Duke forward Mason Plumlee is among the leading candidates for the AP National Player of the Year award. Each week throughout the season, we will check in on Plumlee’s progress as well as the performance of other top candidates for college basketball’s top honor.
Mason Plumlee, Duke: Plumlee bounced back from a rough outing against Maryland with two fine performaces this week. In the Blue Devils' 88-56 win against Virginia Tech, Plumlee played one of his most complete games of the season, taking only six attempts from the field but finishing the contest with 13 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. He then followed up that performance with a 19-point, 15-rebound performance in a 21-point victory against Boston College. Plumlee took just seven attempts from the floor but shot 11-for-15 from the line in that game, and is now shooting 71.9 percent from the charity stripe during Duke's last six games.
The senior forward will have his hands full this week, with a road contest against a difficult Virginia squad that often troubles opponents with its slow pace in its halfcourt offense. However, the Cavaliers' undersized lineup may be a plus for Plumlee—Virginia has just one player larger than 6-foot-8 on its roster and he has averaged 13.5 minutes per game on the season.
Plumlee's strong play as well as the faltering of other top candidates has helped to make this a wide-open race, but it appears for now that late-season rivalry games and postseason play will have a significant impact on who takes the crown.
Victor Oladipo, Indiana: America's hottest new name finally seems to have hit a bump in the road. Oladipo scored 16 points and pulled down five boards Tuesday night, but shot an uncharacteristically-low 5-of-10 from the field as his Hoosiers fell on the road to Minnesota 77-73. The loss won't hurt Indiana's contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament or knock Oladipo out of the conversation for National Player of the Year by any stretch, but the late-season loss to an unranked Golden Gopher squad certainly can't help. Oladipo will have ample opportunities to redeem himself however, taking on Purdue Saturday before the Hoosiers close their schedule with two ranked opponents—Ohio State and Michigan.
Trey Burke, Michigan: Burke posted a solid showing in the Wolverines' 71-58 victory against Illinois, posting 26 points and dishing out eight assists. But Burke's Michigan squad faltered Wednesday night against a lowly Penn State team, falling 84-78 and giving the Nittany Lions their first Big Ten victory of the season. Burke managed to score 18 points, but also turned the ball over six times in the loss, which allowed Penn State to improve its 0-14 conference record. Not only does the loss drop the Wolverines from the current projected No. 1 seeds, but it also strikes a blow to Burke's otherwise-stellar resume for National Player of the Year. Burke's struggles against the Nittany Lions may have been the result of fatigue. In addition to playing a difficult schedule the past three weeks, Burke has rarely left the court for Michigan, playing 38 minutes or more in six of the team's last seven games.
Doug McDermott, Creighton: McDermott continues to move further and further away from the national spotlight, but his production this week was slightly better than last. The junior scored 22 points but grabbed a season-low two rebounds in the Bluejays' loss to St. Mary's Saturday. McDermott shot just 7-of-18 from the field in the loss, but rebounded with a 12-for-17 shooting performance in an 18-point win against Bradley, netting 32 points and adding 11 boards. Although this is the type of showing pundits are more used to seeing from McDermott, his only true advocates for National Player of the Year right now are vehement supports of midwestern basketball and mid-major conferences. He continues to factor less in the national discussion, but that could all change in a heartbeat if he can lead his Creighton team to a deep run in the NCAA tournament, much like Stephen Curry did with Davidson in 2008. McDermott's Bluejays' are current projected to be a No. 10 seed in the Big Dance according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology.
Kelly Olynyk, Gonzaga: With the Bulldogs squarely in the nation's top five and now making a bid at the nation's top ranking after Indiana's loss this week, Kelly Olynyk is finally getting some of the national attention he deserves. The Canadian 7-footer is Gonzaga's leading scorer at 17.7 points per game and also pulls down 7.0 rebounds per contest. Olynyk's Zags currently sit with a 27-2 record on the season—including a perfect 14-0 clip in the West Coast Conference—with wins against a ranked Oklahoma State squad, BYU and a solid St. Mary's team that will likely be tournament-bound as well.
Olynyk played just once last week, playing only 20 minutes in Gonzaga's 31-point blowout victory against San Diego. The big man did not waste his limited time on the floor, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor, including a 3-pointer, and 3-for-3 from the line to finish with 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. The only downside to his performance was that he somehow managed to turn the ball over seven times in that span, but as long as Gonzaga keeps winning people will tend to give Olynyk the benefit of the doubt.
On the outside looking in: Kansas could rise back into contention for a No. 1 seed after the dust settles this weekend, a large part of that is the play of big man Jeff Withey. Withey scored 18 points and grabbed six boards in just 26 minutes of action in the Jayhawks' 26-point win against TCU Saturday and added 13 points and 10 boards in the team's dramatic overtime victory against Iowa State. After strong performances in seven straight contests for the Hoosiers, Indiana's Cody Zeller struggled against Minnesota Tuesday, hitting just 2-of-9 shots from the floor and managing nine points and seven rebounds. Zeller was dominated by Golden Gopher big man Trevor Mbakwe and ultimately fouled out of the contest.
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