Georgia Basketball: Who is the Bulldogs’ most important player in 2017-18?

Georgia Basketball will head into next season without their leading scorer, so who is the Bulldogs’ most important player in 2017-18?

The Georgia Bulldogs were able to have enough success in 2016-17 to make it to the NIT and, although they lost to Belmont, should be proud of their season.

However, leading scorer J.J. Frazier is now playing basketball overseas in France after trying his luck at the NBA and others will have to step up in his place.

So, who is Georgia’s most important player in 2017-18?

Look no further than senior Yante Maten. Probably the only blatantly obvious choice for a team’s most important player in the SEC, Maten will lead this Georgia team next season after being the second-leading scorer and rebounder last season.

As a junior, Maten averaged 18.2 points per game along with 6.8 rebounds over 29.0 minutes per game and should increase most of his numbers significantly as the go-to option on this Bulldogs’ team. While I have a feeling he will be forced to focus more on scoring the basketball, his rebounding should increase enough to finish the season fairly close to averaging a double-double.

After dipping his toes in the NBA Draft waters, Maten decided to return to play for the Bulldogs next season. While he has the size for the NBA, another year as impressive as the 2016-17 season could mean that he finds himself being firmly predicted to be an NBA draft pick rather than just hoping that he would be selected.

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The Bulldogs will go as far as Maten can take them; his success will directly translate into wins for Georgia. As one of the best players in the SEC, keep an eye on the forward because his skillset could result in upset wins and a trip to a postseason tournament.