Jerrelle Benimon

Determination.

Making no effort to dress it up, let's be honest and say that Benimon was a disappointment in his two years at Georgetown. He wasn't given much to do, admittedly, especially on offense. But he didn't really do anything. Benimon never scored, never looked to score much, mostly took jumpshots at which he was never good, rebounded poorly, turned it over remarkably often for someone with so little offensive responsibility, fouled everyone, and only occasionally had a blocked shot to show for his efforts. He did nothing in two years.

Then he transferred to Towson and became someone else. Transferring to Towson involved a much lower standard of play, of course, but it's not as if anyone else did there what Benimon was doing. He suddenly became Mr Everything, a muscular and reasonably athletic power forward who drove the team on both ends, playing huge minutes of every game, carrying the load. Benimon rebounds well using this strength and motor, and can also get position and finish down low, albeit not with the greatest range of post moves. Instead, he plays a perimeter role based around a jumpshot, some ball handling skills, and, bizarrely, a jumpshot born out of his ballhandling skills. Benimon runs both halves of the pick and roll, but mainly the guard part, and likes to shoot pull-up jumpers, something at which he is frankly not that bad. Benimon runs the break and does everything you would expect a guard to do, and does so without being too ridiculous in the process. The turnover numbers are very high, and Benimon does have a tendency to barrel into people without knowing why he is doing it, but this is partly due to the cirucmstances he was put in. Towson asked him to do everything, and he pretty much did. This from the man who previously was asked to do pretty much nothing.

A complete transformation, then. And now Benimon looks like a player who can play in any league in the world, except possibly this one, given a lack of supreme size or athleticism. Although, if he proves he can consistently stretch the floor without needing the ball too much to do it, you never know.

[...] Those two are the foundation of the team. Alongside them are some useful role players. Jason Clark is a pesky combo guard defender with a good jumpshot, an undersized two without point guard abilities, but with the speed and smarts to contribute on both ends. If he can greatly improve his handle and make fewer turnovers, even better. Julian Vaughn has a strong rebounder and shotblocker, who plays exclusively in the paint on either end and who has developed an offensive game, mainly righty hooks over the left shoulder and a spin move. Alongside him, freshman Nate Lubick is a high-IQ, low mistake big man, with some strength, toughness, passing vision, good hands, hustle, acceptable defense, and an inside/outside offensive game that will be much more evident next season. Hollis Thompson has been stuck with playing the power forward position for stretches when he is unquestionably a natural three, but he has also prospered into an excellent shooter, hitting 44% from downtown and giving forth valiant effort on the glass and interior defense, despite the matchup disadvantages. Henry Sims can rebound, pass, run the court and block shots, or he can throw the ball away, commit silly fouls, drop passes and constantly get caught out of position on defense, depending on what day it is. And Jerelle Benimon, while rather unreliable at this point, contributes some athleticism and defensive depth.