Ben Strong Looks to Be First Division III Player Drafted in Nine Years

Last year, Guilford College center Ben Strong was the NCAA Division III Player of the Year. The 6-foot-11 Strong averaged 25.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game and he blocked 72 shots in 29 games. He also led the Quakers in free throw percentage, converting 80 percent of his tries from the line. Strong keyed Guilford's run to the Final Four and he set a D III tournament record with 59 points, including the winning free throw in the Quakers' 129-128 triple-overtime win over Lincoln.

This year, Strong is back for his senior season and has led Guilford to the top of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Quakers are 15-4, 10-2 and are on a seven-game winning streak after Wednesday's win over Washington and Lee, which vaulted them into first place.

Strong has picked up right where he left off last season. He's averaging 25.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He also has more blocks (45) and assists (41) than turnovers (40), a remarkable feat for a big man. Keep in mind that Tim Duncan has accomplished that only twice in his career in the NBA, which is now in its 11th season.

Strong's combination of height, athletic ability and court savvy leave him in a position to be the first D III player drafted since the Los Angeles Lakers took Devean George out of Augsburg College with the last pick of the first round in 1999.

George and Strong share a bond besides being D III players. Both had big growth spurts relatively late in their life. George entered college as a 6-foot-1 guard and left as a 6-foot-8 forward. Strong was a guard through most of his prep days and it wasn't until his senior season that he really begun to grow. By then, no D I schools offered a scholarship.

Strong ended up at Guilford College along with best friend and high school teammate Caleb Kimbrough. An outstanding athlete himself, Kimbrough is a two-sport star at Guilford, where he also plays on the tennis team. The 5-foot-8 Kimbrough was taller than Strong when they were in middle school.

It's that background as a guard which helps make Strong such an excellent post player and an intriguing NBA prospect. He has excellent coordination, he shoots equally well with both hands, and his foot work is advanced. Another thing that separates Strong from the average center is his passing ability. The Quakers have Strong touch the ball on almost every possession and other teams rush to double and triple team him. He is already adept at passing out of the double team, a skill most college centers have yet to acquire.

The tallest player on most D III schools are 6-foot-8 and under, meaning that Strong has a height advantage every time out. Skeptics point to this and claim that there is no way that the NBA will look at Strong as someone to seriously consider for the draft. But the reality is that Strong is being watched by the NBA.

Prior to this season, D3Hoops.com quoted long-time NBA scouting guru Marty Blake as saying, "He'll be watched." Blake went on to talk about the lack of quality D I centers expected to be in the draft, saying, "If you see any, call me ... collect."

Another thing to keep in mind is the NBA's love of all things big. Teams trip over themselves drafting foreigners 6-foot-11 and above, each hoping to luck into the next Dirk Nowitzki. In the last two drafts alone, 12 players (Yi Jianlian, Tiago Splitter, Kyrylo Fesenko, Stanko Barac, Marc Gasol, Saer Sene, Oleksiy Pecherov, Joel Freeland, Kosta Perovic, Cheik Samb, Edin Bavcic and Loukas Mavrokefalidis) have been taken at Strong's height or above.

It seems Strong offers the same "lottery ticket" potential of these foreigners without the worries of A) will he even come to this country and B) how will he adapt to the culture.

Following his sophomore season, in which he averaged 18.9 points per game, D I schools began to recruit Strong heavily. BYU and Hawaii were among the schools most interested. Strong even took a recruiting visit to Hawaii, but one gets the sense that was at least as much for the vacation aspect as it was to visit the school. His buddy Kimbrough went along on that one, too.

Additionally, Strong has participated in basketball camps run by LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire. He's played pick-up games with those NBA stars and has gone head-to-head versus Georgetown's Roy Hibbert. Strong told D3hoops.com:

"The biggest discovery I made was that I could play with them. I'd never played against competition like that. I wasn't the biggest guy out there. I had to use my talent instead of my size."

Strong is not opposed to using his size. He's been to Pete Newell's big man camp and has a wealth of low-post moves reminiscent of Kevin McHale.

So, keep an eye on Strong for the remainder of the regular season and both ODAC and D III tournament play. And when you're making out your mock draft for the NBA, make sure to keep a space for Guilford's center. Stanko Barac won't mind, honestly.