Welcome to A10 Talk’s Top 25 Player Countdown. Each day, we publish a new article counting down the 25 best players in the Atlantic 10 this past season. Today, we feature #20 Derrick Colter.
When your team loses 8 of its last 9 regular season games, it’s easy to get overlooked. There’s no doubt that Duquesne guard Derrick Colter wasn’t praised enough for his consistently dominant performances in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Dukes are going to have to reload this next season as they’ll lose their top 4 scorers, one of which includes Derrick Colter who falls in the 20 spot of our Top 25 player rankings.
Best Performances:
In Derrick Colter’s case, it’s tough to single out any one of his performances as the best; he scored in double figures just about every time he took the court. Only twice did the senior guard fail to score at least 10 points, and he scored 20+ points on 10 separate occasions this past season.
Colter’s best performance probably came in the CBI post-season tournament when the Dukes took down Nebraska Omaha 120-112 in an absolute shootout. Derrick went for 28 points including 9 assists and 6 defensive rebounds. 14 of those 28 points came from the charity stripe where he only missed one attempt the entire game. Duquesne would go on to lose in the next round to Morehead St.
Derrick Colter had a near triple-double when he helped the Dukes snap an 8 game losing streak at the end of the regular season. Duquesne took down Saint Joseph’s 78-70, and Colter scored 18 points, dished out 11 assists, and reeled in 8 rebounds. In addition, Colter had a great performance against inner-state rival Penn St, dropping 26 points and going 6-9 from downtown.
Key Stats:
Derrick Colter was Duquesne’s second leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, only behind fellow guard Micah Mason. In addition, Colter dished out 4.6 assists and grabbed 3.6 boards per contest. His 82.7% mark from the free throw line was impressive and helped Duquesne win some close contests. His 79.8% from the line in conference play was good enough for 17th best. He also played heavy minutes for this Duquesne team his senior season as he played 92.1% of available minutes during A-10 play. The one knock against Colter was his turnover rate. The senior guard gave the ball up a team-high 3.2 times per game.
Team Effort:
Based on the amount of playing time Colter got his senior season, it’s easy to tell that he was an integral player for this Duquesne team. His presence, along with that of Micah Mason, in the backcourt gave a lot of teams problems on defense. Though the Dukes were not able to string together a great season, they got some solid wins here and there and even managed to win a game in the CBI. Unfortunately for the Dukes, things will be tough next season without a majority of the scoring options they had in 2015-16.
Previously: #21 Scoochie Smith
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