Welcome to A10 Talk’s Top Pre-Season Top 25 Player Countdown for the 2017-18 season. Each day, we’ll be publishing a new article counting down our best 25 players for the coming season. Today, we feature #5 B.J. Johnson, from La Salle.
Our Top 25 Player Countdown is a compiled list based on voting from our staff and writers from across the league. Thanks to the following for helping configure this year’s Top 25 Atlantic 10 Player Countdown:
Grant Labedz (@GrantLabedz), Mat Shelton-Eide (@MatSheltonEide), Grant Kelly (@GrantKelly07), Andrew Phung (@LoveRI401), By George (@ByGeorgeGMU), Davidson Recruiting (@DavidsonMBBRecr), Steve DiMiceli (@SteveDiMiceli), Rhody Rampage (@RhodyRampage), UMass Recruiting (@UMassRecruiting), Bona Blog (@BonaBlog), Petey Buckets (@PeteyBuckets), and UMass Ball Report (@theumbr).
What He’s Done
B.J. Johnson burst onto the Atlantic 10 scene in his first season on the court for La Salle. Johnson quickly became the centerpiece of La Salle’s offense. He led the Explorers in scoring and rebounding, as he put up 17.6 points and grabbed 6.3 boards per game. In A-10 action, Johnson’s usage percentage (25.9) ranked 11th in the conference. On top of that, he finished with a percentage of shots taken of 30.1 percent, the second highest in the conference.
The senior also provides excellent defensive play for La Salle. Johnson managed to grab 5.0 defensive rebounds per contest, and his defensive rebounding percentage in conference play (18.3) ranked 15th. Additionally, Johnson committed just 2.3 fouls per 40 minutes against Atlantic 10 opponents, the tenth lowest in the conference.
What He’ll Do
With the departures of Jordan Price and Demetrius Henry, Johnson will play an even bigger role in La Salle’s success this season. The combination of Johnson and Pookie Powell will be responsible for finding a way to keep the Explorers in games. Johnson was selected to the Preseason Second Team All-Conference, but with the numbers Johnson is capable of putting up this season it’s more than possible his level of play exceeds that expectation.
Previously: #6 Rashaan Holloway
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