Michigan Basketball: Why Zavier Simpson should win 2019 Big Ten POY
By Adam Childs
Zavier Simpson is arguably the most important player for Michigan Basketball. Should he be considered one of the best of the Big Ten and a potential POY candidate?
Zavier Simpson is listed as 6’0″ on the Michigan Basketball roster and that might be generous. He averages under 10 points a game and if you were listening to their last game you heard Dan Dakich say he couldn’t score in major college basketball. He is not flashy and can’t dunk, but yet he is the most important person on the fifth-ranked Wolverines.
When you think of the Big Ten, names like Carsen Edwards, Cassius Winston, Ethan Happ, Nick Ward, and even James Palmer Jr. might come to mind. If you even think of Michigan you might think or Jordan Poole, Charles Matthews and super freshman Iggy Brazdeikis first.
When you look at the box score his name does not jump of the page at you. Of course, unless you look at the Wolverines last game against rival Ohio State where he would record the sixth triple-double in school history. He does not shoot free throws well and he has struggled at times from outside.
Even with all this he still should be considered as one of the best players in the Big Ten. Most experts would probably put him as the fourth best player on his own team, but the ones that really watch Michigan play know that is not the case.
So will Simpson when Big Ten POY? No he won’t and he might not get any votes, but if he did win it, there would be no one surprised on the Michigan campus. Simpson is one of the top reasons Michigan sits at 20-1 on the year and fifth in the country. Here are three reasons why Simpson should win the conference player of the year but won’t.