NCAA Basketball: Luke Maye vs. Ethan Happ as the better forward for 2018-19

The case for Luke Maye

Let’s start with the obvious. Statistically, the players are very similar, posting nearly identical numbers in each category – except for one. While Happ is a complete non-factor outside the paint, Maye actually excels behind the line. Last season, only four high-major players, including Maye, stood at least 6-foot-8 and knocked down 50 threes at a 43 percent clip. Yes, there are a lot of qualifiers there, but it’s unusual for big men to be so efficient from beyond the arc.

Maye’s poor free throw percentage last year was a red flag, but he seems to be one of the rare players who can hit threes, but not free throws. As a sophomore, Maye converted 40 percent of his treys (albeit on a much smaller sample size), and for his career, Maye is 68-163 from deep (41.7 percent). Now, most of those three points attempts are wide open, and he is merely a catch-and-shoot option. Still, three points are three points, and last year, Maye drilled at least one three-pointer in 26 of the UNC’s contests. While Happ can only score inside, Maye is a weapon on or off the low block.

The bearded Tar Heel is also a vacuum cleaner in the paint; he inhales rebounds on both ends of the floor. In raw totals, Maye finished sixth among high-major players in rebounds per game last season. He was even better in terms of efficiency, slotting into the 98th percentile for defensive rebounding rate and the 91st percentile for offensive rebounding rate. Maye cracked double-digit rebounds in 19 games last season, including 18 in a monster 32-point effort against Boston College in January.