Who's your POTY at the 1/2 way point?

[Raiderfan]

A lot can change in the last 8 games but if you had to pick a HL Player Of The Year who would it be. I've listed some stats to help everyone.

Scoring:
1.Westley CSU 16.7
2.McCants UWM 16.6
3.Schilb UL 16.4
4.Banks UIC 16.1
5.Wood WSU 15.4
6.Humphrey YSU 14.3
7.Tucker UWM 13.8
8.Lawerence G-B 12.6
9.Moss CSU 11.9
10.Rhode G-B 11.8

Rebounding:
1.Westley CSU 8.7
2.Tigert UWM 6.6
3.Radakovich YSU 6.1
4.Williams WSU 5.9
Tucker UWM 5.9
6.Bowen UIC 5.8
7.Flores G-B 5.7
8.Coville UDM 5.7
9.Schilb LUC 5.5
10.Wood WSU 5.4

FG PCT:
1.Polk Butler .614
2.Tigert UWM .564
3.Lawrence G-B .553
4.Flores G-B .525
5.Schilb LUC .506
6.Poole UIC .504
7.Westley CSU .500
8.Wood WSU .491
9.Stefanov UIC .489
10.Williams WSU .464

Assists:
1.Mendiburu G-B 7.38
2.Chavis CSU 4.25
3.Sheets Butler 4.12
4.Schilb LUC 3.89
5.Mends YSU 3.78
6.Wood WSU 3.74
7.Hill UWM 3.26
8.Redell CSU 3.26
9.Graves Butler 2.71
10.Banks 2.67
11. Williams WSU 2.53

Steals:
1.Chavis CSU 2.13
2.Wood WSU 1.84
3.Schilb LUC 1.68
Kou LUC 1.68
Humphrey YSU 1.68
6.Thues UDM 1.61
7.Banks UIC 1.50
8.Flores G-B 1.50
9.Tucker UWM 1.47
10.McCants UWM 1.42


Believe it or not their is only 1 player who is listed in the top 10 in all 5 catagories. It is a name I probably won't have guessed. Blake Schilb from Loyola. This kid does it all.

I'm going to list the stats for who I think is the top 5 choices.

Blake Schilb (Loyola):
3rd @ 16.4 ppg
9th @ 5.5 rpg
5th @ .506 FG PCT
4th @ 3.89 apg
3rd @ 1.68 spg

Westley (CSU):
1st @ 16.7 ppg
1st @ 8.8 rpg
7th @ .500 FG PCT

McCants (UWM):
2nd @ 16.6 ppg
10th @ 1.42 spg

Banks (UIC):
4th @16.1 ppg
10th @2.67 apg
7th @1.50 spg

Wood (WSU):
5th @ 15.4 ppg
10th @ 5.4 rpg
6th @3.74 apg
2nd @ 1.84 spg

Lawerence (G-B):
8th @ 12.6 ppg
3rd @.553 FG PCT

Tucker (UWM):
7th @ 13.8 ppg
4th @ 5.9 rpg

Williams (WSU):
4th @5.9 rpg
10th @ .464 FG PCT
10th @ 2.53 apg

Ok, I might have over looked someone but I think I covered all the top contenders. If you go on stats alone then your top 5 players would be.

1.Schilb 5 top 10 finishes
2.Wood 4 top 10 finishes
3. Westley 3 top 10 finishes but 1st in both ppg & rpg
4.Banks 3 top 10 finishes
5.Williams, Zach 3 top 10 finishes.

If you go by who the best players are on the top teams then you would probably end up looking at the following. I went with players from the top 3 teams.

1. McCants
2. Lawerence
3. Wood

If I had to pick today it would come down to Schilb & Wood with McCants finishing 3rd. Schilb is a complete player along with Dashaun but WSU is in 3rd place while Loyola is in 6th so if I had to decide today I would go with Dashaun Wood. This might be a homer pick but who and why would you take over Dashaun Wood. I'm sure you can make a good arguement for several other players so hear them.

My first team all HL:
Wood WSU
Schilb Loyola
McCants UWM
Westley CSU
Lawerence G-B

[Big D]

I think you can knock several guys off your list right from the git go. If your team is below .500, you don't deserve to be player of the year. Player of the year to me is the guy that is most imprtant to your teams success. Westley, for example is a great player. CSU sucks. If you took him out of CSU's lineup, they would still suck.

The 2 guys that stick out to me are McCants and Wood. I think Wood deserves it more, but I think McCants is going to win it. If you take Wood out of WSU's lineup, there is no way in hell we are anywhere near as good as we are now. If you take McCants out of UWM's lineup, they would still be a top 3 team in the HL. He isn't nearly as important to his teams success as Wood is. I don't think Wood is going to win because the coaches and media that vote on the POTY will favor an upperclassman from the top team in the conference. If we finish 1 or 2 in the HL, Wood will have a much better argument for POTY.

[bballraider]

The way I would pick a POTY is to take both the individuals statistics (lets say the 5 statistical categories Raider fan listed for this discussion) and the teams finish and try to give them the same type of weight. For the 5 statistical categories if a player finishes first he gets 10pts, 2nd-9pts, and so forth down to 10th place gets 1pt. This means that a player could get a maximum of 50 pts for indiviudal statistics if he finished 1st in all the categories. Now to give the same weight to how a team finishes I would give 10 pts for 1st place, 9 for second and on down to 2 for 9th place. Then since we are using 5 statistical categories I would multiply the points for the teams finish by 5, so that a player could get a possible 50 pts for his team finishing first. So each player could finish with a possible 100 pts., 50 for stats, 50 for team finish. If two players tie then I would use Big D's subtract a player from their team method and whomever I feel makes the biggest difference to their team, wins. So my tie breaker is the human part of every great formula (BCS for example) that makes it flawed or biased.

Right now this is how I would rank the top players.

1-a.) Wood - 21 stats, 40 team - total 61
1-b.) Tucker - 11 stats, 50 team - total 61
2.) McCants - 10 stats, 50 team - total 60
3-a.) Schilb - 31 stats, 25 team - total 56
3-b.) Lawerence - 11 stats, 45 team - total 56
4.) Z. Williams - 9 stats, 40 team - total 49
5.) Banks - 12 stats, 35 team - total 47
6.) Westley - 24 stats, 20 team - total 44


WINNER: DaShaun Wood in tiebreaker over Tucker. As UWM would still be near the top without Tucker, but WSU would be in trouble without DaShaun.

[Big D]

It would be nice if Wood won the POTY award. I definitely think he is worthy. I just don't see the coaches and media giving it to a sophomore, especially when there are a few seniors that have good arguments to be POTY. I am not positive, but I think Rashad Phillips won it as a sophomore (I think Detroit also won the HL that year). I can't think of another sophomore that has won it.

[Raiderfan]

bballraider, what a creative and probably one of the more unbias ways to select the POTY. Nice job! I love the logic behind your thought process.

I think for Dashaun to have a realistic chance we would have to finish 1st or 2nd in the HL or else McCants probably wins it because UWM finishes first and he is a senior. Even though your formula shows Tucker more worthy then his teammate McCants I can't see Tucker beating out McCants. McCants has more name recognition.

What is impressive is that some of the better players in the HL are sophmores like Wood, Schilb, & Lawerence. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Drew & Zakee, also sophmores, join this elite group as juniors & seniors.

[bballraider]

Big D, I only know of one sophomore that has one the POTY award, and it was before we were in the MCC. Alfredrick Hughes of Loyola either won or shared the award 3 consecutive year (82-3, 83-4, 84-5).
Two players have won the award 2 consecutive years (jr & sr. years), the latest being Rashad Phillips (1999-2000 & 2000-1), the other being Xavier's Brian Grant (92-3 & 93-4). There have been 2 players that won the award their jr. year only they were Darin Archbold of Butler (90-1) & Parrish Casebier of Evansville (91-2).

Link to HL and MCC award winners:
horizonleague.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110304aac.html

[Big D]

Thanks for doing the research on that bballraider.

[Outsider point of view]

Wood is a good point guard and very solid but i would doubt that ,many people outside of fairborn would even consider him a poy candidate. stats are not that important in my mind and i might even venture to say that zach is just as important to your team as dashaun - unless pleiman proves uic was not a fluke. i personally like joah tucker as my first choice, javier mendiburu as 2, ed mccants as 3

remember guys, brandon cotton is the best point guard in this league.

[Gotta agree]

Frankly, watching Wood play in person and on TV this year he has shown that he is very talented athlete who has a lot more to show us. Player of the Year candidate this year? No. In the future? Definitely. Especially if WSU continues its upward swing. When I think POY I think Mendiburu (yet a long shot), McCants, Tucker, and I will not count out Westly. Omari plays for a shitty team, but I have to say he has played the best out of any other player in the Horizon this year. If Cotton plays a full year, the award might have just been his. (Horizon league rules do not allow him to win the award.) Heres my list:
1. McCants (he will win it more for the name sake and UWM being the class of the conference this year)
2. Westly (great player with a great future ahead of him if he keeps his head on straight)
3. Schlib (amazing talent, like Wood will be a Horizon League elite player for the next couple of years)
4. Mendiburu (great prototypical point guard who at times carries his team. In other years would not make even the top ten yet Horizon League talent is way down this year.)
5. Tucker (probably better than McCants statisically, yet McCants is the man in Milwaukee)

[ggwsu]

I personally don't think their is any one "dominating" player in the Horizon League this year. Having said that I think that what ever team finishes first in League play will be where the player comes from.

If voting were today the winner would be McCants because Milwaakee is in first. I agree with some other posters that Tucker might actually be more deserving but McCants has more name recognition.

If Wisconson Green Bay wins the League then either Mendenburu or Lawernce wins.

If WSU finishes first (I know I am talking about a looooooong shot) then it goes to Wood.

I think next year Cotton comes into play but it will also require Detroit to perform well as a team. I personally feel like the POTY should come from one of the top teams.

Go Raiders!!

[keithfromxenia]

if cleveland state continues to come on and finishes strong then i think westley will win it. they don't need to finish at the top just finish strong. i have not seen anyone better this year. GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!!!!