Sports Illustrated released a list of the 9 most disappointing players in college basketball earlier in the week. Of course as we know, many were disappointed, even down-right made at Kaleb Joseph at times this season. But he also had two pretty tough young point guards to follow. No, I am not going to try to say that 5.9 points, 3.8 assists and 2.3 turnovers per game are good numbers, but was Kaleb really one of the most disappointing players in the country?
No, I’d like to think the disappointment from us was more that Kaleb wasn’t Tyler Ennis, a player who from day one began destroying what we came to expect out of a freshman point guard. The disappointment in Kaleb was as much a disappointment that he wasn’t Ennis or MCW as it was in his play on the court.
Look, 2.3 turnovers a game really isn’t bad, it’s actually quite good. But after Ennis played so carefully with the ball and made us forget that MCW averaged 3.4 turnovers a game the year before, Kaleb’s 2.3 felt more like 10.
Of course, Joseph didn’t score as well as either of his predecessors, and he may have looked lost on defense at times. But he was a freshman point guard tasked with running a team in one of best conferences in the country, if not the best conference in the country.
MCW had his freshman year to adjust and grow into the college game. Tyler Ennis was clearly some kind of crazy mature freshman who always did and said the right thing. Kaleb Joseph showed what it is like to be a freshman point guard. There are some ups, but there are a whole lot of more downs.
Is it too early to put Kaleb on a “most disappointing” list? In my opinion, yes. Let’s give him another year, or at least part of another year, to prove he has grown, he has learned and he can play point guard well enough to lead an ACC team.
Posted By: Seth Goldberg
3 responses to “Syracuse‚Äôs Kaleb Joseph Makes ‚ÄúMost Disappointing‚Äù List? No Way”
I think it was very fair to say that his season was very disappointing… His expectations were fair for someone going to a major conference. The proof is that his own coach effectively took his job away by the end of the season. More proof by way of national comparisons: Joseph was No. 50 recruit on ESPN’s rankings — modest at best. Here’s his stats compared to the 5 other freshmen PG ranked below him in the top 100. He played the most minutes of the group and was given the biggest opportunity to make a name for himself:
– His offensive rating was 2nd worst.
– His FT rate was 2nd worst
– He had the worst 3-pt FG pct
– He had the worst turnover pct
http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?add=dominique-collier&p1=kaleb-joseph&p2=ja-quan-newton&p3=2-alex-robinson&p4=lourawls-tum-tum-nairn-jr&p5=2-justin-coleman
A positive was that he had the best Steals pct of the group. So his expectations were not unreasonably high and players with even lower expectations than him performed better. I don’t think calling him or his career a “bust” would be fair. But his season was disappointing by the definition of the word as well as any idea of a good college PG. The article didn’t have any cheap shots. His freshman year was a disappointment. It’s past tense. Shouldn’t be an indictment of his career or future.
Absolutely right Nick.
Kaleb has a boatload of things to improve upon. I hope he can make a huge leap in the next 6 months but I am not all that confident
as Joseph has flaws ingrained in his game as well as defensive short comings (learning rotations in the zone). As you say, he’s only a bust if he quits or fails to improve significantly over the next 2 years.
He played as a true freshman and made the mistakes that goes along with the class rankings. One of things I noticed during the season was I felt he didn’t shoot the ball enough. With that said I don’t think Kaleb should have been added to the list as one of the MOST DISAPPONTING players in the land. I’m just taking a guess here,with the arrival of Malichi Richardson coming in august and the possibility of Michael Gbinije moving to the guard spot I feel Kaleb Joesph get’s less playing time and maybe playes as the 7th or 8th man in the rotation coming off the bench.