Iowa State men’s basketball: Seth Davis predicts Georges Niang as Big 12 POY
By Brian Spaen
Seth Davis believes that Georges Niang will be the Big 12 Player of the Year on the Campus Insiders’ Big 12 men’s basketball preview show.
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Davis joined host Jordan Cornette in a quick 2-plus minute preview show, and gave us his predictions for the upcoming Big 12 season.
“It looks like the race to the Big 12 title is going to be Kansas and Texas,” Davis said as he thumped his “magical” sharpie on his head.
“…The league’s player of the year will come from a team other than those two. Specifically Iowa State where Georges Niang is a 6-foot-7 junior forward…[Last year] he broke his foot in the first game of the NCAA tournament. I think that Iowa State would not have lost to UConn had he been healthy.”
The problem with Davis’ analysis is that he believes Niang has to be relied upon, unlike Kansas and Texas who have balanced teams, and that’s why Niang will be the player of the year. While Niang is one of the most important pieces of the team, I think many national media pundits will be surprised how balanced the team is.
Mar 21, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Georges Niang (31) and forward Dustin Hogue (22) celebrate in the first half of a men
That’s not just looking at the transfers that are coming in, like Bryce Dejean-Jones and Jameel McKay that will make an immediate impact. Dustin Hogue will be just as important in the frontcourt as Niang and Monte Morris may not show it in the scoring column, but he will be the key distributor at the point.
Other topics the tipoff show talked about was their projected Big 12 breakout player, which is Wayne Seldon, Jr. on Kansas. The host of the show does predict a new champion in the conference year, but doesn’t give it to Iowa State. Instead, he awards Texas with the trophy. In fact, he even says that the Longhorns will make it to the Final Four.
It’s interesting to see how many people believe the Big 12 is a two-horse race with Kansas and Texas when Iowa State isn’t that much lower than either of them in some preseason top 25 rankings, but that’s just me nitpicking. Obviously, we hope somebody else dethrones the Jayhawks.