2017 NBA Draft: The Biggest Winners From The NCAA Tournament’s Opening Weekend

Bonzie Colson, Power Forward, Notre Dame

I’m in love.

Colson has captured my attention, and I’ve fallen in love with his game.

While a 6-foot-5, 225 lbs guy may not seem like he’d put the ‘power’ in the position’s name, the man was on a mission during Notre Dame’s time in the tournament this year.

In their first round action against the Princeton Tigers, Colson put up a very respectable 17 points, which is impressive on its own. What’s even more impressive is that he paired it with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steals; while only picking up 2 fouls in 31 minutes of action. I was only able to catch a few minutes of this game, but he left his mark all over.

In Notre Dame’s matchup against West Virginia (an unfortunate loss for the Fighting Irish), Colson went off. He dropped 27 points to go with 8 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, and an eighty percent shooting percentage from 3, going 4-5 from distance. Mind you, those threes weren’t open looks – they were mostly contested, like hand-in-your-face how did he get enough space to get that off and swish it contested. While the box score may not reflect it, he helped force a lot of TOs, and just hustled.

The thing that most impressed me was that Colson didn’t care he gave up a few inches against who he was (primarily) defending. Brey intentionally starts him at the 4, and for good reason – he’s a mini-Draymond. He is (was? too soon?) the heart and soul of that team, and put the fighting spirit in those Irish. He never gave up, even when West Virginia had the game in the bag. I’d want him on my team if I was a GM/coach.