NCAA Player of Year Watch: February 2012

With March Madness only a few weeks away, many of the country’s elite players have had to carry their teams on their backs heading down the homestretch of the ‘11-’12 college hoops season.

Players like Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, Michigan State’s Draymond Green, and Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom have given extreme effort in an attempt to get the highest seed possible come postseason play.

In our January POY Watch, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger held down the top spot, followed closely by Kansas’ Robinson and Baylor’s Perry Jones but with teams like Kentucky, Syracuse, and New Mexico making big pushes of late, look for a number of new top level players to move up based on production and team success.

Check out our NCAA POY Watch for February 2012:
New Mexico

12.7ppg, 11.1 reb, 1.2 stl, 1.2 blk, .512 FG%

Team Record – 22-4

Previous – NR

After transferring from UCLA to New Mexico after the ’09-’10 college basketball season, everyone was waiting for the former highly touted California high school prospect to show his immense talents.

Luckily for Lobos fans, Drew has decided to show out in his senior year by leading New Mexico to the Mountain West lead over San Diego State and UNLV, earning a lofty #18 national ranking.

Drew is one of the nation’s top double-double performers and has notched three games of 19 or more rebounds, including a dominant 27 point, 20 rebound effort against conference rival UNLV last weekend. He seems to come up big in key games, most noticably a 17 point, 17 board effort vs San Diego State and 13 points and 20 rebounds against Oklahoma State.
West Virginia

20.4 ppg, 11.3 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.1 blk, .528 FG%, .288 3PT%

Team Record – 17-10

Previous – NR

In his senior season under coach Huggins, Jones continues to put up monster numbers and is a bonafide Big East Player of the Year candidate, leading the conference in both scoring and rebounding.

Despite the Mountaineers losing 2 of their last 3 games and their NCAA Tournament hopes now on life support, Jones has been tremendous, scoring 20 or more points in 10 of his last 12 contests.

Jones ranks among the nation’s leaders in double-doubles with 18, notching three straight against big East foes Notre Dame, Louisville, and Pitt. He also is a warrior, playing 40+ minutes in 9 straight games. Although he falls in love with the 3 point shot, he has one of the best motors on the college level, and will undoubtedly will be an NBA player at this time next season.
Duke

15 ppg, 3.2 reb, 2.1 ast, .448 FG%, .398 3PT%

Team Record – 23-4

Previous – NR

After having a wildly inconsistent first two months of the season, Duke’s fabulous freshman has finally found his groove as the Blue Devils’ leading scorer and go-to-guy.

Rivers has scored in double figures in 10 straight contests including tallying a career high 29 points and sinking the game winning jumper to beat rival North Carolina back on February 8th.

Behind Rivers, Coach K and company have won 4 straight and 7 of 8 games to forge a three way tie atop the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into the final two weeks of conference play. No doubt the Blue Devils will need to rely on Rivers’ ever improving skill set to earn a #1 seed for March Madness.
Murray State

19.3 ppg, 3.8 ast, 3.3 reb, 1.4 stl, .484 FG%, .480 3PT%

Team Record – 26-1

Previous – Honorable Mention

Although the Racers finally lost their first game of the season against Tennessee State last week, it surely wasn’t Canaan’s fault, as the high scoring junior guard tallied 31 points and 6 rebounds in a losing effort.

Isaiah continues to be one of the under the radar elite level performers, dropping 20 or more points in 13 games, including topping the 30 point plateau 4 times.

He’s is also one of the nation’e elite perimeter shot makers, shooting nearly 50% from behind the arc. Isaiah has made five or more treys in 7 contests, including dropping 7 three point bombs on 3 different occasions.

Now that the Racers are an absolute lock for the NCAA Tournament, Canaan will be one of those match-up nightmares come March Madness.
Missouri

17.8 ppg, 5.2 reb, 2.3 ast, 1.4 stl, .461 FG%, .403 3PT%

Team Record – 25-2

Previous – 10

While teammates Ricardo Ratliffe, Kim English, Michael Dixon, and Flip Murray also deserve credit for the Tigers’ lofty #3 national rankings, Denmon is the rudder that steers the ship.

In his senior season, Marcus has exuded leadership along with being an all around stat-stuffer in aiding Missouri to the top of the Big 12 standings.

He has scored in double figures in every game except 4 this season, including scoring 20 or more 9 times.

Marcus was key in the Tigers winning 7 straight games and 11 of their last 12 contests to potentially be in the running for one of the four #1 overall seeds in the Big Dance.
Syracuse

14 ppg, 4.8 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.4 stl, .441 FG%, .371 3PT%

Team Record – 27-1

Previous – 9

As the leading scorer on the nation’s #2 ranked team, Joseph has shown an all around tremendous offensive game in helping the Cuse be firmly in the running for a coveted #1 seed.

While Fab Melo is the Orangemen’s defensive sparkplug, Joseph along with Dion Waiters have helped lead a balaced offensive attack by scoring in double figures in 23 games on the season.

Because he plays on such a deep and talented Syracuse squad, his talents sometimes get overlooked but has prototypical size to play SF in the NBA. Coach Boeheim relies heavily on Joseph and Scoop Jardine for senior leadership in their quest for a National Title.
Marquette

18.6 ppg, 3.4 reb, 2.9 ast, 1.1 stl, .451 FG%, .403 3PT%

Team Record -22-5

Previous – NR

Mainly because of Johnson-Odom and teammate Jae Crowder, the Golden Eagles are one of the pleasant surprises of the season, ranking in the Top 10 for most of the year and are currently resting firmly in 2nd place behind Syracuse in the rough and tuff Big East Conference.

Odom is undoubtedly the senior leader for coach Buzz Williams, and is a tough as any player in the country to guard one-on-one. Darius has scored in double figures in every game this season including 11 games of 20 or more points.

He can be absolutely deadly from behind the arc, connecting on 3 or more treys in a game 12 times on the year and is an outstanding man defender, usually locking down the opponents best perimeter threat. Look for Johnson-Odom and Marquette to be tough out in post-season play.
Ohio State

17.5 ppg, 9.2 reb, 1.4 stl, .554 FG%, .423 3PT%

Team Record – 22-5

Previous – 1

Although Jared continues his torrid individual statistical pace, he has slid a few notches on this week’s rankings because he couldn’t prevent the Buckeyes from losing several key contests against Big Ten foes Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan over the last month.

Individually, Sullinger has been a beast since shaking off some nagging injuries, notching 11 double-doubles on the season, including a monsterous 17 point, 16 rebound night in a losing cause to the Spartans.

While DeShaun Thomas, Aaron Craft, and William Buford all play a vital roll in the Buckeyes remaining a Top 10 team, only the play of Sullinger will determine just how far they go come the post-season.
Michigan State

15.4 ppg, 10.5 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.4 stl, .447 FG%, .386 3PT%

Team Record – 22-5

Previous – 6

As one of the most versatile players in all of college basketball regardless of position, not many players mean more to their teams than that of Spartan senior big man Draymond Green.

After shedding upwards of 40 pounds prior to this season, he has regularly gotten the best of his opponents from either the painted area or perimeter as he has exceptional 3 point range.

Green is among the nation’s leaders in double-doubles with 15 and has scored 20 or more points 7 times, including 3 of the last 4 against Big Ten foes Penn State, Wisconsin, and Purdue.

Draymond is also one of the NCAA’s best passing big men, dropping 4 or more dimes in 15 games this season. With 4 Big Ten contests remaining, Michigan State still has an outside shot at a #1 seed, mainly because of the play of Green.
Kentucky

13.9 ppg, 9.7 reb, 4.9 blk, 1.4 stl, .655 FG%

Team Record – 26-1

Previous – 4

As the nation’s unanimous top ranked shot blocker and the leading scorer and rebounder on the nation’s top ranked team, Davis has skyrocketed to #2 on our rankings for February.

Davis can make an instant impact on either side of the ball by either blocking or dunking everything in the painted area. While he initially was mainly a defensive oriented difference maker, he has shown an expanded offensive arsenal, scoring in double figures in 6 straight games. He also ranks among the nation’s leaders in double-doubles with 11.

On such a talented Wildcat team, obviously fellow freshmen Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and super sophs Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb also deserve mention, Davis will ultimately be the deciding factor of if Kentucky can win another National Championship.
Kansas

While some college basketball fans would probably have Anthony Davis in the top spot, I chose Robinson as the #1 selection this month essentially because he means more to his Jayhawks squad than any other team in the country.

Seriously, just how good would Kansas be without Robinson? Thomas is the guy opposing defenses gameplan for and if senior Tyshawn Taylor doesn’t light up the scoreboard alongside Robinson, the Jayhawks will struggle come March.

Robinson is arguably the most physical big man in college basketball and has been a match-up nightmare, notching an NCAA best 19 double-doubles. He’s this year’s version of Blake Griffin as he simply terrorizes opposing bigs and puts a hurting on breakaway rims.

Kansas has 4 games remaining on the Big 12 schedule and Robinson will undoubtedly be key in the Jayhawks making another run at a conference crown and potentially a #1 seed in March Madness.