Mid-Major

Another week has passed. More games have been played, which means it’s time for the first Mid-Major Player of the Year Power Rankings  on February. 

In the previous two rankings, Creighton’s Doug McDermott has led the pack by a commanding margin. He’s been so far ahead of the rest of the list, it’s difficult to imagine another player coming anywhere near the top spot. 

However, while McDermott may be holding down the top spot in the rankings for now, a few games here or there could determine the winner of the MMPOY award in the blink of an eye. 

This past weekend wasn’t great for most of our players on last week’s rankings. Will that  result in any changes for this week?

Let’s find out. Here are the power rankings for February 6:

1.) Doug McDermott, Creighton (24.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 53 percent three-point field goals)

We’re coming down the stretch in the college basketball season with just over a month of regular season action left. In the next month, we will separate the strong from the weak, especially when we look at the Mid-Major Player of the Year race. 

In last week’s MMPOY breakdown, Creighton’s Doug McDermott held a commanding lead over the rest of the field and appeared to be running away with the award. However, another week has passed. McDermott is still in the first place spot, but the gap is narrowing with strong performances by the rest of the field. 

Here’s the Mid-Major Player of the Year rankings for the week of January 30.

1.) Doug McDermott, Creighton (23.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 50 percent three-point field goals)

Once again, Doug McDermott leads the pack with his outstanding season. McDermott’s points have gone down in the last week, highlighted by Creighton’s loss at Drake last Wednesday (the day last week’s rankings came out). McDermott did finish the game with 19 points on 9-13 shooting, but it couldn’t lead the Blue Jays past the Bulldogs. Doug also went 0-6 from three-point range in the loss. 

Being known as one of the best players in the country is one of the highest honor a basketball player can have. Some, however, do not receive the recognition in the National Player of the Year race because they play at smaller schools; the mid-majors. There are a number of talented players in the mid-major ranks and this is where we will examine who has a chance to win the Mid-Major Player of the Year award. 

This award is better known as the Lou Henson Award, which is awarded to the top mid-major player in the country at the end of the year. CollegeInsider.com will announce the winner at the end of the season, but it’s never too early to start looking at the players with the best chance of walking away with the honor.

Here are the Mid-Major Player of the Year rankings:

1. Doug McDermott - Creighton Blue Jays (24.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 52 percent 3-pointers)

Entering the season as a potential National Player of the Year and All-American, Dough McDermott came into the 2012-13 campaign with enormous hype. So far he has yet to disappoint. 

Entering the season with high expectations, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits have struggled early in the season. 

Even with National Player of the Year candidate Nate Wolters continuing to produce quality numbers, the team as a whole have yet to be able to regain the same consistent level of play that led them to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history this past March. Although the Jacks sport a respectable 6-3 record, that could easily be 8-1, if not 9-0. However, a few unfortunate breaks have led to those three losses in the early season, as well as a few lucky breaks have led to two victories SDSU may not have deserved to pull out.