When people talk about NCAA Player of the Year candidates, the two names that always come up are Indiana's Victor Oladipo and Michigan's Trey Burke. But the name that is brought up, but as an afterthought after Oladpo and Burke is Georgetown's Otto Porter. He is the player who should win not only Big East Player of the Year, but NCAA Player of the Year as well.
Porter is having a remarkable year for the Hoyas. This super sophomore was not being talked about as an option for NCAA Player of the Year for most of the year, but he had his coming out party Feb. 23 at No. 8 Syracuse in Georgetown's 57-46 victory. Against the Orange, he scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting and added six rebounds and five steals, while playing all 40 minutes. He followed that up with a 22-point effort in a big overtime win at Connecticut. He has led the Hoyas to big wins over Syracuse (twice), Louisville and at Notre Dame and now he has them on the verge of possibly being a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
He was the only player from Georgetown selected to either the All-Big East first or second teams. Michigan and Indiana both had two players named to the All-Big Ten first team. He has come up big in the biggest games. He has scored at least 15 points in six of the seven games Georgetown has played against ranked opponents. In the game he did not reach 15, he scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds and dished out a career high-tying seven assists. He shoots 50 percent and 44 percent from behind the 3-point line. He also averages 7.5 rebounds per game and nearly three assists per game. His 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game lead the team. He is the go-to guy for the Hoyas and is by far the biggest scoring threat on the team and has almost single-handedly helped lead this team to a Big East title and possible No. 1 seed.
The Big Ten Player of the Year went to Burke, even though he missed a crucial free throw down the stretch against Oladipo's Indiana Hoosiers that would have given Michigan a share of the Big Ten championship.
Oladipo may be hurt by the fact that one of the preseason favorites to win the Player of the Year is on his team in big man Cody Zeller. Oladipo is averaging nearly 14 points per game while shooting a whopping 61 percent from the floor and earning recognition as the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year. Zeller, on the other hand, is averaging nearly 17 points per game to go along with more than eight rebounds per game. With Zeller being a preseason All-American, more attention goes to him, which gives Oladipo a chance to make plays without having to be double teamed like Zeller is constantly down in the post. Oladipo does not have those "wow" stats. He just consistently gets it done and is a worthy choice for the award, if he, in fact, does win it.
Like Oladipo, Burke also has plenty of talent surrounding him, led by Tim Hardaway Jr., who was an All-Big Ten first team selection. But when it comes down to it, when the game is on the line, Burke is the man who has the ball in his hands. That may not always be a good thing, though, as Burke has missed huge shots, either from the field or the free throw line, late in losses to Wisconsin, Ohio State and Indiana. Burke, however, did lead his team to a victory against rival Michigan State with a steal a steal and dunk with 22 seconds left to give the Wolverines the team the lead before sealing the game with a steal with two seconds left. He also took over late at Purdue, willing his team to a much-needed victory. Burke was second in the conference in scoring, only trailing Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas. Burke has scored at least 20 points in five of his last six games, and the only game he didn't was an 18-point effort at Penn State. In addition to his scoring, he was also 11th nationally and No. 1 in assists per game. But I cannot overlook Burke's struggles late in the games that could have costed his team a Big Ten championship, especially missing the front end of a 1-and-1 against Indiana this past Sunday that came back to haunt Michigan. The Wolverines also finished tied for fourth in the conference and will have to play on the first day of the conference tournament Thursday in a rematch with Penn State.
My guess is Oladipo will win the NCAA Player of the Year, even though Burke won the Big Ten Player of the Year. But do not sleep on Porter. If I was given a vote, he would have it. Nobody thought the Hoyas would be in contention for a No. 1 seed and here they are in March, vying for the fourth No. 1 seed behind Duke, Gonzaga and Indiana.
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