ST. LOUIS  -- Javon Bess has been out of the Columbus area for awhile now, but enjoyed a phenomenal high school career prior to his time in college. Over his storied career playing both for Pickerington Central and Gahanna, his accolades included a state championship as a sophomore, a honorable mention all state selection as a junior, and was named co Division I player of the year in the state of Ohio as a senior.

After his outstanding high school career, Bess embarked on the next chapter in his career, playing two years at Michigan State. He was never really handled properly at the program and after two years struggling to find a fit in East Lansing, he sat out a season and transferred to Saint Louis.

While the Billikens do not nearly have the same reputation as the Big Ten powerhouse, they were one of the better mid major programs early in the decade and have went through a rebuilding period over the past four years. However, they prioritized the former high school stud and Bess has enjoyed tremendous success in his junior and senior seasons within the program.

In the latest installment of College Film Room, I will be breaking down Bess’ impact to the Saint Louis team on the offensive end, but mainly on the defensive end where he should be regarded as one of the best defenders in all of college basketball.  

Bess is the Billikens' leading scorer averaging 15.7 points per game.  A majority of his points come off spot up situations where he is a solid shooter. He shoots 36 percent from beyond the arc on a hearty six attempts per game, and is the only starter on his team that shoots above 30 percent from deep.

This floor spacing value is crucial to his team as Saint Louis is forced to face a majority of zone defense in their games with most of their players thriving as drivers and finishers down low.

Here you can see Bess extend his shooting range within the zone well beyond the collegiate three point line. This type of range forces opposing teams to constantly shade him since he is the only shooter for the Billikens that can hurt an opposing team. Along with forcing the top of a zone to play farther up which makes it significantly easier to attack the middle of the zone.

You can see this value come to fruition here within the Richmond zone. All the attention on this possession is drawn to Bess. Being double teamed in the deep corner and then drawing the complete attention of two Richmond defenders on the strong side of the ball. This offers an opportunity to make an elementary pass into middle of the zone and his teammate converts on an easy drive to the hoop for a layup.

At 6-foot-5, Bess has an outstanding frame along with tremendous length that help aide him as an on ball defender. He plays with an aggressive mentally and is tasked with guarding the opposing team's best player game in and game out. Here’s a look at some of the most productive scorers that Bess has guarded this season and how they have fared against him.

Bess is a multipostional point of attack defender on the ball. He applies his strength well in this area of the game, welcoming contact from the offensive player and throwing his matchup off their spots with his frame.

Here he is muscling up with the smaller guard in Butler’s Kamar Baldwin, staying with the speedy guard off the dribble, and negating his speed with his physical brand of defense.

On top of guarding lead guards with elite quickness, he can also guard high level collegiate wings. Like Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle, who is a finalist for the Julius Erving Award going to the best small forward in collegiate basketball.

On this next pair of clips, we see both a block and a steal on the ball against the Pac 12’s second leading scorer. The first is a block where Bess gets beat off a poor initial reaction, but he recovers quickly on the ball and applies his length nicely to come up with a block at the rim. In the second, Bess shows off his active hands on the defensive end of the floor picking Tinkle’s pocket easily on his crossover in the second.

While Bess is a tremendous on ball defender, he is also fantastic off the ball. He is an instinctual and smart team defender that can affect the game defensively in more ways than just guarding his man. Being a standout off ball defender is extremely difficult, it requires a high IQ, great instincts, and lightning quick reaction time. The Billikens will occasionally like to run a 1-3-1 halfcourt zone trap is quite unorthodox from a Division I collegiate program. There’s a ton of holes in this defense that makes it wildly risky if you cannot force a turnover.

However, Bess makes it possible working within the bottom of the zone. This play may not look like much to the naked eye, but it highlights his activity working within the bottom of this zone trap off the ball. It’s easy to see some of the areas that can be exposed within this defense like both deep corners and the short corner weakside, Bess takes away every single passing opportunity with his instincts moving throughout the zone, and eventually comes up with the steal that would have turned into a fast break opportunity if the foul was not called.   

This possession against Fordham is amazing because it highlights his awareness as a weakside defender in a man defense. Watch how Bess always stays engaged to both what’s happening on the strong side of the floor and his man, then bumping his man cutting to prevent an easy look at the hoop. Then reacts to the roll man from the weak side and puts himself in an easy position for another steal after his teammates blitz the ball screen late in the shot clock.

In this next clip, you can see Bess’ lightning quick recovery speed making a simple rotation within the zone. This type of recovery speed off the ball would translate well to closeouts onto shooters combined with his quick reaction time. Once again forcing the turnover for his team.

Bess was not the typical College Film Room study, in other previous breakdowns most players have really made their impact on the offensive end of the floor. Despite being his team's leading scorer the defensive end of the ball is where the senior really shines. His prowess both on and off the ball is essential to his team's defensive success.

With an atrocious offense that ranks in the seventh percentile in PPP per Synergy, they really on their defense to win games. The Billikens rank in the 83rd  percentile in opponents points per possession and are the third best defense in the Atlantic 10 Conference in that stat. There’s very few players you will find in collegiate basketball that possess a full off ball defensive profile with his reaction time, quick decision making, recovery speed, and instincts.

Off ball defensive ability is a crucial component to collegiate scouting. With just a fast paced game involving various quick hitting offensive actions, players need to be able to make knee jerk reactions off the ball in order to be a great team defense. If Bess can continue that trait into his as a senior with strong mesurables, I would not be surprised to see him get an NBA Summer League invite once he finishes his career at Saint Louis as a three and d flyer. He does need to improve the balance on his pull up jump shot and being able to make passing reads off the dribble once attacking the lane.

Regardless of his success on that level, Bess will be making a good amount of money playing basketball in the future, but it will mainly be centered around his defense both on and off the ball.

Nick Muszynski (RS Fr. C, Belmont)

Jason Carter (RS So. F, Ohio)

Braden Norris (Fr. PG, Oakland)

Datrey Long (Fr. G, Urbana)

PHOTO CREDIT: SLUBILLIKENS.COM