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+----- Thread: 2019 Player Discussion Thread: Sterling Taplin (/thread-859978.html)
2019 Player Discussion Thread: Sterling Taplin - DeMarioHooper - 10-07-2018 12:08 AM
Senior G Sterling Taplin
2018 stats in AAC games
Player A: 11.5ppg, 4.6apg, 3.2rpg, 1.1spg, 51.9% 2PT, 42.2% 3PT, 77.8% FT
Player B: 12.8ppg, 5.6apg, 3.3rpg, 0.6spg, 52.0% 2PT, 40.6% 3PT, 78.7% FT
One of the PGs listed above was 1st team all-conference and drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the 76ers. The other is Sterling Taplin.
On a team full of misfit toys, Taplin has taken just about the most traditional path possible for a college basketball player. Lightly recruited out of prep school, he spent a year's apprenticeship backing up arguably the best point guard in Tulsa history before taking over the reigns for inarguably the biggest rebuilding job in Tulsa history. And while the grind of that season clearly took its toll on him down the stretch of the 2017 season, he seemed to get stronger as the season went on in 2018 culminating in a 30-point, 4-assist, 0-turnover explosion in a February win at UConn. For a player who thrives by finishing around the basket, perhaps nothing captures it better than his jump from 34.6% inside the arc as a sophomore to 51.9% inside the arc as a junior in conference play.
Sterling Taplin quietly arrived as one of the best point guards in the AAC last year. The only question that remains is whether or not he's got another gear. Because this Tulsa team is his team and they'll go as far as he can take them.
2018 stats: 28.2mpg, 11.8ppg, 3.7rpg, 4.4apg, 0.9spg, 2.4topg, 0.1bpg, 52.4% 2PT, 36.2% 3PT, 72.9% FT
2019 proj.: 29.2mpg, 11.7ppg, 3.5rpg, 4.1apg, 1.1spg, 2.1topg, 0.1bpg, 48.9% 2PT, 37.8% 3PT, 76.9% FT