NCAA Basketball: Ranking the last 25 AP Player of the Year award winners
By Connor Hope
When you review Doug McDermott’s career with the Creighton Bluejays, you will find a prolific scorer and a solid rebounder. While his defense was not much to write home about, he will go down in history for having one of the best offensive careers in the history of the NCAA.
He is currently ranked fourth on the all-time scoring list behind Chris Clemons, Lionel Simmons and Alphonso Ford. While his career totals are incredible, we are only looking at his senior year.
Before McDermott’s senior season, the Creighton athletic program made the move to the new Big East, joining one of the most historic conferences in the country. After tearing up the Missouri Valley Conference for three seasons, people would finally get to see him play high-major competition.
It would have been understandable to see McDermott’s scoring numbers fall a bit against the tougher competition. However, his points per game numbers jumped from just over 23 to nearly 27 in his final college season.
While his scoring efficiency and rebounding numbers did dip a bit, they were still fantastic when compared to the rest of the nation. One interest thing to note was that McDermott turned the ball over less, despite having the highest usage of his career.
McDermott was not a great defensive player, with his senior season being the worst of his career, but his offensive numbers help him remain at a respectable position in these rankings.
Leading the nation in points per game, offensive win shares and offensive box plus/minus, while finishing in the top five in player efficiency rating, points produced per game and total win shares, McDermott deserves his No. 18 ranking on this list.