It’s been an exciting first month of hoops in the Big 12, with a few preconceived notions about teams evolving over the first four weeks. Kansas still appears to be alone at the head of the pack, but the gap between the Jayhawks and the rest of the league looks smaller than originally considered with Baylor storming out of the gate unbeaten and West Virginia showing no ill effects from their departed seniors. We’ve also seen a handful of Big 12 players take sizable steps in the progression of their careers. Some of the five breakout players listed below have simply produced at similar clips to their careers to this point, but with bigger workloads this season, while others have just become more well-rounded players. Still others have benefited from changes in their team’s style of play or coaching, and some improvements have been a result of some combination of the above.
Regardless of the reason, the thing to watch moving forward will be whether these players can carry their newfound success through league play. These are the Big 12’s five most improved players in order of who has the best chance to sustain his performance the rest of the way.
Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State
Look for Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans to leave a few more opponents in his dust before the end of the 2016-17 season. (AP/Rick Bowmer)
- 2016-17: 33.9% POSS, 23.9 PPG, 5.1 APG, 9.9% TO
- 2015-16: 26.6% POSS, 12.9 PPG, 4.9 APG, 20.4% TO
The sophomore Evans was already a tremendous point guard, but Oklahoma State’s coaching transition from Travis Ford to Brad Underwood has unlocked something special in Stillwater. His huge increase in scoring has been heavily influenced by the breakneck pace with which the Cowboys are playing (~10 more possessions per game), but it also says a lot about Evans that he can maintain such a high rate of productivity while taking on more responsibility in a hectic environment.
Frank Mason, Kansas
- 2016-17: 20.5 PPG, 58.7% FG, 54.8% 3FG, 5.5 APG, 69.2% FG at rim
- 2015-16: 12.9 PPG, 43.4% FG, 38.1% 3FG, 4.6 APG, 49.7% FG at rim
Much like Evans, Mason is a well-known quantity who has taken a massive leap. Not only has Mason overtaken Monte Morris’ as the favorite for Big 12 POY, but he’s now a dark horse for First Team All-America honors. He has excellent raw stats, shiny advanced numbers, a clutch performance to remember and a surplus of intangibles that teammates, coaches, media and fans all adore, and deservedly so. It’d be quite a shock if Mason continued to shoot as prolifically from deep as he has to this point, but no Jayhawk has benefited more from the spacing allowed by Bill Self‘s four-out, one-in scheme than Mason.
Nathan Adrian, West Virginia
- 2016-17: 10.6 PPG, 10.1 REB/40, 78.1% FT, 130.4 ORTG
- 2015-16: 4.5 PPG, 6.9 REB/40, 56.7% FT, 116.3 ORTG
No Devin Williams? No problem. Bob Huggins’ system continues to produce cyborgs like Adrian and Esa Ahmad, both of whom rank among the nation’s top 150 players in offensive rebounding percentage. While Ahmad has certainly been important to West Virginia’s 8-1 start, Adrian has shown up a bit more consistently, particularly in the Mountaineers’ biggest games. Adrian has also played a bigger role in the Mountaineers’ offense than in his previous three years in Morgantown.
Jeffrey Carroll, Oklahoma State
- 2016-17: 135.3 ORTG, 22.0 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 57.5% FG, 46.4% 3FG, 27.5% DREB
- 2015-16: 98.9 ORTG, 24.6 MPG, 8.2 PPG, 41.0% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 14.8% DREB
When Carroll arrived on the Oklahoma State campus in 2014, his teammates nicknamed him “Clip” out of his unabashed love of firing from deep, but they may need to find a different nickname to reflect his all-around growth. Carroll is taking a higher percentage of shots at the rim than he ever has, and he is converting nearly 70 percent of those looks. The residue of that aggressiveness has resulted in more space for the junior to get his long-range shooting in gear. Additionally, Carroll added 15 pounds to his 6’8″ frame over the summer, resulting in newfound contributions on both sides of the glass.
Vladimir Brodziansky, TCU
- 2016-17: 135.7 ORTG, 61.9% FG, 15.0% BLK (2.5 BPG), 71.0 FTR
- 2015-16: 108.6 ORTG, 51.9% FG, 5.4% BLK (1.0 BPG), 41.6 FTR
The center from Slovakia has been TCU’s best big man this season, but Jamie Dixon has been a bit more shy about turning him loose than I’d like, playing him for just 19.6 minutes per contest. In those limited minutes, however, Brodziansky has done nothing but produce, whether it’s been at the free throw line (35-of-44), from the floor (62.9% FG) or defending the rim. Brodziansky had a similar pre-conference run last season, but experienced some trouble maintaining his productivity against Big 12 teams, so it will be interesting to see how he responds to stiffer competition this time around. Still, you can’t argue with his results to this point.