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)[/caption]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F8bfa0a6b2e96f4f79b55d9bb014cbcd80f66cc9a448961d55516e33d8051453c.jpg "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)[/caption]")
Sagaba Konate
Sagaba Konate had a huge season last year for the Mountaineers. The impact he made on the defensive end of the floor was a major key to his teams’ success. He averaged 3.2 blocks per game and had many highlight blocks at the rim.
He also has some game on the offensive end as he showed his ability to score the basketball in a variety of ways. His mid-range jumper is better than you might expect for a player with his skillset. He averaged 10.8 points per game last season while shooting 79% from the free-throw line.
His ability to rebound the basketball on both ends is as good as you would expect for a guy of his size. He averaged 7.6 rebounds per game, 2.6 of them being on the offensive end. Those numbers may seem low but with the physical guards West Virginia has, Konate didn’t need to be the one getting all the rebounds.
Konate is gonna be the leader of this team next season. He is gonna man the defense inside and look to have even more on an impact offensively. This West Virginia team is gonna be good. They aren’t considered as a legit threat to the Jayhawks like they were last season though. Expect them to still be one of the top 25 teams in the country and if they can finish close to Kansas in the standings, then it’s possible that he could be the Big 12 Player Of The Year.