Devin Thomas Is A Dark Horse For ACC Player Of The Year

By zacharyfowler
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

It can be hard to live up to expectations when you shatter a backboard in a high school basketball game. It is even harder to live up to expectations when your big sis is WNBA star Alyssa Thomas. Just ask current Wake Forest power forward, Devin Thomas. However, Thomas is more than capable of sweeping up the proverbial shattered pieces of a forgettable 2013-14 season, which saw Wake Forest finish 6-12 in ACC play.

Thomas is ready for his own Reggie Miller breakout moment.

It isn’t Thomas’ athleticism that makes him a dark horse for ACC Player of the Year in 2014-15; it is his lunch pail approach and steady season-to-season improvement. Thomas’ anticipated production, coupled with the mediocrity of his Wake Forest teammates, makes him a prime candidate for Player of the Year accolades.

Given its subpar recruiting efforts, Wake Forest will remain pathetic for the foreseeable future, but numbers matter. Two of the last three ACC Players of the Year have boasted ridiculous averages while playing on average or below-average teams (see Erick Green of Virginia Tech and T.J. Warren of NC State).

Thomas is the ACC’s top returning rebounder. In 2013-14, Thomas ranked fourth in the ACC in rebounds per game with 7.5 RPG and pitched in with 11 PPG. While these numbers are hardly earth-shattering, there were displays of absurd brilliance. Against VMI, Thomas scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Against Richmond, he popped in 11 points and claimed 19 rebounds. In the ACC tournament, Notre Dame had no answer for Thomas’ 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Perhaps most importantly, Thomas has a new coach that knows a thing or two about power forwarding. Danny Manning, the 1987-88 Naismith and Wooden award winner is the newest Demon Deacon head coach. Coach Manning has big plans for Thomas in 2014-15, saying that he would like Thomas to average a double-double this season.

Look out ACC, you have been warned.

Zachary Fowler, Esquire, is an ACC Basketball Blogger for www.RantSports.com

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