One of the best parts of working for a place like SBN is the opportunity to share information quickly and easily. When Ben from the Maryland Terrapins blog, Testudo Times approached with some questions about Dez Wells, we were happy to answer. The main story is here, but below is a snippet of what we discussed.
Dez looked like one of the most productive and efficient freshmen in the country last season. Had he stayed on at Xavier, what type of year were you expecting out of him as a sophomore?
Dez put up 10/5/1 on .504/.377/.675 shooting as a freshman despite being the third or fourth offensive option on the team on any given trip down the floor. With everyone who got more touches than he did gone and some interesting players at the guard positions, it wasn't hard to see Dez going for 15/6/1 on something on the order of .450/.350/.700 shooting this year. The degree of difficulty of his chances was going to increase along with the volume, but I was hugely positive regarding his potential to be a breakout player on the national scene this season. To perhaps give you some idea of how highly I rated Dez, I figured that - between his ability level and the year he spent at prep school before college - he was almost a lock to leave Xavier after his junior year unless something unexpected happened. I honestly felt only a down year could keep him in college for four seasons.
Dez tweeted a picture of his flaking fingertips at one point this summer. He had literally spent so much time refining his shot that his skin was coming off. His work ethic is going to take him places that just his raw talent won't. Xavier fans are used to watching talent graduate, we've recently grown accustomed to having players good enough to leave early, this is the first time we've had to watch the school chase away a tremendously talented player. His sophomore year is going to be amazing, whenever he finally gets to play it.