I’VE been lucky enough to watch a lot of Trae Young play so far this year. And let me tell you he’s really good at basketball. However, I’m sure just how good he is yet. Leading the nation in scoring and assists doesn’t happen by accident, but Young has benefitted greatly from having the ball in his hands in Lon Kruger’s high octane offense. Which Trae Young is here to stay?

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IT didn’t take Young long to make an impact for the Sooners recording a double-double in his first two games. The 23rd best prospect heading into the season has been an offensive juggernaut through OU’s first 14 games with his averages of 29.4 points and 10.2 assists second to no one in college basketball.

WHILE Young has been blowing up the box score for Oklahoma and the W’s have been piling up you have to wonder whether these lofty averages are sustainable. Heading into the game against West Virginia last night no-one in the country had been able to find a formula that would slow down the fantastic freshman. That was until he met Jevon Carter.

THE Mountaineers senior helped lead the charge and suffocate Young in their 89-76 win over Oklahoma. Trae Young finished with a season-high eight turnovers and shot just 8-22 from the field in the game. Often West Virginia sent double-teams his way and the bulldog starting guard Carter bullied him all night long. Making Young uncomfortable for the first time this year may give other teams a recipe to be reproduced and help defuse the freshman’s heroics.

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IT is worth pointing out that even though West Virginia made his life miserable for 40 minutes he still managed to put 29 points on the board. His point totals have been bolstered by his elite free throw shooting and there have been a handful of times this year where he has been bailed out on calls and has converted two shots at the line. On a lot of those bailout calls Young will be driving to the rack only to miss the potential and-1 or flat out miss the layup available should no foul be called.

I don’t have the official numbers but I swear to god he is shooting like 14-132 on potential layup chances this year. He can pull up from 30 and hit nothing but nylon and then blow a bunny when he is 3-feet away from the ring. All the Steph Curry mannerisms that Young seems to have about his game are fair, but when he is inside the paint he looks nothing like the 2x MVP.

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LOOK. At the end of the day averaging over 29/10 in college is no mean feat and Trae Young looks like a star right now. I just can’t buy into all of the hype right now though. He will probably end up averaging closer to 25/8, which is still ridiculous and will see him feature in the heart of the player of the year awards. After being bullied by WVU though I think he has a long way to go before I predict him as an NBA top-5 pick. Is he good? Sure. Is he great? Not yet.

Peace ✌️

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