Louisville basketball: Why the ACC made the right call with Jordan Nwora

Louisville basketball junior Jordan Nwora was selected as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Why I believe the ACC media made the 100 percent correct decision.

After winning the ACC Most Improved Player of the Year award in 2018-19 due to a breakout season for Louisville basketball, this year there is still another level to rise to for star wing Jordan Nwora.

It looked all offseason like it was only a matter of time before Nwora officially announced that he’d be leaving Louisville after just two seasons to head off to the NBA. after his breakout sophomore season But due to an untimely injury, Nwora ultimately decided to return to college and focus on taking his game to the next level.

The expectations for Nwora heading into his junior season are already high, as many of college basketball’s talking heads have already declared the 6’7 wing as the player most likely to win the ACC Player of the Year in 2019-20.

Last season Nwora developed into one of the most promising scorers in the ACC, going from averaging 5.7 to 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while bosting a 26 percent usage rate and hitting 37.4 percent of his threes – doing so without a ton of elite talent around him.

This year, he’ll look to make another big jump in his play – high enough to match the expectations placed on him by ACC Media.

After the conclusion of ACC Operation Kickoff, it wasn’t much of a shocker when the ACC media voted the junior as the preseason selection for the award. Nwora received 51 total votes, with North Carolina freshman guard Cole Anthony projected to finish second with 33 votes.

By no means does the media voting Nwora as Preseason ACC Player of the Year make it a foregone conclusion that he’ll actually win.

Even with all the preseason acclaim including being named a first-team preseason All-American by numerous outlets and publications, selected to win ACC POY by college basketball’s top personalities, and even seen as a potential National Player of the Year Candidate, Nwora still has room to grow and questions will have to be answered.

Can he take the next step on defense as a combo forward? Will he improve his shot selection from outside? With all the talent around him can he grow into a distributor and trust his teammates? (Check out Alan Thomas’ great piece on 3 Goals for Jordan Nwora this season)

I believe the answer at the end of the day will be yes to all of those to some extent.

We heard Jordan Nwora talk about his focus on improving defensively early in the summer after announcing his decision to return to Louisville and then saw it when Nigeria qualified for the Olympics in the FIBA World Cup.

We know that with playmakers like Fresh Kimble and David Johnson coming into the fold, Steven Enoch and Malik Williams taking huge steps forward in their post-game, and Dwayne Sutton, Josh Nickelberry, and Samuell Williamson providing help scoring – Nwora won’t have to do it all anymore. He showed last season at times that he was a willing passer – but with guys on the floor unable to score on their own he lived in the “I have to be the guy mentality.”

Most importantly ACC defenses won’t be able to lock in solely on him anymore. Last season Louisville lacked a true second scorer and instead relied on the collective team pitching in on the scoring. While those guys stepped up in some games and provided a big boost it clearly wasn’t a sustainable plan, which we saw down the stretch.

Head coaches had headaches planning for Nwora last season and it’ll continue this year as they’ll be tasked with having to also limit Steven Enoch in the post and a true scorer in Williamson. With less attention, Nwora will have more winnable matchups and find himself open for better looks.

The jump from five points to 17 points per game from his freshman to sophomore season and earning the Most Improved Player award showed that Nwora was capable of elevating his game once. This season he’ll have to improve more as an all-around player and not just being a scorer while proving he can lead his team to the top of the ACC standings.

It’s going to be a special season for Jordan Nwora, and personally I believe he’s got as good of a shot as any to win the award, especially if Louisville finishes in the top four of the ACC.

We’re in for a special season in 2019-2020, and if the Cards are able to live up to the hype we could be talking about Jordan Nwora as the ACC Player of the Year but also as one of the greats of the Louisville basketball program.