Keyonte George is Playing Like a Top-10 NBA Draft Pick
The Baylor Bears are a team loaded with veterans, having a fifth-year senior, returning All-Big 12 performers, and three guys on the roster with national championship rings. Yet, night after night, the team goes as a freshman goes. Keyonte George is taking college basketball by storm and, as we all expected, he might not be long for the college game.
As was evident in the GLOBL JAM tournament in Canada over the summer, George can score the rock. What's most impressive about his college stardom is not only how quickly he adjusted against the sport's best competition, but how complete his game is.
When the Bears turned the calendar to 2023 and the Big 12 schedule, George took his scoring to another level. Playing in far and away the best basketball conference in America, George has averaged more than 23 points a game over his last five contests, including a career-high 32 on the road against West Virginia.
His season totals put him fourth in the stacked conference in scoring, six spots higher than Kansas' Grady dick, whom most mock drafts at the beginning of the season had going higher than George.
George's stats are gaudy for a freshman, but his effect might be best noticed when he isn't scoring, and sometimes when he isn't even on the floor. When he's on the bench, the Bears' offense hits a rut, even with Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer out there.
In Saturday's convincing 74-58 victory over Oklahoma State, the Pokes went on their largest run of the game (10-0) in the first half when George was on the bench. When the freshman checked back into the game, the Cowboys never got within touching distance again, and George was a +26.
Part of his effect on offense is just the attention he garners. Because he is a 36% three-point shooter and a seasoned finisher at the rim, the defense has to respect him everywhere on the floor.
On top of that, he is one of the best passers in the conference.
In Tuesday night's win over Texas Tech, the Red Raiders learned just how difficult it is to defend George, as he knocked down five triples for 27 points and, when the defense overloaded on him, he can make the unselfish play by drawing three defenders and making the pass for the easy flush for a teammate.
Lol guarding Keyonte must be so tough…he’s beyond the three point line and draws the eyes of FOUR guys to make this awesome play.
— Cam Stuart (@realcamstuart) January 18, 2023
Kid is good. pic.twitter.com/RJV1Io0Ebe
Defensively, he's not Davion Mitchell or Jeremy Sochan like Bears fans have seen in years past, but he is getting better by the game. His burgeoning physicality and length are what is going to make him a serviceable defender in the NBA.
He can guard multiple positions and, even as a 19-year-old, has already matched the physicality of the Big 12, which in that sense is just one small step down from the NBA.
And defensively, he gets better every game.
— Cam Stuart (@realcamstuart) January 18, 2023
Tech is trying to get him on a shooter twice because they think he’s a weak link. He recognizes and calls out the switch twice, fights through a screen, uses his length to a tee to wall off Isaacs twice and make him give it up pic.twitter.com/3UoZYLvdp8
In terms of his scoring repertoire, the way he controls the game, and his finishing ability, his game is eerily similar to Jason (now Jay) Williams when he starred at Duke in the early 2000s.
Williams stayed three years so he grabbed a national championship and a national player of the year award, going No. 2 overall in the 2002 draft. Things are different now and we likely won't see that development in George's game in college, but their games are eerily similar, which bodes well for Baylor.
Two months into his freshman season, George has lived up to the hype and has already solidified himself as a lottery pick. As long as he stays healthy, his draft stock will only rise.
Because of his hot streaks shooting the ball, the way he commands the game and the ability to make winning plays rather than just the flashy ones, the Bears will go just as far as George will carry them, with some help from an excellent supporting cast.
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.