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Seton Hall Basketball: Why Myles Powell will win National Player of the Year

By Brian Rauf

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates celebrates his shot in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates celebrates his shot in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates attempt a last second shot as Tyler Wideman #4 and Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs defend during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City.The Butler Bulldogs defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 75-74. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates attempt a last second shot as Tyler Wideman #4 and Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs defend during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City.The Butler Bulldogs defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 75-74. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Scoring prowess

17 of the last 18 players to be named National Player of the Year led their team in scoring during the year in which they won the award. The only player who didn’t in that stretch was Zion Williamson last year, but he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Prior to Williamson, the last player to win without leading their team in scoring was another Dukie in Shane Battier, but he still averaged nearly 20 points per game.

Bottom line – as much as we like to talk about basketball being a team game and valuing players who play that way, scoring still matters above all else. And Myles Powell can fill it up with the best of them.

The 6-2, 195-pounder averaged 23.1 points per game last season, which was good for 11th in the country, but there’s reason to believe he could do even more.

Following a loss to Villanova on January 27 where he scored just three points, Powell averaged 25.7 ppg the rest of the way, including eight straight games with at least 20 points to close the season. Five of his eight games scoring at least 30 points came during that post-January 27 stretch, too.

The other thing working in Powell’s favor? He wasn’t even super efficient! His three-point percentage dropped to 36.3 percent (37.9 percent in 2017-18) as Seton Hall often relied on him to bail them out offensively. With so many players back (more on that later), the Pirates should be much more effective as a team, eliminating some of the desperation, low-percentage shots Powell was forced to take.

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