Early All-Overrated Team

[tornado]

I know it's early, and a player can come on strong and maybe still have a good year, but....

Based on performance so far, here is my All-Overrated Team

--BJ Mullen, Ohio State freshman center -- this kid was picked by Lindy's, Athlon's, and numerous other people as 1st Team or 2nd Team All Big Ten.
Thus far, he is averaging 6 pts, 4 rebs and is losing playing time fast to other players. Many predicted he'd even be in the running for College Player of the Year and make the jump right to the NBA after his freshman year.

--Beas Hamga, just left UNLV....sorry to pile on poor Beas...he had a year and a half and couldn't even break into some garbage time at UNLV. A little over a year ago - this guy was a 5-STAR recruit who was pursued by all the BCS boys.

--AJ Price, UConn Sr. guard..some people's pick as Big East POY, and just about everyone's 1st Team All-Big East....but he is struggling, averaging 8.8 ppg, 35% FG%.
I will give the kid a little of a pass, though because of injuries, but those injuries were long ago and this may be the best he gets.

--DeMar DeRozan, USC, 6-6 SF who was supposed to be the 2nd coming of OJ Mayo and also make the jump right to the NBA by next season.
DeRozan is averaging 9.8 ppg in nearly 30 minutes and looks like he might be on the USC roster next year as well.

--lastly, I had to pick at least one Valley player...but there really aren't too many that were that highly hyped to call overrated.
But if forced to I'd go with SIU's Anthony Booker. Booker was rated as high as Top 30 NATIONALLY and is one of the highest rated recruits in the Valley in decades!
Thus far he is struggling...23% shooting from the field, 00% from 3-pt (0-5), 36% from the FT line, 2.9 ppg, though he has had some injury issues.


Honorable Mention...Herb Pope, Festus Ezeli, Tijan Jobe, & the jury is still out on Alex Legion!


Plus:
Coach Moving Squarely Onto the Hot Seat: Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
Coach Moving Squarely Off the Hot Seat: Bruce Weber, Illinois

Lastly...my honest assessment of the Underrated Guy(s) of the Year/Outperformed Expectations:
I'd have to split between Mike Davis & Mike Tisdale of Illinois...they have surprised a lot of people.
And I will admit Champ Oguchi is an Hon. Mention here, as he has outperformed expectations.
By season's end I hope to be able to place Darian Norris, Eddren McCain, and other BU guys on this list also.

[meth]

I know it's early, and a player can come on strong and maybe still have a good year, but....

Based on performance so far, here is my All-Overrated Team

--BJ Mullen, Ohio State freshman center -- this kid was picked by Lindy's, Athlon's, and numerous other people as 1st Team or 2nd Team All Big Ten.
Thus far, he is averaging 6 pts, 4 rebs and is losing playing time fast to other players. Many predicted he'd even be in the running for College Player of the Year and make the jump right to the NBA after his freshman year.

--Beas Hamga, just left UNLV....sorry to pile on poor Beas...he had a year and a half and couldn't even break into some garbage time at UNLV. A little over a year ago - this guy was a 5-STAR recruit who was pursued by all the BCS boys.

--AJ Price, UConn Sr. guard..some people's pick as Big East POY, and just about everyone's 1st Team All-Big East....but he is struggling, averaging 8.8 ppg, 35% FG%.
I will give the kid a little of a pass, though because of injuries, but those injuries were long ago and this may be the best he gets.

--DeMar DeRozan, USC, 6-6 SF who was supposed to be the 2nd coming of OJ Mayo and also make the jump right to the NBA by next season.
DeRozan is averaging 9.8 ppg in nearly 30 minutes and looks like he might be on the USC roster next year as well.

--lastly, I had to pick at least one Valley player...but there really aren't too many that were that highly hyped to call overrated.
But if forced to I'd go with SIU's Anthony Booker. Booker was rated as high as Top 30 NATIONALLY and is one of the highest rated recruits in the Valley in decades!
Thus far he is struggling...23% shooting from the field, 00% from 3-pt (0-5), 36% from the FT line, 2.9 ppg, though he has had some injury issues.


Honorable Mention...Herb Pope, Festus Ezeli, Tijan Jobe, & the jury is still out on Alex Legion!


Plus:
Coach Moving Squarely Onto the Hot Seat: Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
Coach Moving Squarely Off the Hot Seat: Bruce Weber, Illinois

Lastly...my honest assessment of the Underrated Guy(s) of the Year/Outperformed Expectations:
I'd have to split between Mike Davis & Mike Tisdale of Illinois...they have surprised a lot of people.
And I will admit Champ Oguchi is an Hon. Mention here, as he has outperformed expectations.
By season's end I hope to be able to place Darian Norris, Eddren McCain, and other BU guys on this list also.

I agree with most, but would add freshman-Anthony Tucker, Iowa's leading scorer as outperformer+

[tornado]

Anthony Tucker has been suspended but I expect to end now, as his case was settled.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081216/SPORTS020504/81216020/-1/SPORTS09

[BradleyBrave]

The team award for most underrated has to go to Northwestern. While it remains to be seen whether they can sustain this kind of success when Big 10 play rolls around, NU has gone largely unchallenged during the non-con, with a couple notable trouncings of ACC member Florida State and Big East member DePaul. Their lone loss is a 4 point squeaker on the road at Butler, which we all know is a very difficult place to play. While an NCAA bid is hard to project at this point, the Wildcats have set themselves up for some sort of postseason bid, which is a rarity in Evanston.

[Disturbed]

I know it's early, and a player can come on strong and maybe still have a good year, but....

Based on performance so far, here is my All-Overrated Team

--BJ Mullen, Ohio State freshman center -- this kid was picked by Lindy's, Athlon's, and numerous other people as 1st Team or 2nd Team All Big Ten.
Thus far, he is averaging 6 pts, 4 rebs and is losing playing time fast to other players. Many predicted he'd even be in the running for College Player of the Year and make the jump right to the NBA after his freshman year.

--Beas Hamga, just left UNLV....sorry to pile on poor Beas...he had a year and a half and couldn't even break into some garbage time at UNLV. A little over a year ago - this guy was a 5-STAR recruit who was pursued by all the BCS boys.

--AJ Price, UConn Sr. guard..some people's pick as Big East POY, and just about everyone's 1st Team All-Big East....but he is struggling, averaging 8.8 ppg, 35% FG%.
I will give the kid a little of a pass, though because of injuries, but those injuries were long ago and this may be the best he gets.

--DeMar DeRozan, USC, 6-6 SF who was supposed to be the 2nd coming of OJ Mayo and also make the jump right to the NBA by next season.
DeRozan is averaging 9.8 ppg in nearly 30 minutes and looks like he might be on the USC roster next year as well.

--lastly, I had to pick at least one Valley player...but there really aren't too many that were that highly hyped to call overrated.
But if forced to I'd go with SIU's Anthony Booker. Booker was rated as high as Top 30 NATIONALLY and is one of the highest rated recruits in the Valley in decades!
Thus far he is struggling...23% shooting from the field, 00% from 3-pt (0-5), 36% from the FT line, 2.9 ppg, though he has had some injury issues.


Honorable Mention...Herb Pope, Festus Ezeli, Tijan Jobe, & the jury is still out on Alex Legion!


Plus:
Coach Moving Squarely Onto the Hot Seat: Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
Coach Moving Squarely Off the Hot Seat: Bruce Weber, Illinois

Lastly...my honest assessment of the Underrated Guy(s) of the Year/Outperformed Expectations:
I'd have to split between Mike Davis & Mike Tisdale of Illinois...they have surprised a lot of people.
And I will admit Champ Oguchi is an Hon. Mention here, as he has outperformed expectations.
By season's end I hope to be able to place Darian Norris, Eddren McCain, and other BU guys on this list also.

How can the jury be out on Alex Legion? He hasn't even played yet. That would be like saying a jury is out on a guy who has yet to be charged with a crime. I'm a Bradley fan, but there's plenty of all-overrated at BU from players to coaches that would have to be considered before talking about Alex Legion.

[Da Coach]

Do you not think Alex Legion has been hyped and overhyped to the maximum already? I sure do. He has been treated by the various media as if he was the second coming of Michael Jordan.
Do a simple Google search for "alex legion", and there are dozens of articles from all over the state, and some nationally, hyping Legion. Some of the articles' descriptions of Legion and his scoring ability border on giddiness and hyperbole.

The jury is still out, but he will have to be sensational to live up to some of the expectations.

[tornado]

agree....by saying the jury is out, I feel I am the only one with some sense in this situation.
The media and fans at UIUC have been hyping Legion for a year.....

[SaintLouBrave22]

Hey, could we maybe get a all-overrated MVC team together for the time being...?


I know P. Allen Stinnett goes squarely on my list

[Braves4Life]

I don't like Duke but I wouldn't say they underperformed. I'd say they were right in line with expectations. If anything, I thought they performed better than expected with their end-of-season run (including the ACC Tourney).

[houstontxbrave]

Underperformed...
Duke
UCLA
Notre Dame (picked #9 in preseason...dropped out of the Top 25 by 1/26 and never got a vote after 2/9)
BJ Mullins...still good for a freshman and declared for the draft but presently slotted outside the lottery portion.

Paging Georgetown, come get your biggest underperforming team in the nation trophy.

[tornado]

--Beas Hamga, just left UNLV....sorry to pile on poor Beas...he had a year and a half and couldn't even break into some garbage time at UNLV. A little over a year ago - this guy was a 5-STAR recruit who was pursued by all the BCS boys....

Beas Hamga quits at Valparaiso and will probably head to junior colege....


Beas Hamga still has barely played a college game, and now might never get in a D-I game.
Recall, the guy was a 5-STAR recruit coming out of Decatur Christian "prep school", and had initially committed to Iowa.
But when Steve Alford left, he opened up his recruiting and went to UNLV.
Then he was declared ineligible and sat out a whole year because of pro connections.
Then after waiting out a whole year at UNLV, and the fans anticipating having the highly touted 7-footer, he played in a few preseason games and 5 regular season games and looked absolutely horrible.
Every report commented on how badly overrated he was and termed him a 4-year project!
So he left (or was probably ushered out the door) UNLV and landed at Valparaiso.

Now he has left Valparaiso. But there's more to this story and I really don't know all of what's up.
Freshman Logan Jones quit and left school in April, then both Benjamin Fumey and Andrew Ferry both quit the team and left school the very next day.
Last fall two promising players, Bryan Bouchie and Samuel Haanpaa both left and transferred.
So it was looking like there'd be a lot of chance for playing time for Hamga.
Then the rumors..."Beas Hamga isn't happy at Valpo"...Beas Hamga still has a long way to go..."...
The kid has already been at a handful of high schools and prep schools, and now he's already at the 3rd college he'd committed to and he's barely played a game in nearly three years!

his only reasonable options are D-II or junior college, and at 7-ft, he ought to be able to dominate at that level, but will he ever get back to D-I?
(early rumor has him going to Vincennes juco - but a report says he has talked with Salt Lake City CC, where Darian Norris went)



Two of Valpo's remaining players are also D-I transfers in to Valparaiso, Cory Johnson (Iowa State) and Brandon Wood (SIU).

[d dub]

aj price did have a pretty good year especially after dyson went down

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=22422

maybe a career in europe???

[tornado]

Beas Hamga quits at Valparaiso and will probably head to junior college....

..

Beas Hamga resurfaces, now headed to junior college in Texas at Weatherford CC in Weatherford, TX.

Weatherford hasn't produced many D-I players, and the only two that are even remotely recognizable are Edvinas Ruzgas of TCU and Brice Nengsu of Creighton.

[tornado]

I know it's early, and a player can come on strong and maybe still have a good year, but....

Based on performance so far, here is my All-Overrated Team

--BJ Mullens, Ohio State freshman center -- this kid was picked by Lindy's, Athlon's, and numerous other people as 1st Team or 2nd Team All Big Ten.
Thus far, he is averaging 6 pts, 4 rebs and is losing playing time fast to other players. Many predicted he'd even be in the running for College Player of the Year and make the jump right to the NBA after his freshman year.

--Beas Hamga, just left UNLV....sorry to pile on poor Beas...he had a year and a half and couldn't even break into some garbage time at UNLV. A little over a year ago - this guy was a 5-STAR recruit who was pursued by all the BCS boys.

--AJ Price, UConn Sr. guard..some people's pick as Big East POY, and just about everyone's 1st Team All-Big East....but he is struggling, averaging 8.8 ppg, 35% FG%.
I will give the kid a little of a pass, though because of injuries, but those injuries were long ago and this may be the best he gets.

--DeMar DeRozan, USC, 6-6 SF who was supposed to be the 2nd coming of OJ Mayo and also make the jump right to the NBA by next season.
DeRozan is averaging 9.8 ppg in nearly 30 minutes and looks like he might be on the USC roster next year as well.

--lastly, I had to pick at least one Valley player...but there really aren't too many that were that highly hyped to call overrated.
But if forced to I'd go with SIU's Anthony Booker. Booker was rated as high as Top 30 NATIONALLY and is one of the highest rated recruits in the Valley in decades!
Thus far he is struggling...23% shooting from the field, 00% from 3-pt (0-5), 36% from the FT line, 2.9 ppg, though he has had some injury issues.


Honorable Mention...Herb Pope, Festus Ezeli, Tijan Jobe, & the jury is still out on Alex Legion!


Plus:
Coach Moving Squarely Onto the Hot Seat: Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
Coach Moving Squarely Off the Hot Seat: Bruce Weber, Illinois

Lastly...my honest assessment of the Underrated Guy(s) of the Year/Outperformed Expectations:
I'd have to split between Mike Davis & Mike Tisdale of Illinois...they have surprised a lot of people.
And I will admit Champ Oguchi is an Hon. Mention here, as he has outperformed expectations.
By season's end I hope to be able to place Darian Norris, Eddren McCain, and other BU guys on this list also.

I ran across this thead about HIGHLY rated kids from early in the 2008-2009 season (4-STAR and 5-STAR), and the possibility some were wayyyy overrated....

now we can look back and note that in the past two years, not many on this original list have proved me wrong...

BJ Mullens - nobody really knows where he is...Developmental League?? anyway...was rated as the prospective College Player of the Year in 2008-2009...

Beas Hamga - one time 5-STAR sure superstar - bounced around -- did nothing at UNLV, Valpo, and juco...nobody knows if he even has a D-I offer..

AJ Price - bench player on Pacers

DeMar Derozan - thought to be the next LeBron, 5-Star, one-and-done at USC..8 ppg at Toronto

And then we come to Anthony Booker - one time #29 rated player nationally - need I say more?? OVERRATED...

among the others noted...Legion (kinda useless - now at FIU), Ezeli (3 ppg at Vandy), Jobe (worst stats in the Big Ten) - all would have been far beter off going to a small mid-major, but instead all aimed high and wasted their entire carrers thus far...


finally -- one of the Hon. Mention, one time 5-STAR and TOP 10 ranked (ranked as high as #9 nationally), the well travelled and multi-transfer - Herb Pope has very little except show promise in the 3 years he's been in college...
but this morning there's unfortunate news on him and a real career setback...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5146062

Here's a bizarre way to open a story about Pope's collapse...
"Herb Pope's NBA future was thrown into jeopardy..."

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/hall_pope_collapses_hospitalized_xWWH15ZR697gDSM5oEgBVP

so of the guys that looked overrated even before they played...100% turned out to indeed be overrated!!!

[Fetz86]

not many on this original list have proved me wrong...


AJ Price - bench player on Pacers

DeMar Derozan - thought to be the next LeBron, 5-Star, one-and-done at USC..8 ppg at Toronto


all would have been far beter off going to a small mid-major, but instead all aimed high and wasted their entire carrers thus far...


so of the guys that looked overrated even before they played...100% turned out to indeed be overrated!!!

I hope you consider the two in the NBA the exceptions, I don't see how either of those two would have been better off at a mid-major.
Drafted2009: 1st Rnd, 9th by TOR Salary2010: $2,282,640
Can't argue with Derozan's choice given that.