Preseason Player Profile: Chane Behanan

With the 2012-13 college basketball season quickly approaching, The Cardinal Connect will provide a brief preseason player profile for all 15 members of the team. We’ll take a look at each player’s production from last season and provide what their reasonable expectations should be in 2012-13.

Chane Behanan, 6-foot-6, Forward, Soph.

2011-12 Season Review: Chane Behanan may have had the most successful freshman season than any other player that has played for Pitino during his time at Louisville. In years past, most true freshman have had a tough time adjusting and contributing right away in Pitino’s system. Behanan was solid throughout the entire regular season earning Big East All Rookie honors and took his game to another level in the NCAA tournament, being named the MVP of the West Region. He averaged 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a true freshman.

2012-13 Expectations: Louisville has a lot of talent this season, but in my opinion Behanan is the one guy that can be elite. It’s tough to predict how many points he’ll will score because this team will likely have a very balanced scoring attack, but I think Chane will be the go-to-guy when Louisville needs a bucket. During the NCAA tournament, Behanan showed that he wanted the ball when the game was on the line. As long as there aren’t any off the court issues, I think Behanan could be the top player in the Big East this season.