Who will be the 2014-15 MVC Player of the Year?

[Cdizzle]

Do you really want to try to make the argument 27-3 WSU is definitively better than 27-3 UNI when they split the season series? Ok.

I believe UNI still outscored WSU in the head to head games as well...FWIW...which is nothing

Should've saved those points for the Evansville game...

[uniftw]

Do you really want to try to make the argument 27-3 WSU is definitively better than 27-3 UNI when they split the season series? Ok.

I believe UNI still outscored WSU in the head to head games as well...FWIW...which is nothing

Should've saved those points for the Evansville game...

[Wufan]

Xavier McDaniel, Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, and Dave Stallworth. It wouldn't surprise me to see Baker and Van Vleet up there in the future.

Isn't Cheese Johnson also in the rafters? At WSU, some say you have to achieve all-american status on some level to get a jersey retired, although I don't think there's a written policy anywhere. Cleanthony Early got some 2nd and 3rd team honors although some say he doesn't deserve it because he only spent 2 years at WSU. It will be interesting to see how it works out. My guess is it may be several years after these guys are gone before anything happens.

Cheese Johnson's number is NOT retired. Cleo Littleton owns the 5th Shocker jersey, not previously mentioned. The requirement is that you must be an All-American. McDaniel and Stallworth were both first team AAs. Carr was a third teamed and Cleo was an honorable mention. Cliff made some obscure honorable mention AA list as a sophomore. Cleanthony Early was on the major second and third team AA lists. Fred has been on some major third team and honorable mention lists already. Ron has yet to qualify. Cheese Johnson and Warren Armstrong were the two greatest Shockers to not be retired (no AA lists) followed by Aubrey Sherrod, who is probably quite similar in his resume to Ron Baker at present.

[Championz]

Do you really want to try to make the argument 27-3 WSU is definitively better than 27-3 UNI when they split the season series? Ok.

Can you please go back and find the words "definitively better" in my post? Instead of making things up, I'll go ahead and repeat what I said to the reading inept. I said over the course of an 18 game season, WSU has proven that they are the better team and thus Championz.

Do you actually make any points on your own or do you just come here to pick apart other people's posts?

[2livewu]

One thing not mentioned much and frankly a topic that usually hurts Uni is defense. I mean that when these awards are decided, too often defense is ignored or at least undervalued. Someone noted that Jesperson will probably be left off the newcomer team because his stats aren't that good, ignoring that he's a fantastic defender and his scoring etc is a bonus.

Tuttle is an average defender. Good but far from spectacular. Fred is an elite defender. For that matter, Baker is as well.

I have almost no doubt Tuttle will win the award. Baker and VanVleet will split voting. Tuttle and Fred have very similar stats. Fred is a better defender. As good a distributor as Seth is, Fred is substantially better.

As far as history goes, it's very unusual to find a POY that didn't come from the regular season champ.

The last 3 were Dougie in 11-12, Korver in 02-03 and Bryson in 00-01. I think everyone would agree Tuttle didn't have a Dougie/KK season. If he wins it will be like Bryson winning, except there was no one in the Valley as good as VanVleet back then.

I know Uni has had an amazing season, and it could get even better, and it may end up spectacular and Tuttle has been the leader. But he's not as good as Fred VanVleet and he's not as deserving. This will be an award given by the Valley fair play guild.

[valleychamp]

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/the_face_of_pacism_seth_tuttle

And no player is carving up his conference like him, either. At this moment, Tuttle is leading the MVC in both offensive rating and usage rate simultaneously. That’s Damian Lillard-type stuff. He’s the most efficient player while having the largest role in his team’s offense.

This is partly due to an assist rate that many point guards would admire. The 6-8 Tuttle has assisted on just under 30 percent of his teammates’ made baskets when he’s on the floor, the highest mark on the team. (And he’s on the bleeding edge of breaking my position algorithm for UNI.)

And that’s the problem for Tuttle. He plays on a team that averages 57 possessions per game, the second lowest figure (in raw terms) in all the land. He’s averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game, which are respectable numbers on their own. But given the possession handicap that Tuttle faces, his work has been much more impressive than the counting stats say. Someday the basketball public will overcome its bias against slow-paced teams, and we’ve made some progress, but there’s still a ways to go. Tuttle is doing more within his team’s offense than anyone in the country.

[uniftw]

FWIW, I would hope a point guard is a better "distributor" than a 6'9 center....

Nice to see the "MVC hates WSU" theories starting to come out on this topic though. It's been awhile since we've had a good one of those.

[valleychamp]

I think Fred is the best PG in the country and Ive said that for 2 years now. Tuttle has simply had a more impressive season and should be the POY.

[Cdizzle]

I do not understand the "led his team to a #10 ranking" argument.

Did one of the WSU players not lead their team to a #8 ranking?

[rlh04d]

FWIW, I would hope a point guard is a better "distributor" than a 6'9 center....

Nice to see the "MVC hates WSU" theories starting to come out on this topic though. It's been awhile since we've had a good one of those.

I'm not sure UNI's point guard is a better distributor than a 6'9 center under that criteria.