CHRIS MCNAUGHTON, NBA PROSPECT?

There has been a lot of talk about how great Chris McNaughton is, and that he might be one of the premiere centers not only in the PL, but in the entire country. Now, here at the PL blog you have seen the full endorsement of McNasty for a long time. But let's put to rest any talk of McNaughton being better than Adonyl Foyle or being an NBA prospect. Here are both players' sophomore year stats:

You'll notice Foyle is noticably better at most things. Most notably, his reputation as one of the premiere shot blockers nationwide was already in full form in his sophomore campaign. He was averaging 5.5 blocks per game, an extraordinary amount.

McNaughton, while having solid numbers, especially his FG%, just can't stack up to Foyle individually. Part of it is that the Bucknell offense is much more balanced than the CU offense was in 97--those extra 160 shots boost Foyle's offensive numbers substantially. Another part of it is that Colgate played a bunch of nobodies in 97-- their strength of schedule was 252 while Bucknell's is almost 100 points higher at 164. So McNaughton's numbers are hurt by playing better teams, both out of conference, and in the post-scholarship era PL. Despite those caveats, however, Foyle is clearly a dominant force in his sophomore year, while McNaughton lacks his consistency (see only 25 MPG).

So BU fans need not fear that McNaughton will jump ship for the NBA, as Foyle did after his junior year. McN is good, but he can't stack up to the dominant force that Foyle was, no matter how much the media talks up his new glass hightops.  @ 4:41 PM