predicting who will be First-Team All-Big XII
Mar 22, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Buddy Hield (24) drives against Dayton Flyers guard Kyle Davis (3) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
G-Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
Last year, Buddy Hield led Big 12 basketball in scoring, was awarded the Big 12 Player of the Year award, and helped the Sooners to their first Sweet 16 appearance since Blake Griffin was in Norman. His spot on this list shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
With all of that being said, I am concerned about what will happen to Buddy Hield if nobody can replace the scoring of TaShawn Thomas.
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While Thomas’ 11 points and six rebounds may not have seemed like much, but he was so much more than that to the Sooners last year. He was a stabilizing force, the guy that they threw the ball to in the post when they needed a bucket and everyone else was struggling.
Isaiah Cousins was great at times last year, but for every 8 of 11 performance you got from him, you also would get a 0-11 performance. If they can’t find someone to replace Thomas, I fear that they will be relying on Hield way too much.
I like the potential of sophomore Khadeem Lattin, who is the likely candidate to replace Thomas in the starting lineup, but asking him to go from fringe bench guy to one of your three leading scorers might be too much.
With all of that being said, Hield is still a fantastic player, and will absolutely make this team in 2015-16 barring injury.
Next: Taurean Prince