Basketball Prospectus has been releasing its rankings of the top 100 returning players in Division I college basketball over the last few weeks and Draymond Green comes in at No. 14:
14. Draymond Green, Michigan State (Sr., PF)
Green was a solid scoring option for Michigan State against the best schedule in the country. Despite being 6-6, he was an excellent rebounder, especially on the defensive end, and a he created his share of chaos on defense. He's in the top 10 among returning Big Ten players in both block percentage and steal percentage. And -- and this shocked me -- his assist rate was 31 percent. That's higher than Tu Holloway's. And Jordan Taylor's. And Nolan Smith's, Mickey McConnell's, Aaron Craft's, and Kalin Lucas's. It was almost double the assist rate of any other Big Ten player his height or above in 2011. Green may have brought more to the table last year, scoring notwithstanding, than any returning player.
Now, that analysis isn't particularly shocking to any MSU fans — we're quite fond of Green and well aware of his attributes. But it is nice to see him get that recognition on a nationally respected site like BP. It's also nice to see Green out-rank some pretty big names — Tyler Zeller, Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb are among the stars who are a bit lower in the top 20 than Green.
Unfortunately, though, no other MSU players made the BP top 100 (although Brandon Wood is predicted to make the All-Big Ten Third Team). The list is compiled solely based on stats, and other than Green, we all know that some MSU underclassmen struggled with inconsistency last year.
On the bright side? Part of those struggles can be attributed to the fact that because of injuries and attrition, Tom Izzo wasn't able to use everyone in roles he had originally slotted them. This season, with experience and (so far ... knock on wood) a much more stable offseason, it's a good bet that one or two talented sophomores and maybe even freshman Branden Dawson could make that top 100 list after this season.