Thoughts on the WAC Most Valuable Player award

What are the official guidelines in determining the WAC Player of the Year?

PTW's guess is that they don't exist but it's an honor usually awarded based on a combination of how a certain player performed in conjunction with his team's W-L record.

With such in mind, there are a trio of candidates in the running:

* Wendell McKines featuring 18.4 points and 10.1 rebounds a game with  New Mexico State standing at 9-3

* Deonte Burton featuring 17.8 points and 3.9 assists per game and the Wolf Pack on top at 11-1

* Vander Joaquim featuring 17.5 points and 10.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots a game while shooting 67% for 6-6 Hawaii

Going strictly by the individual numbers ... it's Joaquim.
 
Going strictly by the placement of the team ... hand it over to Burton.

Going strictly by value to the team (try defining that) Kevin Olekaibe (hey, how'd he get in here) is hands down the most valuable player.

It could be argued that Burton is the individual among the trio who makes his teammates more effective offensively but both McKines and Joaquim certainly draw more-than-their-defender focus from opponents.

Officially, it's going to be Burton.

In the estimation of PTW, it should be ...

Burton.

Because of a combination of Nevada winning league, his numbers and making Dario Hunt and Olek Czyz more effective offensively primarily due to his ballhandling and penetration and his being the team leader yet just a sophomore.

Making the case

It was a given in the pre-season that the WAC MVP race was between Nevada's Deonte Burton and Wendell McKines of New Mexico State but Hawaii center Vander Joaquim is upending the conventional wisdom and offering himself as a candidate.

Joaquim leads the conference in scoring (18.2), rebounding (10.9). shooting (71%) and blocked shots (2.9).

Burton sits at 17.6 points, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals a game and McKines is currently positioned at 18.1 points and 9.8 rebounds a contest.

If these numbers are maintained, further conventional wisdom may be shattered. That being the league most valuable player honor having to go to someone from the top team.

Vander Joaquim named WAC POW

From Jason Erickson, WAC Director of Media Relations:

Hawai‘i’s Vander Joaquim has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 9-15. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week award and second this season for Joaquim.

Joaquim, a junior forward from Luanda, Angola (College of Eastern Utah), led Hawai‘i to a 1-1 record last week with a 74-68 overtime win at Fresno State and a 77-74 setback at Nevada.  Joaquim scored a season-high 23 points, while adding 16 rebounds and three blocks for his fifth double-double of the season in the overtime win at Fresno State. Joaquim helped UH to the win after scoring his team’s final two baskets of regulation, including the game-tying field goal with five seconds remaining. He then scored 10 of UH’s 16 points in overtime to secure the victory. Joaquim recorded his third-straight 20 point game with 23 points in a near-upset at Nevada. He also added seven rebounds and a career-high seven blocks. The seven blocks were one short of the UH school record.

On the week, Joaquim averaged 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game. He shot 73.9.4 percent (13-of-23) from the field and 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from the free throw line.

Other nominees included:

* Fresno State sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe
* Idaho senior guard Deremy Geiger
* Nevada sophomore guard Deonte Burton
* New Mexico State senior forward Wendell McKines
* Utah State senior guard Brockeith Pane

Vander Joaquim named WAC POW

Hawai‘i’s Vander Joaquim has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 12-18. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Joaquim.

Joaquim, a junior center from Luanda, Angola (Eastern Utah CC), led Hawai‘i to a 2-0 record last week with wins over Hawaii-Hilo and North Carolina A&T.  In the 79-66 victory over Hawaii-Hilo, Joaquim recorded his second straight double-double of the season with 19 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. He scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half to help UH turn a two-point halftime deficit into a double-digit win. He also posted 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in a 65-57 win over North Carolina A&T as UH won its third straight game.

On the week, Joaquim averaged 17.7 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 assists per game. He shot 65.0 percent (13-of-20) from the field and 90.0 percent (9-of-10) from the free throw line.

Other nominees:

* Fresno State sophomore forward Jerry Brown
* Idaho senior guard Landon Tatum
* Louisiana Tech freshman guard Raheem Appleby
* Nevada senior forward Olek Czyz
* New Mexico State senior guard Hernst Laroche
* Utah State sophomore guard Preston Medlin

Missed this one

Jason Groves offers his sixth best WAC talent.

Wednesday's WAC-aroo

Dayton Morinaga fills us in on Vander Joaquim's re-appearance at Hawaii. Here's predicting the young man averages a double-double this season.

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Stanford fell 98-78 to Real Madrid as Jaycee Carroll's 32 points led the host team.

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Chris Murray writes about Nevada's different 2011-12 schedule as it starts out with, one exception, a stretch at home sweet home. Still, the Wolf Pack looks to have the toughest non-conference slate of all the WAC teams.

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6-foot-8 Texas prep froncourter Joel Bolomboy has gone with Weber State -- this over LA TECH and many others. He averaged 9.9 points and 8.5 rebounds last season.