NCAA Basketball: AJ Clayton, Maxime Raynaud headlines latest Players of the Week

It is the end of week 3, so it is time to hand out another Busting Brackets Player of the Week award. For any of you who are new to this, the rules are simple. I pick a player of the week from the Power 5 ranks and one from the Mid Major ranks and do a little write-up on them. The only games that do not count are those against non-division 1 competition. Every other game is fair game. I then pick the player who had the biggest impact for the week.

Last week, the Awards went to Jalen Terry from Eastern Michigan, who had a huge week scoring and shooting. The other award went to John Tonje from Wisconsin and his huge game against Arizona. Whenever you can score 40 or more points in a game especially against a top 10 team you are going to be recognized nationally. 

This week, the player of the week takes us to the ACC, where a newcomer to the conference had a gigantic week, with two wins for his team and his new coach. The mid-major player takes us to the MAC, where we visit a player who is one of the frontrunners for the conference player of the year and is playing on a team that many have favored to win the league. 

Mid Major - AJ Clayton (Ohio Bobcats)

Ignore the overall record for Ohio at least at this point in the year. The Bobcats have already played a tough schedule for a MAC team, and they lost a heartbreaker in the Charleston Classic to put them in the losers' bracket. The Bobcats were not at full strength, but Clayton played like the player everyone knew he was and did his best to ensure Ohio could stay in games. 

Clayton had a huge week. In a loss to Middle Tennessee, the star forward scored 18 points in 7-17 shootings and 1-9 from deep. That was very uncharacteristic for Clayton, who is usually a great shooter. Clayton added 11 rebounds and three assists to his line. In a win over Portland, the forward showed why everyone is so high on him this year. He scored 24 points on 13-26 shooting and 6-14 from deep. He added 12 rebounds and two blocks to his line. The Bobcats won that game in a blowout. It was a tournament so Ohio played three games and in a loss to Texas State, Clayton scored 18 points on 5-13 shooting including 4-12 from deep. He added five rebounds. Ohio didn’t play well collectively in this game, and Clayton and his shooting kept it close for most of the game.

The senior forward had not gotten going yet this year for the first two weeks, and it showed in the overall record for Ohio. They had only won 1 game heading into this week. It showed when the forward can score, rebound, passes the ball well, and can protect the rim. When he is doing that with high efficiency the Bobcats are very hard to beat. Ohio didn’t play the tournament with their other star, and when Shereef Mitchell gets healthy and Clayton rolling, they likely won’t lose much in the MAC. Congratulations to Clayton and the Ohio program.

Power Conference - Maxime Raynaud (Stanford)

Raynaud entered his Senior year as one of the most underrated big men in the game and there are few reasons for that. One is that Stanford has not been very good over his time at the school. Two is that in the Pac 12 they played late night most of the time and a lot of the country was not able to watch the games. Now that Stanford is in the ACC, I promise you that Reynaud will be known and talked about.

The French big man currently leads the country in rebounding, and he has secured a double-double in every game this season. In a win over Norfolk State, the big man scored 20 points on 7-12 shooting, including 2-3 from deep. He was also 4-6 from the free throw line and added ten rebounds and 2 blocks. In a win over Santa Clara on the road, the French big man scored 32 points on 12-23 shooting, 2-3 from deep and 6-12 from the line. He had a bad night at the line, but the rest of the offensive numbers were awesome. He added 16 rebounds and two assists. Reynaud dominated the Santa Clara game, and there was nothing the Broncos could do to stop him.

Stanford is a much better team this year. They are well-coached, and Raynaud will likely be on this list many more times. It will be hard to ignore the leading rebounder in the country if he continues at his current pace. As you can see, the French forward can dominate games and will take over for Stanford. Congratulations to Maxime and the Stanford program.