With only a few weeks remaining in the 2008-09 college basketball regular-season, it’s time to take a look at the top candidates to be named Conference USA Player of the Year.
Memphis has cleaned up in the individual award categories since 2005, especially the top player award, which it claimed in three of the last five years. With Memphis (21-3, 9-0 C-USA) seemingly on its way a fourth consecutive regular-season title, you can be sure that it will have at least one player in the discussion for top player.
Still, the race for C-USA Player of the Year is wide open. Here are the top five contenders for the award (in no particular order).
1. Aubrey Coleman, Houston
Coleman took a lot of heat after being ejected from a game against Arizona on Jan. 24 for stepping on the face of Chase Budinger, but even this shouldn’t diminish the fine season he is having. The 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard is averaging 20 points, eight rebounds and 2.48 steals per game, numbers that rank in the top five of C-USA in their respective category. In the four games Coleman played after the Arizona incident, he averaged 28 points, nine rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals and shot 43.8 percent from the field and 86.7 percent from the free throw line.
2. Jerome Jordan, Tulsa
Also a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, the 7-0, 240-pound Jordan is probably the best big man in the league. He’s averaging 14.2 points, nine rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, while shooting an impressive 58.5 percent from the field. He also has nine double-doubles this season. Jordan’s strong play is a big reason for Tulsa (17-8, 7-3 C-USA) being in second place behind Memphis.
3. Jermaine Taylor, Central Florida
Taylor has been C-USA’s most prolific scorer so far, averaging a league-high 24.5 points per game. He’s also averaging 5.3 rebounds and shooting 41.7 percent from behind the arc. Amazingly, Taylor has scored in double figures in 23 of UCF’s 24 games this season. In his last 15 games, Taylor averaged an eye-popping 27.1 points. Taylor would probably be the odds-on favorite to win the award if it wasn’t for the recent struggles of UCF (15-9, 5-5 C-USA), which has lost three consecutive games.
4. Stefon Jackson, Texas-El Paso
Jackson had one of the worst games of his season in Saturday’s 76-65 loss to Tulsa, hitting only one of 11 shots, but rebounded with a 22-point effort in Wednesday’s 73-68 win over UCF. He’s second in C-USA in scoring (22.6 points per game), is averaging 5.7 rebounds and shooting 83.7 percent from the free throw line. He also managed to score in double figures in all 23 of UTEP’s games.’
5. Tyreke Evans, Memphis
Evans, a freshman, has started his college career on the right foot, despite having to play point guard instead of his natural shooting guard position. His scoring average (16.8) doesn’t rank him among the league’s top five scorers, but he’s second in steals (2.3 per game) behind Coleman. His r’eacute;sum’eacute; is far from impressive, but his strong play has the Tigers poised to win their fourth consecutive C-USA regular-season championship. Evans certainly leads the race for Freshman of the Year, an award that has been claimed by a Memphis player in four of the last five seasons.
