The first week of college basketball has lived up to expectations, with competitive games and spectacular individual performances. Over the next several months, players across the country will look to prove they're ready to make the jump to the NBA.
There's always a handful of college players who don't get as much national attention as they deserve, but are incredible players that could make an impact at the next level.
For this week’s spotlight, we take a look at Saint Louis guard Yuri Collins, who has legitimate NBA talent.
Yuri Collins (Guard | Saint Louis Billikens)
6’0” | 190 lbs
Season Stats: 8.0 PPG | 14.0 APG | 2.0 SPG
Notable Accolades
A junior guard, Collins is coming off of a First Team All-Conference season in the Atlantic 10. During that campaign, he led the NCAA in total assists (267) and assets per game (7.9) en route to becoming Saint Louis’ all-time leader. Collins finished earning an 88 Floor General Skills (FGS) according to Cerebro.
At the end of last season, he originally was going to be entering transfer portal, but had a change of heart and is sticking around.
In the season opener earlier this week, Collins had 14 assists with 0 turnovers in a win against Murray State.
NBA Upside
Although undersized, Collins’ playmaking makes him an NBA talent. He’s more of a pure point guard, thriving on setting teammates up and doesn’t need to score to be effective.
With that in mind, he did have a 35-point game last season against George Mason and is known for hitting big buckets down the stretch in close games. When he does need to score, he certainly can.
A player that facilitates, takes care of the ball and is a good connector always has a chance at the next level. His passing skills are among the best in all of college basketball.
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