Looking at Centers another guy catching my attention in Vernon Carey Jr. I watched the Duke ND game yesterday, and he was impressive. Built like a Mack Truck and surprisingly nimble and quick, profiles more wide body rebounder than high flying shot blocker but can get up there when he needs to. For a freshman the guy is an absolute force physically, smooth lefty shot, has nice stroke from deep, nice passing skills.
STATS
2019-20
GP MIN FG% 3P% FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
25 24.7 59.1 42.9 64.3 8.7 1.2 1.5 0.8 2.6 2.1 17.6
Most mocks seem to have him listed in the 20s. NBADRAFT.NET updated 2/3/20 has him going #10.
Vernon Carey was named to the 12-player watch list for the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Award. He's the only freshman to make the cut and joins Louisville's Nwora as the only players from the ACC.
https://www.si.com/college/duke/basketball/tre-jones-vernon-carey-watch-lists-for-naismith-robertsonhttps://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/court-report-dukes-vernon-carey-still-not-getting-enough-credit-story-behind-byu-mascots-epic-flying-dunk/But if you've watched most of Duke's games, this rings true: Carey has been Duke's best player. He's also the best freshman in college basketball. Yet Carey is receiving less hullabaloo than any standout Blue Devils freshman I can recall. Has there ever been a Duke player so good statistically yet less heralded? Brandon Ingram is the closest, but even he was a universally projected top-five draft pick by this point in his 2015-16 freshman season and was taken No. 2 that year.
Carey conversely is not considered lottery pick-worthy.
"I don't know why," Duke assistant coach Nate James told CBS Sports. "Maybe it's his personality, maybe because he's a big and he's a quiet kid and he's not beating his chest every two seconds, saying look at me. He's not the charismatic showman, like Zion and those guys were last year for us. A totally different personality. The times have changed, because big guys aren't in the running a lot of time (for national player of the year), even though they could be or should it be. It's guard-dominated, 3-point-shooting, flash, look-at-me type of game now and he gets hurt by that."
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/freshman-rankings-dukes-vernon-carey-jr-is-freshman-of-the-week-and-frontrunner-for-freshman-of-the-year/VERNON CAREY JR., DUKE: The clear-cut best freshman in college basketball has taken his second Freshman of the Week honor this season. Duke (18-3, 8-2) is riding a three-game winning streak after beating Pittsburgh by 12 and Syracuse, on the road, by nine last week. The Blue Devils got gargantuan play out of Carey, who averaged 26.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and was 20-of-31 shooting in those victories.
If you watched the games, you watched Duke again deploy one of the best centers in college hoops. Carey is cruising along to an All-American season, provided he can keep up his impressive numbers. On the season, the 18-year-old is averaging 17.8 points and 8.9 rebounds.
Carey's 17-rebound showing in the win at SU was a personal best. According to the ACC, Carey's 17 carom captures tied the record for more rebounds by an opposing player in Syracuse history, matching former Colgate Raider Adonal Foyle and former Georgetown Hoya Patrick Ewing.
The two men combined to play for 30 season in the NBA. Not bad, Mr. Carey. Duke's now had Carey go for at least 20 points and 10 rebounds eight times. And, per the ACC: "Carey leads the ACC in field goal percentage and is the league's only player ranked in the top five in scoring (third, 17.8), rebounding (fourth, 8.9) and field goal percentage (first, .597)."
