NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga, Kansas among teams with 2022-23 NPOY favorites

6. Marcus Sasser – Houston Cougars

2022-23 stats: 16.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.2 apg

Sasser is in a similar situation as to Drew Timme of Gonzaga. They both are in conferences where their teams are heavy favorites, while not having many games where they can have “signature” moments, outside of going for 30+ points. And even then, they have to keep winning in order to warrant consideration for National Player of the Year.

Unfortunately for Sasser and Houston, they recently took a bad loss at home to Temple. The Owls have been one of the more inconsistent teams in NCAA Basketball but they’re 6-2 in AAC play and are in a similar place as LMU in the standings. By his standings, it was a poor game for Sasser in the team’s 56-55 defeat, scoring 12 points on 4/11 shooting, along with five assists and four steals.

Sasser was very good in the two games prior, scoring 23 points in a road win at Tulane and dropping a season-high 31 points versus South Florida, making 7/17 from the field and 11/14 from the free throw line.

Houston was the No. 1 team in the country last week and now is at 3 but there’s a good chance that they’ll get back to that spot, which will help Sasser’s chances. But he’ll need to keep having big games to stay in the conversation and more importantly, avoid more setbacks in the AAC.