" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

We’re four games into the conference season and roughly halfway through the regular season. So I think it’s about time to look at who the all-conference performers are shaping up to be. Here’s my crack at it. I’ve included the traditional point-per-game stat plus one key tempo-free stat per player.

First Team

Jamar Butler (OSU): 15.1 PPG, 44.8% 3-point% (Conf Rank: 3)

Eric Gordon (IU): 23.0 PPG, 59.7 Effective FG% (3)

Raymar Morgan (MSU): 16.9 PPG, 11.9% Off Reb% (7)

Geary Claxton (PSU): 17.5 PPG, 20.4% Def Reb% (5)  [Deserving at midseason but now out for year]

D.J. White (IU): 16.6 PPG, 27.4% Def Reb% (1)

Second Team

Trevon Hughes (WIS): 13.7 PPG, 4.3% Steal% (3)

Drew Neitzel (MSU): 13.2 PPG, 4.6 Assist/TO ratio (1)

Robbie Hummel (PUR): 10.3 PPG, 124.4 Offensive Rating (5)

Shaun Pruitt (ILL): 12.8 PPG, 14.8% Off Reb% (3)

Brian Butch (WIS): 13.6 PPG, 15.5% Off Reb% (1)

Honorable Mention: Kosta Koufos (OSU), Dan Coleman (MIN), Manny Harris (UM), Othello Hunter (OSU), Goran Suton (MSU)

What have I missed? Who have I dissed? Big Ten individual stats leaders here. But feel free to tell the stats to shut up and make your case based on (1) actually watching the games on TV, (2) player hairstyles, or (3) whatever other criteria you can come up with.

As far as the player of the year race, the two leading candidates both appear to be Hoosiers. Seth Davis and TAFKATBTW are both praising D.J. White today. Both make solid arguments. Raymar may be the only non-Hoosier who could realistically make a run at POTY, but it’ll take consistent, high-level output over the next 14 conference games.

You can check out the two Hoosiers playing in Gopher land at 9:00 tonight on ESPN. Beyond the Arc notes the next three games (IU, MSU, @OSU) should tell us if Minnesota is for real.

Not-So-Major Blog Announcement: I’ve changed my blog handle from the clunky “spartan blogger” to the still-mysterious but friendlier “kj” (my initials–not an indication I was a huge Kevin Johnson/Phoenix Suns fan).