There was a discussion in another thread about players who started as freshmen under Coach K. Twenty-five players have started the majority of the games their freshman season. That's 25 out of my list of 100 recruited freshmen. Here they are --
Code:
Pct. Pos. Player Year
100.0% G Johnny Dawkins 1983
100.0% F Mark Alarie 1983
100.0% G Tommy Amaker 1984
100.0% G Bobby Hurley 1990
100.0% G Jason Williams 2000
100.0% F Kyle Singler 2008
97.1% G Austin Rivers 2012
97.0% G Jon Scheyer 2007
91.7% G Greg Paulus 2006
90.9% G JJ Redick 2002
88.2% C Carlos Boozer 2000
86.5% F Luol Deng 2004
86.1% FC Josh McRoberts 2006
85.7% GF David Henderson 1983
85.7% F Jay Bilas 1983
85.7% F Elton Brand - 2 1998
82.4% G Jeff Capel 1994
79.5% F Grant Hill 1991
77.4% G Trajan Langdon 1995
72.7% G Kyrie Irving - 2 2011
69.7% F Shelden Williams 2002
58.1% C Taymon Domzalski 1996
55.6% F Shane Battier 1998
54.5% F Lance Thomas 2007
52.5% CF Danny Ferry 1986
A few surprises there -- Taymon Domzalski,
Jeff Capel and Lance Thomas -- all of whom started in less-than-stellar seasons. I did the stats on Elton and Kyrie based on number of games available (Elton would have made the list anyway).
The list includes 11 guards, 9 forwards, 2 centers and three hybrids (McBob, Ferry, and David Henderson).
Anyway, there were freshman starters in 17 years (out of 32). 1983 is the champ, of course, when JD, Alarie, Bilas and Henderson started almost all of the games. Other years with two freshman starters include Shane and Elton in 1998, JWill and Boozer in 2000, JJ and Shelden in 2003, McBob and Paulus in 2006, and Lance and Jon in 2007.
Does this analysis lead to a cure for cancer or bring about peace? No-o-o-o-o. Not exactly.
sagegrouse