Gonzaga Basketball: Brandon Clarke deserves Player of the Year attention

Gonzaga basketball’s Brandon Clarke is one of the best players in college basketball this season is undervalued in the Wooden Award conversation.

Now to be fair, this is not a claim that Clarke should win Player of the Year this season. The elite candidates this year are as talented as ever, considering Duke’s Zion Williamson is the two-way juggernaut he is, Marquette’s Markus Howard is one of the greatest scorers the game has seen this millennium and Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ is, well, Ethan Happ. However, Clarke should undeniably be a name thrown around anytime this topic arises.

In his debut season with Gonzaga, Clarke has emerged as a crucial piece for the Bulldogs as they push for their second Final Four appearance in three seasons and their first national title. On the season, Clarke is averaging 16.4 ppg (second on the team) while leading the squad in both rebounds (7.8 rpg) and blocks (3.0 bpg).

The 6-foot-8-inch agile big’s three blocks per match are the third-highest in the nation and Clarke ranks No. 21 in block percentage as he is swatting 11.3% of opposing players’ shots when on the court. With 23 games under his belt as a Zag, Clarke has already denied 69 opposing shots. Zach Collins, the Bulldogs’ elite shot blocker from the 2016-17 season, recorded 69 in 39 games. One more rejection and the San Jose St. transfer will tie Austin Daye’s single-season record from 2008-09.

But Clarke doesn’t just swat shots. He denies them in big-time meetings. In the Zags’ historic victory of then No. 1 Duke in Maui, Clarke recorded six blocks (the fourth time he has had a six-block game), including two in the final minute of play.

That’s just the defensive side of his game. Clarke, a native of Phoenix, is an extremely balanced player, with massive abilities on the offensive side of the ball. Not only does Clarke average 16.4 ppg, but he does so extremely efficiently. Ranking No. 7 in the nation, Clarke has made 68.9% of his field goal attempts this season. Even more impressive, according to Kenpom, Clarke’s effective field goal percentage of 69.6% is the fourth best in the land, one spot behind Williamson.

Of players that contribute to at least 20% of their team’s possessions, Clarke has the highest offensive rating, according to Kenpom, with 134.2, a full two points higher than No. 2, Williamson.

So far this season, Clarke has shot under 50% only once, against Washington. He finished the game with 10 points, while still managing a double-double with 11 rebounds. On the other hand, Clarke has three games this season where he did not miss a field goal attempt, going 4-for-4 against Illinois, 9-for-9 against North Dakota State, and 5-for-5 against Loyola Marymount. Clarke has scored 15 or more points 15 times this season and 20 or more points five times. His career high at Gonzaga is 27 against Creighton, which was one of his six double-doubles at Gonzaga.

Despite these impressive stats from both sides of the ball, Clarke has flown relatively under the radar for the Wooden Award conversation. Clarke was not one of the preseason top-50 choices, the midseason top-25 nor Feb. 4’s top-20 list. In Kenpom’s player of the year standings, Clarke sits at No. 8 with a 1.508 rating, one one-thousandth of a point behind Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver,  No. 7. Clarke is the only player on Kenpom’s top-10 that is not on the Wooden Award watch.

Clarke is one of 15 finalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award.