March is approaching and it’s becoming clear who the best player at their respective positions in college basketball is.
College basketball legends have won the positional awards given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, including UConn’s Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier and Tristen Newton.
In this week’s Sam’s Section, I will go over my picks for the positional awards in college basketball.
Bob Cousy Award (nation’s best point guard): Mark Sears, Alabama (18.9 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3 rpg, 41.2 FG%, 35.3 3P%, 84.1 FT%)
Sears is coming off a season where he was a consensus second-team All-American leading Alabama to its first Final Four appearance in program history. While his averages are down from last year, he has been a major reason the Crimson Tide are considered one of the top teams in the country. He averages 23.4 points per 40 minutes. There have been some games where he is doing cardio and not scoring, including wins over Illinois and LSU. However, he has torched the SEC, averaging 19.7 points per game. He has led the Crimson Tide in scoring key wins including over Houston, Creighton, Texas A&M and Kentucky. Sears could become the first SEC player to win the Bob Cousy Award since Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis during the 2016-17 season, as well as the second since the award’s inception in 2004.
Jerry West Award (nation’s best shooting guard): PJ Haggerty, Memphis (21.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2 spg, 49.7 FG%, 42.4 3P%, 78.8 FT%)
Memphis has a nasty backcourt with Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter, but the Tigers would not be consistently in the AP Top 25 this season without Haggerty. The Crosby, Texas native is at his third school in as many years, spending the first two seasons of his career at TCU and Tulsa, respectively. He ranks sixth in the country in scoring and has managed to help his teammates produce offensively as well, ranking in the 91st percentile in assists per game. Only once has Haggerty failed to score 12 points or more, which shows just how important his production has been for Head Coach Penny Hardaway’s squad. He helped Memphis win big games over Missouri, UConn, Michigan State, Clemson and Ole Miss. With this award, Haggerty would become the second player in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) to win the award. Houston’s Marcus Sasser won the award during the 2022-23 season.
Julius Erving Award (nation’s best small forward): Cooper Flagg, Duke (19.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 4 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.1 bpg, 48.6 FG%, 37.3 3P%, 81.8 FT%)
This is an easy decision. Despite being a freshman, Flagg has emerged as one of the two players in contention for national player of the year. He has been incredible for the Blue Devils and has taken full advantage of a weak Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), averaging 21.8 points per game in league play. Flagg has shown up when his team needs him, especially in wins over Arizona, Auburn, Louisville and Illinois. Only once has a Duke player won this award: Wendell Moore Jr. during the 2021-22 season. Flagg is on pace to become the second national player of the year to win the Julius Erving Award (Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine in 2015-16).
Karl Malone Award (nation’s best power forward): Johni Broome, Auburn (18.6 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.6 bpg, 50.7 FG%, 30.3 3P%, 61.9 FT%)
The other national player of the year candidate is Broome, who is the best player on the best team in college basketball. After a season that put him on the All-American third team (AP, USBWA, NABC, Sporting News), Broome’s stock skyrocketed in every stat besides field goal percentage and 3-point percentage. He is one of 11 players averaging a double-double in college basketball. Only Baylor’s Norchad Omier and UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg on the Karl Malone Award top 10 list also averaged a double-double. Broome has delivered top-tier performances in numerous blockbuster games, including wins against Houston, Iowa State, Memphis, Purdue, Missouri, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Alabama. He would become the first SEC player to win the award. If he pulls away from Flagg in the national player of the year race, he will join Duke’s Zion Williamson and Dayton’s Obi Toppin as the only Karl Malone Award recipients to be named college basketball’s best player.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (nation’s best center): Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton (18.7 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.8 bpg, 1.5 apg, 66 FG%, 41.5 3P%, 71.5 FT%)
Kalkbrenner has emerged as one of the greatest players in Creighton men’s basketball history. The fifth-year senior has a chance to win Big East Defensive Player of the Year for a fourth time. The Florissant, Mo. native has seen nearly every major stat category improve from last season except for blocks per game and 3-point percentage. He has never been on an All-American team in his five-year career, but that will change this year. Only one Big East player has won this award in the past: Seton Hall’s Ángel Delgado during the 2017-18 season.