Big Ten: 5 Favorites For Conference Player Of The Year
By Jacob Rude
Jan 24, 2015; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard
D.J. Newbill(2) holds the ball as Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard/forward
Malick Kone(0) guards during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State defeated Rutgers 79-51. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
5. DJ Newbill, Penn State
Stats: 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 47.6% FG, 35.6 3PT
Despite being the leading scorer for the Big Ten, Newbill comes in fifth. While likely the fault of having bad teammates, it’s hard to put Newbill higher on this list when his team is tied for last in the Big Ten at 1-6 and just 13-7 overall.
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That being said, you can hardly fault Newbill for this. In conference play, Newbill is putting up an impressive 23.1 points a game, including a 37-point outburst against Purdue and 29 points against Wisconsin. In the Nittany Lions lone win this season, he chipped in an efficient 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting.
Newbill actually averages more points in losses (24.8) than in wins (20.4), which could either be a product of his “going down fighting” mentality or it could be the reason his team is losing. I’ll go with the former on this one considering some of the performances we’ve seen out of him.
Unfortunately, at least in my rankings, some weight is given to team success, and Penn State has hardly any. If he was putting up even gaudier numbers, they’d be hard to ignore, but at “just” 22 points a game, it’s not insane enough to warrant a high spot on this list of talented players.
Next: Melo Trimble