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All things considered, I really think Trey Green has slipped under the radar. Ranked as high as 55 on ESPN, Green’s a consensus four-star, Top-100 talent who could have a huge role on a Xavier team with nine newcomers. So, let’s see what he’s bringing to the Musketeers in his first season.
Trey Green’s jumper is absolutely excellent. He’s a score-first guard, and his jumper is how he gets most of his points. He’s a microwave scorer, able to heat up quickly, and once he gets going, he’s hard to stop.
He has a high release point, gets his jumper off really quickly and elevates pretty high, making it tough to block. His jumper is butter, he’s definitely one of the best shooters in this high-school class, and with how quick his release is, I think his jumper will be a weapon the second he steps on a college floor.
Man, he loves that lob pass. He threw quite a few, and with the level of athletes that his teammates were, that pass was perfect for his teams. Green throws some pretty flashy passes as well, which always draw “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd. Once he got downhill, he set up his teammates very well and that’s something that should translate to the college game.
I think as Green’s college career moves along, he will get better at finishing inside, but that’s something I think he might struggle with on day one. I love his floater game, and obviously, you have to provide some resistance inside or he will just convert an easy layup, but I’d imagine a lot of teams will go over the screens he gets and force him to make a play inside. Still, he will turn this into some easy layups and you have to respect his floater, otherwise, it’s two easy points.
This could have been partially due to the game plan his team had, since they had a couple of the better shot-blockers/athletes in this high school class, Green could have just been forcing guys inside. I’m very interested to see how he defends at Xavier because his aggression was fun to watch. If he’s pressuring the ball against some teams in the Big East, it could lead to some really fun moments.
There were also a couple of times when the opponents tried to bury/bully him inside and it just didn't work. He got switched onto Chris Livingston (6'6" wing, Milwaukee Bucks draft pick) in one game, and contested his shot perfectly, leading to a bad miss from Livingston.
Green is such a dynamic scorer, that at times he thinks he could do almost anything. It would get him stuck, and there are times when he makes 90% of a good play just to force a bad shot or pass that he didn't need to. He's an effective creator and certainly makes something out of nothing at times but in others, the help comes and he forces a play that he just didn't have to.
What's His Role?
It’s hard to determine what position/role Green is going to play. On his AAU team, he was backing up PG Jordan Ross (St. Mary’s commit) at PG but they’d also use him off the ball whenever Ross was in. At Prolific Prep, he played almost exclusively the 2, because they had five-star Point Guard Aden Holloway (Auburn commit). When he played at Link Academy, he was exclusively the backup PG.
All that to say, I think he will be used both on and off the ball at Xavier. I think he’s good in both roles, but probably more comfortable on the ball offensively, and certainly more comfortable defending opposing point guards. He’s a score-first PG, but that seems to be the archetype that Miller wants at his PG, judging by the fact that his last two PGs as a college coach were James Akinjo (Georgetown transfer to Arizona) and Souley Boum, both score-first guys.
However, if Claude takes a step up as a ball-handler, and McKnight can run this team, Miller will probably use him off the ball, and let him come off of some screens for some good looks, like Green does here:
More
I watched a couple of games, as evident here, so just wanted to add a little more perspective. In the game against IMG, Blue Cain was the best player on the floor. IMG really smoked Prolific for three quarters, and just about everyone on the Prolific Prep squad looked bad.
Then the fourth quarter hit, and Prolific turned up and made this game really competitive. Prolific started to press, and Green really thrived when the game got chaotic. That's why there are so many clips from the end of that game, Green really locked in and made some nice passes, got steals and finally got his jumper going.
Green's AAU team won Peach Jam in 2022, and Green was a stand-out for them. Green was one of the best performers on the entire EYBL circuit a season ago. Green came off the bench and was really impactful, particularly in a game against NH Lightning, who's headlined by Elliot Cadeau, a five-star UNC commit. Green looked excellent and really got going, hitting multiple clutch shots. He really thrived in that sixth-man scoring role, which I think he can translate to his time at Xavier.
Overall
He’s a dynamic scorer that will be getting buckets from day one. I’m expecting him to be that microwave scorer of the bench, the Lou Williams role if you will, at least early on in his career. I think we will learn more in Xavier’s upcoming foreign tour about exactly what role Green will play. I'm expecting him to play a decent chunk of minutes, and have a legit role for this Xavier team on Day One. His shooting is a given, let's see what else he can bring to the table for the Musketeers.
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