I've seen a lot of love for Xavier Johnson for Valley POY on social media, and if the voting took place Feb. 1, he'd have had my vote. Unfortunately, he has not played at that level for much of the past several weeks, and I'm pretty sure he'll now finish third behind DeVries and Avila, in whatever order.
Obviously X hasn't been physically right for a while now, so by no means am I disparaging him here: if anything, I've come to respect him even more for battling through fatigue/injury. He's had an amazing, memorable season. I just don't need to see a bunch of complaining from Saluki fans on social media when the award goes elsewhere, given that he has not been the same guy in the final weeks of the season.
- Didn't see this result coming but hopefully they respond for Sunday as they have all season after a bad loss
Drake gets "rewarded" for surviving that 3 OT win at UIC by having their NET fall four spots to #50. I can't explain it either, since again, nobody outside of the NCAA themselves can replicate the NET rankings that are released just once per day.
With the RPI, you got instant results after a game, and multiple sources could accurately calculate what that number was. With the NET, only the NCAA knows what their exact calculations are, and that's just plain wrong.
I've seen a lot of love for Xavier Johnson for Valley POY on social media, and if the voting took place Feb. 1, he'd have had my vote. Unfortunately, he has not played at that level for much of the past several weeks, and I'm pretty sure he'll now finish third behind DeVries and Avila, in whatever order.
Obviously X hasn't been physically right for a while now, so by no means am I disparaging him here: if anything, I've come to respect him even more for battling through fatigue/injury. He's had an amazing, memorable season. I just don't need to see a bunch of complaining from Saluki fans on social media when the award goes elsewhere, given that he has not been the same guy in the final weeks of the season.
I won't complain. X certainly is/would have been deserving, but injuries have caught up with. It also seems that the best player on whichever team finishes first often has a built-in advantage in MVP/player of the year races anyway.
Drake gets "rewarded" for surviving that 3 OT win at UIC by having their NET fall four spots to #50. I can't explain it either, since again, nobody outside of the NCAA themselves can replicate the NET rankings that are released just once per day.
With the RPI, you got instant results after a game, and multiple sources could accurately calculate what that number was. With the NET, only the NCAA knows what their exact calculations are, and that's just plain wrong.
The only sure way to improve NET is to blow out opponents. That’s it.
The Big 12 has done this by loading up their schedule with 300 level opponents and then blowing them out which increases their efficiency. Any system that rewards this sort of behavior is pathetic and unethical.
