Did Marble move into POY contention?

[Hawk1960]

I think Marble is definitely in contention and maybe ahead of Stauskas if they voted today … Harris still the favorite given MSU at the top of the league and the role he played with all the injuries they have had. If Marble can get on a run like he did during the NIT last year he could make it close … especially if the Hawks can with the Big Ten Tourney. The league has figured out Stauskas and how to play him defensively.

For now ...

Harris (70% chance)
Marble (20% chance)
Stauskas (10% chance)

 

[ibahawkeye]

Marble's pretty streaky. Hard for me to see him being consistent enough to get there. Not a knock against him though, it's hard to be consistent against the best competition in the country.

Just a quick look at the "streakiness" of both Marble and Harris....

In conference play, Harris has been held under 10 points twice.
Marble's been in double digits in every conference game.

Not a huge deal but just interesting.

 

[tm3308]

He won't and yep.

Marble disappears for a half often it feels like (not sure if other players do too though) but a lot of that could be because we have other players who do things on this team.

Harris is guilty of that, too. In fact, he's only had four conference games where he wasn't arguably a no-show in the first half.

The other seven games (Minnesota, OSU, PSU and Indiana at home; Iowa, Wisconsin on the road) have seen him post 24 total points in the first half, and never more than 5 points (including 0 against Wisconsin and 2 against Iowa). He also only scored 3 points in the first half against Georgetown.

Some nights, Marble disappears for a half because other players are doing good things, too. Saturday was an example of that; we didn't need him to dominate in the second half. He's also had quiet halves and it's hurt us from time to time. Both of Harris' efforts against PSU might qualify for that (they won both games handily), but MSU is 4-2 in the other games -- three of those wins came in OT and the other was a 5 point win. They ended up winning, but his poor first halves played a role in the Spartans having to sweat out those games.

 

[tm3308]

Marble's career as a Hawk is winding down. Gatens played very well at the end of his senior year. May played very well at the end of his senior year. Marble could make it 3 seniors in a row that leave a lasting impression in latter stages of their senior seasons. He also put up big numbers in the final game of his sophomore season (NIT loss) and in the NIT run his junior season. I think Marble is just getting warmed up...

Also, Stauskas (35 per game) and Harris (33 per game) have logged heavy minutes all season and look to be fading a bit. Marble is at 28 plus minutes per game. Yesterday Harris was 3-20 from the field and 0-7 from three and totaled 6 points. His last 5 games he's shooting 27-77 (35.1%) from the field, 11-36 (30.1%) from three and 11-20 (55%) from the line and the team is 2-3.

Cole also played well down the stretch, too. He averaged 14.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg in his last five regular season games, and was the MVP of our win over Purdue.

 

[DowsHawk1]

Harris is guilty of that, too. In fact, he's only had four conference games where he wasn't arguably a no-show in the first half.

The other seven games (Minnesota, OSU, PSU and Indiana at home; Iowa, Wisconsin on the road) have seen him post 24 total points in the first half, and never more than 5 points (including 0 against Wisconsin and 2 against Iowa). He also only scored 3 points in the first half against Georgetown.

Some nights, Marble disappears for a half because other players are doing good things, too. Saturday was an example of that; we didn't need him to dominate in the second half. He's also had quiet halves and it's hurt us from time to time. Both of Harris' efforts against PSU might qualify for that (they won both games handily), but MSU is 4-2 in the other games -- three of those wins came in OT and the other was a 5 point win. They ended up winning, but his poor first halves played a role in the Spartans having to sweat out those games.

Harris is a better pro prospect and gets the media love. He'll be the guy IMO. Michigan has a tough stretch of games comining up and teams have figured out how to defend them. It would not surprise me at all to see Craft come in second as he too is a media darling and OSU looks to have a pretty easy path the rest of the way.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Cole also played well down the stretch, too. He averaged 14.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg in his last five regular season games, and was the MVP of our win over Purdue.

You're right. Thanks!

It seems players improve under Fran and definitely get that sense of urgency as the end nears. Fran likes to keep it game by game so the guys don't get to up or down. I wonder if he says something just a little bit different near the end to the guy that needs to hear it, can handle it, whatever...

 

[WindsorHawk]

I think Marble is definitely in contention and maybe ahead of Stauskas if they voted today … Harris still the favorite given MSU at the top of the league and the role he played with all the injuries they have had. If Marble can get on a run like he did during the NIT last year he could make it close … especially if the Hawks can with the Big Ten Tourney. The league has figured out Stauskas and how to play him defensively.

For now ...

Harris (70% chance)
Marble (20% chance)
Stauskas (10% chance)

I'll speculate that it's...

Harris (40%)
Stauskas (35%)
Marble (15%)
Other (10%)

I think Appling and Payne being so good hurts Harris some but he's still the leader. This can all change which is the reason for my other...Appling, Craft, Payne, Hollins, etc.

 

[tm3308]

Harris is a better pro prospect and gets the media love. He'll be the guy IMO. Michigan has a tough stretch of games comining up and teams have figured out how to defend them. It would not surprise me at all to see Craft come in second as he too is a media darling and OSU looks to have a pretty easy path the rest of the way.

Harris is a better pro prospect, and I think he'll be the one who wins it. But if Iowa were to tie for the conference title (assuming a win over MSU), and Marble outplayed him in that game, Marble would have a real shot at it, IMO. Just saying that Marble's occasional tendency to disappear for a half won't be what prevents him from winning it, because Harris does that, too -- even in big games.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

^^This^^

Wins = POY consideration. Hawks need to keep on winning. DRM needs to continue to destroy people.

Yep. Just ask Andre Woolridge. Led the league in scoring and assists in '97. Hawks finished 2nd. The award went to Bobby Jackson, and Minnesota finished 1st.