There will be plenty of players that will put up big numbers for the 2018-19 season in NCAA Basketball. Here are the three likeliest producers.
There were over 5,000 student-athletes that played Division I college basketball last season. Finishing in the top 25 of any statistical category means that you are the in elite company in college basketball, doing so in more than one category puts you in a class very few players get to see. Such is the case for three players that return for the 2018-19 season.
RJ Cole of Howard, Jon Elmore of Marshall and Mike Daum of South Dakota State all finished in the top eight in scoring while also finishing in the top 25 in either rebounding or assists.
RJ Cole – Howard University
Our own Lukas Harkins went in depth on Cole not too long ago.
Cole is a diminutive 6-1 guard at Howard University. The Union, NJ native averaged 23.7 points for a Bison team that finished 10-23 last season. His point production was good enough for 7th in the country but that wasn’t all that Cole excelled at for the Bison. He dished out six assists per game for a team that averaged just 12. Those six assists put him 23rd in the country, ahead of the likes of Aaron Holiday who was just drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. Cole was also the 3rd leading rebounder for the Bison with 3.9, and one other thing, he was just a freshman.
Jon Elmore – Marshall University
Just behind Cole in the scoring race that college hoop diehards knew about but burst on the scene this past March leading Marshall to the Conference USA tournament title and a first-round upset of fourth-seeded Wichita State in the NCAA tournament, Jon Elmore. He finished eighth in the country in scoring with 22.8 per game while shooting 44% from the field. Like Cole, Elmore is more than just a scorer. He dropped 6.9 assists per game, the 7th highest number in the nation and also like Cole the 6-3 senior-to-be was his team’s second-leading rebounder, pulling down nearly six a game.
Mike Daum – South Dakota State
The one guy in this threesome that most college hoop fans had probably heard about before last season would’ve been South Dakota State forward Mike Daum. Coming off a Summit League championship as a sophomore where he averaged 25 points per game, Daum and the Jackrabbits repeated the feat, Daum had an off year only averaging 23.8, dropping him from 2nd to 6th in the country. At 6-9 Daum also led the Summit League in rebounding at 10.3 per contest placing him 14th overall, directly behind NBA lottery selection Mo Bamba. Daum also finished sixth in the country with 21 double-doubles last season.
Next: Breakdown of each ACC team's 2018 recruiting class
Every season it seems like more and more talent is bolting for the NBA sooner and sooner. The good news for college basketball fans is that these three statistical supermen all return to delight us all.
Add us as a preferred source on Google