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Big 12 Basketball: Preseason Player of the Year candidates for 2018-19

By Chris Kern

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 23: Sagaba Konate #50 of the West Virginia Mountaineers is defended by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree #21 of the Villanova Wildcats during the first half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 23: Sagaba Konate #50 of the West Virginia Mountaineers is defended by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree #21 of the Villanova Wildcats during the first half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Jarrett  Culver

The Red Raiders lost a lot of talent from last years Elite 8 team. Culver is one of the few key guys returning from that team. That doesn’t mean they are gonna be a bad basketball team. They were a very deep team and return guys such as Brandon Francis and Norense Odiase. They did bring in a few key transfers such as forward Tariq Owens from St. Johns.

Jarrett Culver is gonna be the guy that is asked to lead this offense though. He showed his ability last season and is capable of much more this season. He averaged 11.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season.

Culver was such a great fit alongside star point guard Keenan Evans. He is going to have to be that type of leader for the team this season. His ability to shoot the basketball will help him greatly but he also has the ability to score the ball in the variety of ways. It would be nice if he could improve his free-throw percentage into the 70’s at least after shooting just 65% last season.

Though he does have a shot to win this award. It is more realistic to expect him to make All-Big 12 second team. I just don’t know if we can trust that the Red Raiders will be good enough for him to be a legit candidate for the Player Of The Year award.

Chris Beard is a fantastic coach, he’ll get the most out of his team. They should be a tournament team, but it’ll take more than that for Culver to be truly considered for the award.

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