Early discussion of MVC Player of the Year

[tornado]

The outcome depends somewhat on how each candidate's team finishes...as can be seen in all the early talk of how great
Reed Timmer (18.7 ppg, 1st in MVC & 47.2% 3-pt shooting, 6th) has been doing - but Drake may fade and that talk could die down...
But if Drake remains a contender then Timmer could be at the top of the discussion for POY.

Of course Missouri State's Alize Johnson will be in the discussion- he is averaging 15.2 ppg (7th) and 11.4 rpg (1st) and
if he carries his team to a top finish the Player of the Year award is really his to lose...

Here are a couple other players who have been impressive or who are coming on strong..

-Milik Yarbrough (17.6 ppg- 2nd, 5.4 rpg-13th, 4.8 apg-2nd) has already won the Player of the Week twice and Newcomer award 3 times, and has single handedly taken over a couple games and led ISU to wins. Right now, it appears he, Timmer & Johnson are the 3 strongest candidates with anyone else yet to fully prove themselves.

-Evansville's Ryan Taylor (19.4 ppg in MVC play, 42.3% 3-pt shooting) and Indiana State's Jordan Barnes (17.2 ppg in MVC play & 46.5% 3-pt shooting) are both coming on strong but they have to overcome their teams' poor Valley starts.

-Northern Iowa's Bennett Koch, Bradley's Darrell Brown, Jr., ISU's Keyshawn Evans, and Valparaiso's Tevonn Walker are all among their own teams' leaders, and will likely get votes, but barring an amazing run between now & end of February, I think all of them have way too far to go to move into the discussion for Player of the Year.

-One last guy I am hoping can move into the discussion.........Bradley's Donte Thomas. Right now his season numbers of 10.0 ppg & 6.3 rpg won't impress many of those who do the voting, but if he pieces together a string of games like the SIU game (22 pts & 7 reb) or the Valpo game (19 pts, 12 reb) then I think he has an outside shot.
His MVC numbers (13.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 65.8% FG pct.) are among the best in conference play.

[Bradleyfan1]

Johnson is a lock. Long as they finish top 3.

Best chance at catching him is Yar. But losing at home to the Ramblers didn??™t help . They are the 2 best in the league.

Annnnnnnnnddddd there??™s ALOT of hoops to be played.

I believe in DT. I??™m glad you mentioned him. He??™s gotta put up 20 and 10 type #??™s the rest of the way and we gotta win. Child??™s too and win FOY . DBJ is capable of being first team. If these things happen. Then Coach Wardle is a shoe in for COY. #themovement

[tornado]

Back to the discussion of Player of the Year... and now that we see which teams are at the top of the standings I think a few of the previous guys in the discussion can be eliminated.

I think the top 5 vote-getters will be Alize Johnson, Milik Yarbrough, Clayton Custer, Kavion Pippen, and Reed Timmer - with Pippen & Custer moving up a notch as of late - all of whom are leading their teams into the top spots in the MVC.

I think Ryan Taylor, Darrell Brown & Donte Thomas still have an outside chance - but they need to turn on the afterburners and lead their respective teams to a 5 game winning streak between now & March 1st

The other names that had been mentioned - Bennett Koch, Tevonn Walker, Jordan Barnes, Brenton Scott, Phil Fayne are really longshots now.
Two other guys who were named 1st Teamers in the preseason, Donte Ingram & Aundre Jackson and 4 who were 2nd Team- Thik Bol, Tevonn Walker, Klint Carlson, Phil Fayne - probably will get outvoted and miss the 1st Team ballot - altho Barnes, Fayne & the Loyola guys could get 2nd Team

So, I think someone from the top team is going to have to be in the 1st Team All-MVC, and right now Custer gets that nod hands down (57% FG shooting!). Then Johnson, Yarbrough, Pippen & Timmer appear to have a solid grasp on the other 4 slots on 1st Team...altho both Pippen & Timmer could lose ground if their teams slide in the final 5 games.

As for the POY- in MVC stats, Alize Johnson is 2nd in scoring and leads by a huge margin in rebounding, so I think it's his to lose.


One last thought, Elijah Childs has a shot at All-Defensive Team based on his rebounding (8th in MVC) and blocked shots (2nd in MVC)