Kansas basketball: Predicting the 2020-2021 starting five
Marcus Garrett, Senior
A multi-year starter, Marcus Garrett will start for sure next season. The senior has made a name for himself as a defensive guru, locking down opponents’ star players and forcing timely turnovers. Here are some of Garrett’s stats from last season:
- 9.2 points per game
- 4.6 assists per game
- 4.5 rebounds per game
- 1.8 steals per game
- 1.7 turnovers per game
Despite being decent on offense, Garrett still has a reputation as being a “defense only” type of player, which isn’t the case. Last season, Garrett led the team with assists despite not being the Jayhawks’ primary ballhandler, and he also knocked down a fair amount of three-pointers.
His game against Oklahoma comes to mind. Garrett drained six three-pointers on his way to a 24 point performance.
As a result of his strong and valuable play, Garrett raked in awards last season including Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-Big 12 Third Team, and National Defensive Player of the Year according to ESPN.
If Garrett can average around 13 points and five assists per game next season in addition to his phenomenal defense, there’s no reason to think that he couldn’t be first-team All-Big 12 and make an All-American team.