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#Post#: 119--------------------------------------------------
College Basketball Crackdown: Wooden Award Watch
By: Rrashid Date: February 15, 2013, 7:27 pm
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College Basketball Crackdown: Wooden Award Watch
Adeel Bari, ‘15
The NCAA men’s basketball season has been a roller coaster ride.
So far, fans have seen six top-ranked teams lose, 15 top ten
teams fall, and one top 10 team, The Kansas Jayhawks, lose three
straight games to unranked teams for the first time in over a
decade. With such great pool of breakout talent at this point in
the season, it’s hard to narrow down the candidates for the John
R. Wooden national player of the year award to merely three
players, but it is a task that I must (try to) fulfill.
The first candidate, Doug McDermott, is a forward for the
Creighton Blue Jays. He plays under head coach Greg McDermott,
who is also his father. McDermott is averaging 23.3 PPG (points
per game) along with 7.1 RPG (rebounds per game). He is
currently ranked 4th in the country in scoring, with numbers
that have been climbing for the past week and a half. If I were
to compare McDermott to a professional, I would say that he is
similar to Dirk Nowitzki. Standing at 6 feet 8 inches, McDermott
has an extraordinary perimeter game paired with exceptional post
moves. One aspect that he may need to work on in the future is
his defensive presence around the rim, as he is averaging less
than one block per game.
The second candidate for the prestigious award is Cody Zeller,
who won preseason player of the year title back in October of
2012. The Indiana forward/center is averaging 16.8 PPG and 8.3
RPG. Though his numbers are far lower than McDermott’s, Zeller
is currently leading the top ranked Indiana Hoosiers with
extraordinary energy and hustle. Zeller is the youngest of three
boys, and his two older brothers play professionally. Although
he has great college talent, one disadvantage of Zeller in the
future will be his short arms. Standing at 7 feet, Zeller’s
wingspan is a relatively short at 6 feet 9 inches, which will
make it harder for him to be successful in the low-post as he’s
introduced to bigger and stronger athletes this march in the
NCAA tournament.
The third candidate, and possibly the best of all three, is Trey
Burke. The guard for the Michigan Wolverines has filled up the
score sheet this year averaging 18.2 PPG, 8.3 APG and 3.0 RPG.
Earlier this season, Burke led his Wolverines to their first #1
ranking in over two decades, averaging almost 20 PPG up to that
point. In recent weeks, Burke has seemed to slow down a bit, and
so has his team. This past week, the Wolverines have lost both
of their games to Indiana and Ohio State. However, I predict
that Burke will lead his team to the final four this year due to
the wolverines’ unmatched depth and top notch floor general Trey
Burke.
It is definitely tough to predict what will happen in the next
month and a half in college basketball. Considering injuries,
hot and cold spells, and breakout performances, college
basketball may be the most unpredictable American sport. No one
knows what the future holds for the aforementioned three young
men, nor for their peers, so the only way we’ll find out who the
true winner of the Wooden award will be is to watch the award
ceremony in April. So make sure to tune in!
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