Historic is the Right Word to Describe one Area Grad in NCAA DI MBB
It's not often that a conference career record is broken. And less often when it is shattered. And with over a year of elibility remaining. Come see.
Today we are catching up with the Kansans and Missourians competing in NCAA DI MBB. Read on for the shattering of a record. There are 106 basketball players in this universe. They have fanned out all over the country to 74 colleges from 74 high schools. Those 74 colleges are in 26 conferences. Our grads have the country blanketed. Vashon has the most with six grads competing this year in DI. There are 7 high schools with 3 basketball players playing on.
The top two scorers are sophomores. Zeke Mayo (Lawrence/South Dakota State) is averaging 18.5 points/game. That leads the Jackrabbits and is 3rd in the Summit League. Just behind him is Phillip Russell (Vashon/Southeast Missouri State). Phillip’s 18.4 points/game is second most in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Who are a few others who are leading their team in scoring? Ryan Kalkbrenner (Trinity Catholic/Creighton Univ.), Derrick Walker (Raytown/Univ. of Nebraska), and Spencer Jones (Bishop Miege/Stanford Univ.).
The top two rebounders are both Vashon graduates. Tops is Kobe Clark (Vashon/Southeast Missouri State). The Georgetown transfer is averaging 8.7 boards/game. The second leading Seminole rebounder is Cam’Ron Fletcher (Vashon/Florida State). The Kentucky transfer is pulling down 7.5 rebounds per contest.
The leader in steals/game from this two state area is a fifth year player who transfered from Florida Southern. Xavier Rhodes (Rockhurst/Northern Kentucky) is getting 2.07 steals per game for his Norse teammates. Ryan Kalkbrenner (Trinity Catholic/Creighton Univ.) is tops from this area in blocked shots with 2.32 per game. That is the most in the Big East Conference. Ryan is also the conference high in field goal percentage, making over 70% of his shots from the floor.
And now for some record shattering. Yuri Collins (St. Mary’s/St. Louis Univ.) leads in assists anywhere and everywhere. His 10.19 assists per game is nearly twice the second high in the Atlantic 10 Conference and nearly 4 more then the second high in the entire nation. Yuri has 275 assists so far this year, which is a new Billiken school record, breaking his own record from last year. When you add this year’s 275 assists to the 554 he had coming into this year, you have an Atlantic 10 Conference career record of 829 assists. Second place all time? That would be 436. With a year of eligibility remaining, Yuri is just 26 assists away from cracking the NCAA DI all time Top 25 list. No one dishes it out like Yuri.
There are many more good stories in the attached list of 106 athletes. Team leaders. Conference leaders. National leaders. The coasts call this fly over country at their own peril. See them all here.
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