The best college basketball player in the nation is suiting up in the PMAC for the first time this season tomorrow.
No, that’s not some stupid metaphor suggesting LSU freshman forward Ben Simmons can finally officially be considered the best player in the country after willing LSU to a 6-2 record through a grueling opening stretch of conference play. The player I’m referring to is Oklahoma senior sharpshooter Buddy Hield.
Hield is in line to receive a bevy of seasonal awards, and it’s really not even close.
Not to downplay the efforts of Simmons, Michigan State senior guard Denzel Valentine and Providence junior guard Kris Dunn, all of whom are surefire All-Americans — Hield has simply been that good.
He’s by far the most entertaining scorer in the NCAA since BYU guard Jimmer Fredette, averaging 25.9 points on just 15.9 shots per game.
But hey, you may have assumed I was referring to Simmons when talking about the best player in the country, and there’s a reason. Most experts think he’ll be the No. 1 pick in the impending draft, and he’s definitely playing like it.
There’s not a player in the country who can lock him up when he puts his head down to drive, and his 55.3 field goal percentage proves he can convert when he gets down there.
But even my high-school-dropout of a brother knows three points is worth more than two, and Hield is All-Galaxy from downtown.
As far as his pure shooting ability — in case you haven’t watched him play — I’ll go out on a limb and dub him the NCAA’s equivalent of Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
Of course, that is to be taken with a grain of salt, but you don’t shoot 53 percent from the field, 52.3 percent behind the arc, and 90.3 percent at the free throw line by accident. That’s not a typo — he took the ever-allusive 50-40-90 and raised it 10 more from three-point land. That’s wild, man.
Hield doesn’t have the passing pazzaz Simmons has, and it’s unlikely he will slam home a half-court alley oop. But, he’ll sink more than his fair share of beyond-NBA-range, contested threes, and you’ll come to assume everything that leaves his hand will end up at the bottom of the net.
If the Dr. Jekyll LSU team that dusted then-No. 9 Kentucky shows up, it’s more than capable of matching No. 1 Oklahoma bucket for bucket.
Simmons is one of the only players in the country who can match Hield’s impact and likely the only one who can actually outplay him. If it becomes a scoring chess match between the two, it’s important to keep in mind LSU is 8-1 when Simmons scores at least 22 points.
The last time Hield caught fire while battling against one of the top players in the nation, he ended up with 46 points in a triple-overtime game. What a treat that would be.
On the other hand, if we get the Mr. Hyde LSU team tomorrow, well, at least one thing’s for sure — we can enjoy watching Buddy ball out.
P.S. If LSU does pull off the victory, don’t storm the court. That’s stupid.
Jacob Hamilton is a 21-year-old political science junior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter at @jac0b_hamilt0n