With Auburn’s Johni Broome injured, and Duke’s Cooper Flagg surging, the odds in the betting market to win national player of the year have essentially flipped.
Broome was a heavy favorite.
Now it’s Flagg.
As Matt Norlander and I discussed on Sunday’s episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, it really does, at this point, kinda feel like a two-man NPOY race. And it might end up being exactly that (or something even less if Flagg runs away with it). But if you’re looking for an alternative candidate, for somebody who checks all of the boxes NPOY candidates typically need to check, turn to CBS Sports Network on Tuesday night at 7 ET for Marquette at DePaul.
Kam Jones will be the best player on the court.
He’s Marquette’s 6-foot-5 guard who is averaging 19.7 points, 6.4 assists and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 50.6% from the field. He’s a statistical monster for a Big East team that’s 14-2 and No. 6 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. He’s a great player having a great season — so great that Jones actually ranks third, behind only Broome and Flagg, in the player ratings at EvanMiya.com.
Will Jones ever catch Flagg?
For what it’s worth, the betting market doesn’t think so. But First Team All-America honors, and the Big East Player of the Year award, are totally within his grasp. And it’s a great story given that Jones was a sub-100 prospect coming out of high school in Memphis, and just a role player as a freshman at Marquette, before blossoming into a star who now has a chance to finish his college career as just the second 2,000-point scorer in program history.
