Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: 6 stars of mid-major backcourts for 2019-20 season

By Jason Burgess

WICHITA, KS - NOVEMBER 13: Guard Grant Riller (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
WICHITA, KS - NOVEMBER 13: Guard Grant Riller (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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FULLERTON, CA – NOVEMBER 23: Tanner Krebs #00 and Emmett Naar #3 of the St. Mary’s Gaels defend Bryce Aiken #11 of the Harvard Crimson as he makes a pass during the game at the Titan Gym on November 23, 2017 in Fullerton, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
FULLERTON, CA – NOVEMBER 23: Tanner Krebs #00 and Emmett Naar #3 of the St. Mary’s Gaels defend Bryce Aiken #11 of the Harvard Crimson as he makes a pass during the game at the Titan Gym on November 23, 2017 in Fullerton, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Bryce Aiken – Harvard Crimson

The good news for the Ivy League is that they enter the season with a borderline top-25 team, the bad news, at least for the rest of the league is that they are going to have to put up with Harvard guard Bryce Aiken for another season. The Crimson went 10-4 in the Ivy but fell to Yale in the tournament final, having to settle for the NIT, where, like UNCG, they went 1-1, defeating Georgetown before being upended by N.C. State.

Aiken returns for his senior season under head coach Tommy Amaker. Aiken has been someone Amaker could count on from the time he stepped on campus, the 6-0 New Jersey native has never been much of a rebounder or distributor, averaging just 2.4 boards and 2.7 assists in his first three seasons, but as an offensive threat he’s been as consistent as it comes, averaging 14.3 points per game over his first two years before taking his game to another level last season.

Despite only playing in 32 games over the last two seasons due to a knee injury, that caused him not debut until Jan. 21st he led the team in scoring at over 22 per game. He cracked the 20-point plateau eight times in 18 games, including 38 in the Ivy League final and a career-high 44 in a triple-overtime win over Columbia. But, it’s not just the points from Aiken, last year he improved his field goal percentage to 43.4%, up from 37.5% as a junior.

His three-point and free-throw percentages also made big jumps, up 16.3% and 4.8% respectively in 2018. Aiken is already one of the best guards in the country, but if his junior-year percentages weren’t an aberration, there’s no telling how high the offensive ceiling will be for his senior season.

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