Where does Seton Hall’s Myles Powell stand in Player of the Year race?

Myles Powell

Seton Hall's Myles Powell is making his push for Player of the Year. (AP Photo | Matt Slocum)AP

A year ago, even the casual college basketball fan could tell you who the National Player of the Year was going to be.

Duke superstar Zion Williamson swept all six major awards en route to being named the Consensus National Player of the Year. Williamson, of course, went on to become the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft and is now making a hard charge at NBA Rookie of the Year honors with the New Orleans Pelicans after missing the early part of the season due to injury.

But this year there is no dominant player in college hoops, just like there’s no dominant team. Seven schools have been No. 1 this season — Michigan State, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Gonzaga and Baylor.

Seton Hall’s Myles Powell is among a handful of players who figures to contend for National Player of the Year hardware.

Powell is averaging 21.4 points, 14th nationally, along with 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists for a Seton Hall team that is in first place in the Big East Conference and ranked No. 16 nationally.

But Powell is joined by several contenders nationally, including Dayton forward Obi Toppin, Marquette guard Markus Howard, Oregon guard Payton Pritchard, Iowa center Luka Garza and San Diego State guard Malachi Flynn.

“What they do for their respective teams and their teams are really, really good so trying to figure that is going to be difficult,” said Creighton coach Greg McDermott, whose son, Doug, was the Consensus National Player of the Year in 2014. “Obviously, Myles missed some games there with an injury [concussion] earlier in the season. But they’re all terrific players and I don’t know if it will be a unanimous type situation this year because I think there are some really good players across college basketball. And they’ve meant a lot to their teams' success.”

In five of the last six years, one player has been named the Consensus Player of the Year. The last time the six major awards were split up was in 2015-16, when Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield won four and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine captured two.

“I think all those young men are having fantastic years for their respective teams,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said of this year’s contenders.

“Markus Howard has had some career nights against the Friars. Powell is a scoring machine. Pritchard is so tough with the ball. ... I hope one of those players come out of the Big East.”

Powell and Howard, both seniors, remain the faces of the Big East and are locked in a heated battle for Big East Player of the Year honors. Each has won four Player of the Week awards through this week. Powell was named the Preseason Player of the Year.

Both have also faced a slew of different defenses this year and could both wind up on The Associated Press All-America first-team. And obviously each player’s coach believes his guy deserves National Player of the Year honors.

The 5-11 Howard last week passed former Syracuse star Lawrence Moten to become the Big East’s all-time leading scorer. He ranks second nationally in Division 1 scoring at 26.7 points per game, and if his games were broadcast on ESPN instead of FS1 he would likely be more of a household name and a common fixture on SportsCenter.

“There’s a lot of great players throughout college basketball and I’m very fortunate to coach a guy that I think is the best,” said Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski, whose team is 17-8, 7-6 in the Big East and ranked No. 19.

“His numbers have been historic, absolutely historic, and each year he continues to do things that amaze and a lot of people will point to his scoring outburst, which are unmatched in college basketball, but he’s really improved in every possible way. And we wouldn’t be where we are as a program without Markus.”

Pirates coach Kevin Willard has maintained all season that the 6-2 Powell is the best player in America and he’s not backing down from that as March approaches.

"My guy — I’m going to be biased — I just think what he does on a nightly basis and where he’s brought this program and where we are right now, he’s just as special a player as there is,” Willard said. “And I think the fact that every night, he’s getting double-teamed, triple-teamed, and we’re still in first place in the Big East, he’s still playing at such a high level. It just shows you what type of player he is and how special a player he really is.”


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St. John’s coach Mike Anderson, whose team visits Seton Hall on Sunday, also praised Powell.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Anderson said. “He’s that guy, and he wants to be that guy. He is the target but he’s willing to get other guys involved.

“I think Myles Powell is a dynamite player, plays with the attitude that gotta have. When you have one of the better players you play through it, but I just think he plays with a lot of confidence.”

Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.

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