Barrett soars
John Remus IIIThere is no doubting that junior forward Sefton Barrett is one of the most athletic players to ever wear a CMU basketball jersey.
And against Rochester College Saturday he showed why.
Barrett scored 14 points in just 18 minutes, but it was how he got the points that tells the story.
Eight of his points came on a variety of different dunks.
The breakaway and alley oops were the ones that stole the show.
“He has that rare athleticism like I had at Michigan,” said coach Jay Smith.
What Smith had at Michigan as an assistant coach was arguably one of the best starting fives ever assembled.
The Fab Five consisted of Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, Chris Webber and Juwan Howard.
Three of those players still play in the NBA.
But as Smith compares Barrett’s athleticism to the likes of Webber and Howard, he said he is not on their level as far as all-around game yet.
“His problem is not his athleticism,” Smith said. “His problems are two things, one he has to learn how to play through mistakes, and two he has to improve his decision making with the basketball.”
Barrett leads the team in points with 14.4 per game, but also in turnovers with 28 compared to just 14 assists.
He electrified the crowd with 14:16 remaining in the first half Barrett leaked out on the break and was tossed a pass from about half court from sophomore point guard Giordan Watson. The pass was under thrown so Barrett had to reach back and grab it with his left hand and windmill it through the basket.
The dunk gave CMU a 17-0 lead and forced Rochester College to call a time out.
“I went up and just tried to one-hand it,” Barrett said. “I really didn’t think I was going to get to it.”
