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Still Improving: Coen Carr Ranked Ninth-Best Small Forward in the Nation
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- Still Improving: Coen Carr Ranked Ninth-Best Small Forward in the Nation
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Being inside the top 10 among more than 300 participants is phenomenal praise. But if you think Carr sees that ranking and likes it, you'd be wrong.
Sports Illustrated ranked its top small forwards entering the 2026-27 season, and sitting ninth on the list, as the second-best Big Ten small forward, is Michigan State's Coen Carr .
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For context, the list is as follows:
1. Thomas Haugh — Florida
2. Tyran Stokes — Kansas
3. Milan Momcilovic — Kentucky
4. Amari Allen — Alabama
5. Shelton Henderson — Miami
6. Pryce Sandfort — Nebraska
7. Ivan Kharchenkov — Arizona
8. Juke Harris — Tennessee
9. Coen Carr — Michigan State
10. Tounde Yessoufou — St. John's
Carr, one of the most electrifying players in all of college basketball , was being put in mock drafts last year because people were expecting him to take an exceptional step forward. So much so that teams were looking to potentially pluck him away from Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
The ability to soar through the air like a majestic flying reindeer was in full effect last year, but the ability to consistently get shots to fall was more than just lackluster. It was putrid at moments.
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At one point early in the season, teams were giving Coen Carr 10 feet of room anytime he was near the perimeter. Carr saw that and got in his own head. He not only struggled, but got even worse.
Carr was able to get out of that thought process soon enough and ended up being one of the top shooters for a team that was desperate for any sort of shooting.
Still, even with Carr finding his shot later in the season, his overall stats were nothing to write home about. His field-goal attempts went up from 5.0 to 8.5, an increase of 3.5 shots per game, while his field goals made only moved up from 3.1 to 4.4, just 1.3 more makes per game.
His field-goal percentage dropped massively last year and has fallen every season. As a freshman, Carr shot .651. As a sophomore, he shot .611, and last year it dropped to a dismal .518.
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Though this article isn't here to talk about all the things Carr struggles with, because Carr isn't just a shooter.
He's a dunker — the nation's best one and possibly the best dunker college basketball has seen in decades. His freakish abilities are unmatched and make him must-see TV.
Carr still averaged 12.0 points per game, up four points from the previous year, while adding an extra 1.8 rebounds per game, going from 3.6 to 5.4 rebounds per game.
The hype train for Carr is rolling big time, but there's no doubt all eyes will be on Carr's left hand and how often it can spin the basketball into the net instead of just slamming it home.
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Carr will still out-jump and out-soar any and every opponent, and I think his ranking of ninth is fair. But if you ask Carr, who's been locked in the lab all offseason working on his shot, he might feel a bit undervalued by Sports Illustrated.
And if that's the case, he can use this ranking as motivation to prove he belongs at the top — and become the best small forward in the nation this year.
