Sports Illustrated expects NC State’s Al Freeman to be one of nation’s top impact transfers

Each college basketball preseason, Sports Illustrated’s Dan Hanner runs through a slew of different statistical projections based on his own system, which has proven to be pretty good. On Thursday, he turned to transfers and took a shot at projecting how many points per game each one will average this season. NC State’s Al Freeman is No. 2 on the list, with a projected average of 14.9 points per game.

Sam Hunt is also on this list (No. 37), and also projected to score in double figures (10.0). (Oh, and uh, Caleb Martin checks in at No. 5.)

That would be a career high scoring average for Freeman, but it’s easy to see why this projection is reasonable: first and foremost, he’s going to log a ton of minutes at the two-guard spot in NC State’s depleted backcourt. Second, he has already excelled at a high-major program (Baylor), and averaged in double figures (11.3) in his second year with the Bears.

A lot of minutes and a heavier workload than what he had at Baylor—also a likely result this season—makes 15 ppg or so a strong possibility.