One of the most underrated conferences in college basketball is the SEC. Even though finding a ranked team in the SEC is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack, the SEC will still manage to get at least four bids in the 2015 NCAA tournament. Needless to say, the SEC has a lot of individual talent within the conference.
The 2015 NBA Draft prospects from the SEC are going to become game changers on the next level in the NBA, regardless if they get drafted or not.
For most fans of SEC college basketball, they are familiar with the super athletic, hyper defender, 6’9″ forward Jordan Mickey. Hailing from Dallas, Mickey is the foundation that the LSU Tigers are built upon because of his talented game. If we could quantify his value to the team it would be like creating a dish of food and Mickey would be the rice of the main course.
For all of the great food combinations in the world, there is always a complement. As good as rice is alone, it only does a body wonders when it’s served with a nice healthy serving of beans on the side.
The beans of the LSU basketball team is forward the 6’10” forward Jarell Martin. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native, Martin, who’s playing for his hometown university is the leading scorer in the SEC, and he’s only a sophomore.
Here’s why it’s time to start paying attention to Mickey’s running mate, because he’s more than a good complement, he might be the LSU Tigers most important player and the best player in the SEC.
Think about it for a second. The Kentucky Wildcats might have players on their roster with the highest upside and greatest potential but often times their players don’t get developed properly because they are only in school for one year. When it’s time to go to the NBA Draft a lot of Kentucky’s players leave but don’t get necessarily better before leaving.
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As for Martin, he’s already been in school for two years and he has got substantially better from his freshman year.
Martin nearly doubled his scoring average from 10.3 points, to 18.9 points while shooting a career best 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line. He already doubled his rebounding numbers from 4.6 to 8.9 rebounds a game, and he’s having career highs in assists with 2.0 and in steals with 1.3 per game.
Mickey is the undisputed leader of the LSU Tigers and their most dominant player. Defensively he’s averaging excellent numbers averaging 10.3 rebounds, 3.6 blocks and a steal per game. Mickey hasn’t had a game with less than six rebounds, he has eight games with ten or more rebounds and even nine games with more than two blocks.
Defensively he’s arguably the best player within the SEC.
But don’t get it twisted, defensively Martin may not have as much talent as Mickey, but he isn’t a slouch. Martin is averaging 8.9 rebounds a game, on the year he has five double doubles and ten games where he’s had six or more rebounds. In addition he’s also averaging 1.3 steals per game and even had a season high three blocks when he played against Sam Houston.
But for as great as Mickey is defensively, his sophomore counterpart Martin is that offensively. Martin is the leading scorer in the SEC in front of players such as the Auburn Tigers super scorer K.T. Harrell. On the year Martin already has 12 games where he’s scored double-figure points, and has five 20-point games.
His best game of the year came against McNeese State where he finished with 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting, 10 rebounds, one assist, three steals and one block.
Martin’s true shooting percentage is 56 percent, and the beauty of his game is that he mixes up his shot selection. Martin equally attempts shots at the rim and on the perimeter. When he attempts shots at the rim he’s nearly shooting 66 percent, and on his two point field goals he’s shooting 33 percent.
Even though Martin may need to shoot the basketball inside more he has to keep the defense honest with his shooting, and his jumpshot does just that.
With Martin and Mickey, two players who potentially could hear their names called in the 2015 NBA Draft, the LSU Tigers have one of the best front lines in the SEC, and they might be only rivaled by the Kentucky Wildcats. The Tigers are off to a hot start at 11-2 and need about ten more wins if they want to have a chance to make the 2015 NCAA tournament.
With Mickey and Martin on the frontline for LSU anything can happen because when these two amazing forwards play together and are in sync LSU becomes an extremely difficult team to defeat.
If the Tigers have enough success Martin might win the SEC Player of the Year.
***Couldn’t embed the video but click this if you want to see Martin’s game***