- Perry Ellis, Kansas, sophomore power forward
2013-14 scoring average: 16.8
2011-12 scoring average: 5.8
Best performance: 24 points, 9 rebounds in 94-83 win over Duke
The most common refrain around the KU campus this summer, more common even than “Blurred Lines,” was this: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Perry Ellis leads the Jayhawks in scoring.” Well, guess what? He’s getting a basket a game more than preseason All-American Andrew Wiggins. Ellis also is averaging 8 rebounds and shooting 72 percent from the field. He’s not going to make three-fourths of his shots all season long, but it’s still an impressive number for someone whose greatest asset is mid-range jump shooting. Ellis has become an extraordinary college player.
- Keith Appling, Michigan State, senior point guard
2013-14 scoring average: 14.8
2011-12 scoring average: 13.4
Best performance: 22 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists in 78-74 win over Kentucky
Appling was challenged during the offseason by coach Tom Izzo to either become a point guard or become a spectator. Appling had been a fine college player through two seasons as MSU’s starter at the point but never averaged even 4.0 assists. He’s at 6.3 per game now. Through four games, he has accumulated six or more assists three times — a figure he reached only six times last season in 36 starts. He’s also committing fewer turnovers. Appling is every bit of a point guard now.
- Joseph Young, Oregon, junior shooting guard
2013-14 scoring average: 26.7
2011-12 scoring average: 18.0
Best performance: 24 points, 5 rebounds in 82-75 win over Georgetown
The NCAA’s new defensive rules appear to be fueling Young like a case of 5-Hour Energy. He scored 80 points through the team’s first three games — while attempting only 38 shots from the field. His production is largely the result of shredding the defense with drives and forcing opponents to contact him to keep him off the rim. Young has earned 31 free throw attempts — and missed only one. He’s been an outstanding free throw shooter his entire career, but that skill is even more valuable now.
- Shabazz Napier, UConn, senior point guard
2013-14 scoring average: 16.8
2011-12 scoring average: 17.1
Best performance: 27 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in 59-58 win over Indiana
It’s not as if we didn’t figure out long ago Napier is tremendous. He gave us a pretty good clue in his performance at the 2011 Final Four, serving as one of the most important figures in UConn winning its third NCAA championship. But he keeps coming up with new ways to impress us. Indeed, his scoring is down a bit, but he has grabbed five or more rebounds four times and leads UConn with 7.8 average. He’s 6-1, 180 pounds. He should get 7.8 rebounds in a month at his size. There are national sports broadcasters who keep saying they can’t name any college players other than Andrew Wiggins and his elite classmates. If you don’t know Napier by now, where’ve you been?
- Cameron Wright, Pitt , junior guard
2013-14 scoring average: 8.8
2011-12 scoring average: 4.3
Best performance: 13 points, 6 rebounds in a 75-54 win over Fresno State
If you ever watched Wright shoot a basketball and concluded he’d never be very good at it, well, you weren’t alone. Wright’s awkward, uncomfortable shooting motion made it hard to believe he’d ever be a serious contributor for the Panthers. But he began this season making 10 of his first 21 shots, and even a tough 1-of-6 night against Lehigh hasn’t deterred some obvious progress. Wright also uses his length (he’s 6-4) well to be a disruptive defender. The one continued flaw: His struggles at the free throw line (54.5 percent).
- Melvin Ejim, Iowa State, senior power forward
2013-14 scoring average: 21.5
2011-12 scoring average: 11.3
Best performance: 22 points, 9 rebounds in 77-70 win over Michigan
He didn’t present his finest moment after fouling out against BYU — Ejim was caught making an obscene gesture toward the Cougars’ student section — but on the floor he has been spectacular since recovering from a knee injury. That was supposed to cost him a month, but he was back inside three weeks and delivering All-America-level performances against high-level opposition. Always a difficult matchup because of his toughness inside and perimeter scoring ability, Ejim has become genuinely dangerous from long range and still is doing work at the rim.
- Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin, junior center
2013-14 scoring average: 16.6 (through Friday)
2011-12 scoring average: 4.2
Best performance: 43 points in 103-85 win over North Dakota
His school-record scoring outburst was obviously an anomaly, but Kaminsky has been seizing his opportunity at playing time from the start. With Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans gone, Wisconsin has gone with a smaller lineup and left Kaminsky as the lone true big man. He is not a prototypical power player, but he’s already blocked seven shots — including a pair in a victory over Florida — and is converting 58.6 percent of his 2-point attempts. Add in his lethal ability as a 3-point shooter, and Kaminsky has been a substantive replacement for the defense-first Berggren.
- James Bell, Villanova, senior shooting guard
2013-14 scoring average: 18.0
2011-12 scoring average: 8.6
Best performance: 20 points, 4 rebounds in 78-44 win over Towson
If you saw Bell score 15 points against Purdue last season, or Temple, you might have figured it was the kind of thing he did all the time. Bell always has looked like a natural. But there’ve been so many times when you barely knew he was on the floor, no matter how long he was out there. Bell played pretty much starter’s minutes last season — 28.5 — but wasn’t a double-figure scorer and barely cracked the 40 percent mark as a shooter. Now, a greater portion of his shots are 2-pointers and he’s using his size to rebound more aggressively. Will that continue as the competition grows?
- Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State, senior center
2013-14 scoring average: 14.0
2011-12 scoring average: 9.8
Best performance: 17 points, 15 rebounds in 86-80 win over UNLV
It had to be tough for anyone else on the floor to get noticed when ASU point guard Jahii Carson was tearing it up for 39 points, but Bachynski was nearly as important to the Sun Devils’ road win in Vegas. Down the stretch, when Carson wasn’t driving to the rim, he was feeding Bachynski at the center of the lane, where Bachynski made quick, decisive scoring moves. He shot 8-of-12 from the field in that game, doing an impressive job of establishing position that allowed him to turn into his right shoulder for jump hooks. He is an ideal complement to Carson, forcing opposing big men to think twice before stepping up to challenge the point guard’s drives into the lane.
