Player of the Week:
Tyson Degenhart (Sr., Boise State)
Boise State has ended the year 2024 and started the year 2025 hot. Prior to their Saturday loss to SDSU, they were 5-0 in their previous 5 games, dating back to 12/14. A lot of that success come by way of Tyson Degenhart stepping up for this team, especially recently. Where Degenhart had 26 points 7 rebounds and 2 assists in their close win over San José St where the final score was 73-71. Then he followed that performance up with 16 points and 9 rebound game in a win over Wyoming where that game ended 67-58. Tyson is tied for 70th in the country with 18.1 points per game with a shooting percentage of 52.5 which makes him tied for 90th in the country.
Who’s Hot:
Malik Thomas (Sr., San Francisco)
In the last three games just all this week Malik has been on a tear and San Francisco needed all they got out of Thomas. In the past three games Malik has been averaging 25.6 points per game. In a close OT win over Santa Clara Malik finished with 34 points. He made three free throws to tie the game with 15 seconds left to force OT. Then he also added 8 rebounds to his great night. Thomas then finished the week off with a 24-point game in a close win over Pacific.
PJ Haggerty (So., Memphis)
In the last two games PJ has been great for this Memphis team that is still trying to figure everything out this season with all the highs and lows they have been through so far this season. The staple point of this team has been Haggerty with his solid play day in and day out and you saw that this week. In the biggest game this week for Memphis where they took on the 16th ranked Ole Miss and won that game Haggerty had 17 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists in that game. Then followed up that game with a 19 points 5 rebounds and 2 assists in a blowout win over FAU.
Who’s Not:
Damarco Minor (Sr., Oregon State)
Damarco has been off to a rough start to this season his points per game and rebounds per game are down this season compared to where they have been in years in the past and then also his shooting percentage from the field is down and they are both around only 34% on the year from three and the field. These last two games have been really hard for him with only scoring 2 points against Portland and then only 8 points against LMU.
Jalen Hill (Sr., UNLV)
While Jalen is a starter and gets around 28-29 minutes per game his numbers don’t resemble the play he should be playing. For the last 5 games he has not hit double digit scoring in any of his games. The closest one was this week where he scored 9 points. He is a pretty good rebounder for his size at 6’6 the last two games he has had 9 rebounds and then 6 rebounds. Hill just needs to start shooting and scoring more and hopefully get out of the slump that he is in right now.
Top 5 teams outside the Power 5 Conferences
5. Drake – MVC
They finally lost one against a team they really should not have lost to, that is why they dropped two spots in my recent rankings. The loss came to UIC on 1/1 in a hard-fought game where they ended up losing 74-70. Drake is still 12-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play so a lot of play for as long as this loss does not start a snowball effect on the rest of the season.
4. Liberty – CUSA
Liberty did lose by 1 point to a good Western Kentucky team this week which is a better loss than what Drake suffered which is why the rankings are the way they are. With that loss Liberty is now 12-2 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. They now have work to do to get back to the top of their conference but will have the opportunity to do so in the upcoming weeks.
3. Utah State – Mountain West
Ever since 12/17 Utah State has forgotten how to lose, they are starting to get this thing all figured out now. They are now 13-1 on the season with their only loss being by 2 points and then 3-0 in conference play although there are other good teams in this conference where we are right now you feel this is their Conference to lose.
2. Memphis – AAC
A new team in my rankings has emerged and has done so in a huge way. I think it would be safe to say that Memphis has been all over the place so far this season with great wins and also not such great losses. They have picked up some quality wins along the way to strengthen their resume on the season and another one came this week against 16th ranked Ole Miss. With the tough out of conference season pretty much over Memphis will look to go on a big winning streak in next couple of weeks.
1. Gonzaga – West Coast Conference
Gonzaga did not get the big win over UCLA that they really needed and wanted but it was a hard-fought game with one of their best players getting ejected during the game, Khalif Battle. Gonzaga has been in pretty much every loss this season, but they can just not get over the hump and actually win a game which has cost them a pretty strong resume. If Gonzaga does not run the table and drops a game, they should not lose. Don’t be shocked if Memphis takes this spot.