Pointing out a weak class: with few breakout stars—and a complete lack of depth among true point guards—the race for top honors was trickier than ever - All-American Team

Basketball Digest, May, 2003 by Tom Kertes

WHAT'S THE POINT? HUNTING around for premier point guards this year, it had to strike you that the pure, pass-first quarterback has become an endangered species. Assists numbers are down--and, unfortunately, so is everything that they symbolize: sharing, creativity, a team-first 'tude, and the idea of making your teammates--and thereby your team--better by looking for the best shot.

Which, of course, just happens to be pretty much everything that's good about the game.

It's been a sore point all season: Pittsburgh's Brandin Knight, perhaps the brainiest leader of them all, never quite recovered from a high ankle injury suffered in last year's Big East Tournament and had a (for him) down season. The second-best smartie--Duke's Dean of Leadership, Chris Duhon--couldn't quite find himself either. (You can almost see the question "Who am I?" on his face when he plays.) Notre Dame's Chris Thomas, ranked reasonably high in the assists race, has become an often-unreasonable chucker (and remained a so-so defender). Oregon's promising Luke Ridnour didn't keep his promise; not at all coincidentally, neither did his team.

Really, when the nation's cookingest disher, Texas' T.J. Ford, has a game of 32 points and three assists--and his team loses--you really have to ask what's going on. Or maybe you don't--the answer is too painfully obvious. "The street agents, the leeches, the hangers-on are in these kids' ears by the dozens," an SEC coach says. "And the first, last, and in-between thing they tell them is `Don't be a chump. The real NBA money goes to the scorers.'"

Which, not to let the establishment off scot-free either, it does.

Worse, fine freshman point guard after finer freshman point guard--Florida's Pat Robertson, Illinois' Dee Brown, North Carolina's Raymond Felton, and so many more--came into the game this season with wonderful passing reps from high school, only to put up an unconscionable number of unconscionable threes by the third week of their first college season.

Point is, it's not just that these supposedly smart players are shooting too much--it's that they're shooting too dumb. The too-close three-point line is like a drug--and the addiction is hurting the game.

Of course, with the premier point guard often the most talented player on the team, the answer to the puzzle often is "scoring is what their team needs from them." That may be true--sometimes. But it's still a cop-out: Looking for and creating the best possible shot is the very essence of winning, fun-to-watch basketball. If that goes by the wayside, there's no way back.

With the passers so way out of bounds, we'll pass on them. Our first-team All-America quarterback is Boston College's Troy Bell, a quintessential "swing guard" who can do it all. And one who has never pretended to be anything but a scorer.

Our Player of the Year Josh Howard is profiled on page 58; here's the rest of BASKETBALL DIGEST'S All-America team:

FIRST TEAM

POINT GUARD TROY BELL, Boston College

This bowlegged ball-genius with the incredible court instincts averaged 21.6 ppg in a "down" year last season, then exploded in every way imaginable in 2002-03: scoring (up four points, to 25.9 ppg), field goal percentage (an increase of .060), three point percentage (up an incredible .120), three-pointers made per game (3.4, 13th in the country), assists (3.8), and steals (2.3). Over the last 10 games of the regular season Bell averaged more than 30 ppg--while his team, after struggling mightily in the early going, won nine out of 10 and made an out-of-nowhere run for an NCAA Tournament spot.

"Troy did the right thing when he decided to return [for his senior year]," says BC coach Al Skinner. "There's no one in his ear now. He can play without undo pressure, just go out there and do his thing."

And what a thing of beauty that is.

SHOOTING GUARD DWYANE WADE, Marquette

Wade is a Michael Jordan impersonator without the outside shot. Come to think of it, as a college junior; Mike's outside shot often hit nothing but Air as well.

Everything else-wise, Wade is Da Bomb. The most spectacularly talented player, bar none, in the college game, this skywalker has Game-Plus pouring out of him with every smooth move he makes. On both ends, too: Like Mike, he has unmatched leadership qualities and defensive instincts to go with his hellacious hustle.

Plus, he's all about "team." He doesn't force it. He lets the game come to him. He shares like a leader in a kibbutz. The greatest accolade? "I'd pay to see him play," a CUSA coach says.

It was Wade's coach, Tom Crean.

POWER FORWARD MIKE SWEETNEY, Georgetown

All of our other All-Americans are on big-winning teams. "Sweet," bitterly, comes from one of nation's most confounding teams. Still, the Big Guy's contributions have been so large that no other power forward could come even close to matching him.

How would you feel after a game when you had 37 points, 17 rebounds, and seven blocks--and your team lost? This, along with a vast variance of similar calamities, actually happened to Sweetney this year. But it didn't break his spirit.