A Close Look in at Devonte' Graham - From Appalachian State to the Phog

Mar 31, 2017
4 min read

Next college basketball season, there will be no more Frank Mason, no more Landen Lucas, and no more Josh Jackson. The Kansas Jayhawks will be left with Devonte' Graham and company, which is not a bad situation. Graham will have the opportunity to carry his team to the pinnacle of success once more. The starting shooting guard for Bill Self is as capable of leading the charge as any player in the nation. Over the course of his first three seasons, he has accrued an All-Big 12 Second Team selection (2017), Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player (2016), a Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team selection (2016), an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention (2016), and a Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection (2015-16). Recently, on March 23, 2017, Graham became the first player to hit at least four three-pointers in four straight NCAA tournament games since NBA superstar Stephen Curry (Davidson).

The majority of fans from opposing Big 12 teams must have wept some tears when Devonte' Graham, the best point guard left in the class of 2014, got his release from Appalachian State and then proceeded to commit to Kansas over North Carolina State. It shows you a lot about the man who wears #4 that at the time of his commitment, he was the best point guard left in the class of 2014; and learned how to co-exist as a starting guard alongside Frank Mason. To no fault of his own, Frank Mason is a ball-dominant point guard in his own right. Through sacrifice and hard work, Graham climbed the depth chart and eventually landed a spot as Bill Self's starting shooting guard.

Offensively, Devonte' Graham is a crafty guard that is fully capable of handling the ball-handling duties for the entirety of each game. While he naturally shares the ball due to his days as a point guard in high school, he possesses the ability to be a lethal scorer. Just ask Purdue from their Sweet 16 matchup. As a defender, you would be silly to disrespect Graham's drives to the hoop. All the while, his three-point shooting is quite possibly the strongest asset in his offensive arsenal point. The swift three-pointer from this guard can be swooshed in off of a scramble play, a half court set, or a play in transition. At some point, Graham's defender has to pick their poison on each possession and eventually they will get burned by #4. I am excited to see what Devonte' Graham can do when he is expected to take on an even heavier brunt of the shooting workload in his senior season. In addition, each of his three seasons, his free throw shooting percentage has increased. This is an important because everyone knows just how crucial free throws become when the game is on the line in March.

Defensively, Graham's size and the quickness of his hands makes him a guard that is good for getting multiple steals in a game. His sleight of hand is what enables his coach, Bill Self, to keep him in the game for as long as necessary, on any given night. In arguably the best game of the 2015-2016 season, Devonte' Graham played 46 minutes in a 109-106 win over Oklahoma that lasted three overtime periods in Allen Fieldhouse. In a day and age where many college basketball players just care about scoring buckets and going on their merry way to the NBA, the same is not true for this North Carolina native. I am sure that Self appreciates the fact that his starting shooting guard never bolted for the NBA and a paycheck like some of his former players (i.e. Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid).

At approximately 6'2 and 185 pounds, the Kansas guard fits the mold of a guard who will be looked at as a second-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft but can easily launch himself into the first round. If not by the production and accolades in his senior season, Graham could eventually be a first-round pick in the NBA after his production at the combine. If I am an NBA executive, I want to draft Graham because of the hustle that he exhibits on a nightly basis.

Off the court, particularly on social media, I have learned a decent amount by this college basketball player. He is interactive with a good majority of his Twitter followers and fans, which I like to see since many high-level athletes are too scared to do that, nowadays. Additionally, he is an individual who holds true to his family, based on the posts that I have seen from him on his mom and grandmother. If nothing else, Devonte' Graham is a man of great character.

In his time in Lawrence, Kansas, Graham has had the fortune of learning from players like Frank Mason, Wayne Selden, and Perry Ellis Imagine what three years of lessons can do for the guard in his senior season. Devonte' Graham should be a dark horse candidate on watch lists for the AP National Player of the Year award, which his teammate Frank Mason just won.

As a die-hard college basketball fan and Kansas Jayhawks fan, I am sure glad that Devonte' Graham received his release from a mediocre Appalachian State program and landed at Kansas in 2014. There is a laundry list of Kansas men's basketball players that are raved about even years after their graduation and Graham has etched his name on that very list. With that said, being a Rhode Island basketball fan as well, it is unfortunate that Jared Terrell was not able to convince his former Brewster Academy teammate to come over to Rhode Island with him. Nevertheless, like many Kansas players before him, Graham has permanently laid his mark in Jayhawks lore.

With Frank Mason's graduation and Josh Jackson's jump to the NBA, Devonte' Graham will rightfully be the next man on the throne at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.