Minnesotans in D1

I took a quick look at some Minnesota kids (boyz2men) playing D1 ball. Specifically I looked up 17 kids who would seem to be the best of them or about whom I was curious. I don't doubt there are others doing as well as some of these. But among the 17:

Scoring leaders

Nate Wolters, South Dakota State 23 ppg

Royce White, Iowa State 20

Trent Lockett, Arizona State 18

Alec Brown, Wisconsin-Green Bay 14.5

Jared Berggren, Wisconsin

and Mike Muscala, Bucknell 11 each

Shooting leaders

Lockett 68 percent

Jordair Jett, St. Louis 67

White 54

Ross Travis, Penn State 50

Estan Tyler, UM-KC 50

Rebounding

White 11

Brown and Lockett 10

Muscala 9

Assists

Wolters 6

Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin

and Tyler, UM-KC 4

Steals

White 3

Taylor and Lockett 2

Blocks

White 2

Turnovers

White 3.5

Lockett 3

A Couple Stories

Royce White, who is listed as a sophomore at Iowa State, has arrived on the college scene and will absolutely leave a mark, even if he only plays for this one season. He scored 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting in his 1st game, then basically let loose, scoring 46 points on 18-of-33 shooting the next 2 games, with 25 rebounds. He also has 10 assists but also 14 turnovers in 3 games. Imagine Royce White with Trevor Mbakwe, Ralph Sampson and Rodney Williams for the Gophers. Ralph or Rodney might have transferred out by now if White had been able to play in a timely fashion.

The other feel-good story is the Wisconsin Badgers at 3-0 with Jared Berggren and Mike Brusewitz joining Jordan Taylor in the starting lineup. Berggren is scoring 11 points, Taylor 9 and Brusewitz 7 per game so far. All 3 are shooting in the 44-47 percent range, all are averaging 4-5 boards. Taylor is averaging 6 assists and 1 turnover.

Diaper Dandies

Ross Travis at Penn State has probably opened more eyes than anybody. He came off the bench in his 1st game (exhibition) and scored 4 points with 8 boards in 27 minutes. That earned him a start, whereupon he froze up (2 points but 7 boards in 13 minutes). Coming off the bench against a pair of D1 opponents, he scored 6 points and 7 boards in 28 minutes. Total average 3 points, 5.5 boards and a block in 17 minutes.

Then there's Estan Tyler. Yeah, I know, it's only UM-KC. But it's D1. He came off the bench his 1st 3 games (2 exhibitions), and averaged 26 minutes, 9 points on 69 percent shooting, 3 boards, 3 assists and a steal. Then taking a starting slot, his 1st start was at Bradley where he amassed 8 points, 4 boards and 5 assists in 36 minutes. In his 2nd start he scored 9 with 3 boards and 3 assists. I look for Tyler to transfer to a higher D1 program before he's done, maybe not the Big 10 but a Bradley or Drake or somebody like that. My personal opinion is he could play anywhere Joe Coleman or Jordair Jett or D. J. Peterson (LaSalle) can play.

Shelby Moats of Waconia is a frosh at highly-rated Vanderbilt. He's played in 2 of 4 games so far. In fact he scored 10 points with 5 boards in his 1st game (exhibition). He failed to score in his 2nd game, however.

Still waiting for Kevin Noreen and Bob Huggins to click. Kevin has played just 5 minutes in West Virginia's 1st 2 games, including a shocking 10-point home loss to Kent State. If the Moutaineers are rebuilding and Noreen is still not logging any time, I don't see how this ends well.

2-3 years from now the best Minnesotans in D1 will be (sophomores and younger but in college today):

C- Alec Brown, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Sam Dower, Gonzaga, platooning

PF- Shelby Moats, Vanderbilt

SF- Ross Travis, Penn State (Royce White will have moved on)

Wing- Joe Coleman, Minnesota

PG- Estan Tyler, UM-KC

6th- Jordair Jett, St. Louis