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Victor Oladipo: Season (thus far) in Perspective

I have made a few remarks regarding the season that Oladipo is having in the comments section of some of John and AJ's articles, but I feel that the great individual season that he is having deserves enough attention to create a post dedicated to discussing it.


Pre-requisite note: A minimum of 5 field goals made per game is required to be counted among the NCAA's leaders in the efficiency category.

As you all are probably aware by now, Victor Oladipo is ranked third in the nation in field goal efficiency (64.4%) Cody is ranked #9 at 59.6% making Indiana the only team in the nation with 2 players in the top 10. The closest a team comes to Indiana's mark would be North Carolina State with T.J. Warren sitting at #5 (63.2%) and Richard Howell at #16 (57.9%)

With that "Indiana is great" statistical tidbit aside, I'll bring this back to Oladipo. There are several things that stand out as special to my eyes with Oladipo's current position in these standings. Although it is an obvious, it should probably be stated that Victor Oladipo is a guard. Field Goal Efficiency is a stat almost entirely dominated by big men who play 3 feet from the basket. In fact, the closest guard to Oladipo in rankings as of this writing is Carrick Felix of Arizona St. sitting back at #60 (52.3%) However, Felix is listed as a Guard/Forward. The nearest pure guard to Oladipo is Ben McLemore of Kansas back at #70 (50.9%)

So 67 positions and 13.5% separate Oladipo's raw efficiency from the nearest pure guard in the nation. That alone should tell you that Victor is having a special year. But, move beyond this season and it becomes even more so.

Taking into consideration every individual season for every player of every position in Division I Men's basketball since the 1998-99 season:
Delawn Grandison of Liberty is the highest placing guard and his 5.7 field goals made means that his qualifies as the 9th best overall statistical season with 67.39% efficiency recorded in 1998-99.

If the season ended today, Oladipo's 64.4% would be good for the 31st most efficient season of all players for the last 14 years and there isn't another guard from any of the major conferences in the top 100.

In the 2002-03 season, Duane Lightfoot of Butler was a combination Guard/Forward that finished the season at 65.7% but fell short of the "5 made buckets per game" statistical marker to be included in the rankings. (Lightfoot made 4.7 field goals per game)
In the 2001-02 season, Isaac Jefferson of Hampton finished with a 60.5% raw efficiency rating but only made 3.8 shots per game.

To summarize, those are the #1, #2, and #3 guards in efficiency ratings for the last decade+ with Delawn Grandison being the only one with a large enough sample size to qualify for national rankings.

If the season ended today, Victor's efficiency rating would be good for the most efficient guard in all of basketball since the 1998-99 season. More significant is the fact that Delawn Grandison played for an 0-10 Liberty team in the Big South with a (-7.1 strength of schedule) Victor Oladipo's accolades are coming for an Indiana team with the #24 Strength of Schedule on the season (#11 RPI) that is sitting atop the best conference in basketball.

To put that in further perspective, here is a list of shooters(read: big men excluded) in that time span (plus a few outside that span) that were considered at least "pretty good" shooters while in college

Player Team Season FG%
Victor Oladipo Indiana (2012-13) 64.4%
Calbert Cheaney Indiana (1990-91) 59.6%
Steve Alford Indiana (1983-84) 59.2%
Michael Jordan North Carolina (1983-84) 55.1%
Evan Turner Ohio State (2009-10) 51.9%
Jeremy Lamb Connecticut (2010-11) 48.7%
Jimmer Fredette BYU (2008-09) 48.0%
Gordon Hayward Butler (2008-09) 47.9%
Jay Williams Duke (2000-01) 47.3%
Kevin Durant Texas (2006-07) 47.3%
J.J. Redick Duke (2005-06) 47.0%
Carmelo Anthony Syracuse (2002-03) 45.3%

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