Malcolm Delaney made a strong case for ACC POY in his team's win against No. 23 Wake Forest this week.
As a whole, the ACC is in a down year.
There are just two conference teams in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll. There doesn’t appear to be a real national contender in the group. Parity – not quality – is the buzzword (at least it was during the first-half of the conference schedule).
The conference player of the year race, however, is a different story. Thanks to a couple of sterling performances from Greivis Vasquez this week and Tuesday’s duel between Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney and Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu, things are heating up.
In my mind, there are four main contenders. All are putting up hefty stat lines and have lifted their teams into the top third of the league standings.
MAIN CONTENDERS (As it stands right now):
GREIVIS VASQUEZ, MD: The Terps do-it-all point guard has recovered in a big way from Saturday’s disappointing blowout loss at Duke. Monday’s game against Virginia was one of the senior’s best career games, and could have been his best ever from an efficiency standpoint. Vasquez finished the game with no turnovers and shot 10-for-13 in the first half. Coach Gary Williams called it one of Vasquez’s best halves of play in his four years in College Park. He followed it up with a strong 26-point performance Wednesday at N.C. State.
VASQUEZ FOR THE SEASON: 18.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.1 apg, 1.4 spg, 44% fg, 40% 3fg
VASQUEZ THIS WEEK: vs. UVA (30 pts on 12-for-19 shooting, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block in 34 minutes) at N.C. State (26 points on 9-for-17 shooting, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, 1 steal in 35 minutes)
JON SCHEYER, DU: Duke’s leader had a big Saturday in terms of the ACC POY race, outdoing Vasquez in a head-to-head matchup with several circus shots and the comfort of playing with the lead. Scheyer had 22 points that day. Wednesday night, in the Blue Devils’ come-from-behind-win at Miami, Scheyer took a minor step back. He missed his first nine shots, and seemed bothered by the type of ultra-athletic defenders he has been victimizing all season with ball fakes and knockdown contested shooting.
SCHEYER FOR THE SEASON: 19.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.5 spg, 43% fg, 41% 3fg
SCHEYER THIS WEEK: at Miami (15 pts on 3-for-15 shooting, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, 5 steals in 34 minutes)
MALCOLM DELANEY, VT: Just like the Hokies, Delaney is for real. People outside of the conference are starting to realize it. In Tuesday’s critical win against the Demon Deacons, the Baltimore native led his team back from an 11-point deficit with 16 minutes to play, and he did it in spectacular fashion. He hit some three-pointers, but there were also driving runs at the hoop under pressure and a number of big shots in a tightly-contested game.
DELANEY FOR THE SEASON: 20.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.2 spg, 39% fg, 31% 3fg
DELANEY THIS WEEK: vs. Wake Forest (31 points on 9-for-20 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals in 38 minutes)
AL-FAROUQ AMINU, WF: As mentioned above, Aminu also had a big game Wednesday. But most of the conference’s leading rebounder’s production came in the first half. Still, the 6-foot-9 sophomore has been the real force behind Wake Forest’s steady play this season, despite the attention senior point guard Ish Smith gets.
AMINU FOR THE SEASON: 16.8 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 bpg, 1.5 spg, 46% fg, 29% 3fg
AMINU THIS WEEK: at Virginia Tech (25 points on 8-for-15 shooting, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 blocks, 1 steal in 38 minutes)
Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. You can reach him at akrautdbk@gmail.com.