Top 50 Individual Seasons

[JelloPuddinPup]

Ranking the top 50 individual seasons of the one-and-done era

Fun article on ESPN. Grant Williams clocks in at 45. Fun to have a Vol on that list but sadly not high enough to warrant a write-up.

It got me thinking though, who has had the best overall seasons for the Vols since the one-and-done era began? Same rules as the article. I'm guessing we could come up with a pretty fun top 10-15 individual seasons for certain players.

 

[hUTch2002]

Ranking the top 50 individual seasons of the one-and-done era

Fun article on ESPN. Grant Williams clocks in at 45. Fun to have a Vol on that list but sadly not high enough to warrant a write-up.

It got me thinking though, who has had the best overall seasons for the Vols since the one-and-done era began? Same rules as the article. I'm guessing we could come up with a pretty fun top 10-15 individual seasons for certain players.

I can’t read the article but I don’t think Zion should be #1. He was a very good player but he was a ton of hype too. Durant and Melo both had better season than Zion and those are 2 easy ones off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.

 

[VolPack22]

I think Chris Lofton’s Junior season should be on there if I’ve got the timeline correct. That was the 2006-2007 season. I think they created the rule in 2005? He averaged 21ppg, made over 100 3’s at a 42% rate, SEC POY, and 2nd-Team AA. If he played in today’s environment he would be making at minimum 5 3’s per game and averaging 25ppg.

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

I can’t read the article but I don’t think Zion should be #1. He was a very good player but he was a ton of hype too. Durant and Melo both had better season than Zion and those are 2 easy ones off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.

They make a pretty good case for Zion at #1 in the article. I liked Durant's year better and Melo obviously had the 'ship but neither statistically impacted the game the way Zion did in on season.

 

[hUTch2002]

They make a pretty good case for Zion at #1 in the article. I liked Durant's year better and Melo obviously had the 'ship but neither statistically impacted the game the way Zion did in on season.

Really? Interesting. Durant had more ppg and rpg, similar defensive stats, and sports-reference.com produces some win share stat and has KD at 8.8 and Zion at 8.3. I just threw Melo in (5.8 win share) because I know he had similar ppg and rpg and led Cuse to the title, which is more than KD and Zion. His defensive stats are the worst of the 3, which must be affecting the win share metric. What are you talking about with the better stats for Zion? The +/-? This is all opinion stuff but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player quite as dominant as Durant during this one and done era. That’s part of why it was so great when Lofton drilled those 3s right over him!

 

[YankeeVol]

They make a pretty good case for Zion at #1 in the article. I liked Durant's year better and Melo obviously had the 'ship but neither statistically impacted the game the way Zion did in on season.

Recency bias IMO

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

Really? Interesting. Durant had more ppg and rpg, similar defensive stats, and sports-reference.com produces some win share stat and has KD at 8.8 and Zion at 8.3. I just threw Melo in (5.8 win share) because I know he had similar ppg and rpg and led Cuse to the title, which is more than KD and Zion. His defensive stats are the worst of the 3, which must be affecting the win share metric. What are you talking about with the better stats for Zion? The +/-? This is all opinion stuff but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player quite as dominant as Durant during this one and done era. That’s part of why it was so great when Lofton drilled those 3s right over him!

Essentially they boil it down to the fact that basketball is still largely a 2pt-game despite the insurgency of the 3pt shot and Zion produced 2's at a level and efficiency that no one ever has in the NCAA.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

I can’t read the article but I don’t think Zion should be #1. He was a very good player but he was a ton of hype too. Durant and Melo both had better season than Zion and those are 2 easy ones off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.

Bernard King had a better freshman season than Zion

 

[hUTch2002]

Bernard King had a better freshman season than Zion

True. They’re qualifying it as best season during the one and done era though. I was curious to see if anyone wanted to argue that Melo and Durant aren’t from the era but they both were one and done players so that makes it tougher.

 

[hUTch2002]

Essentially they boil it down to the fact that basketball is still largely a 2pt-game despite the insurgency of the 3pt shot and Zion produced 2's at a level and efficiency that no one ever has in the NCAA.

Cool. Thanks for sharing and discussing.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

True. They’re qualifying it as best season during the one and done era though. I was curious to see if anyone wanted to argue that Melo and Durant aren’t from the era but they both were one and done players so that makes it tougher.

Yeah and Bernard played 3 years

 

[golfballs]

Kevin Love at 20 seems low

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

Kevin Love at 20 seems low

His season definitely seemed to fly under the radar from what I remember. Nobody expected him to be a better NBA player than college player from what I recall.

 

[zjcvols]

Durant is the best player easily but I would say Kemba had the best season.