NCAA Basketball: Carey, Winston lead National Player of the Year race

By Brian Rauf | Jan 10, 2020

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - DECEMBER 03: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils looks on while playing the Michigan State Spartans during the second half at the Breslin Center on December 03, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Duke won the game 87-75. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – DECEMBER 30: Myles Powell #13 (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Stats: 21.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.4 apg

In November and early December, Myles Powell was the clear-cut leader in the National Player of the Year race. Seton Hall had gotten off to a slow start, but Powell was beyond dominant when he was on the court.

Then he suffered a concussion against Rutgers in what was a 20-point loss for the Pirates, and the season started to take on a very different tone. Powell ended up missing two games with that concussion, but the Rutgers loss has become a positive turning point for Seton Hall.

Since then, the Pirates are 5-0 with notable wins over Maryland (without Powell) and Xavier on the road. Powell has played in the last three games of that streak and picked up right where he left off, scoring 27 points against DePaul and 24 against the Musketeers.

There’s no doubt that the 6-2 senior is Seton Hall’s leader and he has already delivered a number of memorable performances this season.

Powell has only taken a step back because he missed games and because the Pirates got off to a 6-4 start. Now that he’s back and Seton Hall is back on track, all it will take is one big performance in a marquee game for him to return to the top three.

He’ll have a chance on Saturday when he’ll duel against Markus Howard, which is following up with a contest against Butler. Don’t be surprised to see Powell rank much higher this time next week.

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