Most college basketball fans keep track of the top incoming freshmen each season, but transfers and junior college players are another thing entirely. Transfers have had to sit out a year, and junior college ball receives very little attention, so it's easy for these stars to be out of sight, out of mind.
Toney Douglas, Florida State: As a freshman at Auburn, Douglas scored 16.9 points per game. He will see plenty of time at point guard for the Seminoles, bringing a dimension to their attack they haven't seen since Sam Cassell played in Tallahassee. Coach Leonard Hamilton told the ACC Basketball Handbook: "A lot more scoring ability at the point will give us the chance to maybe have the ball in his hands when the game is going down, whether he's creating for himself or for his teammates."
End-game situations have been a major problem for Hamilton's teams at Florida State. Expect Douglas to help change that this season.
J.R. Giddens, New Mexico: He received plenty of playing time in his two years at Kansas, but Giddens wanted to play where he had a chance to be "the man." That led him to Albuquerque, where he will improve on his 10.1 scoring average as a sophomore. Giddens, when he becomes eligible in mid-December, should become one of the best players in the Mountain West Conference. He has a set of NBA-level skills — good range on his shot and the ability to finish at the rim, often with some flair.
Giddens will quickly become a fan favorite at "The Pit,"New Mexico's famous home court, this season.
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Gary Erwin, Arkansas: Unlike many transfers, Erwin won't have a great learning curve, because he already has two seasons of SEC play under his belt. He ran the point for Mississippi State and was considered the conference's best penetrator by Street and Smith's. Erwin was third in the SEC in 2004-05 with 4.7 assists per game and had the league's seventh-best assist-to-turnover ratio.
Erwin is the first pure point guard Stan Heath has been able to count on since arriving in Fayetteville. He should be the perfect fit for a team designed to get most of its points from the frontcourt. Erwin is not much of a shooter, but he can get the ball to his teammates in the right spot at the right time. He is also considered a tenacious defender who should force some turnovers for the Razorbacks.
Mike White, Indiana: Ranked the No. 2 JuCo player in the nation in 2005-06 by The Sporting News, White should step right into the Hoosiers' starting lineup this season. He earned the nickname "King Kong"before losing 50 pounds during his two years of junior college. As a sophomore, he led Lee College (Texas) with 19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.0 blocked shots per game. He was a force in the low post, making 55 percent of his shots.
White is now listed at 6-foot-6, 232 pounds, a tad undersized for a major college player in the paint, but Coach Kelvin Sampson will expect him to anchor Indiana's inside game and hold up well under the physical rigors of Big Ten play.
Cincinnati's JuCo crop: Former Bearcat coach Bob Huggins got a lot of mileage from junior college players while at Cincinnati and has already turned on that pipeline at Kansas State. New Bearcats coach Mick Cronin has continued that tradition; the Bearcats could start as many as four former JuCo players this season.
The best of the bunch is center Hernol Hall, Juco Junction's fourth-ranked JC player last season. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound center from Costa Rica was an NJCAA All-America at Lon Morris College (Texas), where he averaged 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He also has international experience on Costa Rica's national team.
Another key player for Cincinnati will be point guard Tim Crowell. He also played in Texas last year at Midland College, where he led his league by dishing out 7.5 assists per game. Crowell added 3.0 steals and 11.0 points per game. He also brings strong leadership skills to the Bearcats, something Coach Cronin desperately needs to pull together a roster full of newcomers.
Texas Tech's JuCo crop: Bob Knight's recruiting class this year includes Rogdrick Craig, a potential starter at forward, who is the son of former NFL star Roger Craig. He is joined by forward Jay Mitchell, who played three years of pro baseball in the Colorado Rockies' organization, and Esmir Rizvic, a 7-footer who once broke his leg in the first half of a game yet managed to play the entire second half.
I'm not sure how good this group is, but it's got to be one of the more interesting ones in the nation.
Patrick Ewing, Jr., Georgetown: After two nondescript years at Indiana (3.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg), Ewing transferred to his dad's old stomping ground. He is unlikely to see much playing time for the son of his dad's old coach, John Thompson III, because the Hoyas' frontcourt is stacked with talent this year, but this move is still an interesting footnote to the season. are some players in this group will have a big impact on their teams' success this season. Here are some names you should get to know:
