This Year in Wrenball: The Greatest

In February 2017, we mentioned Nathan Knight for the first time in this cobwebby corner of the internet, describing his play in an otherwise desultory loss to Towson. As we wrote, "[F]reshman center Nathan Knight grabbed three boards (two offensive), scored a basket, made two free throws, and ran the floor to make an acrobatic block on Tigers veteran forward John Davis. Knight's efforts helped the Tribe extend their lead to 15, and though they ultimately blew that lead, it was a bit of a coming out party for the exuberant 6'10", 250-pound newcomer."

The title of that post was The Next One(?), posing the question whether Knight would some day have as much impact on the W&M program as the sainted Marcus Thornton. Now, three years later, as Knight capped college career by earning CAA Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors and making the list of the final five players on the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar National Center of the Year award, the question's changed.

Is it possible that Nathan Knight is the best player in W&M hoops history?

I toyed with the notion a few weeks ago in a Wrenball post, calling it blasphemous. And it's somewhat hard to compare ball-dominant, whippet-fast, edge-of-your-seat shooting guards with solid, active, all-court 6'10" post players. But if we take the eye test out of it, and try to remove the passion, the stats suggest it's not all that close.

Nathan Knight is the GOAT.

Knight's career numbers equal or surpass Thornton's in nearly every way. They both averaged 17.1 ppg over their illustrious careers, though Knight has yet played three fewer games (and needs 62 points to pass Thornton's school record of 2,178). Thornton has more assists and steals, though not as many more as you'd imagine. Knight, the second-leading rebounder in school history, has more boards this season than Thornton had in his whole career - again not a huge surprise given their size and positional differential.

Efficiency stats tell a more striking story. Knight is a far more efficient scorer than Thornton was, and his career Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which seeks to measure a player's overall contribution, adjusted for pace and competition, is a robust 30.9, which is good for 10th all-time...in the NCAA. His 34.9 this season is tops in the entire country. The excellent Thornton's PER was 18.5. His senior year, he posted a 21.8, good for 8th. In the CAA.

Knight wasn't the only member of this year's surprising Tribe squad to earn conference honors. Junior guard Luke Loewe joined Knight on the All-Defense first team, senior Andy Van Vliet earned third-team all-league honors, and head coach Dane Fischer was named the CAA Coach of the Year.

Bittersweet that last bit. Fischer's a great coach. We'll be lucky to keep him for five years, if his first year is anything to be believed. He's calm, smart, and obviously capable of maximizing talent. The circumstances of his hiring still gall, and that won't change. It's not his fault, so we'll celebrate his success, and root for the Tribe.

Root for the Tribe, indeed, as they take their 21-10, 13-5 record and second seed in the CAA Tournament in Washington, DC. They play the winner of this evening's JMU/Elon play-in game (which will be done by the time you read this, so insert the correct team name accordingly). Nothing's certain in a league with as much parity as the CAA (with lots of people picking the 6th seeded Northeastern to win the tournament), but W&M was 4-0 agains the Dukes and Phoenix this season and will be heavily favored to win their quarterfinal.

If they do, they'll face the winner of the quarter between the aforementioned Huskies and Towson. Knight beat Northeastern at the buzzer twice this season, while the Tribe split with the Tigers (each team won on the road by double-digits), who always give us trouble with their physicality. Crapshoot, thy name is CAA semifinal.

And if by the grace of God, Fischer's kids get to the tournament final on Tuesday night, they'll almost certainly see Hofstra, the league's best team for most of the season. W&M smoked the Pride by 27 on Long Island early in the season before Joe Mihalich's team returned the favor by 23 in Williamsburg in February. Have I mentioned crapshoots?

Nathan Knight just became the first player to win both POY and DPOY in the CAA since George Mason's George Evans did it in 2001. Evans' Patriots went on to win the CAA Tournament that season. May history repeat itself, and may the basketball gods finally have mercy on our tormented souls. Somewhere, Tony Shaver would smile.