Can Varnado keep it going?

The overall quality of big men available in the 2010 draft appears to be shaky for the 3rd consecutive draft. One big who has been solid so far and could be a surprise if he can keep his great year going is Jarvis Varnado from Mississippi State. Varnado is a senior who started making a name for himself last year as one of the nation's best shotblockers. This year his numbers are up across the board, but all big men take a significant hit to their numbers once the conference schedules get going. Here's a look at Varnado's numbers from last year and so far this year. These are his 2-point pct and points, rebounds and blocks per 40 minutes:

Through 1/31: .606 17.8 13.8 6.8
Feb and March: .487 18.7 10.3 6.3
2009-10: .618 19.6 15.3 7.3

The decline isn't as alarming as it looks. It is fairly normal for big men to feast on weaker small college teams in the non-conference part of the schedule. This gap here is a tad more drastic than most though, especially in the FG pct. For Varnado the key to moving himself into the lottery will be keeping the decline to a minimum. Not an easy task in the SEC. It is also important to note that his improvement over his junior year have put his numbers at a level that it will take almost a complete meltdown to knock him out of round 1.
One more thing we need to find out about Jarvis Varnado is how big he is. The official MSU athletic site and ESPN have him at 6'9" 230. Every other site has him at 210. I'm never sure who to believe. It is possible that he put on 20 lbs over the summer and most sites are just late on updating this information. Then again, schools are notorious for exaggerating the dimensions of their players in hopes it will boost their draft stock. The difference between 210 and 230 is a huge one for a PF. The pre-draft measurements will tell the story and it could be the difference in whether Varnado is eventually a starting NBA PF or just an energy guy off the bench.