OKLAHOMA CITY — No offense, John Wall. Florida coach Billy Donovan believes his Gators are about to open the NCAA Tournament against someone who’s even more dangerous than Kentucky’s player of the year candidate.
High-scoring BYU guard Jimmer Fredette is 12th in the nation in scoring, and only four players in the NCAA Tournament average more than his 21.7 points. He set a school-record with 49 against Arizona earlier this season.
“Being in the SEC, we had a chance to see a lot of great point guards in John Wall and Devan Downey, and I don’t think either one of those two guys impact the college game like Fredette does,” Donovan said yesterday. “He has a totally different effect level on the game.
“Those guys can’t get 50 in a college game like this guy can,” Donovan added. “They can’t get to the free-throw line 24 times in a game, so this guy to me really — Fredette — is one of the best-kept secrets in college basketball.”
Donovan’s 10th-seeded Gators (21-12) are back in the tournament for the first time since winning national championships in 2006 and 2007, and will try to shut down Fredette when they play No. 7 seed BYU (29-5) today.
Fredette is coming off games of 45 and 30 points in the Mountain West Conference tournament and he’s scored at least 25 in a game 10 times this season. By comparison, Wall has scored 25 points only once during a sensational freshman season that has him alongside Ohio State’s Evan Turner in the discussion for national player of the year.
In two wins against the Gators this season, Wall averaged 15 points and seven assists.
Led by Fredette, the Cougars are the second-highest scoring team in the nation (83 ppg), and rank first in free throw shooting (78.6 percent) and third in 3-point percentage (42.0).