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| | Monday, December 27 | |||||
ESPN.com | ||||||
SirValiant Brown (Val if you're speaking to him) hasn't surprised Tom Penders.
He bought into Brown's act, both the written and spoken form of his name, when he saw him as a high school junior while Penders was still coaching at Texas.
Penders bolted for George Washington. Brown was a hit at Lee High in Springfield, Va. Penders envisioned the combination guard shooting, and ultimately scoring, at will for his squad. The only shock for Penders was it happened at GW, not at Texas.
"When the game is on the line, he hasn't taken a questionable shot," Penders said. "His stats are meaningful because he's playing against a lot of tough defenses from good teams. That doesn't happen to freshmen too often, at least not this soon." But making the list of early surprises isn't just about scoring. Stanford's Curtis Borchardt, a lanky, freshman center isn't putting up SirValiant-like numbers. But he's been just as much of a surprise for the Cardinal, and perhaps nearly as important. When Mark Madsen went down with a hamstring injury against Duke in the season opener, Borchardt was guaranteed more time in the post. He's made the most of it, providing needed support, especially with his shot-blocking skills, to the Collins' brothers, Jason and Jarron, for the No. 1 Cardinal. "As soon as it happened, I knew the safety net wasn't around me anymore," Borchardt said of Madsen's injury. "Having the Collins twins has really helped me. I don't take the strongest guy on the court. That helps with blocking shots and rebounds." Borchardt even hit the winning 3-pointer to beat Auburn. Not bad for a player who didn't receive the West Coast hype out of Washington state the way players from California did last summer. "It goes to show you that basketball is basketball, regardless of the hype," Borchardt said. "We have such a presence inside that I'm not always guarded outside. I'm not surprised I'm doing well because I was confident this summer, working out with the Sonics. I'm just surprised I got the opportunity." So are we. Here's the rest of our early-season surprise list. Not every conference has earned a representative -- yet. America EastHuggy Dye, Maine: The 6-2 guard has seen his average jumped from 9.7 to 16.4 points in leading the Black Bears to a 7-3 start in the America East. They enter the New Year with a realistic chance to catch Delaware. Atlantic 10 SirValiant Brown, George Washington: The powerful combination guard is averaging 27 points a game as a freshman. He played with DerMarr Johnson on the D.C. Assault AAU team, but few teams knew he existed. Bernard Barrow, George Washington: The complimentary point came to the Colonials from a junior college and is dishing out 4.1 assists a game. He also hit the game-winning jumper to beat Maryland. This pair still has to mature, leading GW to a 5-5 mark. ACC Will Solomon, Clemson: While the Tigers have struggled to get to 5-6, Solomon has risen his average from 6.3 to 22 points a game. The 6-2 sophomore is the Tigers' best hope to compete in the ACC. Big East Troy Bell, Boston College: The Big East recruits usually are known to the nation, but not Bell. Somehow he escaped the rest of the Northeast and is averaging 21 points a game for the revamped Eagles. Boston College is a respectable 8-3 after a brutal '98-99. Jeremy Holmes, Pittsburgh: With the Panthers trying to make due with a handful of players, Holmes has come through with 6.8 assists in his final season in Pittsburgh. Not much was expected of him after he dished out 74 assists total last season. Big 12 J.R. Raymond, Oklahoma: Most Prop 48 players need an adjustment period, but not Raymond. He's popping off with 18.2 points a game for the 9-1 Sooners. Drew Gooden, Kansas: It's not a surprise if you saw Gooden on the West Coast, but he's become the impact recruit for the Jayhawks. He's averaging 11.3 points and 7.9 rebounds for 9-2 Kansas. Gooden has made any thoughts of missing Lester Earl a waste of time. He could become the best offensive rebounder at Kansas. Big 10 Jamal Crawford, Michigan: Crawford got an extra year of high school because of transfer problems from Los Angeles to Seattle and his game is reaping the benefits. Crawford has outshined heralded recruits LaVell Blanchard and Kevin Gaines with 19.8 points and 4.5 assists for the 7-2 Wolverines. Dusty Rychart, Minnesota: He was an afterthought for the Gophers a year ago, only getting time in the NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Gonzaga. But he scored well in that loss and carried it through on a summer tour of Europe and into the season with 14.6 points a game for the 7-1 Gophers. Big South Matt Gladieux, Coastal Carolina: He started at Toledo, went to Bellarmine College in Louisville and ended up for his senior season at Coastal. He's making the most of his final year, averaging 20.9 points for the 2-7 Chanticleers. Colonial Athletic Association Brett Blizzard, UNC Wilmington: The freshman guard from Tallahassee has made an impact with 16.6 points a game, leading the 6-2 Seahawks to a win over Washington. Conference USA Paul McPherson, DePaul: The Blue Demons have received exceptional play out of the JC transfer with Lance Williams ailing the first month of the season. McPherson averaged 14.2 points and shot 58.9 percent for the 8-3 Blue Demons. Metro Atlantic Athletic Association Demond Stewart, Niagara: The shooting guard from Mercyhurst College transferred in and has lit up opponents with 27.1 points a game. Stewart could have a say in Niagara (6-2) causing fits for MAAC favorite Siena. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Demetric Reese, Maryland-Eastern Shore: He's seen his average leap from 14.1 to 21.8 points through in keeping the MEAC favorite at 3-5 in non-conference games. Mid-American Conference Anthony Taylor, Miami (Ohio): Taylor has made up for the loss of Wally Szczerbiak by raising his average from 3.9 to 20.1 points a game as the RedHawks beat Xavier for a 4-3 record. Tamar Slay, Marshall: The undefeated Thundering Herd (8-0) have been led by the rebirth of Slay's production with his average soaring from 6.0 to 18.3 points a game, to go along with his 6.9 rebounds. Mountain West Conference Ron Grady, Colorado State: The Oregon State transfer has played in four games. CSU won all four, including a win over UCLA in the semifinals of the Pearl Harbor Classic in Honolulu. Coincidence? Not with Grady averaging 9.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and shooting 90 percent at the line during those four games. Pac-10 Curtis Borchardt, Stanford: He probably wouldn't have seen much time had Mark Madsen not gotten hurt. But he's made the most of his minutes (hitting a 3-pointer to beat Auburn) and averaging 5.9 points, 5.3 rebounds in 16.4 minutes for the No. 1-ranked Cardinal. Gilbert Arenas, Arizona: He was the sleeper recruit for the Wildcats, who was supposed to play behind Ruben Douglas. Instead, Douglas transferred to New Mexico and Arenas averaged 12.9 points in earning the MVP of the Preseason NIT for the 9-2 Wildcats. SEC Dan Langhi, Vanderbilt: The senior center put up decent numbers last season (17.7 ppg) but has pumped it up to 23.4 and led the Commodores to a one-loss, non-conference record. Brian Beshara, LSU: The former Rice forward wasn't this reliable in Houston but he's putting up 14.1 points for the undefeated Tigers. Stromile Swift, LSU: It shouldn't be a shock that the top-five high school phenom has pushed his numbers from 7.6 a year ago (when he was a freshman in half a season) to a team-high 21 and 8.9 rebounds. Rahim Lockhart, Mississippi: The Rebels have one loss in 11 games and its largely because of Lockhart, who is scoring 14.6 points and 11.1 rebounds after averaging 7.4 and 4.6 a year ago. Anthony Evans, Georgia: The depleted Bulldogs needed all the help they could get when the JC forward arrived. He's producing 16.8 points and 9.9 rebounds for the 7-4 Bulldogs, who pulled off a shocker over Wake Forest. West Coast Conference Kenyon Jones, San Francisco: Jones transferred from Cal to get more time and score more points. He's doing both for the Dons (9-1), averaging 16.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and averaging 67.4 percent. Western Athletic Conference David Shelton, Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane have one of the most experienced teams but the addition of Shelton and his 13.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 49.3 percent shooting has made them even stronger. Tulsa (11-1) won the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic last week. Roy Smallwood, UTEP: The 6-6 freshman has been the catalyst for first-year coach Jason Rabedeaux, averaging 11.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting 60.7 percent for the 7-2 Miners.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com
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