Prior to the season, the absolutely loaded Texas Longhorns’ frontcourt was headlined by junior center Cameron Ridley along with standout freshman Myles Turner. This was expected to be a season Ridley became a brute force down low and entered the realm of college stardom before taking his talents to the NBA, while guys like Prince Ibeh and Connor Lammert play the backup role and bring relief minutes to Ridley and Turner.
But the opposite has actually happened with Ridley failing to establish himself as a necessity on the court this season and continuing to struggle in some staggeringly limited minutes for a guy of his caliber.
This combination of both limited minutes and the inability to prove why he deserves more time on the hardwood this season looks to be making a recipe for the former McDonald’s All-American to find himself back on the 40 Acres for his senior season.
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To this point, Ridley has played only 18.2 minutes per game, which is down from his sophomore season’s average of 25.6. It was expected that his minutes might take a slight hit with the arrival of Turner, but with Turner playing the power forward role often, it wouldn’t have been much different than when Jonathan Holmes was clocking time in the post last season.
Then you have to consider that Ridley slimmed down and added a bit more explosion to his game, which leaves no real reason for Ridley’s minutes to be so drastically reduced, other than his performance on the court making the bench the place for him for more than half of each game.
Ridley isn’t having as good of season scoring as he was in 2013-14 with only 8.3 per game, which is down from last season’s 11.2 per. This is understandable with 7.4 fewer minutes on the court a night, along with more offensive options available.
But where Ridley’s struggles have been is on the glass as a rebounder and his efforts have been pitiful for someone of Ridley’s stature of 6’9”, 285 pounds.
Through 13 games, Ridley has snagged only 46 rebounds, which averages out to 3.8 per night. Compare that to last season’s numbers of 8.2 per. This inept effort on the boards ties for fifth of the team, which simply isn’t acceptable for a guy with Ridley’s abilities, and that was seen with Ridley being replaced by Turner in the starting lineup in Monday’s victory over Rice.
You can credit these deficiencies to a lengthy list of things, including fewer available minutes with Turner, Lammert and Ibeh all demanding time, opponents focusing their gameplan around him, competing for boards with teammates, and offensively, not having a true point guard finding him in the paint with Isaiah Taylor out.
But none of these excuses matter in the eyes of NBA scouts. In a draft that is rich with big men, Ridley has failed to become a standout and prove why he’s ready for the next level. In a mock draft by Draft Express, Ridley isn’t included at all, while senior leader, Holmes, is listed as the No. 52 selection in the midst of arguably his best season.
Unless conference play and the return of Taylor reignite the impact Ridley had last season, seeing the big man leave Austin en route for the NBA after this season is something we shouldn’t expect. But of course, Ridley does still have conference play, the Big 12 tournament and March Madness to try and re-sell himself to NBA scouts if he has any hopes of becoming a pro after this season.
But even with a resurgence from this point on, it’s unlikely that he would even break into the first half of the second round, which really wouldn’t be worth leaving when Ridley still has another year of eligibility to start fresh with.
As each games passes with Ridley failing to begin dominating, the possibility of seeing the junior become a senior in Austin starts to seem more realistic. This is a great sign for Texas’ fans and head coach,
Rick Barnes, which would make Texas stacked inside again next season with Shaquille Cleare being eligible and the possibility of Turner returning for a second season, and luckily for the fans and coaching staff, this is something we can come to expect soon.
How does a 6’9” Ridley, 6’9” Cleare, 6’9” Lammert, 6’10” Ibeh and 6’11” Turner frontcourt sound for 2015-16?