Sports Sunday: Most important position on the basketball court?

Posted by Justin Goldsborough | 0 comments

I’ve always thought the most important player on the court was the point guard. I grew up watching Bobby Hurley, Jacque Vaughn, Tyus Edney,  Allen Iverson, Raymond Felton, Deron Williams just to name a few.

A team can have solid players at the 2-5 spots, but if no one can get them the ball, that team is going to struggle, right? That’s why they call the point guard the 1-guard, after all.

So maybe college basketball is changing, or maybe it’s just this season, but I’m starting to see a transition, at least among the two teams I follow, that makes me think a skilled big man (No. 4 or 5) is becoming the glue that keeps a team together or causes it to fall apart.

Case in point, my two favorite college basketball teams are Northwestern and North Carolina. I went to school at Northwestern and I’ve liked North Carolina since I was 6 years old and still thought I might play basketball in college someday. I think both teams are at about the same skill level this year, but North Carolina has had more success for a number of reasons, one of which I am convinced is the play of their inside guys, Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

Northwestern has lost a few close games, and a few not-so-close games, this year to better teams. The Big Ten is a monster conference second only to the Big East in my mind. But the Wildcats have lost three games in particular – twice to Michigan St. by three points each time and once to Ohio St. by one point – I am almost positive they would have won if they’d had a decent big man.

Northwestern is soft inside and Ohio St. knew it. That’s why even though the Cats switched to the burn offense Saturday and confused the Buckeyes with their hold-it-for-33-seconds-then-backdoor-cut strategy, they couldn’t get any points inside from their big guy Luka Mirkovic. And only one basket would have done the trick. But where it actually hurt Northwestern worse was on the defensive side of the ball. Everyone in Welsh-Ryan Arena and watching on ESPN knew Ohio St. wanted to go to Sullinger inside. But the Cats could never stop it. In fact, they didn’t try, instead deciding to let J.J. get his points down low while they worked on stopping the other four guys in red.

It almost worked, but not quite. Sullinger was too much and he got fouled with three seconds left, hit one of two from the line and ended any hopes of an upset. Northwsestern lost both games to the Spartans because Mirkovic and team could not contain Draymond Green in the paint. Green got fouled a number of times in the final three minutes in East Lansing and made all 10 free throws. And he stole an offensive rebound and laid it back in with only seconds remaining after Northwestern had come within one in Evanston.

Now back to Zeller and Hanson. The Tar Heels struggled mightily last year with the likes of Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Green leaving for the NBA. And this year hasn’t been pretty. But that said, the team is 15-5 and 5-1 in conference. Why? Well, a big piece of it has been Zeller’s consistent presence on offense and Henson’s defensive domination.

When the Hells get in a pinch, they can always throw the ball down to Zeller and run the offense through him. He has a hook shot that is only getting better and his post moves and size are enough of a threat to draw the defense from the perimeter so he can kick it out. Henson is more inconsistent on the scoring side, but he always seems to come up with a critical block when North Carolina needs it. And often times those blocks start the Tar Heels fast break, which can lead to easy baskets.

You could make the obvious point that Northwestern is in a tough conference this year while the ACC is down, which could be why North Carolina is having success. But look beyond these two teams and I think you can find more of the dominant big man trend coming to light.

How about at Kansas, where the Morris twins and Thomas Robinson are almost impossible to handle down low and the Jayhawks play Taylor, Morningstar and Selby at the point. Or what about Texas, which has solid point guard play out of Dogus Balbay, but is dominating this season because of Tristan Thompson, Gary Johnson and Jordan Hamilton.

I really thought Northwestern might finally make the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history last year or this year because they have a crafty, gutsy veteran at point guard in Michael “Juice” Thompson. I’ve even heard some analysts say he’s one of two or three best point guards in the Big Ten. But the more I watch, the more I think if Northwestern just had a guy like Henson or Zeller in place of Thompson, they might be closer to dancing, as much as I like what Thompson brings to the table.

What do you think? If you could have Kyree Irving or J.J. Sullinger, who would you take? Which position is more expendable? What teams do you think prove your point?