Quote Originally Posted by SeattleUte View Post
I think Allen's progress owes a lot to Rylan Jones. In college basketball, PG is the dominant position on a winning team. To Allen's credit, he has heaped credit on Jones, calling him already the best PG in the conference. That's a stretch at this point, but I can't think of a Ute PG, for all the great ones we've had, including Miller, who had so successful a freshman season as Jones is having so far. It's a tough position to master.

Jones has been the most surprising development to me. I had low expectations for a point guard who was a star locally but now had to scale a huge transition. He also is evincing the iron will that is required of great point guards.
Allen also invested in his development in the off-season. Went to the coaches, asked what he could do to become better defensively, went on a diet, lost a bunch of weight (I mean, they talk about it every game). He's also the unquestioned leader on this team, which is just not something we've had in a couple of years. He's really embraced that role, which is nice to see. When you add all of that up and insert a true pass-first PG, Allen was ready to take a major step forward this season. It has really been enjoyable to watch.