Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Top 20 Departing: #19 Xavier Blount

I am counting down the top 20 players that are departing the Big Sky via graduation, transfer, or any other way.

It was an interesting career for Xavier Blount at Montana State. He missed the end of his junior year because of an off-court incident, and then saw a ton of roster turnover around him as he headed into his senior year. In his senior year, he never quite became the all-around, big-time talent that some people thought he might be, but he became a good, versatile player that the Bobcats could count on.

As a senior, he averaged 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. He had the ball in his hands a little less than his junior year, as there were a few more ballhandlers around for Brad Huse. He shot 43% from twos, and 32% from threes - just enough to keep defenses honest. He did a fairly good job of getting to the free throw line, and was a better player when he was aggressively going to the hole rather than settling for jumpshots. He had a solid 49.3% FT Rate last year, and shot 72% from the stripe.

Because the ball was in his hands less, his assist rate did go down from a respectable 16.4% to 8.2% last year. You might expect his turnover rate to see a similar decrease, but that stayed relatively constant, and even went up a little bit.

However, for the most part, Blount was a consistent performer for Brad Huse in his two years. He wasn't a guy that could be the centerpiece for the Bobcats, but he became a nice role player for them, a guy that could do a little bit of everything.

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