Grant Sherfield (25) may be the most important player in Wolf Pack history, Joe Santoro writes. (Photo: Nevada Athletics)
How important is Grant Sherfield to the Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team? He just might be the single most important player in the school’s history.
The Wolf Pack can barely function without Sherfield. It certainly hasn’t proven it can win a game without him. The entire roster, as well as the coaching staff, suffers if Sherfield is not around. We saw it for three games recently when Sherfield was out with a foot injury. The Pack lost all three games, two of them by 11 and 17 points. The game before, when Sherfield played just 26 minutes and missed 11-of-12 shots, the Pack lost by 29 points to Utah State at home. The Pack averaged 59 points in those three games (57 if you include the Utah State game). Take a balloon and slowly let out the air. That was the sound that best describes the Pack season after those three games without Sherfield.
Sherfield came back three games ago and the Pack, heading into Thursday night’s game at San Jose State, is already on a two-game winning streak. They beat that same Utah State team, this time at Utah State, by 13 points when Sherfield played 37 minutes and scored 24 points. The Pack averaged 79 points in those three games with their point guard. Want a sound to describe the Pack season now? Think Los Angeles the moment Aaron Donald almost turned Joe Burrow into a pretzel in the final moments of the Super Bowl.
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There have been numerous important players in Wolf Pack history. In the last 60 years or so there has been Edgar Jones, Pete Padgett, Ken “Tree” Green, Alex Boyd, Nap Montgomery, Mike “Fly” Gray, Dwyane Randall, Marvin Buckley, Alex Boyd, Darryl Owens, Luke Babbitt, Armon Johnson, Faron Hand, Deonte Burton, about a half dozen on the NCAA tournament teams from 2004-07 and a half dozen more from the tournament teams under coach Eric Musselman.
Even the frustrating Len Stevens teams from the late 1980s and early 1990s had Kevin Soares, Owens, Matt Williams, Kevin Franklin, Ric Herrin and others. But keep in mind that most important player in school history doesn’t mean Sherfield is the best player in school history or the most talented. Far from it. But almost all of the great players mentioned above had two, three or more talented and productive players around them. Sherfield has a rollercoaster thrill ride named Desmond Cambridge, two or three centers (depending on their health) that play about half the game each and a bunch of guys who are more likely to turn the ball over or draw a foul than take a shot, let alone score.
Take Sherfield off the Pack teams of the last two years and, well, it would be the biggest hole on campus since the one that was dug in the early 1980s to build Lawlor Events Center.
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Sherfield is the rare great college player that makes everyone on the roster better. Desmond Cambridge wilted under the pressure of having to carry the scoring load during the three games without Sherfield on the floor. He averaged 16 points a game without Sherfield, connecting on just 21-of-61 shots overall and 9-of-28 threes. With Sherfield back the last three games (before Thursday night) he has averaged 25.7 points on 27-of-43 shooting overall and 17-of-26 threes.
Center Will Baker shot 14-of-34 overall, 12-of-25 inside the 3-point circle and 2-of-9 on threes without Sherfield. With Sherfield back he has been 17-of-25 overall from the floor, 16-of-20 on two-pointers and 1-of-5 on threes. He’s getting better shots and making more shots.
Without Sherfield for three games the Pack shot 61-of-152 from the floor (40 percent) as a team and with him the next three games it shot 88-of-167 (53 percent). Sherfield is a money player. Without him for three games the Pack was minus-4 in the second half combined. With him the last three games they have been plus-16. Most importantly, without Sherfield the Pack might not even win a single Mountain West tournament game. With him, they could win the Mountain West championship.
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There is a debate now about whether Matt Stafford, since he just won a Super Bowl, is a Hall of Fame quarterback. Stafford fans will point out that he is 11th in NFL history in completions, 12th in attempts, 12th in yards and 12th in touchdowns. Those Stafford supporters, of course, ignore the fact that Stafford is simply a product of the pass-happy era in which he has played his entire career (since 2009).
We offer you Carson Palmer, who is 14th in touchdowns and 15th in yards and Vinny Testaverde, who is 18th in touchdowns and 16th in yards and don’t forget Kerry Collins, who is 20th in yards and Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers, who are both in the Top 10 in both yards and touchdowns. Nobody would suggest that Palmer, Testaverde, Collins or even Rivers and Ryan are Hall of Famers unless, of course, they never saw a NFL game before 2010.
The Super Bowl victory does separate Stafford from those other pass-happy era stat compilers. But he’s not a Hall of Famer. Not yet.
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The biggest negative surrounding a possible Stafford Hall of Fame selection is that he was never considered the best quarterback in any season he ever played. He was likely not even one of the Top 10 in any of his seasons. Most seasons he wasn’t even one of the Top 15-20. He’s only made one Pro Bowl. He was never even in the discussion for Player of the Year. Heck, he wasn’t even the MVP of the Super Bowl he just won. He’s never even led the league in yards or touchdowns once. He’s only been the NFL’s Player of the Week three times. And he’s played 13 seasons. He’s a good quarterback. He’s not a great quarterback. If you go to the Hall of Fame you must be great.
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Stafford was literally horrible for much of the Super Bowl. If it wasn’t for Cooper Kupp, the MVP of the Super Bowl, nobody would even mention Stafford and the Hall of Fame in the same book, let alone sentence right now.
The Rams’ offense was pitiful for much of the Super Bowl. Over seven consecutive drives, from the second quarter to six minutes left in the game, they scored three points, punted the ball four times and Stafford tossed two interceptions. That’s a Hall of Fame quarterback in his finest hour?
Stafford, on his game-winning drive, was bailed out by two questionable penalties on the Bengals’ defense. He basically just flipped short passes to Kupp and Kupp simply refused to let his team choke away a Super Bowl at home against a seven-loss team that also wasn’t even playing well.
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Kupp, not Aaron Rodgers, should have been the Most Valuable Player of the NFL this year. If the Rams would have had Kupp three years ago they would have also won the Super Bowl they lost to New England.
Kupp had an incredible season this year, leading the league in catches (145), yards (1,947) and touchdowns (16). Jerry Rice only did that once in his amazing career. Before Kupp this year, the receiving triple crown had only been done 15 times by 11 players. Just three others (Rice, Sterling Sharpe, Steve Smith) have done it in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
Don Hutson of Green Bay inflates the receiver triple crown club, winning it five times in his career. But that is only because his team was one of the few that even bothered to throw the ball in his era (the 1930s and ‘40s).
Kupp, who played at Eastern Washington, carried Stafford this season, like he carried Jared Goff three years ago before missing the Super Bowl with an injury. He put the Rams on his back to win the Super Bowl on Sunday.
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The Rams certainly did not play like a Super Bowl champion for much of Sunday’s game. They had just 313 yards and 18 first downs on offense. Before the final drive it was 234 yards and 12 first downs. The Rams were just 6-of-15 on third down. They ran the ball for 43 yards on 23 carries. Stafford tossed two picks. The Rams nearly choked away a Super Bowl at home in a game in which they led by 10.
Sean McVay, like he did against New England three years ago, was looking once again like a coach wilting under the pressure until Kupp saved him on the final drive. The Rams are in the conversation as the Super Bowl winner who played the worst. But that award still goes to the Denver Broncos, who beat Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50. The Broncos were 1-of-14 on third down that day, had just 194 total yards and 11 first downs.
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The Rams, though, actually deserved to win the Super Bowl by at least 11 points instead of the actual 23-20 final. They missed an extra point and the Bengals’ final touchdown should have been wiped out by an obvious offensive pass interference penalty. Had Odell Beckham Jr., who was on his way to being named MVP, not blown out his knee the Rams likely would have won by 14 or more.
Joe Burrow proved he is not quite Super Bowl ready just yet. Burrow had a solid game, completing 22-of-33 for 263 yards and a touchdown without an interception. But he was sacked seven times (not all the fault of the offensive line) and didn’t put the game away when he had a chance. That’s what Super Bowl champions do. They win the game when it is right there in front of them. Ask Tom Brady. The Bengals did what most everybody expected them to do on Sunday. They scored 13 legitimate points. It’s the Rams that did their best to keep the game close all game long.
