The race (for Player of the Year) has begun

by Jon Teitel

 

With Ivy League play officially underway, Penn will start to shift its focus from non-conference foes like St. Joseph’s to traditional Ancient Eight foes like Princeton. The Quakers’ first conference opponent is Yale on January 30, and the regular season concludes six weeks later against Princeton on March 9. During this "40 Days of Hell", Penn will be facing some weak teams, some strong teams, and a host  of contenders for Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Penn has had five players win the award over the past eleven years (Ugonna Onyekwe in 2003 and 2002, Michael Jordan in 2000, Ira Bowman in 1996, Matt Maloney in 1995, and Jerome Allen in 1994 and 1993), and here are the current competitors for the top individual prize:

 

Yale and Columbia each have a junior starring for their respective teams. Unfortunately, both teams are performing poorly this season, which will hurt their players’ chances of winning any hardware. Yale junior Dominick Martin is among the Ivy leaders in scoring (13.4 PPG), rebounding (5.2 RPG), and shooting (62.6 FG%). In the season-opener against top-ranked Connecticut, Martin led his team in scoring (as he has in eight of Yale’s twelve games) with 14 points. He began his college career at Princeton (while turning down a scholarship at N.C. State), but has been a new man since transferring to Yale after his freshman year and adding some weight to his body. Martin has already been named Ivy League Player of Week once, and the 6’10" center will be one of the favorites to win the award next season if his team improves. Columbia’s Matt Preston is also among the league leaders in scoring (15.1 PPG), rebounding (5.6 RPG), and shooting (49.2 FG% and 84.1 FT%). Preston has led his team in scoring in seven of twelve games, and also won a Player of the Week award.

 

Brown and Dartmouth have also had sub-par results this year, but without the leadership of any single superstar. Brown senior forward Jamie Kilburn (who racked up a double-double against nationally-ranked Texas) is second on his team in scoring (12.3 PPG) and first in rebounding (7 RPG), but that is only half of his story.  Despite being only 6’5", Kilburn is one of the league’s best shot-blockers (1.54 BPG) and defensive rebounders (4.92 defensive RPG). Although younger and smaller, Dartmouth sophomore guard Mike Lang is no less potent on the offensive (11.8 PPG, 80 FT%, 39.1 3-PT FG%, two 3-PT FG/game) and defensive (1.44 SPG) ends. This season is Kilburn’s last, but Lang will be an all-Ivy player in two more years.

 

Harvard has two main obstacles to having a Player of the Year: their 0-11 start, and the fact that they have two outstanding players who will cancel out each other’s votes. Junior guard Kevin Rogus is one of the top offensive weapons in the Ivy League (16 PPG), both from one-point range (82.5 FT%) and three-point range (2.43 3-PT FG/game). Unlike Rogus’s one-track offensive mentality, sophomore forward Matt Stehle is one of the most multidimensional players in the entire country. Stehle’s name can be found high on the list of almost every statistical category imaginable: scoring (12.8 PPG), rebounding (5.7 RPG), shooting (51.6 FG%, 83.3 FT%), steals (1.5 SPG), and blocks (1.57 BPG). These two juniors get to shine because the Crimson do not have any seniors, so look for Rogus and Stehle to be the league’s most lethal combination next year.

 

In contrast to Harvard, Cornell started this season in decent fashion, but like the Crimson, they have two outstanding players who might cancel out each other. It will be difficult for anyone to cancel out the spectacular season of Ka’Ron Barnes: the league’s top point guard (and the Big Red’s only senior) leads the conference in scoring (21.3 PPG), assists (5.92 APG), and steals (2.17 SPG), and has proven himself to be a great shooter as well (80.3 FT%, 2.33 3-PT FG/game). Barnes scored 21 points against nationally-ranked Georgia Tech, and has been named Player of the Week once. Many of his assists are courtesy of his backcourt mate Cody Toppert, the second-leading scorer in the conference (17.6 PPG), but only second on his own team thanks to Barnes. Toppert’s totals are directly due to his outstanding three-point shooting (42.1 3-PT FG%, 3.75 3-PT FG/game), and he takes a cue from Barnes on defense (1.17 SPG). No Ivy team has ever finished with the top two scorers in the league, and Cornell has not had a player win a league scoring title in 25 years, but Barnes and Toppert might rewrite the record books this season.

 

Penn’s main competition for the Ivy title (as usual) will be Princeton, and the race for Player of the Year may be largely influenced by the race for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are a good team with several players who contribute, but the top Tiger is Judson Wallace. The junior forward spent the summer practicing his outside shot with some assistant coaches, and his hard work has paid off: Wallace is shooting 50.4% from the field and leading his team in scoring (15 PPG), including three games with at least 26 points. Wallace leads by example from the inside (6.3 RPG) and the outside (1.08 3-PT FG/game), which helped him win a Player of the Week award.

 

The Quakers have two Player of the Year candidates, but another conference title might allow them to share the honor. Senior guard Jeff Schiffner was the top three-point shooter in the nation last year, and is having another fine season this year: he leads the Quakers in scoring (14.5 PPG), three-pointers (2.82 3-PT FG/game), free-throw shooting (80.6%), and steals (1.27 SPG). Schiffner plays his best when playing against the best: he scored 20 points against nationally-ranked Wisconsin, and 23 points (including a career-high seven three-point shots) against nationally-ranked St. Joseph’s. Schiffner and his backcourt mate Tim Begley are both 6'6" and hail from New Jersey. However, their skills are quite different, as Begley is among the league leaders in assists (3.91 APG), steals (1.27 SPG),k and three-point shooting (44.4 3-PT FG%, 2.55 3-PT FG/game). Most amazing of all is that one of Begley’s fortes is rebounding (4.9 RPG, including over 4 RPG on  the defensive boards), despite the fact that he is a guard. The junior guard has also performed well in big games: he led the Quakers with seventeen points against nationally-ranked Michigan State, and had at least seven rebounds against two other nationally-ranked teams (Wisconsin and St. Joseph’s).