It is time to hand out another Busting Brackets Player of the Week award. The season is winding down and it is getting closer to determining who the National Player of the Year is going to be and I will let you know who my National Player of the Year is as the season goes on. I promise you it won’t be the person any of you expect it to be. In the meantime, there are still three weeks of the regular season left and that means three more Player of the Year awards will be handed out every Monday.
Last week there were huge performances and many of them were by stars and senior leaders who stepped up to make sure their team won games. The mid major player is a guy who is one of the most consistent players in the country. You always know what you are going to get, and he is one of the favorites to win the league player of the year. He is also a star and a senior leader, and he stepped up in a big way to make sure his team was able to get two wins this week. The Power Five player had a huge week and stepped up in a huge way to keep his team trending in the right direction toward the NCAA tournament. That player is also a senior and a star and one of the best players in his league. The mid major player of the week is below.
Dillon Jones - Weber State Wildcats
January 27th was the last time that Jones didn’t score 20 or more points in a game. Subsequently, it was the last time that the Wildcats have lost a game. The senior forward has been on a tear as of late leading his team to a perfect 6-0 record in February. Jones was rewarded for his hard work with a fantastic week of games that made him an easy choice for the mid-major player of the week this week. It has also put Jones in a good position to win the Big Sky Player of the Year.
In a win a 1 point win at Idaho the forward scored 29 points on 8-15 shooting, 1-4 from three point range, and 12-13 from the free throw line. He added 6 rebounds and 9 assists. That was a huge game for Jones but he impacts a game like that every time out, so it was to be expected. He followed up that huge game with a near triple double in a win against Eastern Kentucky. Eastern Kentucky is the leader of the conference and the win helped close the gap and give Weber State a chance at the conference crown. The star forward scored 30 points on 11-22 shooting, 3-4 from deep, and 5-6 from the line. He added 8 rebounds and 8 assists to that line. The near triple double was huge in the huge win for the Wildcats. Jones has never won this award and given how good career has been that is surprising.
A month ago, it didn’t look like Weber State would finish any higher than the middle of the pack in the Big Sky, and it looked like Jones was not going to win the Player of the Year in the league but what a difference six games makes. Since the end of January, Jones has turned his game up a notch with the hopes of making a deep run through the conference tournament and finding a way to get his teammates into the NCAA tournament. Jones is likely going to win the Player of the Year in the Big Sky and a month ago that also didn’t look possible. The month of February has been big for Jones. Congratulations to him and the Weber State program.
Blake Hinson - Pittsburgh Panthers
Often when teams go on a run to find themselves on the bubble at the end of the year it is because one player or a couple of players put the team on their back and win some key games down the stretch. Hinson was fantastic in that regard a season ago when Pitt made their late-season surge to the NCAA tournament and the guard is trying to do the same thing again this season. Hinson is the best shooter in the country. He is shooting over 40% with just over 8 attempts per game and no one is shooting that high of a percentage with that many attempts per game. He is the alpha on offense for the Panthers and his ability to score at will was on full display last week.
In a win against Virginia, the senior forward scored 27 points on 11-19 shooting, 5-13 from three, and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. That was the win that really got everyone talking about Pittsburgh being on the bubble. Then as a follow up to that game Hinson went off. In a win against Louisville, he scored 41 points on 14-24 shooting, 9-13 from deep, and 4-5 from the line. He also added 5 rebounds. There is not much else to say about that line other than 41 points is tough to do and there is one thing to be a volume shooter like Hinson is, but it’s a whole different thing when you are a volume shooter who can shoot almost 60% from the floor in those two games. It was a week that few players will replicate all year.
Hinson is going to do his best to get Pittsburgh back to the NCAA tournament this year and they still have work to do. He is going to get many of the looks and is going to be the guy who is going to get the ball every time down the floor. He can score from everywhere on the floor and is starting to be appointment television. Hinson is one of the best offensive players in the country and even with only 5 games left for most teams, he is going to put up 30 at some point again this year. Congratulations to Blake and the Panthers Program.