MVC Player of the Year race

[tornado]

The Valley beat writers are already writing about who will be the Player of the Year -
Here's a couple such columns -- LINK -- LINK -- LINK --

I think there are only a few names even in the discussion this year - and FWIW, here's some thoughts

1- Marques Townes, Loyola - has ot be the frontrunner and unless Loyola collapses - it's his to lose - best player on the best team, 15.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 40.5% from 3-pt
2- Nick McGlynn, Drake - was the frontrunner when Drake got off to a great start, but now looks to be runnerup, 15.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg
3- Milik Yarbrough, ISU - still in the discussion but fading fast. If ISU wins out, he will be in the running, 16.9 ppg & 7.2 rpg

Remote chance - Phil Fayne (15.2 ppg & 6.0 rpg), Cameron Krutwig (14.4 ppg & 7.4 rpg), Darrell Brown, Jr. 15.1 ppg & 3 apg) -
BUT - in each of these cases, they are either the 2nd best player on their team or their team MUST run the table to get into the MVC race...

Other guys who may get votes but are too long shot to win: Armon Fletcher, Kavion Pippen, Tyreke Key, Tulio Da Silva,
-- Nick Norton (14 ppg & 6 assists) would have been in the discussion except he was injured after just one MVC conference game --

One other surprise - Indiana State's Jordan Barnes was on everybody's 1st Team until conference play started.
He was averaging 21 ppg against non-conference opponents, but since conference play started he is shooting poorly and
averaging under 11 ppg and has thus fallen out of the discussion.

[tornado]

well, you decide, but I think one of the Player of the Year candidates moved UP the rankings while one dropped way down tonight

Marques Townes had an average night - his team lost but he scored 15 pts - but had 4 turnovers
Nick McGlynn- Drake won last night, McGlynn had 10 pts, 13 reb
Milik Yarbrough did what Milik does, worst game of his career- team got whalloped at UNI- Milik went 1-7, just 2 reb, zero assists, 5 turnovers
Darrell Brown, Jr. had a superb night, he carried his team to a huge upset win scoring 21 and controlling the entire game

[tornado]

..
One other surprise - Indiana State's Jordan Barnes ...and has thus fallen out of the discussion.

two other players having surprisingly off-seasons....

ISU's Keyshawn Evans - avg just 8 pts, 1.8 rebounds and is a distant 3rd on his own team in assists at 2 apg.

and Loyola's Clayton Custer - who was everyone's preseason Player of the Year - hit just one basket last night and had ZERO ASSISTS
He is averaging 11.8 ppg, and only 2.4 assists. Townes and Krutwig have 156 assists between them while Custer has just 64.

Gotta hope if we catch those guys in St. Louis, that they don't catch fire..

[BUfan39]

While he likely doesn’t have a chance of winning the award... DB in my opinion has played his way into the conversation. I still think it is Townes’s award to lose but DB should be in the mix with McGlynn and possibly Krutwig. I think Milik has played his way out of the conversation in recent games. More importantly I think DB has a real shot at All MVC 1st team now.

[egib52]

While he likely doesn’t have a chance of winning the award... DB in my opinion has played his way into the conversation. I still think it is Townes’s award to lose but DB should be in the mix with McGlynn and possibly Krutwig. I think Milik has played his way out of the conversation in recent games. More importantly I think DB has a real shot at All MVC 1st team now.

I agree that DB is not likely to win it, but if he keeps up his strong play and BU somehow wins out, he will make it a real tough decision.

[Bradleyfan1]

We can hope. Win out and get 20 pts 5 or 6 assts and a few steals and its his , per game . Get to 30 once or twice. I dont care what he does , if we dont win out , he wont win it. Hes first team in my book.