For our purposes here, I'm picking a bench guy from a season ago who nonetheless was an important role player on a good team. 'Breakout player' is always an interesting one, because the definition of it is a bit hard to nail down, unless you're establishing hard criteria like a) someone who didn't start the year prior, or b) averaged less than 15 minutes and/or 8.0 points per game. And that's among the reasons it's not hard to envision him having a breakout year that culminates with him being selected in the 2022 NBA Draft. With four starters from that team now gone - four starters who combined to average 39.9 shots per game - Mayer is expected to have a much bigger role as a senior. He did all of that while developing into a legitimate NBA prospect, in part because he shot 39.5% from beyond the arc en route to helping Scott Drew's Bears win the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-9 wing got 18 points and five rebounds in a win over Oklahoma State, 19 points and seven rebounds in a win over West Virginia, and 17 points and six rebounds in a win over Wisconsin. Though Mayer only averaged 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds as a junior, he shined multiple times toward the end of the season. Matthew Mayer was never going to be a consistent bucket-getter for Baylor last season.īut he certainly had his moments - especially in March. When you're on a high-level team with eventual NBA players like Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague, there's a limited number of additional points available to be scored. So, who is poised to make a similar leap this year? Few will make a jump as substantial as Liddell's, but for this week's edition of the dribble handoff, our writers are picking who they think are the top breakout candidates for the season ahead. Now, after averaging 16.2 points and improving as last season progressed, Liddell is considered one of the top players in the country as he prepares for his junior season. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged just 6.7 points while playing off the bench as a freshman, and it seemed he was nowhere near the stratosphere of the Big Ten's elite bigs such as Luka Garza, Kofi Cockburn and Trayce Jackson-Davis.īut Liddell burst onto the national scene as a sophomore, filling the void of departed brothers Kaleb and Andre Wesson in the front court and becoming the focal point of an Ohio State team that secured a No. Liddell as a potential national breakout player for the 2020-21 season. Just a year ago, few outside the Ohio State fan base would have pegged E.J.

Rising storm game