The Breakdown: Connor McCaffery
There was nobody more efficient with the basketball this season than Iowa's Connor McCaffery.
The third-year sophomore guard led NCAA Division I play with a plus-4.6 assist-to-turnover ratio (124 assists, 27 turnovers) while playing as many as four positions at times during games. He was the only player in the nation with more than 120 assists and less than 30 turnovers.
That combination of efficiency and versatility made him one of the more valuable players in a lineup that won 20 games.
In Iowa's last six games of the season, McCaffery had 33 assists and only four turnovers. In the last 10 games, he had a 6.85 assist-to-turnover ratio.
McCaffery had 12 games this season without a turnover, playing 384 minutes in those games.
He also became more of a scorer, averaging a career-high 193 points. McCaffery shot 34.4 percent from the field, down a little bit from last season, but he was 33-of-97 in three-pointers for the season after making just 7-of-31 in 38 games over the last two seasons.
McCaffery scored in double figures in six games. He averaged 6.2 points, but was better in the closing weeks of the season, averaging 8.3 points over the last four games.
McCaffery will be part of a deep backcourt next season, and with a deeper rotation may not have to play so many different spots. That efficiency and versatility, though, will make him a key part of
Notes — McCaffery is the only Division I player dating back to 1993, with 175-plus points, 120-plus assists, 120-plus rebounds, 25-plus steals, and 27 or fewer turnovers in a single season. ... McCaffery finished seventh in the Big Ten in assists per game.
