WVU's Carter Poised To Join A Club Of One
February 22, 2018 12:18 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - It seems with each passing day Jevon Carter's name is added to a new list, be it the Naismith Trophy, the Senior CLASS Award, the Wooden Award, the Bob Cousy Award … you name it.
What the guard has accomplished in four seasons at West Virginia University is truly remarkable.
"He's about as good as anybody out there, and may be the best defensive guard in the country," ESPN's Jay Bilas said last month.
Maywood, Illinois' finest also drew raves from Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton Jr. after dropping a career-high 33 points in a recent game against the Cowboys.
"He's the engine. He makes them go both ways," Boynton said. "He's the best defender in the country; it's not even close. In fact, he's so good that a lot of teams don't even let their point guard play point guard."
In a 57-54 win over Baylor earlier this year when Carter made the go-ahead basket, Baylor coach Scott Drew told his team to be aware of Carter, and they still couldn't stop him.
"We knew in the huddle, we said, 'It's Carter time.' Big-time players make big plays. That's why they are good players," Drew said. "I'll be happy to see him walk across that stage and graduate."
The points, the steals, the assists and the rebounds he's accumulated in 135 career games so far are about to put him an exclusive group of one as far as Power 5 Conference basketball players are concerned.
No one competing at this level of college basketball has ever scored more than 1,500 points, grabbed 500 rebounds, handed out 500 assists and made 300 steals during their career - ever.
That bears repeating. E-V-E-R.
But Jevon Carter is about to do it.
This comes from our staff's database research on the website Sports Reference.com and comparing that to the all-time steals leader list in the NCAA record book.
JC is going to make it happen when he gets his first assist against Iowa State on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. He's got 499 of those, to go with his 1,588 points, 503 rebounds and 303 steals.
Removing steals from the equation, Carter will become just the third 1,500, 500, 500 player in Big 12 history joining Iowa State's Monte Morris and Kansas' Kirk Hinrich.
In a win earlier this year at Kansas State when Carter made only 1 of his 7 shot attempts and scored just 3 points, Wildcats' coach Bruce Weber was so impressed with what Carter did in other areas that he used him afterward as an example to his team.
"I brought up Jevon Carter to our guys after the game," Weber said. "You know, he only had 3 points, but 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals … and his team won!"
What's more valuable - a guy who averages 20 shots to get his 28 points per game for a team that is just five games over .500, or a four-year, proven 20-game winner who plays a complete game at both ends of the floor?
Because right now, no modern college player from a Power 5-level program can sport a more well-rounded stat line than Jevon Carter's, which is really amazing when you think about it.
Oregon State's Gary Payton came close during his brilliant four-year career with the Beavers, scoring 2,172 points, handing out 938 assists and making 321 steals.
But his rebounding total of 480 fell 20 short of reaching 500.
Jason Hart is a familiar name to Mountaineer fans. The Syracuse guard accumulated career totals of 1,503 points, 709 assists and 329 steals, but like Payton, his 433 rebounds eliminated him from contention.
The same goes for outstanding guard Devon Downey, who was planning to play his college career for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati before Huggs was let go and Downey moved on to South Carolina.
Downey also fell short in rebounds with 385 after scoring 2,304 points, handing out 567 assists and making 342 steals.
Maryland's Juan Dixon was another terrific college guard who checked the appropriate boxes for points (2,269), rebounds (599) and steals (333), but fell short in assists with 371.
Johnny Rhodes, yet another four-year Terp standout, also took care of three of the four categories, as did Nebraska's Cookie Belcher and Arizona's T.J. McConnell.
Playmaking point guards Chris Corchiani of N.C. State and Aaron Craft of Ohio State fulfilled two of the four categories.
All of them were tremendous, well-rounded players from winning high-major programs from which Carter is about to separate himself.
Of course, no player in WVU history fulfills all of those categories, not even the great Jerry West, who scored 2,309 points, grabbed 1,240 rebounds and handed out 261 assists.
Steals were not kept as an official statistic back in the 1950s when West played, and considering freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition, it's unlikely Jerry would have reached 300 during his 93-game varsity career even though he was such an instinctive, athletic player.
The game was played much, much differently back then.
That's also true of All-Americans Rod Hundley (2,180 points, 941 rebounds and 337 assists in 89 career games), Rod Thorn (1,785 points, 912 rebounds and 304 assists in 82 career games), Ron Williams (1,687 points, 374 rebounds and 504 assists in 84 career games) and Wil Robinson (1,850 points, 306 rebounds and 189 assists in 75 career games).
Of West Virginia's outstanding modern-era players - Greg Jones, Dale Blaney and Da'Sean Butler - they also came up short in two or three of the four areas.
Jones scored 1,797 points, grabbed 353 rebounds, handed out 430 assists and made 251 steals during his 122-game, four-year career at WVU playing in the Eastern 8 and Atlantic 10 conferences.
Blaney, another Atlantic 10 player, scored 1,520 points, grabbed 331 rebounds, handed out 331 assists and made 136 steals during his 124-game, four-year career.
Butler's career totals included 2,095 points, 800 rebounds, 280 assists and 154 steals playing in the Big East.
Just to be mentioned in the same breath with these guys is impressive. But to surpass them speaks to just how productive Carter has been since arriving on campus in 2015 when regular Mountaineer guards Eron Harris and Terry Henderson transferred to other schools to make room for him.
When Carter's WVU career is finished, he's likely going to rank among the school's top 15 in almost every major statistical category with the exception of blocks.
Bob Huggins has said that he doesn't want Carter to be remembered solely for the number of steals he's made or his defensive prowess.
Because Jevon can be a scorer when he wants to be.
He can be a playmaker when he wants to be.
He can take the basketball from anybody, and, despite standing just 6-feet-2, he can go get the ball off the glass when he has to.
And he's done all of these things more frequently than anybody else we've seen playing this level of college basketball.
What the guard has accomplished in four seasons at West Virginia University is truly remarkable.
"He's about as good as anybody out there, and may be the best defensive guard in the country," ESPN's Jay Bilas said last month.
Maywood, Illinois' finest also drew raves from Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton Jr. after dropping a career-high 33 points in a recent game against the Cowboys.
"He's the engine. He makes them go both ways," Boynton said. "He's the best defender in the country; it's not even close. In fact, he's so good that a lot of teams don't even let their point guard play point guard."
In a 57-54 win over Baylor earlier this year when Carter made the go-ahead basket, Baylor coach Scott Drew told his team to be aware of Carter, and they still couldn't stop him.
"We knew in the huddle, we said, 'It's Carter time.' Big-time players make big plays. That's why they are good players," Drew said. "I'll be happy to see him walk across that stage and graduate."
The points, the steals, the assists and the rebounds he's accumulated in 135 career games so far are about to put him an exclusive group of one as far as Power 5 Conference basketball players are concerned.
No one competing at this level of college basketball has ever scored more than 1,500 points, grabbed 500 rebounds, handed out 500 assists and made 300 steals during their career - ever.
That bears repeating. E-V-E-R.
But Jevon Carter is about to do it.
This comes from our staff's database research on the website Sports Reference.com and comparing that to the all-time steals leader list in the NCAA record book.
JC is going to make it happen when he gets his first assist against Iowa State on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. He's got 499 of those, to go with his 1,588 points, 503 rebounds and 303 steals.
Removing steals from the equation, Carter will become just the third 1,500, 500, 500 player in Big 12 history joining Iowa State's Monte Morris and Kansas' Kirk Hinrich.
In a win earlier this year at Kansas State when Carter made only 1 of his 7 shot attempts and scored just 3 points, Wildcats' coach Bruce Weber was so impressed with what Carter did in other areas that he used him afterward as an example to his team.
"I brought up Jevon Carter to our guys after the game," Weber said. "You know, he only had 3 points, but 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals … and his team won!"
What's more valuable - a guy who averages 20 shots to get his 28 points per game for a team that is just five games over .500, or a four-year, proven 20-game winner who plays a complete game at both ends of the floor?Because right now, no modern college player from a Power 5-level program can sport a more well-rounded stat line than Jevon Carter's, which is really amazing when you think about it.
Oregon State's Gary Payton came close during his brilliant four-year career with the Beavers, scoring 2,172 points, handing out 938 assists and making 321 steals.
But his rebounding total of 480 fell 20 short of reaching 500.
Jason Hart is a familiar name to Mountaineer fans. The Syracuse guard accumulated career totals of 1,503 points, 709 assists and 329 steals, but like Payton, his 433 rebounds eliminated him from contention.
The same goes for outstanding guard Devon Downey, who was planning to play his college career for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati before Huggs was let go and Downey moved on to South Carolina.
Downey also fell short in rebounds with 385 after scoring 2,304 points, handing out 567 assists and making 342 steals.
Maryland's Juan Dixon was another terrific college guard who checked the appropriate boxes for points (2,269), rebounds (599) and steals (333), but fell short in assists with 371.
Johnny Rhodes, yet another four-year Terp standout, also took care of three of the four categories, as did Nebraska's Cookie Belcher and Arizona's T.J. McConnell.
Playmaking point guards Chris Corchiani of N.C. State and Aaron Craft of Ohio State fulfilled two of the four categories.
All of them were tremendous, well-rounded players from winning high-major programs from which Carter is about to separate himself.
Of course, no player in WVU history fulfills all of those categories, not even the great Jerry West, who scored 2,309 points, grabbed 1,240 rebounds and handed out 261 assists.
Steals were not kept as an official statistic back in the 1950s when West played, and considering freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition, it's unlikely Jerry would have reached 300 during his 93-game varsity career even though he was such an instinctive, athletic player.
The game was played much, much differently back then.
That's also true of All-Americans Rod Hundley (2,180 points, 941 rebounds and 337 assists in 89 career games), Rod Thorn (1,785 points, 912 rebounds and 304 assists in 82 career games), Ron Williams (1,687 points, 374 rebounds and 504 assists in 84 career games) and Wil Robinson (1,850 points, 306 rebounds and 189 assists in 75 career games).
Of West Virginia's outstanding modern-era players - Greg Jones, Dale Blaney and Da'Sean Butler - they also came up short in two or three of the four areas.
Jones scored 1,797 points, grabbed 353 rebounds, handed out 430 assists and made 251 steals during his 122-game, four-year career at WVU playing in the Eastern 8 and Atlantic 10 conferences.
Blaney, another Atlantic 10 player, scored 1,520 points, grabbed 331 rebounds, handed out 331 assists and made 136 steals during his 124-game, four-year career.
Butler's career totals included 2,095 points, 800 rebounds, 280 assists and 154 steals playing in the Big East.
Just to be mentioned in the same breath with these guys is impressive. But to surpass them speaks to just how productive Carter has been since arriving on campus in 2015 when regular Mountaineer guards Eron Harris and Terry Henderson transferred to other schools to make room for him.When Carter's WVU career is finished, he's likely going to rank among the school's top 15 in almost every major statistical category with the exception of blocks.
Bob Huggins has said that he doesn't want Carter to be remembered solely for the number of steals he's made or his defensive prowess.
Because Jevon can be a scorer when he wants to be.
He can be a playmaker when he wants to be.
He can take the basketball from anybody, and, despite standing just 6-feet-2, he can go get the ball off the glass when he has to.
And he's done all of these things more frequently than anybody else we've seen playing this level of college basketball.
Players Mentioned
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