Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
Dick Vitale has now joined the ranks of many other college basketball writers/announcers who have thrown out some early predictions for next season. Vitale’s predictions from today are in regard to which players he thinks will be frontrunners to contend for the National Player of the Year Award. Vitale mentions that the race is wide open, despite his favorites, while also conceding that though it’s nearly impossible to gauge the precise impact of a talented freshmen– Nerlens Noel is worth mentioning– though not as one of his candidates.
The race is pretty wide open. Last year, diaper dandy Anthony Davis was a dominant defensive performer as he walked away with most of the POY honors. This season, it is again possible for a freshman to come in and make some major noise.
Nerlens Noel of Kentucky and Shabazz Muhammad of UCLA come to mind. I don’t like to pick diaper dandies as my preseason player of the year. I thought it was unfair for Harrison Barnes of North Carolina to be on the AP preseason All-America team before he ever played a game at Chapel Hill.
Vitale then listed his three leading candidates, all of which showcase to me exactly how weak the overall landscape of college basketball will be next season: Cody Zeller (Indiana), Isaiah Canaan (Murray State) and Doug McDermott (Creighton). While all of those players are returning players who have had very successful college campaigns thus far, not a single one of those players is in the same echelon for me as Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, or some of the other super stars who have been the best player in college basketball in recent memory.
Would you have picked any of those players ahead of the top 5-10 players selected in this year’s NBA Draft? Perhaps you would have, but not with certainty. This year could be one of the more wide open in recent college basketball history. The freak athlete/super-star players just aren’t really there. A few freshmen have the potential, but they are unproven and do not come in with the same guaranteed feeling that say an Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist did.
I took one look at Vitale’s list and thought to myself, “those can’t be the 3 best options for that award next year.” And then I thought about it a little longer and couldn’t necessarily come up with a list much longer of players who were head and shoulders above the 3 on the list. Tom Crean might throw Will Sheehey on the list.
Who do you see as being the potential winners of the National Player of the Year Award in 2012-2013?
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August 17th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
I think Alex Poythress has a helluva chance to be a contender his offense is excellent and his defense is suppose to be pretty good we will see
August 17th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
I don’t like IU or Zeller, but you can’t deny the kid is a helluva ball player. He would have been a top 10 player easily maybe even top 6. I would have taken him PoY over at least 5 players in the top 10 in last years class. On that note I see Poythress being he most likely candidate from UK because I see Noel struggling some for the first month and half of the season and I believe that will hurt him a lot, also voters will probably compare him to Davis and that will hurt him also which isn’t fair.
August 17th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
2 read my mind!
August 17th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Cody Zeller is, at least on offense, going to be a star at the next level. He easily could have been top 5 last year. And yeah, we need to give NN time to develop, cause trust me he’s no AD, but that’s okay…and Doug McDermott is a beast too. Top two players in college BB could both be white, that prob hasn’t happened in awhile!
August 17th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
If a UK player gets the award, it’ll be Poythress, not Noel. But I think Zeller has gotta be the frontrunner.
August 17th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
I would of picked with certainty Zeller over Drummond, so I disagree. And I agree with almost everyone else on here – Poythress will have the best chance for UK.
August 17th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
5 – How about Adam Morrison/JJ Redick in’06?
August 17th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
I think the player of the year will probably end up being a freshman, but as a racer fan, I love the fact that Isaiah Canaan is in the discussion.
August 17th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
I can’t believe on this day that Joey Kovar “real world” died we would be talking about POY candidates. I mean Peyton at least has a chin strap beard and trashy dad so he has to be the early favorite!
August 17th, 2012 at 10:11 pm
screw dooky vee. little bandwagon ridin’ bitch
August 17th, 2012 at 10:40 pm
@ukbradsstith
What is this shit about “trust me” he is no AD and the kid has yet to play.
I actually agree he probably wont be as dominant as AD, only few have in the last Decade, but you do not know anything about Noel
people sound stupid when they act like they have watched them play 1 on 1 50 times……not to mention how quickly people forget how lost AD looked on offense besides dunks set up for him early last season
I love AD….but I also think Noel gets it and understands what it means to play at UK just from comments he has made.
August 18th, 2012 at 11:12 am
You let your hatred of IU blind you. Zeller is awesome and is fully deserving of being on this list. Had he come out to the draft last season, he would have easily been a lottery pick and possibly in the top 7 or 8.
August 18th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
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