College Hoops Video

A couple of weeks into the NCAA hoops season and it is a surprise name at the top of the scoring rankings in Washington State’s sophomore guard Klay Thompson, a player who has more than doubled his points output in his second season.

Although many expected the Cougars to be a decent team this season, most were looking to Reggie Moore and DeAngelo Casto to provide the points on a consistent basis, leaving Thompson’s outburst as something of a shock.

Washington State has yet to play anyone particularly special in the early going, but that changes this week with road games against ranked Gonzaga and also a Kansas State side which recently beat then No 18 Dayton on the road as well.

By the end of the week we should know just how good Thompson might be, although if you ask any of the San Diego Toreros he played against in the final of the Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday, you’ll probably just get a series of expletives

Thompson went off for a career high 43 points, hitting 16-of-24 shots and connecting on eight shots from beyond the arc. He is shooting a quite ridiculous (and improbable) 56.3% from the floor as well as providing decent rebound numbers and adding in a couple of steals per game as well.

His 28.3 points per game sees him head off Arkansas’ Rotnei Clarke and Houston’s Aubrey Coleman at the top of the scoring charts with only Luke Harangody of Notre Dame representing the players who had been expected to be at the top of the standings making his way into the top 10.

The performances were also enough for him to be named Pac-10 player of the week for the second week running, only the 17^th player in history to manage that feat. Can he keep it up? Well if he does Cougar fans are going to enjoy a really successful season and end it with a berth in the NCAA Championship – perhaps with basketball betting backing them to go into the deeper stages.

By Andy Charles – A professional sports writer who blogs about College Basketball and NBA Predictions .

Related posts:

1. 2010 College Basketball Rankings – 22 February AP Poll 2010 College Basketball Rankings – AP Poll, 22 February...
2. NCAA College Basketball Rankings – March 1st, 2010 AP Poll 2010 NCAA College Basketball Rankings AP March 1st, 2010 Rank/Team...
3. Will the PAC-10 Have More Than One NCAA Tourney Team? Midway through the NCAA season it has become painfully clear...
4. NCAA College Basketball Rankings – March 8th, 2010 AP Poll The following is the March 8th, 2010 AP pool. Noteable...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 am and is filed under Washington State, ncaa basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.