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Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick is awesome, again, vs. UConn. When will we notice?

Sean Kilpatrick, Corey Allen Jr.

Cincinnati guard Sean Kilpatrick (23) drives past South Florida guard Corey Allen Jr. (4) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

AP

Sean Kilpatrick, Corey Allen Jr.

Cincinnati guard Sean Kilpatrick (23) drives past South Florida guard Corey Allen Jr. (4) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

AP

One of my favorite twitter feeds to follow is @NoEscalators. It’s run by a group of UConn fans who (I’m assuming) imbibe an adult beverage or nine during Husky games and let loose with often hilarious -- usually quite vulgar -- analysis of the game.

Once in a while, however, the feed is actually quite insightful. Take, for example, this tweet:

Confidential to UConn: literally no one but Kilpatrick can score for Cincy.

— We Take The Stairs (@NoEscalators) February 7, 2014


Now, it’s not totally accurate. Justin Jackson has developed a bit of a face-up game. Ge’Lawn Guyn is starting to make threes a bit more consistently. Shaq Thomas and Titus Rubles and Troy Caupain are all capable role players.

But that’s what we in the business like to call picking nits.

For all intents and purposes, No. 7 Cincinnati really only has one option on the offensive end of the floor, and that would be their leading scorer Sean Kilpatrick. The 24-year old New York native lit up No. 22 UConn on Thursday night, finishing with 26 points, 12 boards and six assists. He finished 8-for-15 from the floor, and while it may not be entirely accurate, if felt like each one of those eight field goals was a massive, momentum-changing shot.

Safe to say, it was Kilpatrick that was Cincinnati’s MVP in their 63-58 win on Thursday. He’s been their MVP the entire season, averaging 19.4 points, 4.2 boards and 2.3 assists as the primary offensive option on a top ten basketball team that is 21-2 on the season, 11-0 in the AAC and undefeated outside of a two-game losing streak they suffered in the second week of December.

That’s impressive.

But that’s not the most impressive part of his season.

Entering Thursday, Kilpatrick was using 27.8% of Cincinnati’s possessions with an offensive efficiency rating of 121.6. Now, I know advanced stats aren’t for everybody, so let me start off by saying that those numbers are, in a word, tremendous.

By comparison, Kilpatrick would be the third-most efficient scorer in the country for players that use 28% of their team’s possessions, notching him one spot in front of the Creighton’s Doug McDermott, who is the runaway favorite for the National Player of the Year award.

That’s before you factor in the 26 points he scored on 15 shots on Thursday night.

Now, McDermott is a much higher-usage player that Kilpatrick, but he also happens to find himself in a program that’s built around offensive efficiency. Cincinnati? They’re the nation’s 125th-best offense despite the fact that Kilpatrick is having the kind of season that he is having.

Maybe @NoEscalators is right after all: “literally no one but Kilpatrick can score for Cincy.”

And the Bearcats still look like a legitimate Final Four contender. Imagine where that offense would be without him. Imagine where Cincinnati would be without him.

Kilpatrick is having an unbelievable year, one that is worthy of heavy all-american consideration, and he just so happens to be peaking at the right time. In his last four games, he’s averaging 25.3 points.

Will that be enough for people to start noticing?

Follow @robdauster