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Big 12 Basketball: Dedric Lawson and Jarrett Culver lead POY race

By Bryan Mauro

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 23: Jarrett Culver #23, Keenan Evans #12 and Zach Smith #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrate their lead over the Purdue Boilermakers during the second 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: Jarrett Culver #23, Keenan Evans #12 and Zach Smith #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrate their lead over the Purdue Boilermakers during the second 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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LAWRENCE, KANSAS – JANUARY 09: Dedric Lawson #1 of the Kansas Jayhawks celebrates after making a three-pointer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse on January 09, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS – JANUARY 09: Dedric Lawson #1 of the Kansas Jayhawks celebrates after making a three-pointer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse on January 09, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

2. Dedric Lawson – Kansas

When Udoka Azubuike went down for the season last week, the Kansas Jayhawks were going to have some huge shoes to fill. Dedric Lawson who along with his brother KJ are both transfers from Memphis. Kj is a guard and plays sparingly for the Jayhawks. Coach Bill Self has placed his faith in Lawson to carry the interior offense and defense with Azubuike on the shelf. Lawson was playing a power forward role for the Jayhawks, but now out of necessity, the big man is needed to play the center position. The Jayhawks have to play the rest of the season utilizing smaller lineups than they wanted to enter the season.

Kansas has the luxury of changing their lineups on the fly because of their junior forward. Lawson is a skilled player who can score from every level. He can shoot three’s even though playing within the Kansas offense he is not asked to do that very often. Lawson is a monster in the post and is a skilled scorer around the rim. The forward is great at drawing fouls and shoots a good clip from the free throw line. The junior is averaging a double-double with 20 points per game and just over 11 rebounds.

Lawson is also extremely efficient with the basketball. He is making over 50% of his shots and already has taken the most shots on the team. Don’t be surprised if the efficiency stays the same even while getting more touches since Azubuike is done for the season. The small ball lineup has not hurt Kansas yet, especially with Lawson playing out of position. It remains to be seen if this will hurt them as the season wears on. Currently, Lawson looks to be the runner up for this award, but if he continues to put up numbers and Kansas continues to run through the league.

The voters for this award may put Lawson first. It will be a huge mountain to climb for him to take over the top spot. The junior came to Kansas to play for national championships, not for conference player of the year honors. Kansas is going to compete for a title, so any other recognition the junior receives would be a nice consolation prize.

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