{"id":235,"date":"2014-01-16T14:35:27","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T20:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/67.227.157.91\/~kenpom\/wp_blog\/the-2014-kpoy-watch-list\/"},"modified":"2014-01-16T14:35:27","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T20:35:27","slug":"the-2014-kpoy-watch-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/the-2014-kpoy-watch-list\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2014 kPOY watch list"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to start up the 2014 kenpom.com player of the year tracker. Back in December 2010 when I created the kPOY<\/a> the goal was to have an objective way to identify the best college players. There’s more background on the logic behind the award here<\/a> and here<\/a>. Briefly, this award is based on a player\u2019s value to his team in combination with his team\u2019s strength. This has nothing to do with a player\u2019s NBA potential nor should be taken as such. Nor is it attempting to predict the outcome of any other human-based POY award. It\u2019s simply one system’s measure of a player’s value.<\/p>\n

Past winners of the kPOY include Russ Smith (2013), Draymond Green (2012), and Jared Sullinger (2011). <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll review the initial top ten here. The list here<\/a> will be constantly updated as the more data becomes available. <\/p>\n

10. Jayvaughn Pinkston, Villanova.<\/strong> The bottom of the kPOY will change from day-to-day – even when the players involved don\u2019t play – because the ratings difference between #9 and #16 or so is very small. Pinkston gets the honor today. He got swallowed up by the Syracuse zone, but otherwise has been consistently good in a number of areas. <\/p>\n

9. Jabari Parker, Duke.<\/strong> The general consensus seems to be that Parker is on the heels of Doug McDermott for POY honors. The kPOY values defense and Duke, and probably Parker by extension, come up short in this area. Furthermore, Parker\u2019s last four games haven\u2019t been gems offensively, either. It\u2019s possible he can make a run at the kPOY with a strong second half, but in the human POY race he\u2019s living off reputation right now.<\/p>\n

8. DeAndre Kane, Iowa State.<\/strong> With the Cyclones frequently featuring multiple ball-handlers on the floor, Kane is free to use his post-up game to exploit mismatches. The benefit has been an increase in fouls drawn and a decrease in three-pointers attempted. <\/p>\n

7. Russ Smith, Louisville.<\/strong> The 2013 kPOY is putting up similar numbers to last season. If Louisville was #1 in the country, he\u2019d be in position to repeat. When I struggle to explain the logic behind the kPOY, I prefer to borrow Smith’s explanation: \u201ctwo plus two is four<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

6. Julius Randle, Kentucky.<\/strong> Randle\u2019s the top-ranked freshman on the list. He\u2019s clearly the Wildcats\u2019 go-to-guy offensively and a monster rebounder to boot. <\/a><\/p>\n

5. C.J. Fair, Syracuse.<\/strong> Fair isn\u2019t all that efficient, but he\u2019s a plus-defender, uses a lot of possessions, and plays every meaningful minute for the Orange. SInce the kPOY is concerned about overall production, minutes matter.<\/p>\n

4. Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State.<\/strong> Smart\u2019s candidacy could gain strength if Oklahoma State remains a contender in the Big 12 despite losing Michael Cobbins and Stevie Clark. Smart\u2019s alleged improved three-point shooting appears to have been partly a mirage, but he\u2019s still one of the country\u2019s premier thieves and he earns a bunch of free throws.<\/p>\n

3. Nick Johnson, Arizona.<\/strong> Arizona\u2019s offense is well-balanced, so despite being viewed as the consensus #1, they\u2019ve had trouble generating a viable POY candidate. But Johnson\u2019s made 57 percent of his twos and 38 percent of his threes as the Wildcats most-frequent per-minute shooter and deserves more attention. <\/p>\n

2. Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh.<\/strong> Find the team-leader on a slow-paced squad playing well but without quality wins and you\u2019ll find someone that\u2019s underrated. Patterson is easily the Panthers\u2019 most efficient player and also their most involved in the offense. He\u2019s made 60 percent of his twos and 44 percent of this threes. Despite playing the wing, he\u2019s second in the ACC in assist rate among active players. Pitt will largely get ignored the rest of the season because they\u2019re almost surely going to lose a few conference games the rest of the way. Patterson will likely get ignored, too, but the kPOY will be watching.<\/p>\n

1. Doug McDermott, Creighton.<\/strong> The kPOY agrees with the national consensus at the top and McDermott has put quite a bit of distance between him and field. However, if Creighton finds itself falling into the bottom end of the top 20, the door will be open for a challenger. McDermott\u2019s shooting percentages are down from last season, but his usage is up and he\u2019s committing fewer turnovers on a team that may win the underrated Big East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to start up the 2014 kenpom.com player of the year tracker. Back in December 2010 when I created the kPOY the goal was to have an objective way to identify the best college players. There’s more background on the logic behind the award here and here. Briefly, this award is based on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}