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Player of the Week

Rashad Smith, Tulsa

Prior to the season, James Woodard was projected to be the main man for Tulsa.  But as the season went along, backcourt mate Shaquille Harrison stepped up and emerged as a fantastic complementary scorer to Woodard, and the tandem has led Tulsa to a 10-0 start in the AAC.  And just when things couldn’t get any sweeter for Golden Hurricane fans, here comes a third Tulsa guard to steal the show.  Rashad Smith, the 6’7” junior guard, scored a season-high 21 as Tulsa closed out USF in overtime, then recorded his first double-double of the season in a 12-point, 10-rebound performance against Houston.  He shot 15/24 (63%) on the week.  

Though a few players put up more impressive stat-lines this week, this blog values wins, and that’s all Tulsa does.  Smith was huge against South Florida, matching buckets with Corey Allen, Jr., and played very efficiently against Houston as the Golden Hurricane staved off an upset on the road.  Smith now has averages of 8.8 PPG and 6.3 RPG on the season.  It’s been an interesting career for Rashad Smith.  He led the team in scoring in the four games he played his freshman year before a season-ending injury, and then was second only to Woodard in scoring last year for the team, and now has taken a backseat to both Woodard and Harrison.  His PPG has decreased each year.  But it’s no surprise that he’s putting up big scoring numbers again, and it’s exactly what Tulsa needs to stay atop the AAC and solidify their NCAA tournament position.

Who’s Hot

Ryan Boatright, Connecticut

The numbers are there for Ryan Boatright.  But the wins are not, and that’s why Boatright doesn’t win another PotW award this week.  In UConn’s 3-game stretch from 1/29-2/4, Boatright averaged a phenomenal 25.3 PPG, including 17/32 from 3 (53%).  Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get a tremendous amount of help from the guys around him, and the Huskies dropped games to both Cincinnati and Houston before putting away East Carolina.

The Huskies have just about played themselves off the tournament bubble with their loss to Houston, but that doesn’t mean Ryan Boatright hasn’t also just about put away the conference Player of the Year award race.  His 17.8 PPG averaged leads the conference by 2.4.  He’s 4th in APG, 4th in FT%, 2nd in 3-pt.%, and 8th in SPG.  He’s been spectacular, and I would hardly be surprised if he led the Huskies on a run to steal the AAC tournament title and the automatic tournament bid that accompanies it.

Corey Allen Jr., South Florida

The going has been tough for USF.  They’ve now lost 8 straight, and with a road trip to Cincinnati on Saturday, it’s not about to get any easier.  But give some credit to Corey Allen Jr.  He hasn’t always been an efficient scorer, but he’s the only consistent offensive threat the Bulls have, and on Saturday, he recorded his 3rd 29+ point performance of the year with a career-high 32 on 13/19 shooting 68%.  He did his best to end Tulsa’s conference win streak, but it wasn’t quite enough on the road in overtime.  He then had 16 against Temple in a slightly less efficient 6/18 performance.  But if it’s the last possession of the game, and I need a guy from this conference to get a bucket, and Ryan Boatright isn’t available, Corey Allen Jr. may be my guy.

Troy Caupain, Cincinnati

It’s rare that I’m able to put a UC perimeter player on this list, even though they’re such a successful team, because they win with great defense and balanced scoring.  No one guy generally puts up huge numbers in consecutive games. And even this young man, Troy Caupain, had a quiet 4-point performance this week in a tough loss to ECU, but it was sandwiched by a pair of really solid performances.  Caupain scored a career-high 20 points on 8/9 shooting in a resounding 12-point win over defending champion UConn, then scored 14 on Thursday in a huge win over SMU.  Though they do a good job of spreading the ball around, the Bearcats really have been lacking a perimeter threat they can count on since the graduation of Sean Kilpatrick.  Caupain now leads the Bearcats in scoring qith 10.3 PPG.

Who’s Not

Nic Moore, Southern Methodist

It was a rough week for both SMU and their normally-steadfast junior point guard.  In their first game, Moore was need so much as a scorer, and dished out 10 assists as SMU rolled to an easy win over UCF, despite Moore only scoring 8 and missing all 3 attempts from beyond the arc.  But against Cincinnati, in a game that may have big-time conference title ramifications, Moore shot 1/8 (13%) and scored a mere 8 points again as Cincinnati was able to take down the Mustangs.  In total, he shot 4/16 (25%) this week, including 1/9 (89%) from 3.  But Moore has always been a confident player and he should return to form in no time.

Top 5 Juniors

The AAC has a surprisingly high number of Class of 2016’ers leading the way, as evidenced by the appearance of 7 juniors in the top 10 in scoring for the AAC.

1) James Woodard, Tulsa

Likely the best carry-over from the C-USA, Woodard is a magnificent all-around player.  He’s third in the conference in scoring with 14.9 PPG and has his team off to a 10-0 conference start.  He can hit the outside shot, get inside, and play solid defense, so he’ll likely be an all-conference player this year.

2) Nic Moore, SMU

The point guard for SMU makes the big red Mustang machine go, distributing the ball to big men Markus Kennedy and Yanick Moreira and getting buckets in the paint and from behind the arc himself.  He’s sixth in the conference in scoring with 14.2 per game, and first in assists, with 5.4 per game.  Without him, they probably would not be a conference title contender or in a position to make the tournament.

3) Shaquille Harrison, Tulsa

And not far behind his teammate is Shaquille Harrison, the breakout star of the conference this year.  He’s fourth in the league in scoring, pouring in 14.7 per game on an excellent 48% shooting, and simply fills the stat sheet with tremendous efficiency game after game.  Next year should be very exciting for the Golden Hurricane.

4) Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati

The Bearcats traditionally win games with defense, and this year, their defensive effort is keyed by the tough big man inside, Octavius Ellis.  He averages 2.4 BPG and 7.1 RPG, both among the conference’s top 4, and has been huge in getting Cincinnati in position to make the big dance after the graduation of their top 3 scorers and the loss of their coach to medical concerns midway through the season.

5) Tie: Louis Dabney, Tulane and Terry Whisnant, ECU

These two are incredibly similar players on similar teams who put up similar statlines so it was hard to pick either one.  Both are quick 6’3” shooting guards who rank 8th (Dabney) and 9th (Whisnant) in the conference in scoring and 4th (Dabney) and 9th (Whisnant) in 3-Pt. %.  Both players have led their teams through the tough transition to the AAC from the smaller-time C-USA and both should be among the conference’s leading scorers next year as some of their respective supporting casts graduate.