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NCAA Basketball: Ja Morant, Rui Hachimura top mid-major players from 2018-19

By Logan Butts

AUBURN, ALABAMA - DECEMBER 22: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers goes up for a dunk against the Auburn Tigers at Auburn Arena on December 22, 2018 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
AUBURN, ALABAMA - DECEMBER 22: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers goes up for a dunk against the Auburn Tigers at Auburn Arena on December 22, 2018 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 21: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers celebrates after making an assist during the second half of the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament against the Marquette Golden Eagles at XL Center on March 21, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. Murray State defeated Marquette 83-64. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 21: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers celebrates after making an assist during the second half of the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament against the Marquette Golden Eagles at XL Center on March 21, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. Murray State defeated Marquette 83-64. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

2018-19 was a great NCAA Basketball season for mid-major squads. Let’s take a look at some of the top performers from the year.

2018-19 was the perfect year for mid-major teams and players to get some national shine. There was an established hierarchy of approximately 15 great teams that separated themselves from everyone else this year, and it certainly showed with a chalky first weekend of the NCAA Tournament followed by a number of classics involving great teams.

As more and more middle tier Power Five schools failed to step up into the next group of national prominence, an unusually strong pack of mid-majors stepped into the void with talented and exciting teams that challenged for national awards (Ja!) and at-large bids (Belmont!) and drove the majority of the Selection Sunday discussions (Lipscomb vs Indiana! St. John’s vs UNC Greensboro!), with an assist from the newly introduced NET rankings.

Since I wrote a weekly mid-major column all season, I felt the need to finish of the year with my mid-major All-American picks as well as some fun awards.

Player of the Year – Ja Morant, Murray State

Who else could it be? There was certainly a deep pool of strong candidates this season, but Morant took the college basketball world by storm. He earned himself a spot as the projected number two overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, following Cam Payne and Isaiah Canaan
as Murray State point guards who made the jump to the next level.

If it weren’t for a once-in-a-generation talent in Zion Williamson, Morant would have been THE story of the college basketball season. Not bad for an OVC sophomore.

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