DeAndre Nealy is doing a great job thus far at N. Kentucky. Averaging 13 pts, 6 rebounds, and around 3 blocked shots per game. Blocked 8 shots vs Urbana.

Based on his block numbers it looks like he must have regained some of that athleitcism. It's a shame we never got to see him fully healthy at Kent.

The number in his stat line that I found the most suprising is he's shooting 79.3% from the line while being tied for the team lead in FTA. We didn't get to see him at the line much last year (3 for 6) but he shot 48% and 58% in his two years at Mott C.C. so I never expected to see him close to 80%.

Nealy set a new N. Kentucky record for blocks in a single season last weekend.
http://nkunorse.com/news/2012/2/18/MBB_0218121257.aspx

His team is currently ranked 8th in DII but fell to the #2 team on Thursday. He had 19 points in that game. It's a shame that we never got to see him at full strength but it's nice to see him finishing his college career strong.

Interesting note, Antonio Bumpus from Columbus is playing at N. Kentucky too. He transferred from Utah St. but before that he was an All American Juco player at Harcum College where he played a year with Greg Avila. I know at one point Kent was linked to Bumpus (I think out of HS). I always thought he would turn out to be a good one.

He still isn't exactly dominating. In D2 he is putting up 10ppg and 4 rebounds. He has blocked a lot of shots, but seems to me he still wouldn't contribute much here.

Danny, the "box score" stats never tell you much about a defensive specialist. Heck it's not even limited to "box score" stats, just about anyone who comes up with a high level metric admits that it will undervalue a defensive specialist every time, Hollinger's PER being the most obvious example. Looking at a box score can tell you how often a guy gets a steal, block, or defensive rebound but it doesn't tell you how often he gambles for a steal and gave up an easy basket or failed to record a block but altered the shot enough to force a miss, etc. Probably one of the better defensive metrics out there is Dean Oliver's "defensive rating" but while stats like this are great you can't just pull numbers from a box score to calculate it. Heck, look at Eric Gaines defensive numbers: 1.1 DRPG, 0.25 BPG, and 0.7 SPG. Add to that his 4.4 ppg and 0.75 apg and I'm sure everyone here would agree "box score" stats don't do justice to his true effect on a game.

Nealy's rebounding numbers are a bit lower than you would expect but that can come from being out of position after challenging a shot. Based on the fact that his team has a +3.2 rebounding margin if he is gambling for blocks it doesn't appear to be hurting the team rebounding significantly and may very well be helping the team because he's forcing misses. Also, while is averages aren't great, he is 3rd in points and 3rd in rebounds on the 8th ranked D2 team, a team that beat WVU.

Basically my point is without watching a player like Nealy (or Gaines) actually play it's unfair to judge how much of an impact he's making.