2017 NBA Draft: The Biggest Winners From The NCAA Tournament’s Opening Weekend
By Mason McFee
Dwayne Bacon, Shooting Guard, Florida State
Why feature a player from a team that was eliminated? Well, because he was that good during the short time he played.
Bacon has long been a polarizing product. When he’s hot, he’s sizzling. (Sorry). He leaves his defenders extra crispy. (Sorry, again).
On the flip side, he might be a microwave scorer (all you microwave bacon heaters, stop. Cook it like it deserves), but he can just easily go lukewarm or cold. He’s not the first of his kind, and he won’t be the last, but in the tourney he was the former form.
In the first round against Dunk City, Bacon dropped 25 points on 11-17 shooting. While he didn’t hit a 3 in this game, he made up for it by corralling 9 rebounds thanks to his 6-foot-7 frame.
In the blowout loss against Xavier, Bacon, well, Bacon brought the bacon (almost) home. (Not sorry).
Bacon dropped 20 points, (although 0-5 from 3 this game) on 9-18 shooting. While not as impressive as his first round outing, he did almost score a third of his team’s points despite Florida State’s offensive struggles this game. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the whole game as, well, you know, closer games were on; but he did impress when I flipped back to him – he can score in a variety of ways.
Bacon in these two games was doing it all – he picked up zero personal fouls in 34 minutes of action against Dunk City – and, as already mentioned, scored at will. He was crossing up defenders, shooting long twos, making contested shots, hitting floaters, driving through contact…you get the idea.
While Bacon may never be a starter in the NBA, he could be a darn good role player – a bigger Jamal Crawford if you will – just more athletic.