We're still less than halfway through the season, so Wake Forest senior Kyle Visser's extraordinary improvement in scoring has to be taken with a grain of salt. What's more, where in the past the 6-11 Michigan product played with others more accustomed to carrying the scoring load, this season he is the senior leader on a team sorely lacking in experience and size.
Still, Visser has seized the opportunity presented to him, which is to his credit, converting his more prominent role into an 18.3-point scoring average. That leads the Demon Deacons, is among the best outputs in the ACC, and is the biggest one-year jump in scoring in the past 21 seasons.
| SEIZING AN OPPORTUNITY | ||||
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Largest Year-To-Year Jump In Scoring Average By ACC Veteran, Last 21 Seasons |
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| Pts. | Player, Team | Avgs. | Seasons, Class | Increase In Mins. Played |
| 13.3 | Kyle Visser, WF$ | 18.3/5.0 | 2007 Sr./2006 Jr. | |
| 12.4 | Chris Collins, D | 16.3/3.9 | 1996 Sr./1995 Jr. | 552 |
| 12.0 | Reyshawn Terry, NC$ | 14.3/2.3 | 2006 Jr./2005 So. | 607 |
| 10.7 | Drew Nicholas, M | 17.8/7.1 | 2003 Sr./2002 Jr. | 247 |
| 10.3 | Richard Morgan, V | 20.4/10.1 | 1989 Sr./1988 Jr. | 342 |
| 10.2 | Ron Hale, FSU | 16.0/5.8 | 1999 Jr./1998 So. | 345 |
| 10.0 | Chucky Brown, NCS | 16.6/6.6 | 1988 Jr./1987 So. | 395 |
| 9.9 | Clint Harrison, NCS | 15.7/5.8 | 1997 Jr./1996 So. | 523 |
| 9.7 | Norman Nolan, V | 21.0/11.3 | 1998 Sr./1997 Jr. | 182 |
| 9.4 | Kevin Strickland, D | ll.5/2.1 | 1987 Jr./1986 So. | 564 |
| 9.3 | Fred Vinson, GT* | 11.9/2.6 | 1994 Sr./1992 Jr. | 641 |
| 9.1 | Jamar McKnight, C* | 12.5/3.4 | 2002 Sr./2001 Jr. | 532 |
| 9.0 | David Noel, NC | 12.9/3.9 | 2006 Sr./2005 Jr. | 418 |
| 8.9 | Ryan Randle, M* | 12.7/3.8 | 2003 Sr./2002 Jr. | 466 |
| 8.8 | Cedric Lewis, M | 11.9/3.1 | 1991 Sr./1990 Jr. | 526 |
| 8.7 | Vinny Del Negro, NCS | 10.4/1.7 | 1987 Jr./1986 So. | 779 |
| 8.3 | Shane Battier, D | 17.4/9.1 | 2000 Jr./1999 So. | 325 |
| 8.2 | Greg Newton, D | 12.2/4.0 | 1996 Jr./1995 So. | 633 |
| 8.1 | Hubert Davis, NC | 21.4/13.3 | 1992 Sr./1991 Jr. | 244 |
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* Junior college transfer. |
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- Wake Forest's Kyle Visser already has played nearly as many minutes in 16 games this season (468) as he played last year in 34 (583). He started each of those games; Visser started 17 games combined in his first three seasons at Wake.
- North Carolina's Terry saw his minutes increase five-fold in 2006 compared to his sophomore season.
- The most remarkable jumps in scoring are those where increases in playing time were most modest, as with Maryland's Drew Nicholas in 2003 and Virginia's Norman Nolan in 1998. Both were rewarded with second team All-ACC recognition, the only such honors of their careers.
- Junior college transfers tend to improve statistically their second year as they adjust to a higher level of competition.