Centers of Attention: Will UK Frosh Labissiere End Up Like Davis or Noel?
Regal recruit Skal Labissiere logged a modest 9 points and 5 rebounds for Kentucky as the Wildcats whipped Albany, 78-65, in their season opener. But Labissiere exhibited far more promise as a potent pivotman in UK's next outing with 26 points against NJIT. The ebb and flow of a freshman campaign took a turn for the worse when he collected a total of eight points and three rebounds in back-to-back non-league outings against Illinois State and UCLA before baking a double-bagel (zero points and rebounds) against Arizona State and scoring only two points each against Ohio State and Louisville plus a three-point outburst at LSU. Will Labissiere's first-season impact be more like Anthony Davis, the national player of the year three seasons ago when sparking Kentucky to an NCAA title or Karl-Anthony Towns in UK's 38-1 season in 2014-15 or Nerlens Noel in 2012-13 when the Wildcats wound up in the NIT or the most overrated recruit in history?
Actually, textbook centers are becoming a rare breed. Time will tell if Davis or Jahlil Okafor, who led Duke to last year's NCAA crown, eventually deserve to be included among the premier pivotmen in college basketball history. Okafor will need to pick things up a notch or two by not focusing so much on underage rookie clubbing after "helping" the Philadelphia 76ers to an NBA all-time worst season start of 1-29 in 2015-16. By almost any measure, centers in the last 40 years don't seem to be anywhere close to duplicating feats luminaries Lew Alcindor, Wilt Chamberlain, Artis Gilmore, Bob Lanier, Jerry Lucas, Bill Russell and Bill Walton achieved in their initial varsity campaigns.
Similar to Navy's David Robinson in 1983-84, Connecticut's Andre Drummond was scoreless in his season debut four years ago against Columbia. In a forgettable debut, Wake Forest's Tim Duncan was also scoreless in a season-opening loss to NCAA Division II Alaska-Anchorage in 1993-94 before rebounding with a 12-point, 12-rebound performance in his next outing against Hawaii.
Alcindor (77: 56 points/21 rebounds) and Chamberlain (83: 52 points/31 rebounds) each totaled more points and rebounds in their college game debut than Drummond, Duncan, Patrick Ewing, Nerlens Noel, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Robinson and Ralph Sampson amassed collectively. Following is a look at how many of the premier centers in history fared in their varsity debut against a major college and summary of their first season of NCAA Division I competition:
| Celebrated Center | School | First Varsity Season | Debut Game | PPG | RPG | W-L Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karl-Anthony Towns | Kentucky | 2014-15 | 8 points/8 rebounds | 10.3 | 6.7 | 38-1 |
| Jahlil Okafor | Duke | 2014-15 | 19 points/6 rebounds | 17.3 | 8.5 | 35-4 |
| Nerlens Noel | Kentucky | 2012-13 | 4 points/9 rebounds | 10.5 | 9.5 | 21-12 |
| Anthony Davis | Kentucky | 2011-12 | 23 points/10 rebounds | 14.2 | 10.4 | 38-2 |
| Greg Oden | Ohio State | 2006-07 | 14 points/10 rebounds | 15.7 | 9.6 | 35-4 |
| Tim Duncan | Wake Forest | 1993-94 | 12 points/12 rebounds | 9.8 | 9.6 | 21-12 |
| Shaquille O'Neal | Louisiana State | 1989-90 | 10 points/5 rebounds | 13.9 | 12.0 | 23-9 |
| Alonzo Mourning | Georgetown | 1988-89 | 10 points/10 rebounds | 13.1 | 7.3 | 29-5 |
| David Robinson | Navy | 1983-84 | scoreless/1 rebound | 7.6 | 4.0 | 24-8 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | Houston | 1981-82 | 2 points/0 rebounds | 8.3 | 6.5 | 25-8 |
| Patrick Ewing | Georgetown | 1981-82 | 7 points/4 rebounds | 12.7 | 8.5 | 30-7 |
| Ralph Sampson | Virginia | 1979-80 | 4 points/6 rebounds | 14.9 | 11.2 | 24-10 |
| *Bill Walton | UCLA | 1971-72 | 19 points/14 rebounds | 21.1 | 15.5 | 29-1 |
| **Artis Gilmore | Jacksonville | 1969-70 | 35 points/18 rebounds | 26.5 | 22.2 | 17-7 |
| *Bob Lanier | St. Bonaventure | 1967-68 | 23 points/17 rebounds | 26.2 | 15.6 | 23-2 |
| *Lew Alcindor | UCLA | 1966-67 | 56 points/21 rebounds | 29.0 | 15.5 | 30-0 |
| *Jerry Lucas | Ohio State | 1959-60 | 16 points/28 rebounds | 26.3 | 16.3 | 25-3 |
| *Wilt Chamberlain | Kansas | 1956-57 | 52 points/31 rebounds | 29.6 | 18.9 | 24-3 |
| *Bill Russell | San Francisco | 1953-54 | 16 points/17 rebounds | 19.9 | 19.2 | 14-7 |
*Sophomore classification.
**Junior classification after attending junior college.