Player of the Week:
Jeff Withey, Kansas
It’s hard not to give player of the week to the guy who just recorded his first career triple double with his 16 pint 12 rebound 12 block game against San Jose State Monday night. The 12 blocks were a career high for Withey, and it was his second career game with 10 or more blocks, which put his season average to a mind-boggling 6.2 per game, tops in the nation. Withey has improved in virtually every key area from last season, and while he may not be the go-to guy on this talented Kansas team, he showed exactly why he’s still one of the most impactful players in the nation, and arguably the country’s best defender.
Who’s Hot:
Jaye Crockett, Texas Tech
Crockett was one of the few key contributors to come back to Texas Tech for the 2012-2013 season, and has looked unbelievable so far this year. Crockett, who’s coming off of a solid 8.8 ppg sophomore season has really showed off an improved game this year with a better jump shot, a much improved handle and he is displaying incredible efficiency so far, as well as being healthy for the first time (he dealt with a hernia issue last season, and had surgery over the offseason). Crockett is the leading scorer for the Red Raiders this year at 16 ppg and 9 rpg in only 22.8 mpg, shooting a ridiculous 65% from the field. He’s also dropped from 2.4 topg last season to only .8 this year, something he himself stated that he needed to improve upon greatly this past offseason. Crockett is a very self-motivated player who is breaking out and should continue to force others to take notice of his game.
HM: Kyan Anderson, Amath M’Baye
Who’s Cold:
Will Clyburn, ISU
While he’s having a solid season for the Cyclones and did grab 15 boards in his last game, Clyburn struggled mightily from the floor against the two ranked opponent he faced this last weekend. Against Cincinnati he connected on only 2 of 14 shots (1/5 from deep), while turning it over three times in a 78-70 loss. The following day he went 6/17 from the floor in a 12 point loss to UNLV. If ISU wants to replicate the success of last season’s team Clyburn is going to have to step up against big opponents, as he’s the best player on ISU at creating his own offense.
HM: Will Spradling, Jarvis Ray
Top 5 PER’s in the Big 12:
Jaye Crockett-If you read above, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Crockett is playing lights out, however what is surprising is he is 1st in the entire conference in PER (37.81) and 4th in the country.
Jeff Withey-I think the triple double may have helped him a little bit here, but that’s not to say he wasn’t doing well before that. Anytime your PER is 32.08, you’re definitely playing at an elite level in some way, and for Withey that would be defensively.
Pierre Jackson-While Baylor may be disappointing so far, Jackson is not. He’s been playing at a very high level all year, and is still on track to be the conference player of the year. He leads the conference is scoring and assists, and is doing so efficiently as his PER is an ultra-high 31.08.
Dejan Kravic-Surprisingly enough Texas Tech (pre-season pick for last place in the conference), has two players ranked among the most efficient in the entire conference. This is the first year for Kravic playing D1, and he has not disappointed in the slightest. He’s among the conference leaders in FG% and bpg, as well as scoring and rebounding at an excellent rate (13 and 6 in 22 min).
Tyrus McGee-McGee is 2nd in the conference in scoring among non-starters (behind Crockett), and overall have a fantastic start to the 2012-2013 season. The only question is why doesn’t this kid start? His PER of 31.04 is the highest on the team, and 5th best in the conference, while starter Korie Lucious has whopping PER of 4.85.