It is two weeks until Christmas and the Basketball games are dwindling down as teams get prepared to take their final exams and break for the Christmas holiday. Last week many teams only played one game. Following my rules for the Player of the Week Award will be tough. I normally exclude players who have only played one game unless they had a fantastic game and put up huge numbers. This week, the pool was smaller because almost every team played one game.
Even with the tightened schedule for most of the country there were still players who stood out above the rest of the players in the country. There will always be one mid-major player and one power conference player. I did miss last week, and the awards went to Eric Dixon of Villanova, who had a huge week helping the Wildcats get two wins in two tough games. The Wildcats are playing like a tournament team again. The mid-major player last week was Xaivian Lee from Princeton, who secured the first triple-double in Princeton history.
This week the mid major player takes us to the Horizon League via the Milwaukee Panthers. The power conference player takes us to the SEC via the Kentucky Wildcats. Milwaukee played two games this week, and one of their stars had a huge week scoring and rebounding. Kentucky only played one game but this player had one of the best statistical games ever and earned this award over some others.
Jamichael Stillwell - Milwaukee Panthers
There are not many people outside of Milwaukee who know much about Stillwell and that is because he is a transfer from Butler County Community College and is in his first season of Division 1 basketball. This week was his coming-out party, and he has put the Horizon League on notice with two huge games, both scoring and rebounding. Stillwell is a 6’8”, athletically gifted big man who is a load inside and has a tremendously high ceiling. He has the ability to be the best player in the Horizon League this year.
In a win over conference foe Green Bay the big man had a huge game. He scored 24 points on 9-15 shooting, 3-5 from deep, and 3-6 from the line. The part of the game that stood out was the 19 rebounds that he hauled in. Green Bay couldn’t keep him off the glass, and given that it was the second game in a row in the conference, and the big man had big rebounding numbers, a trend is emerging. In the second game of the week in the MKE classic. A win over Akron saw the big man have another huge game. He scored 17 points on 5-9 shooting, 2-2 from deep, and 5-7 from the line. There was another huge rebounding game with 18 rebounds. The big man is currently in the top 5 in the country in rebounding.
The junior big man is becoming one of the country's most reliable scorers and rebounders. There are not many guys in the Horizon League who can cover him, and when he is hitting threes, Milwaukee is very difficult to beat. We may be visiting Stillwell again this year. Congratulations to Jamichael and the Milwaukee program.
Lamont Butler - Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky is ranked in the top 5 and has scoring and shooting everywhere. Head coach Mark Pope has done a fantastic job building this version of the Wildcats. They shoot threes, they defend, and they dominate teams. Butler has been at the center of the Wildcats team all season long. He has much experience from his San Diego State days and has picked up his game for Coach Pope. I am making an exception for Butler, who is playing only one game this week because of his excellence. He did sit out the first game of the week due to an ankle injury, but he returned against in-state rival Louisville and made his presence known in a big way.
Butler scored 33 points and did it on 10-10 shooting, 6-6 from deep, and surprisingly 7-12 from the line. He added 6 assists and 3 rebounds to his line. He was the fourth player in Wildcat history to have this type of line and the first player to perfect from deep since Wenyen Gabriel was 7-7. The 33 points were a career high for the point guard, and seeing what he did against a decent Louisville team while still nursing an ankle injury is impressive. Butler deserved the Player of the Week, even if he only played one game.
Kentucky is going to have a lot of guys put up big numbers. I don’t know if we will ever see Butler on this list again because that is not the type of player that he is. He has the ability to score in bunches but is a guy who cares so much about winning that he will do whatever it takes for a victory. One night that may mean a ton of assists, one night it could mean rebounds, or playing clutch defense. Butler is a great player who is so much more than his ability to score. Congratulations to Butler and the Kentucky program.