Big East Player of the year race is heating up...

[scoscox]

Good points about Bentil, it'll be interesting. it's going to be interesting. Completely forgot about Martin, he'd definitely be in the conversation. Mo Watson would probably be in the conversation as well. It's a tough race.

[ChelseaFriar]

Ellenson is so nice to watch. His fundamentals are fantastic.

Also love Sumner's game, kid is going to be a star next year.

And what does it say about Cooley or PC that they might have the two best players in the league and finish under .500?

It says that his recruiting since the Bentil class has fallen off a cliff and he has issues with player retention (Chukwu, Fortune & Harris). Players 3-8 on PC likely do not start for DePaul. PC is very easy to defend as you focus 50% on one player, 40% on another player, and 10% on the rest of the roster. Give PC 1 of about 7 guys on Villanova and they probably finish Top 3. But that's on Cooley for recruiting issues and player retention issues.

That said, I posted in another thread that I think Cooley has had a terrible year in BE play for a variety of reasons, some of them maddening.

[MackNova]

While Watson, Ellenson, Bluiett, Martin and several others have had great seasons, I think it's pretty clearly a 3-horse race between Dunn, Bentil and Hart for who will actually win the award. I wonder if the Providence guys split their votes.

I would go with Hart, but I watch every Villanova game, and I see how valuable he is, so I admit I'm a little biased. He leads the best team in the league in total points, rebounds and steals and he does it while shooting 52%. He's also a great defender. I don't think the fact that he's on a great team should necessarily work against him.

Dunn and Bentil are so tough to separate. Statistically, both are off the charts. Bentil doesn't play much defense, but everywhere else, he's a monster. And Dunn fills up the stat sheet like no one else in the country. And while Hart doesn't have all the same counting numbers, he does everything so efficiently. That's why he's been KenPom's Big east POY (and a top-10 contender for national POY) in his rankings all season.

I also think Hart will end up winning the award. KenPom projects Providence at 9-9 in the league right now. If that happens, between Dunn and Bentil splitting the vote, and some coaches not wanting to give the award to someone on a .500 team, Hart will win. And I bet a lot of people will be unhappy about it on this board. Some may think that if Dunn and Bentil are so good where both could easily win the POY, why is the team only .500 in the league? So Hart may win a vote that finishes like 5-4-1 among the coaches.

Arch split the award with Dunn last season, and Dunn had better numbers on a team with an 11-7 league record. And Hart this season deserves it more than Arch did last season (though many Villanova fans would make the case that Hilliard deserved it over Arch).

[MackNova]

Ellenson is so nice to watch. His fundamentals are fantastic.

Also love Sumner's game, kid is going to be a star next year.

And what does it say about Cooley or PC that they might have the two best players in the league and finish under .500?

It says that his recruiting since the Bentil class has fallen off a cliff and he has issues with player retention (Chukwu, Fortune & Harris). Players 3-8 on PC likely do not start for DePaul. PC is very easy to defend as you focus 50% on one player, 40% on another player, and 10% on the rest of the roster. Give PC 1 of about 7 guys on Villanova and they probably finish Top 3. But that's on Cooley for recruiting issues and player retention issues.

That said, I posted in another thread that I think Cooley has had a terrible year in BE play for a variety of reasons, some of them maddening.

This is precisely why I worry about PC next season. Dunn and Bentil are stars. They are some of the best players in the country, not just the Big East. But 3-8 aren't any good, and that's why you will be relying on next season.

[ChelseaFriar]

This is precisely why I worry about PC next season. Dunn and Bentil are stars. They are some of the best players in the country, not just the Big East. But 3-8 aren't any good, and that's why you will be relying on next season.

Agree, and it's become more clear to me lately. My only hope is if Bentil comes back, with Dunn gone they go back to a more deliberate pace and run some flex like they did before Dunn blew up. Hopefully that can cut down on some of the head scratching turnovers and mistakes they make, often caused by Dunn trying to force things against a double team out of the pick and roll. Anyway you slice it, they will be worse - I hold out some hope they don't fall off a cliff (unless Ben leaves). I'm hoping transfer Isaiah Jackson can put the ball on the floor - they desperately need that

BTW, I think Bentil has the ability to play defense, I don't think he can afford to play it hard this year. His only back up is Quadree Smith. He gets in foul trouble and the game is over.

[NovaBall]

Eamonn Brennan giving love to Joshua.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... watch-list

[ChelseaFriar]

While Watson, Ellenson, Bluiett, Martin and several others have had great seasons, I think it's pretty clearly a 3-horse race between Dunn, Bentil and Hart for who will actually win the award. I wonder if the Providence guys split their votes.

I would go with Hart, but I watch every Villanova game, and I see how valuable he is, so I admit I'm a little biased. He leads the best team in the league in total points, rebounds and steals and he does it while shooting 52%. He's also a great defender. I don't think the fact that he's on a great team should necessarily work against him.

Dunn and Bentil are so tough to separate. Statistically, both are off the charts. Bentil doesn't play much defense, but everywhere else, he's a monster. And Dunn fills up the stat sheet like no one else in the country. And while Hart doesn't have all the same counting numbers, he does everything so efficiently. That's why he's been KenPom's Big east POY (and a top-10 contender for national POY) in his rankings all season.

I also think Hart will end up winning the award. KenPom projects Providence at 9-9 in the league right now. If that happens, between Dunn and Bentil splitting the vote, and some coaches not wanting to give the award to someone on a .500 team, Hart will win. And I bet a lot of people will be unhappy about it on this board. Some may think that if Dunn and Bentil are so good where both could easily win the POY, why is the team only .500 in the league? So Hart may win a vote that finishes like 5-4-1 among the coaches.

Arch split the award with Dunn last season, and Dunn had better numbers on a team with an 11-7 league record. And Hart this season deserves it more than Arch did last season (though many Villanova fans would make the case that Hilliard deserved it over Arch).

The POY thing is interesting, and it totally depends on what a coach values.

Hart is a really good, tough player. I believe being a part of Wright's well oiled machine, the #1 team in the nation, makes it much easier to be efficient. If the voters value efficiency on a great team, he wins.

If they value a guy who they have to specifically game plan for, a guy they throw 2 or 3 defenders at every night, Dunn wins.

If they value a guy with eye-popping stats, Bentil wins.

Arch winning last year definitely made me realize anything is possible. I'd take Arch on any team, any year. Love him as a player. I've just never seen a guy with numbers like that win a POY award. But it didn't bother me. Just found it interesting.

[MackNova]

While Watson, Ellenson, Bluiett, Martin and several others have had great seasons, I think it's pretty clearly a 3-horse race between Dunn, Bentil and Hart for who will actually win the award. I wonder if the Providence guys split their votes.

I would go with Hart, but I watch every Villanova game, and I see how valuable he is, so I admit I'm a little biased. He leads the best team in the league in total points, rebounds and steals and he does it while shooting 52%. He's also a great defender. I don't think the fact that he's on a great team should necessarily work against him.

Dunn and Bentil are so tough to separate. Statistically, both are off the charts. Bentil doesn't play much defense, but everywhere else, he's a monster. And Dunn fills up the stat sheet like no one else in the country. And while Hart doesn't have all the same counting numbers, he does everything so efficiently. That's why he's been KenPom's Big east POY (and a top-10 contender for national POY) in his rankings all season.

I also think Hart will end up winning the award. KenPom projects Providence at 9-9 in the league right now. If that happens, between Dunn and Bentil splitting the vote, and some coaches not wanting to give the award to someone on a .500 team, Hart will win. And I bet a lot of people will be unhappy about it on this board. Some may think that if Dunn and Bentil are so good where both could easily win the POY, why is the team only .500 in the league? So Hart may win a vote that finishes like 5-4-1 among the coaches.

Arch split the award with Dunn last season, and Dunn had better numbers on a team with an 11-7 league record. And Hart this season deserves it more than Arch did last season (though many Villanova fans would make the case that Hilliard deserved it over Arch).

The POY thing is interesting, and it totally depends on what a coach values.

Hart is a really good, tough player. I believe being a part of Wright's well oiled machine, the #1 team in the nation, makes it much easier to be efficient. If the voters value efficiency on a great team, he wins.

If they value a guy who they have to specifically game plan for, a guy they throw 2 or 3 defenders at every night, Dunn wins.

If they value a guy with eye-popping stats, Bentil wins.

Arch winning last year definitely made me realize anything is possible. I'd take Arch on any team, any year. Love him as a player. I've just never seen a guy with numbers like that win a POY award. But it didn't bother me. Just found it interesting.

While I don't see it happening because Hart has been such a great player this season, watch Arch get a couple votes to steal from Hart.

Arch, Dunn, Bentil and Hart. 4-way split for POY.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Good respectful debate. These are all good kids who represent their schools and programs well; players that are easy to root for...

We'll see how it all plays out over the next 5-6 games.

Now let's talk about All-Big East. Now that's going to be a hot mess on this board.

Here's who I've got:

1st team:
Dunn
Bentil
Hart
Blueitt
Watson
Whitehead

2nd team:
Ellenson
K. Martin
DSR
Arch
Farr
Dunham

3rd
Ochefu
Summer
Jones
Delgado
Huff
Peak

[stever20]

it's interesting. Was thinking about Kris Dunn and how he's struggled. I looked back in 2014 at the stats of Shabazz Napier from UConn. He too kind of struggled early in the conference season. 1st 9 conference games, he was only MVP 3 times- team was 5-4. But last 9 games, he was MVP 7 times, and then that led into the conference tourney and of course the NCAA tourney. Team was 7-2. So I kind of wonder if we may see something similar to Napier for Dunn......