Junior F Martins Igbanu
On a different team, Martins Igbanu would be a great college 4. He has an array of excellent post moves, he's strong and athletic, and he's excellent at crashing the glass. Unfortunately, due to scheme and certain Australian players who will not be named defecting immediately before the season, he's been forced to play the 5 for much of his career, giving up a couple inches to his man on both sides of the floor, putting up below average defensive rebounding numbers for a starting center, and struggling to find the open man in Frank Haith's 4-out, 1-in offense.
Nevertheless, Igbanu did take some huge steps in the role last year. He cut the number of fouls he committed (especially charges) while still drawing fouls on the other end at an elite rate. And he's taken full advantage by bumping his FT percentage up 13 points. He's also consistently improved in the back half of each season so far averaging 11 and 6 in conference play in 25 minutes per game. If he can carry those numbers into a full season, then he could break out this year no matter what position he plays.
2018 stats: 22.5mpg, 9.4ppg, 5.1rpg, 0.5apg, 0.3spg, 1.5topg, 0.2bpg, 53.9% 2PT, 28.6% 2PT, 72.0% FT
2019 proj.: 21.8mpg, 8.6ppg, 4.8rpg, 0.9apg, 0.4spg, 1.6topg, 0.3bpg, 51.8% 2PT, 33.8% 3PT, 68.5% FT
On a different team, Martins Igbanu would be a great college 4. He has an array of excellent post moves, he's strong and athletic, and he's excellent at crashing the glass. Unfortunately, due to scheme and certain Australian players who will not be named defecting immediately before the season, he's been forced to play the 5 for much of his career, giving up a couple inches to his man on both sides of the floor, putting up below average defensive rebounding numbers for a starting center, and struggling to find the open man in Frank Haith's 4-out, 1-in offense.
Nevertheless, Igbanu did take some huge steps in the role last year. He cut the number of fouls he committed (especially charges) while still drawing fouls on the other end at an elite rate. And he's taken full advantage by bumping his FT percentage up 13 points. He's also consistently improved in the back half of each season so far averaging 11 and 6 in conference play in 25 minutes per game. If he can carry those numbers into a full season, then he could break out this year no matter what position he plays.
2018 stats: 22.5mpg, 9.4ppg, 5.1rpg, 0.5apg, 0.3spg, 1.5topg, 0.2bpg, 53.9% 2PT, 28.6% 2PT, 72.0% FT
2019 proj.: 21.8mpg, 8.6ppg, 4.8rpg, 0.9apg, 0.4spg, 1.6topg, 0.3bpg, 51.8% 2PT, 33.8% 3PT, 68.5% FT
