Player of the Week: Jordan Hill, Jr., F, Arizona Wildcats

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

OK, quick: Who had Jordan Hill as the leading scorer for Arizona and a challenger to James Harden of Arizona State for Pac-10 player of the year at the beginning of the season? Doubt many, if any, after Chase Budinger returned to the Wildcats and Lute Olson abruptly retired. But Hill has been one of the best individual stories this season. The 6-foot-10, 235-pound junior has made himself into a legit first-round NBA draft prospect. His live body is a force around the basket and he has increased his post moves to the point where he's becoming a tougher matchup every single outing. Last week, in Arizona's only game, Hill was sensational again. He scored 23 points, delivered 11 boards and blocked a pair of shots in Arizona's 84-67 victory over Kansas in Tucson. Hill's efficiency was needed, considering Budinger was 1-of-9 from the field. Hill is averaging a double-double (18.9 ppg, 11.8 rpg) and looking like the go-to player for a surging Wildcats team.

The rest of the starting rotation this week:

2. Alex Ruoff, Sr., SF, West Virginia: Joe who? Alexander? What's he doing now? He's averaging four points in just 12 minutes a game for the Milwaukee Bucks. Ruoff has quickly made Alexander a memory the past three games. In his return from back spasms that kept him out of a loss to Davidson in New York and a win at Duquesne, Ruoff scored 15 points in a home win over Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 20. But for this week's honors, on Tuesday, Ruoff scored 38 points and grabbed eight boards in a 35-point win over Radford. He followed that up with 17 points in a crushing 76-48 win at Ohio State on Saturday.

3. Patrick Patterson, So., PF, Kentucky: Patterson looks healthy after battling injuries at the end of last season and in the spring. Patterson scored 27 points, grabbed 14 boards and blocked three shots in a closer-than-expected game against Florida Atlantic on Saturday. He started the week by contributing 33 points and 11 boards in a win over Tennessee State on Monday. In the two games combined, Patterson was 27-for-33 from the field.

4. Willie Warren, Fr., SG, Oklahoma: For Oklahoma to be competitive for the Big 12 title, forward Blake Griffin can't be the only special player. Fortunately for the Sooners, Warren has been special, too. Warren scored 31 points, making 11 of 17 shots and four 3s, in Oklahoma's win at Rice on Monday. Warren's 14.9 points a game is good for second on the team, behind Griffin.

5. Patrick Mills, So., PG, Saint Mary's: The Gaels are on quite a roll, improving to 11-1 with seven wins away from Moraga, including true road wins over Oregon, Kent State and Pacific. Mills was solid as usual last week, with 23 points, three assists and one turnover in the Gaels' win over Pacific on Tuesday, and 17 points and four steals (but six turnovers) in a home win over San Jose State on Saturday.

yeah i been reading up on that Jordan Hill kid the past few days... he took a huge jump in the scouting rankings recently... seems like he's being projected to go top 5 right now, i don't think he was even being talked about in the 1st round just a few weeks ago, was he?

Patrick Patterson is still my sleeper pick... i think he's gonna be really good... Budinger seems to have fallen off of late but i still think he can be a solid role player on any team, probably somewhat similar to guys like Matt Harpring or Kyle Korver at their peaks.

This is the list of guys that will not be picked by the Knicks. Search Europe, the NIT, and the Portsmout Tournament for the sleeper or unknown pick that the Knicks will take with their lottery choice.

Posted by rain:

Jordan Hill has looked very impressive. Fundamental player with great wingspan. Be interesting to see how high he goes.

We wont have a pick in his range. I'm thinking either a homerun 1-3 or a projection of 8-12 and I think Hill is sitting between 4-6. I think Griffin and Thabeet are locks in the top 3.

[Edited by - BRIGGS on 12-29-2008 02:52 AM]

Yeah I was just looking to see when I could catch this hill kid play. Sounds like the type of 4 the knicks should be looking at.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by TMS:

yeah i been reading up on that Jordan Hill kid the past few days... he took a huge jump in the scouting rankings recently... seems like he's being projected to go top 5 right now, i don't think he was even being talked about in the 1st round just a few weeks ago, was he?

Patrick Patterson is still my sleeper pick... i think he's gonna be really good... Budinger seems to have fallen off of late but i still think he can be a solid role player on any team, probably somewhat similar to guys like Matt Harpring or Kyle Korver at their peaks.

The more I watch Patterson--the more I hope we can get a second pick or if we end up in the area of 7-12 just use the pick on him. We need an athletic tenacious interior player and I am not fooled by his lack of height--this guy plays big strong athletic and tenacious. We need some efficiency toughness and interior deterrent. I believe our primary need is this type of player and right after Griffin and Thabeet--this should be the guy we hone in on. I don't want to hear anymore about what Jared Jefferies can do or how good Gallinari is how he will be our new age PF----no no no. This team needs an injection of toughness and a guy who can help our interior D.
We need our GM to talk to Dantoni and find a reasonable half way point--not every player needs to know how to shoot a three.

i agree, Patterson definitely is the type of player we should be looking to add to this roster... he plays physical down low, is a great finisher at the rim & has the tools to be a shotblocking intimidator... definitely would add that injection of toughness you want... i don't want any more finesse players for the frontcourt... we have enough guys that can play the swing positions... we need a big dawg to hold it down in the paint & i really think Patrick Patterson could be that player for us... we obviously won't be landing any picks to take someone like Blake Griffin anyways... this is why i think it's so important that we trade D Lee or Nate now for an extra pick so we can pick up someone like Patterson later in the draft.

You know who he reminds me of--a young Amare Stoudemire. Same physical build--same athletic ability same tenacious play. Look more at this guy and what we are missing. yes we need a 2G but we need this type of player more. When Pheonix was good they ran with no C they had Stoudemire and Marion. There are some guys I like but enough with the finesse--this guys is a no nonsense athletic powerful beast and for goodness sakes sans a top 3 pick Walsh get it done.
This player is made for this system. This guy could be a 20-10 player easily here with better D than Lee.

[Edited by - BRIGGS on 01-01-2009 7:59 PM]

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by TMS:

yeah i been reading up on that Jordan Hill kid the past few days... he took a huge jump in the scouting rankings recently... seems like he's being projected to go top 5 right now, i don't think he was even being talked about in the 1st round just a few weeks ago, was he?

Patrick Patterson is still my sleeper pick... i think he's gonna be really good... Budinger seems to have fallen off of late but i still think he can be a solid role player on any team, probably somewhat similar to guys like Matt Harpring or Kyle Korver at their peaks.

The more I watch Patterson--the more I hope we can get a second pick or if we end up in the area of 7-12 just use the pick on him. We need an athletic tenacious interior player and I am not fooled by his lack of height--this guy plays big strong athletic and tenacious. We need some efficiency toughness and interior deterrent. I believe our primary need is this type of player and right after Griffin and Thabeet--this should be the guy we hone in on. I don't want to hear anymore about what Jared Jefferies can do or how good Gallinari is how he will be our new age PF----no no no. This team needs an injection of toughness and a guy who can help our interior D.
We need our GM to talk to Dantoni and find a reasonable half way point--not every player needs to know how to shoot a three.

i agree, Patterson definitely is the type of player we should be looking to add to this roster... he plays physical down low, is a great finisher at the rim & has the tools to be a shotblocking intimidator... definitely would add that injection of toughness you want... i don't want any more finesse players for the frontcourt... we have enough guys that can play the swing positions... we need a big dawg to hold it down in the paint & i really think Patrick Patterson could be that player for us... we obviously won't be landing any picks to take someone like Blake Griffin anyways... this is why i think it's so important that we trade D Lee or Nate now for an extra pick so we can pick up someone like Patterson later in the draft.

You know who he reminds me of--a young Amare Stoudemire. Same physical build--same athletic ability same tenacious play. Look more at this guy and what we are missing. yes we need a 2G but we need this type of player more. When Pheonix was good they ran with no C they had Stoudemire and Marion. There are some guys I like but enough with the finesse--this guys is a no nonsense athletic powerful beast and for goodness sakes sans a top 3 pick Walsh get it done.
This player is made for this system. This guy could be a 20-10 player easily here with better D than Lee.

[Edited by - BRIGGS on 01-01-2009 7:59 PM]

i agree... this is 1 of the guys i said that could help to ease the loss of D Lee if we do decide to trade him... i dunno if he'll be the rebounder D Lee is but i know for sure he's gonna be a better defender & will be able to excel in the shallow water role that D Lee's playing right now w/o a problem... i compared him to Shawn Kemp in the past but i can see the Amare comparisons, definitely... he plays a very similar physical style game as Amare & is a much better athlete than D Lee is for sure.