Yes, college basketball is a guard-oriented game these days and basically has been that way ever since the NBA starting drafting underclassmen.
Veteran, battle-tested guards can pay big dividends in those pressure-packed situations that come up during NCAA Tournament play, and having older, more mature players with the ball in their hands at the end of games can oftentimes mean the difference between winning and losing.
But not always.
“I think it depends,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said yesterday. “Cal (Kentucky coach John Calipari) has done pretty well and he’s had all-freshmen guards. There are some really, really good 18-, 19-year-old guys out there.