NCAA Basketball: In-depth look at Wright State big man Brandon Noel
By Bryan Mauro
Why you should know Brandon Noel
The sophomore big man had himself a season last year and it was a season that many outside of the Wright State program didn’t see coming. Such a good season in fact that he was able to win the Horizon League Freshman of the Year. He averaged 10.1 rebounds per game in the conference which was good enough to lead the Horizon League. In total, Noel hauled in 288 total rebounds which was good enough for 50th in the country. The sophomore big man is a great rebounder but his ability to rebound the basketball doesn’t even begin to describe his potential.
He was also one of the best scorers in the Horizon League with his 13 points per game average. There is a lot there in those 13 points per game and everyone is going to point to the shooting percentages that he put up. He led the league in field goal percentage with a 61% mark.
Diving deeper into that number, what makes it more impressive, is a three-point shooting percentage of 36%. Removing the 42 three-point attempts and the 15 makes that mean that Noel shot 65% from inside the three-point line. His shooting numbers of 61% were good for top 20 in the nation. The big man also did a ton of damage at the free throw line. He made it to the line 88 times and made 77% of his attempts. Noel is a guy who can do damage all over the floor and will stuff a stat sheet.
As if Noel didn’t already give coaches enough of a headache trying to stop him, he was also great on the defensive end of the floor. He was able to get 1 steal and 1 block per game on the stat sheet. He has quick feet and good hands that he can get a good position on defense and fluster his opponents. He does it all without fouling as he only averaged 2 fouls per game last season. Noel doing all of this without fouling as a freshman shows a great amount of maturity and skill. There are not many freshmen big men in the mid-major conferences who can do what Noel is capable of.