Ivan the Great

Player of the Week

[player: Ivan Rabb] – California

In a week where no individual player entirely stood out (spare [player: Andrew Andrews]), Rabb wins player of the week for being a consistent force. Honestly, California should have beaten Arizona at the Wildcats home, it led Arizona 61-53 with a couple minutes left in the game. Even with [player: Jaylen Brown] and [player: Tyrone Wallace] having subpar games, the victory was in their reach. However, it wasn’t in the cards for the Golden Bears, who would not score the rest of the game. Regardless, Rabb still played well contributing 15 points and 13 boards while also chipping in three steals. California would also out-rebound Arizona, who is a very good rebound team, 44-31. Rabb was great in the Golden Bears other game this week, a victory over faltering USC. Rabb scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, even dishing out two assists.

Rabb has been a consistent force for California all year. Once the freshman figured out his foul woes, California has had a center rebounding every play and challenging every shot. Rabb has been pretty good on offense as well, working on his jump shot the entire year. Simply put, Rabb has solidified his spot in the lottery for this year’s draft.

Who’s Hot

[player: Andrew Andrews] – Washington

Okay, I understand Washington lost to Oregon this week, but the senior incredibly scored 47 points. Andrews scored from everywhere on the court, dropping in five threes and getting to the free throw line an astounding 17 times. The amazing part is that Andrews needed to score that much, Washington only defeated Washington St. 99-91. Even in the Oregon game, Andrews played his heart out. The senior scored 21 points and still had eight assists. The Huskies have stumbled to the end of the season, but better days are on the way. Washington is one of the youngest teams in the Pac-12 and will be a force next year, especially if [player: Dejounte Murray] returns to school. The only down side to next year, Andrews won’t be able to fill up the box scores in Washington anymore.

[player: Brandon Taylor] – Utah

Finally, a great game from the senior guard of Utah. Clearly, the team is on some kind of roll and have surged to second place in the Pac-12. Taylor was actually the team’s leading scorer against Arizona. The senior guard hit seven of his nine shots, finishing with 19 points. Taylor nailed four threes and even had five steals. Utah is simply playing at another level right now. Virtually every single player on the team is playing their best ball of the year. The Utes are in a position to go far in the Pac-12 tournament, lets just hope that [player: Jakob Poeltl] doesn’t get into foul trouble.

Who’s Cold

[player: Kadeem Allen] – Arizona

Allen certainly isn’t leaned on to do the most on the Wildcats, but he still is very important to the success of the team. The Wildcats were lucky not to lose two games this week. I already covered the California game, but Allen wasn’t good in a loss against Utah as well. Allen is the one player on the Wildcats with any semblance of passing ability. Both [player: Gabe York] and [player: Allonzo Trier] are scorers first and this is okay, Allen should be around to dish. However, the junior forced the issue way too much this week and Arizona almost paid for it. Allen shot 3-10 against Utah and 2-8 against California, scoring just six points in both games. Honestly, I can live with the California game. Allen still had six assists, so he was still contributing to the team in some way. The game against Utah cannot happen again if Arizona wants to win the Pac-12. Allen only had one assists and two turnovers. Arizona is in a weird spot. The team is still trying to balance the scoring between Trier and York while attempting to get other players involved as well, no easy feat. Let’s see if Sean Miller can figure it out before the NCAA tournament. If he doesn’t, the Wildcats could easily see an early exit from the NCAA tournament.

With the Pac-12 tournament just around the corner, I wanted to give credit to some of the lesser known players in the league. This will be the last time you will see many of the teams as constructed.

Top 5 Lesser Known Pac-12 Players

5. [player: Rosco Allen] – Stanford

I haven’t talked about the Cardinals that much and that is certainly my fault, but Allen can play. The senior has led, let’s just say, a lesser talented Stanford squad to a 15 and 13 record. Allen is averaging 15.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds a game, even chipping in two assists per contest. Every time Stanford has a big upset, Allen always seems to be having a massive game. The main problem with the senior? Allen is an incredibly streaky shooter. He is only shooting 44 percent on the year and is shooting the most shots per game on Stanford. It is definitely an improvement over his past years. If the Cardinals make any noise in the Pac-12 tournament, watch out for Allen, he will probably be nailing some massive threes.

4. [player: Josh Hawkinson] – Washington St.

Hawkinson is quietly having one of the best big man season in the Pac-12 this year. The junior is averaging 15 points and 11 boards a game, always being a consistent force for the Cougars. The problem for Hawkinson, the Cougars just aren’t very good. If the junior was doing this on literally any other team in the Pac-12, he would be making a lot noise. Think about it, the Pac-12 has to play every other team in the league. Hawkinson is still putting up these numbers against everyone else in the Pac-12, regardless of who else is around him. The junior is a beast on the glass, grabbing everything around him. He also has a good touch around the rim and can make a mid-range jump shot every now and then. However, Hawkinson is not a very good defender. He has very slow foot and while he oftentimes gets away with his size, he’s too slow to defend anyone else his size. None of this takes away from Hawkinson’s great season. It’ll be interesting to see if Washington St. can surprise anyone in the conference tournament, if they do, it will certainly be on Hawkinson’s back.

3. [player: Elgin Cook] – Oregon

The senior forward is the second or third scoring option for the Ducks, but he usually doesn’t get that much love. Cook is actually pretty good. He is a consistent free throw shooter, rebounds well for his size and he consistently puts up points. The senior is the type of player that is good at everything, but not great at that one thing. He is also a senior, so the NBA just doesn’t seem likely at this point. However, Cook is a really good player for college and a great reason why the Ducks are succeeding at this point of the season. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands and plays good enough defense on the perimeter. Every great team needs an unselfish leader that does the little things for a team to win. For the Ducks, that’s Cook.

2. [player: Lorenzo Bonam] – Utah

To me, Bonam is the unsung hero for Utah. He doesn’t score much, but just like Cook, he does just about everything for the Utes. Bonam averaged nearly 10 points a game with three rebounds and three assists. Perhaps the biggest benefit for the Utes, the junior is a big guard, much bigger than Taylor, so the junior gives Utah length on the perimeter. Defending the perimeter is so important for Utah. If every possession ends in a floater over Poeltl, then it’s a victory for Utah. The Utes are on an incredible tear, with Poeltl getting most of the press, many can forget about the other guys on Utah. Bonam is one of those “other guys” and he’s a huge help to the team.

1. [player: Dejounte Murray] – Washington

I have been high on Murray all year, now is his time to shine. The freshman is a really good player for the Huskies and can help any NBA team in the near future. Murray stands at a long 6-5 and knows how to do everything on the court. The freshman is a fairly good defender and honestly has some really good vision for being so young. Murray also rebounds incredibly well for a guard. While his three-point shooting still needs some work, it will certainly come in time. Murray is incredibly fun to watch, he is a streaky shooter than can still dish and swish, finding the open man whenever possible. I’m really looking forward to watching Washington in the tournament, it is certainly the last time we will get to see them with Andrews and Murray filling up the stat sheet.