NCAA Basketball: Threats to Zion emerge in National Player of the Year race
By Brian Rauf
8) R.J. Barrett, SF, Duke
Stats: 23.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 4.1 apg
LW: 5
Barrett entered the season as the clear No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and as one of the favorites to win this award. And, by looking at the numbers listed above, it’s hard to imagine why he has fallen to No. 8.
Zion’s emergence as a once-in-a-decade force has taken some of the spotlight away from Barrett, but he also simply hasn’t performed that well.
Inefficiency has been the word that has summed up Barrett’s season to this point despite his immense talent. He’s shooting 44.7 percent from the floor, but is under 32 percent from three and has shot 36 percent or worse in six games this year.
That’s a problem that has become prevalent of late. Barrett is a (very) high-usage player and has taken 102 shots over the last five games – and he’s only shooting 37.3 percent in that time frame. For all the hype about how good Barrett was going to be and how much talent he has, his usage and inefficiency have been major downers.
That said, an R.J. Barrett Game is coming at some point before the end of the year. Barrett is too good to be in this kind of slump for a full season and is going to have one game where he goes off and scores 40 (or even 50). That game – when it happens – will put him back in the serious NPOY mix. Until then, he’s stuck here.