Duke basketball: Top 10 ACC players for 2020-21 season
By Matt Giles
No. 4 in the ACC this season is not a Duke basketball player
Senior. Forward. Sam Hauser. 4. player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 446
Plain and simple, Sam Hauser isn’t quite getting the attention he deserves entering the 2020-21 season. Expect that to change, though, as soon as the Marquette transfer’s senior campaign gets underway in late November.
Yes, Hauser has the tools — notably, his 3-point dagger — to end up as one of the most consequential transfers in the history of the ACC. After all, considering he was able to practice with the Cavaliers last year, he now appears in line to possibly be the leading scorer for a Virginia team that many experts predict to win the conference and contend for a national title.
Why exactly does Hauser warrant a bit more hype? Well, before having to sit out last season on Tony Bennett’s bench, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound stretch-four proved to be a ridiculously efficient scorer in each of his three seasons under Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski (a former Duke basketball player and assistant)…
As a freshman, Hauser sank 63 of 139 attempts from 3-point range (45.3 percent). As a sophomore, he led the Big East in 3-point accuracy at an insane 48.7 percent, tallying 95 made 3-pointers, which is more than Matthew Hurt and Tre Jones combined for last season. As a junior, he dipped to 40.2 percent from deep but improved to 92.4 percent from the foul line (73-for-79).
All the while, despite averaging more than 30 minutes per game for his career at Marquette, he never averaged more than 1.4 turnovers per game. All in all, opposing teams will have no choice but to respect Sam Hauser’s trigger and will have little hope if they just hope for the high-IQ 22-year-old to shoot himself in the foot.