NCAA Basketball: Early breakout stars to watch for 2022-23 season
By Shea Irish
Javian McCollum
A mixture of Doremus Bennerman and Ronald Moore. That is the comparison that this 6’2” ultra quick point guard was given by his coach Carmen Maciariello in the Times Union. The Siena head Coach stated this before McCollum had even played a single game for the MAAC program.
For those who aren’t familiar with Siena basketball, Bennerman is the 2nd all-time leading scorer in Saints history with 2,109 points and Ronald Moore is the all-time leader in assists for the school. If McCollum’s career amounts to even half of that comparison, the fans of this Albany, NY team will be more than happy.
Javian showed flashes of greatness in his freshman campaign, scoring 15 points in a win against Saint Peter’s, the nation’s 2022 NCAA Tournament darling. He also had double figures in a victory over legendary coach Rick Pitino’s Iona squad. The promising Siena guard finished the year with a season-high 16 points and four assists against Quinnipiac in the MAAC tourney. Averaging just 6.7 PPG and 1.8 APG in only 18.1 minutes a contest for the 2021-22 season, McCollum is my dark horse candidate to break out in the MAAC next season.
McCollum finished his freshman year shooting 42.6% from deep and 84.2% from the foul line, both clips that would have been top 5 in the MAAC if he had taken enough attempts to qualify. As his body continues to develop, he will see increased playing time in his sophomore season and if he can keep those same shooting percentages, he should eventually find himself somewhere on the MAAC All-Conference list.
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If the expectations set by his head coach are any indication, you should keep an eye on the shifty point guard in the following years to come.