With the College Basketball season just around the corner Sam Chadwick has put together the BallinEurope official European watch list.
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk – Kansas – 2016/17 Averages: 27.3 Minutes – 9.8 Points – 3.0 Rebounds – 1.3 Assists – 0.9 Steals – 44% FG – 40% 3PT – 70% FT
Probably the top European prospect playing in the NCAA this season, it’s strange to think that he is still only 20 years old yet a Senior at Kansas, Grayson Allen a Senior at Duke is 22 for comparison. Should see a solid role as normal this season after withdrawing from the 2017 NBA draft to complete his senior year under the guidance of Bill Self
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyrfwqTg43Q
Gavin Schilling – Michigan State – 2015/16 Averages: 12.5 Minutes – 3.8 Points – 3.1 Rebounds – 0.6 Assists – 0.3 Blocks – 50% FG – 62% FT
Gavin missed last season after suffering a knee injury and will be looking to bounce back for his senior season is East Lancing. A 6ft 9 big man who offers the Spartans a solid inside presence after averaging 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds as a sophomore. Look for him to be a key weapon for Tom Izzo this season.
Kingsley Okoroh – California – 2016/16 Averages – 21.2 Minutes – 4.6 Points – 5.5 Rebounds – 0.9 Asists – 2.2 Blocks – 50% FG – 54% FT
Kingsley is one of 20 big men on the watch list for the 2018 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award and in his final season in California will look to go out on a high. The 7ft 1 big man from Derby, England saw some significant gains between the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons jumping from 10.8 minutes as a sophomore to 21.2 as a junior, in that time he doubled his blocks and more than doubled his rebounding numbers. Look for him to continue to improve this season.
Gligorije Rakocevic – Oregon State – 2016/17 Averages – 18.7 Minues – 4.6 Points – 3.7 Rebounds – 45% FG – 42% 3PT – 53% FT
The 6ft 11″ big man from Montenegro put up solid numbers last season considering his 2.4 fouls per game and 1.2 turnovers, numbers that would normal keep you benched as a sophomore. He has range out to three and despite a small sample size (17 attempts) he hit a solid 42% including 3/3 against Cal in the Pac 12 Tournament. Another summer of experience will help him develop into a solid big man for the 17/18 season.
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Manu Lecomte – Baylor – 2016/17 Averages – 30.1 Minutes – 12.2 Points – 1.8 Rebounds – 3.8 Assists – 0.8 Steals – 43% FG – 41% 3PT – 83% FT
Behind Mykhailiuk, Manu Lecomte should be the next best European prospect in the NCAA this season. He put up big time contributions last season which ended with a Sweet 16 loss against number 7 South Carolina. A few season highlights include a 13 point 11 assist double-double in the season opener, 24 points and 5 assists against Xavier and a season high 26 against Kansas State. Saw limited time in this summers Eurobasket but will hope that the extra experience will carry over to this season his second at Baylor.
Kavell Bigby-Williams – LSU – 2016/17 Averages (@ Oregon) – 9.8 Minutes – 3.0 Points – 2.8 Rebounds – 0.8 Blocks – 46% FG – 62% FT
Putting up 3 points, 2.8 rebounds and almost 1 block a game in less than 10 minutes is fairly impressive considering Rakocevic, another 6ft 11″ European listed above put up just 0.3 blocks in over double those minutes. Kavell has also switched from Oregon, a final four team last season to LSU, a team that couldnt even make the tournament with Ben Simmons 2 seasons ago.
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Petr Herman – Loyola Marymount – 2016/17 Averages – 12 Minutes – 4.2 Points – 3.0 Rebounds – 0.9 Blocks – 54% FG – 51% FT
After starting last season with limited minutes Petr from the Czech Republic picked it up at the end of year, in the first 21 games for Loyola Marymount he averaged around 7 minutes and had 5 Did Not Play games, in the final 9 he averaged almost 20 minutes and 7.3 points, 3.9 rebounds & 2 blocks including a season high 15 points against BYU in the season finale & 10 points and 7 blocks against Pacific. Look for those higher minutes to continue this season.
Killian Tillie – Gonzaga – 2016/17 Averages – 12.3 Minutes – 4.2 Points – 3.2 Rebounds – 0.7 Steals – 51% FG – 48% 3PT – 78% FT
The 6ft 10″ big-man from France had a solid freshman season in Gonzaga which ended a National Championship defeat UNC. Despite that finish Killian can take a number of positives from his first NCAA season. He had a big summer for France at the U19 World Cup in Egypt putting up averages of 12.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists, look for him to build during his Sophomore year at Gonzaga.
Omer Yurtseven – NC State – 2016/17 Averages – 18.9 Minutes – 5.9 Points – 4.4 Rebounds – 1.2 Assists – 0.7 Blocks – 46$ FG – 33% 3PT – 72% FT
After almost leaving to the NBA draft in April, Omer decided to give NC State another year after putting up good but not spectacular averages as a freshman center in the 2016/17 season. The 7ft big from Turkey missed the first 9 games of last season so a full season this year should help him with his draft position if he decides to give the NBA another shot next summer.
Moritz Wagner – Michigan – 2016/17 Averages – 23.9 Minutes – 12.1 Points – 4.2 Rebounds – 1.0 Steal – 56% FG – 40% 3PT – 73% FT
Solid all around numbers for Moritz, the 6ft 11″ big-man from Berlin put up last year after seeing his minutes more than double from his freshman season (8.6mins). He had some huge games last year including 26 points on 79% FG against number 2 Louisville in the 2nd round upset in the NCAA Championship. He demonstrated a far improved 3pt shot hitting 45/114 as a sophomore compared with 2/12 as a freshman.
Karolis Kundrotas – Elon – 2016/17 Averages – 9.6 Minutes – 2.8 Points – 2.2 Rebounds – 42% FG – 35% 3PT – 54% FT
Karolis suffered from some infrequent minutes during his sophomore season but look for the 6ft 11″ Lithuanian to build on the positives during his junior year. He put up 16 points on 83% FG in his second game of the season, 9 points (67% FG) and 3 rebounds against Duke in just 13 minutes and had a season high 7 boards in 18 minutes against FIU.
Philipp Hartwich – Portland – 2016/17 Averages – 17.3 Minutes – 1.8 Points – 5.0 Rebounds – 1.6 Blocks – 51% FG – 42% FT
Philipp knows his role for the Portland Pilots, get boards and block shots, he had a block in all but 6 games last leason, getting at least 1 block in his 24 other appearances and grabbed a rebound in 28 of those 30 total games. Rarely does he get bucks, he shot a season high 5 field goals against Walla Walla University (yes that is seriously their name). At 7ft 2″ he shouldnt have any problems to put up similar stats next season.
Honourable mention: Jacob Larsen (Gonzaga), Joel Ayayi (Gonzaga), Andy Van Vliet (Wisconsin), Matt Haarms (Purdue).
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