moqui
generational talent
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Tyler Ennis makes his first appearance of the season, coming in 7th in Eamon Brennan's Wooden Watch for the nation's best college player.
You have to take the good with the bad, though. Ennis' name has replaced CJ Fair's in the watch list.
You have to take the good with the bad, though. Ennis' name has replaced CJ Fair's in the watch list.
7. Tyler Ennis, Syracuse: C.J. Fair has been the Syracuse player of choice in recent weeks, and for fair reasons: He is the Orange’s centerpiece, the workhorse on both ends of the floor, and whatever statistical flaws you might find tend to have their roots in his workload. Fair is an awfully good player. And yet, it’s been hard to shake the feeling that Fair isn’t his team’s most important player, and by a rather large margin. That player is freshman point guard Ennis.
Here’s the sneaky truth about Syracuse: For as good as Fair is -- and he’s devastating on the wings of Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone -- the Orange could sooner replace him with sixth-man standout Jerami Grant and a combination of minutes from Rakeem Christmas, Michael Gbinije et al. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be a cinch compared to what would happen if Ennis became suddenly unavailable. Trevor Cooney would have to handle the ball. Grant would have to play point-forward, maybe? It would be a mess.
Naturally, “most irreplaceable” does not always sum to “most worthy of a spot on a player of the year watch list.” So it helps that Ennis has been crazy good. He’s averaging 11.7 points, 5.6 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game. His assist rate (31.9 percent) is high, and his turnover rate (11.4 percent) is low, and no member of the Orange creates more steals (5.0) every 100 possessions. Boeheim’s team is unbeaten in early January, and Ennis’ immediate viability as a point guard is the biggest reason.