Wright State’s Tanner Holden, Oakland’s Jamal Cain and Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis all have strong cases to win it this season, and the difference could come down to who has the stronger final two games this week.
Going back to the Raiders’ DaShaun Wood in 2006-07, the player of the year came from a team that finished first or tied for first in 11 of 15 years.
But the Vikings’ top candidate, Torrey Patton, is only 17th in scoring (13.8), 11th in rebounding (6.3) and ninth in assists (3.5)
Though the Trotwood-Madison grad has earned respect around the league, his production doesn’t quite measure up to the standards of past winners.
And as Jim Brown, the radio analyst for Raider games pointed out, “Their success has been based on their depth.”
That means the player of the year likely will come from a non-champion, just as it did in 2017-18 with Oakland’s Kendrick Nunn, 2015-16 with Oakland’s Kay Felder, 2014-15 with Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes and 2012-13 with Detroit’s Ray McCallum.
Holden would give the Raiders three straight winners if he gets the nod, following two-time player of the year Loudon Love.
He’s third in the league in scoring (19.8), ninth in rebounding (6.9), fourth in field-goal shooting (50.4%) and ninth in free-throw accuracy (79.4).
“He’s been our most consistent player,” Brown said. “And I just love players who don’t try to do things they can’t do.
“He’s got a mid-range jump shot. He can shoot the 3, but he’s very selective. If he does shoot it, it’s at the end of the shot clock or he’s totally wide open. He moves without the ball better than anybody on our team, and that’s difficult to teach.”
The 6-foot-6 Holden also is a match-up migraine — too big for typical guards to handle and too quick for front-court players. That’s why he’s first in the nation in free throws with 162 (14 more than the next most) and free throws attempted with 204 (two more than Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippin Jr.).
“He’s definitely a more well-rounded player than Cain,” Brown said.
Getting the 6-7 grad transfer from Marquette was a coup for the Grizzlies. Cain is second in the league in scoring (20.4), first in rebounding (10.0) and sixth in field-goal shooting (49.4%).
He’s also one of only two players nationally to average a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, joining Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn (21.7, 11.2).
Davis was the preseason player of the year, and with no clear-cut favorite, some coaches might give him their vote as a sort of career achievement award.
The 6-1 senior guard is third in the country in scoring (23.5) and third in the league in assists (4.7).
He’s had five 30-point games this season and 25 over four years.
He’s racked up 2,605 points, which is tied with former Detroit Pistons star Joe Dumars, who played at McNeese State, for 37th in NCAA history.
Davis also has 411 three-pointers, which is first in the league and 16th on the all-time list.
The knock on him, though, is that he’s shooting only 41.7% from the field. He’s taken 460 shots and is the only player in the league with more than 400.
“He’s a high-volume shooter, but he’s become a more complete player than he was,” Brown said. “He’s got so much freedom to shoot the ball from his dad (coach Mike Davis), but he’s become more of a team player.
“My gosh, he’s hard to guard. Because he’s such a great 3-point shooter, you’ve got to go out and get him. And when you go out to get him, it’s much more difficult to keep him in front of you.”
Detroit currently is in seventh place, and closing the season with a couple of wins would help Davis’ cause.
Of the four winners in the last 15 years who didn’t come from league champions, three led their teams to second-place finishes and the other to a fourth-place showing.
Brown has seen all of the candidates multiple times, and he’s not sure which way he’d lean.
“You can make an argument for all three,” he said.
LINEUP QUESTIONS: The Raiders seem to be back to a quandary that plagued them early in the season: Finding a fifth starter to go with their four established veterans.
Freshman center A.J. Braun has played sparingly the last six games, and coach Scott Nagy has shifted to a smaller lineup, going with 6-foot freshman guard Keaton Norris.
Norris, though, went scoreless in 28 minutes in the loss at Detroit Mercy on Sunday.
Asked who’ll get the starting nod against Youngstown State, Nagy said: “It probably with be matchup-based. We won’t even know until the starting lineups get turned in Thursday.”
MANNS SIGHTING: James Manns, the little-used fifth-year senior forward, scored six points in 12 minutes against Detroit.
He’s a crowd favorite because of his instant offense. In 50 minutes of action this season, he’s scored 35 points.
In the two previous seasons, he’s played 286 minutes and scored 190 points, giving him an average of 26.8 points over 40 minutes the last three years.
But Nagy indicated that Manns played against the Titans only because the Raiders were desperate for offense after falling behind by 26. And the coach has said in the past that he’s looking for more than just buckets from the 6-7 lefty.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Youngstown State at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980
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