Jerian Grant Named Top 20 Finalist for Wooden Award

With just five games left in the regular season for the Irish, senior guard Jerian Grant has set himself up to have a legitimate chance at winning the Wooden Award for player of the year.

Grant has been a critical piece to the success Notre Dame has had this season. After a disappointing 15-17 season last year without Grant, the Irish have turned it around in dramatic fashion sitting in second place in the ACC, 10th in the country and projected as a third seed for most bracketologists. Notre Dame is 22-4, which is the best start under Mike Brey’s tenure in South Bend, IN, and Grant’s outstanding play this season has made him a top 20 finalist for the Wooden Award Wednesday afternoon.

Grant is averaging 17 points per game, and his 6.2 assists per game is ranked 11th in the country along with being first in the ACC. The fifth-year senior has no doubt made a statement to the rest of the country regarding his ability to take games over and dominate opposing defenses. In every sport at any level, MVPs are always remembered by their signature win of the season that helped catapult them to MVP contention. In terms of winning the Heisman, Mariota’s “Heisman moment” was most likely his final match-up against Arizona where the Ducks were looking to avenge their loss to the Wildcats earlier in the season. Mariota finished the game throwing for 313 yards, two passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns. Well, if there was a “Wooden moment” at any point this season for Grant, it was, without question, his performance in the win over Duke at home where he scored 23 points, dished out a career-high 12 assists, pocketed three steals and blocked two shots.

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At one point in the second half, Notre Dame was trailing by 10 points against the No. 4 team in the country led by another Wooden Award candidate, freshman center Jahlil Okafor. Despite the deficit Grant was able to make the necessary plays at the end of the game to help surge the Irish past the Blue Devils in what was his signature “Wooden moment” of the year. There are three plays in that game that solidify Grant’s place as one of the best in the country. The first took place about 11 minutes into the first half. Grant was defended by junior forward Amile Jefferson as he dribbled up to the top of the three-point arc. Instead of pulling up for the shot there, he took about five steps back and without hesitation drained a 25-foot three pointer.

The next play occurred with just about a minute left in the game when the Irish were up just one point. Grant lost the ball while being defended by freshman guard Tyus Jones, but recovered the ball to hit what seemed like an impossible floater with just one second left on the shot clock .

The final play, which was by far the most important play of the game, was one that showed Grant’s great basketball IQ, phenomenal vision and desire to win over personal achievement. Again up by just one point, Grant held the ball at the top of the three point line. He drove into the top of the key, pump faked a shot by the free throw line and kicked out a pass to sophomore guard Steve Vasturia, who nailed a the nail in the coffin with a key three pointer.

That game against Duke showed the country that Grant is not a pretender. He is one of the best talents in the nation, and many draft experts are starting to recognize his abilities. CBS Sports has projected Grant to go as high as 16 in the first round and as low as the 21st in the first. He has already established himself as a mid-round pick, and if he continues to impress in the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament, he definitely has room to improve his draft stock.

Joe Schueller, a Notre Dame alum and writer for SB Nation’s One Foot Down, went as far as saying that Grant can be compared to James Harden as the future of basketball. He compared Harden, who is having an MVP-caliber season with the Rockets, to Grant in the sense that both players are the catalysts of their respective offenses. Grant’s assist/turnover ratio (3.24), percent of team shots taken (23.5%) and percent of scoring from the charity stripe (21.9%) are all on par to Harden’s current season with the Rockets and his final season at Arizona State. He also compared the way their teams run similar offenses, which rely on the three-point shot and easy points in the paint.

Regardless of what he becomes in the NBA, it’s clear that Grant has become a household name at Notre Dame, and if he continues to have the success he’s had this season, the Irish should be confident in making a serious run in not only the ACC tournament, but in the NCAA tournament.