Who are the candidates for Player of the Year for 2013-14?

[Da Coach]

Just to get some talk going about the approaching 2013-14 season- Bradley's allowable 10 early practices start next week, and the first game in the Bahamas will be on August 12, less than 2 weeks from now, so we will soon have basketball to discuss.

Who are the top candidates for 2013-2014 Player of the Year?

Of the returning MVC players, the top 3 appear to be Walt Lemon, Jake Odum, and Cleanthony Early. These are the only 3 returning players from last year's 1st and 2nd All-MVC teams. One other non-senior was an honorable mention All-MVC last year, Desmar Jackson.

Cleanthony Early was Wichita State's leading scorer last season, and the next 3 leaders behind him all graduated (Carl Hall, Malcolm Armstead, & Demetric Williams), so he will be their leader and could be the first player to average 20 ppg in the MVC in many years.
Interestingly, Early did not receive a single vote for Player of the Year last year despite leading WSU in scoring. The only 2 returning players who received votes for POY are Jake Odum, who finished 4th in the voting, and Walt Lemon, who finished 6th (ahead of Carl Hall).
2012-2013 Player of the Year and All-MVC results-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/media/2012-13/mbasketball/2013%20All-Conference.pdf

Walt will be the Missouri Valley's leading returning scorer.
He could also be in the running for POY and may be able to up his average to 20+ ppg.

My prediction for the preseason honors are:

Player of the Year- Cleanthony Early

All MVC 1st team- Cleanthony Early (WSU), Walt Lemon (BU), Jake Odum (InSU), Desmar Jackson (SIU), and Seth Tuttle (UNI).

2nd team- Manny Arop (InSU), Christian Thomas (Loyola), Tyshon Pickett (BU ), Ron Baker (WSU), Nick Wiggins (WSU)

Freshman of the year- Milton Doyle (Loyola), or Shaquille Morris (WSU)

There are some other good transfer and freshman players coming into the MVC this season (many on ILSU), but I don't see many that will get immediate recognition on the Pre-Season selections.

Does anyone else have thoughts about who will be the best players this coming season?

[it's boogie time]

I have to agree that Cleanthony Early will be preseason POY. I assume he will have a shot at the next level.

[tornado]

we have the top returning scorer and 2nd leading returning rebounder in the MVC....SO I hope our two returning starters are in the hunt

and I hope the people who vote & choose the POY do not use as their criteria - "the guy most likely to have a shot at the next level"
It should be based ONLY on the contributions to his current team and in Valley play...which is why I believe Early was left off a lot of ballots -
I have to admit it is a little bit puzzling because Early is indeed a fine player but the vote was obviously taken before Wichita went to the NCAA
and in several games down the stretch as the Shox were chasing Creighton - Early was not as effective as maybe he needed to be
to get the MVP votes but he was 1st Team.

There's some hint that overall - top to bottom - the Valley may be returning less talent to start this season as we did last season -
I have no idea if that translates to a Valley that will be down this year but time will tell....
When we began last year - the Valley returned about half their top 15 returning scorers - this year it's only 1/3,
plus this year we only return two of our top nine FG accuracy shooters - last year we returned six of the top nine...
same holds true of our returning 3-pt shooters - we returned 8 of the top 10 last year, this year we return only 3 of our top 10 and none were starters

[SubGod22]

I'd be shocked if Wiggins makes 2nd team. If WSU gets a third, it would most likely be either Fred Van Vleet or Darius Carter.

I expect Doyle to win FOY.

[tornado]

I expect Doyle to win FOY.

since Doyle played in exhibition games after enrolling at Kansas in the fall of 2012 - then he transferred to Loyola..
does he have 4 years left to complete 3 seasons of athletic eligibility or
does he have 4 years left to complete 4 seasons of athletic eligibility?

This column seems to imply that he might have been deemed ineligible after enrolling so that like a mid-year transfer - he'd lose that year of eligibilty

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-29/sports/ct-spt-0830-prep-bkb-blog-doyle-20120829_1_milton-doyle-loyola-coach-porter-moser-sessions-of-summer-school

BTW - in those four exhibition games Kansas played - they went 1-3 but played the games as exhibitions with everyone getting some playing time - so what were Doyles numbers/stats in those four games?

[tornado]

answer - Doyle played in all four games

4-8 overall, 1-3 from 3-pt, did not go to the FT line
He had a total of 3 rebs zero assists 5 TO, 9 pts
for a 4-game average of 2.25ppg, 0.75 rpg, 0 apg

[tornado]

...
Freshman of the year- Milton Doyle (Loyola), or Shaquille Morris (WSU)

An NCAA ruling yesterday might affect Loyola's Milton Doyle...

NCAA ruled on a player at Old Dominion and effectively "took away" an entire year of eligibility for doing exactly what Doyle did...
The ODU player in question, Donte Hill, played only in an intrasquad scrimmage in 2010, similar to our Red-White scrimmage, and then transferred, but NCAA considers it a full season of eligibility used.

Doyle played in a few preseason exhibition games at Kansas before leaving and transferring to Loyola...
BUT - NCAA now rules that counts as a full season of eligibility used - and so if the same ruling applies to Doyle - he is NOT a freshman but a sophomore...and thus not eligibile for FOY

"The NCAA rules on eligibility state if a player suits up to represent
his school in any season, that counts as a year of eligibility."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/ncaa-denies-odu-swingman-donte-hills-appeal-for-another-year-of-basketball-eligibility/2013/08/15/e1a890ca-05fd-11e3-bfc5-406b928603b2_story.html

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/colleges/dp-spt-odu-hill-appeal-deny-20130815,0,3787382.story