Getting To The Point

The tide comes in, the tide goes out. Talented players enter the ACC, become top scorers, and head out again.

This year it’s a bit of a different story. True, seven of the top 10 point producers, including three of the top four, are gone from 2017-18. But top-20 returnees are the most numerous since 2009.

Only once this century (2001) have 10 of the 20 scoring leaders returned. This year it’s nine.

Four of last year’s top five in point production were underclassmen, and two remain. The junior in the group, BC’s Jerome Robinson (20.7 points per game), was the second-leading scorer. The Eagles guard jumped to the NBA and was a first-round selection. The same was true of Duke freshman Marvin Bagley IiI (21.0 to pace the league) and Georgia Tech soph Josh Okogie (18.2).

The returning members of the top five, Syracuse’s Tyus Battle (19.2) and BC’s Ky Bowman (17.6), both contemplated following their high-scoring ACC classmates to the pros, then reconsidered and returned. Both are juniors.

Battle, a 6-6 guard, is the ACC’s top returning career scorer with 1097 points in 71 games (15.5-point average). If Battle plays anything approaching last year’s astronomical 39 minutes per game, he figures to be the favorite for ACC scoring leadership.