NCAA Basketball: 15 undervalued players in 2020 recruiting class

#79 Tramon Mark, CG – Houston

The Cougars have been at the top of the American Athletic Conference, since the 2015-16 season. Kelvin Sampson has guided his team to top-3 conference finishes in each season since then, including an outright regular-season title last season and a share of the regular-season title in the previous year. Sampson has come to rely heavily on the play of his guards to carry the program to stronger and stronger play.

In fact, Sampson has looked for guards over the last several seasons to make immediate impacts on the court. In 2019 freshman guard Caleb Mills led the team in scoring, while Nate Hinton finished top-5 in the prior year. This season fans can look to 6’5” guard Tramon Mark to fill that role and emerge as a reliable and talented scoring option for Houston.

Mark plays with a physical style on the floor and possesses a lot of offensive versatility to impact the game for the Cougars. Hitting upwards of 35% from deep over the last 1.5 years, he adds another strong perimeter weapon for Sampson to utilize. The length of his frame also allows him to operate as an effective penetrator into the middle of the defense to either distribute or attack the rim. The combination of his athleticism and size make it difficult for some forwards to jump with him and contest layups and/or dunk attempts.

Those same tools boost a lot of defensive production for Mark as well. Going into next season, he is likely the only other player besides Nate Hinton to average more than a steal per game. This could be an area of his game he will want to lean on next season, in order to secure more minutes on a team with a large group of proven guards.