Retire the jersey right?
Ken Pomeroy, college basketball's top advanced metrics guru, has named UNC senior power forward Brice Johnson player of the year. KenPom uses a statistical formula to calculate a top ten and uses the entire season, including postseason play to determine the winner.
This accolade is the latest for Johnson during what ended up being a special season. He was named First Team All-ACC and was consensus First Team All-America and MVP of the East Regional.
Those accolades are a testament to how good Johnson was but a little historical comparison shows his season was statistically on the same level as Tyler Hansrbough's 2008 national player of the year campaign.
First the traditional stats.
| Season | Games | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | BPG | SPG | P/40 | R/40 | 2P% | FT% | 3P% | |
| Brice Johnson | 2016 | 40 | 28.0 | 17.0 | 10.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 24.2 | 14.8 | 61.4% | 78.3% | N/A |
| Tyler Hansbrough | 2008 | 39 | 33.0 | 22.6 | 10.2 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 27.4 | 12.4 | 54.7% | 80.6% | 0.0% |
And the advanced stats.
| Season | ORtg | %Min | %Poss | eFG% | OR% | DR% | ARate | TORate | Blk% | Stl% | FTR | |
| Brice Johnson | 2016 | 126.8 | 70.1 | 24.6 | 61.4 | 11.8 | 28.5 | 9.7 | 14.5 | 5.5 | 2.2 | 42.3 |
| Tyler Hansbrough | 2008 | 125.2 | 81.4 | 26.8 | 54.0 | 13.0 | 19.8 | 4.8 | 12.7 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 70.5 |
For the most part, the numbers are comparable. Johnson ended up being a more efficient player, better defensive rebounder, shot blocker and forced more steals. He also had a much higher assist rate and proved himself to be a solid facilitator in certain situations such as the win at Syracuse. Hansbrough scored more points per game and had a higher usage while being a better rebounder on the offensive end. It also should be noted Hansbrough tended to bigger scoring performances than Johnson.
| Gms | Double figures | 20s | 30s | Double-doubles | |
| Brice Johnson | 40 | 37 | 9 | 1 | 23 |
| Tyler Hansbrough | 39 | 39 | 24 | 3 | 19 |
Johnson did have three single digit games this season and only had nine where he scored in the 20s with just one over 30 points. Hansbrough had twenty four 20 point games in 2008 and three more that went over 30. Johnson on the other hand has more double-doubles. This chart speaks to what the above numbers showed. Hansbrough was a better scorer than Johnson but the latter was a better rebounder. Hansbrough's games provided more eye popping scoring totals but in the end, both players were models of offensive consistency. Each player had high offensive ratings and in Johnson's case, historically good defensive rebounding. In doing so both were the anchors to which their teams' successes were tethered.
