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A BE POY wager senario was discussed here preseason.... Gillespie/Zeg vs "the field" or a Nova player vs "the field", and it was pretty much agreed that the field would be the losing bet. Now things appear to be shifting.

David Duke look every bit the part, and then some, on Sunday. If PC can end up being a tournament team he will certainly challenge... heck, even Big Nate could muscle into the conversation if the Friars finish strong.

Same goes for Bouknight. He has quickly proven that he's up to the challenge that the BEast presents...if fact, it looks like he can do practically anything he wants out there. If the Huskies can place somewhere near the top, he will garner strong consideration.

I might be the only one here that had Scruggs as a serious contender, and in the Marquette game he looked the part. But, it does not appear that he can shake the inconsistency that he has shown in the past. Looks like he may end up the BE assist leader and really takes care of the ball but he simply cannot consistently find enough shots to score at the top AND X will be lucky to finish .500 in league.

Mamu? Maybe, if he can approach 10 RPG because his scoring will not be a problem but the Hall has to challenge for the top spot.

Granted the BE regular season champs' best player will have the edge, and no reason to think it won't be VU or CU, so the 2 preseason favorites are going to be there. And who knows how ridiculous JRE's numbers will be when the smoke clears!

Agreed that the conversation is shifting.

BOUKNIGHT has to be leading the PoY race, he's having a grreat year thus far...technically UConn is tied for 3rd w Nova - given that Cr8n and the Hall are percentage points ahead of 3-game Nova.
Of course that will change once the Radnorites finally begin playing again. Zeg is finally beginning to round into form. Gillespie needs to play. Scruggs/Duke/Carton?

Mamu and the Hall are technically 2nd at this point and no reason to think that they will not hit their stride. Mamu's a good bet.
X has found their mojo...I do not expect them to fold up their tent. They will continue to be in the mix. Their Feb games vs Nova are worth marking your calendars.
Marquette still has time to make a run and reverse their L/W/L cycles. Prov? That's for Fanta and NovaChap...lovers of Cooley & Co.

so let's see? Cr8n, Hall, Nova, UConn, X, Marquette. That's 6... enough for now. Probably the 5-6 that make the dance also.

So if I am following this thread correctly POY will come down to: Bouk, Z, Gillespie, Duke, Mamu, JRE, Watson or Scruggs.

In other news, water is found to be wet.

It will be someone whose team finishes top 5. That's why Julian C. from SJU is out. Kid, though, is really, really good. BUT, let's just say that if SJU rights the ship and turns things around and goes on a 6 game winning streak to get to the top half of the league, he's got a shot. All the others are "in contention." Lots of games yet to be played. In other words I'm not sure you can start handicapping anyone at this point. I mean Bouk or Mamu? Duke or Scruggs? Gillespie & JRE are only 3 games in, so I wouldn't be able to tell you which of those two have a better shot (but I would bet Colin G.) For those forgetting, Mr. Gillespie's excellence so far. 3 games, 15 A, 3 TO's, shooting 13/22 (59% from 3). 19.3 PPG. So there's that...

Problem with Creighton as well as probably Nova is that no one on the team will produce huge numbers. The scoring is balanced out by 3-5 players. Zegarowski's numbers will probably be pedestrian compared to what Bouknight/Mamu produce so it will be interesting to see how numbers are balanced out with regular season championship.

Bouknight out with elbow surgery?

GumbyDamnit! wrote:So if I am following this thread correctly POY will come down to: Bouk, Z, Gillespie, Duke, Mamu, JRE, Watson or Scruggs.

In other news, water is found to be wet.

Yes, obviously the POY will come from this group barring something crazy. What I meant by "conversation shifts", is that legitimate competition has emerged. Remember, Zeg and CG were top 10 players NATIONALLY on most preseason lists, with Z in most top 5's....strong favorites to win the BE award. Even though stats are somewhat limited, Gillespie is not going anywhere and there's nothing wrong with Z's numbers. Both guys are invaluable to their teams, but I think POY is different than MVP.

Watson is putting together a solid case. Model of consistency.....has scored in double figures EVERY game thus far at a 19+ clip and his percentages are very strong across the board. Plus he rebounds at roughly 8 PG. His fouls are way down and doesn't turn it over much, so his usage has skyrocketed.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... melog/2021

Today's games on Big Fox could very well yield some separation....too bad Bouk is out.

So here we are two weeks later... Bouknight unfortunately may be out for a bunch of games. Scruggs is on a pause. Duke and Watson putting up numbers but they are below .500. Z starting to get his legs but the best player on that team has probably been Mahoney. Carton and Champagnie both studs on losing teams. Mamu is playing really well. I think Gillespie has been outstanding (homer, I know). So if I were handicapping it I’d set the following lines:

Mamu & Gillespie +300
Z +450
Scruggs, Duke & Watson +600
Bouknight, Mahoney +1000
Carton, Champaigne, JRE +1500

But lots of games still to come. I’m guessing Bouk is out prob another 5 or 6 games. Missing 1/2 the year will be tough to make a case even if he comes back on fire.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:So here we are two weeks later... Bouknight unfortunately may be out for a bunch of games. Scruggs is on a pause. Duke and Watson putting up numbers but they are below .500. Z starting to get his legs but the best player on that team has probably been Mahoney. Carton and Champagnie both studs on losing teams. Mamu is playing really well. I think Gillespie has been outstanding (homer, I know). So if I were handicapping it I’d set the following lines:

Mamu & Gillespie +300
Z +450
Scruggs, Duke & Watson +600
Bouknight, Mahoney +1000
Carton, Champaigne, JRE +1500

But lots of games still to come. I’m guessing Bouk is out prob another 5 or 6 games. Missing 1/2 the year will be tough to make a case even if he comes back on fire.

Good assessment Gumby, my preseason bet looks like a loss right now but THE BISHOP is still my personal MVP, even with the true freshman Kalkbrenner outshining him at his own position sometimes!

GumbyDamnit! wrote:So here we are two weeks later... Bouknight unfortunately may be out for a bunch of games. Scruggs is on a pause. Duke and Watson putting up numbers but they are below .500. Z starting to get his legs but the best player on that team has probably been Mahoney. Carton and Champagnie both studs on losing teams. Mamu is playing really well. I think Gillespie has been outstanding (homer, I know). So if I were handicapping it I’d set the following lines:

Mamu & Gillespie +300
Z +450
Scruggs, Duke & Watson +600
Bouknight, Mahoney +1000
Carton, Champaigne, JRE +1500

But lots of games still to come. I’m guessing Bouk is out prob another 5 or 6 games. Missing 1/2 the year will be tough to make a case even if he comes back on fire.

I'd put Mamu level with Zegarowski rather than Gillespie simply because Nova has the inside edge on the regular season title due to a 3 game lead over CU and SHU in the loss column. It doesn't always matter but being on the regular season champ often seems to be a significant edge in the POY race.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Mamu & Gillespie +300
Z +450
Scruggs, Duke & Watson +600
Bouknight, Mahoney +1000
Carton, Champaigne, JRE +1500

I would bet on a Nova player, but what if the Cats only play half the conference season?