Thursday, March 12

Best Choice for this Season's Stephen Curry?

There has been a lot of murmuring on these here interwebs that St. Mary's Patty Mills may be this year's Stephen Curry. His team was 18-1 with him in the lineup prior to Mills breaking his hand, but when he missed nine (and a half) games, the Gaels went just 6-4. The bigger issue for St. Mary's is that with or without Mills, their best wins were on the road at Providence and at San Diego State, two teams that themselves will likely be on the outside looking in come tournament time.

For people looking for a stud performer on an under-manned team, they need not look to the smaller conferences, but rather just to the ACC. With Kentucky and Jodie Meeks likely out of the tournament, one of Cleet's favorites, Jack McClinton may be the best candidate to single-handedly lead a team to a win in the tournament. With the exception of Dwayne Collins, every other Hurricane has posted a goose egg in the scoring column at least once this season, and yet the team stands at 18-11 with an RPI of 51 and a strength of schedule of 22. McClinton has shined in all of Miami's big games with the lone exception of their second matchup with Florida State when he was held to 13. Battling a sprained knee for the last month McClinton's scoring had been hampered, but heading into the ACC he's saying that while not 100%, it is feeling much better. For people that enjoy a one-man show, there's not many better in the country than Jack.

Aside: For the Hurricanes, one man that can help McClinton clinch a spot for the team, Dwayne Collins needs to find his early season form. Hampered by an ankle injury, Collins's production has dropped off dramatically, as he's failed to score more than 10 since late January. When Collins scores more than ten the Hurricanes have only lost four games this season, two of which were to projected number one seeds UConn and UNC.

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