Lance only one ready to play

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With Stephenson, who had more field goals than the rest of the team combined, UC shot 38.8 percent from the field. The rest of the team was 8-32, 24 percent.
In his last three games, Stephenson has averaged 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds.

“His offensive rebounding has got him some easy baskets,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “That’s important for him. He’s not a guy who’s going to shoot a lot of 3-point shots. His offensive rebounds have got him some easy baskets and gotten him the flow of the game. He’s scored a lot of basket below the foul line. Where he’s got to improve is in the turnover department.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100306/SPT0101/303060024/1064/Stephenson+lone+Bearcat+ready+to+play

 

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Lance Wasn't Bad..

Lance Stephenson has drawn a fair amount of criticism this year by fans who say he didn't live up to his expectations. While he has been incosistent and not the impact freshman like John Wall or Xavier Henry, he certainly hasn't been bad.

Which is something we should be reminded of as he was named to the Big East All-Rookie team on Sunday. There is also a pretty good chance he will be named the Rookie of the Year in the conference on Tuesday.

Stephenson finishes the regular season with an average of 12.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steals a game.

Take a look at the numbers of a couple other freshman seasons from the past:

Derrick Rose, Memphis: 14.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists.

Kyle Singler, Duke: 14.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists

Greg Monroe, Georgetown: 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists

Evan Turner, Ohio State: 8.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists

Stephenson's numbers are not quite there with the tops of this list, but are not that far off. And all of these players ended up being the leaders on their teams and looked upon as legit stars. So before anybody starts criticizing Stephenson, note that he is not far at all from being a legit superstar.

It's tough living up to the "Born Ready" expectations, but you have to expect more consistency out of Stephenson next year and if you can get 25 percent less off games and 10 percent more games like the 23-point show he put on Saturday against Georgetown, the Bearcats will have the dominant leader and scorer they crave.

http://cnati.com/blogs/paul/2010/03/reminder-lance-stephenson-wasnt-bad.php