Big East Basketball: Top 5 rising sophomores for 2018-19

3. Jahvon Blair, Georgetown

Ranked barely within the top-150 recruits out of high school, Jahvon Blair exceeded expectations in his first year on campus. Although many believed that he would be able to see minutes as a reserve throughout the year, I don’t think too many expected him to play over 20 minutes per game. Yet, head coach Patrick Ewing trusted his young freshman to be on the floor and make plays. Part of this may have been in hopes of giving Blair plenty of playing time during a rebuilding year for the Hoyas but Blair was successful nonetheless.

For the year, he averaged 9.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 21.5 minutes per game. He was the sixth man on the team for almost the entire season and played a valuable role as the go-to scorer off the bench. However, if Blair is to take the next step as a player, he needs to become much more efficient. During 2017-18, he shot just 33.2% from the field. Breaking this down even further, neither his shooting inside the arc (34.8% on 3.1 2PA per game) or outside (32.2% on 5.1 3PA per game) was above-average. However, he made 85.7% of his free throws last year, showing that he can be a very capable shooter.

Just about every major contributor from last season is returning for 2018-19 except for Marcus Derrickson. You can expect that Blair will reprise a similar role or join the starting lineup while increasing his playing time no matter what. If his efficiency increases, he could be a darn good sixth man or third scorer. Oh, and it also helps that he has an excellent teammate to play next to…