by The Cowl Editor on March 21, 2019

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Sports

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Kyle Guy of Virginia Will Take the Award

by Scott Jarosz ’21

Sports Staff

One obvious frontrunner to win this year’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player, is certainly Duke University’s Zion Williamson. The 6’7”, 285-pound player attracted the eyes of basketball fans nationwide when videos of his athletic dunks in high school games went viral. In his first season at Duke, Williamson has averaged 22.1 points per game along with 8.9 rebounds per game.

While Williamson has excelled in his first season of collegiate basketball, he has shown some signs of immaturity as well as inconsistency. The same goes for the rather young Duke basketball team as a whole.

However, one experienced player who has been a consistent leader for his team is University of Virginia’s Kyle Guy, a veteran guard who has been truly playing up to his full potential this year. With his experience and excellent ability to score points, Guy will ultimately be named the 2019 Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.

In the 2018-19 season, Guy has averaged 15.6 points per game, which is the highest on his team. While this figure may not be as impressive as Williamson’s 22.1 points per game, Guy’s presence has arguably had a larger impact on his team’s overall success. Virginia sits atop the leaderboard of the Atlantic Coast Conference with a record of 29-3 overall and 16-2 in conference. Behind Virginia on the leaderboard is the University of North Carolina and Duke. Virginia is currently ranked as the #2 team in the country, and despite a 59-69 loss to Florida State University in the ACC Tournament, they have shown no signs of slowing down heading into the NCAA Tournament. Virginia has been selected as the #1 seed in the South Region for the NCAA Tournament, and they are scheduled to play 16-seed Gardner-Webb on March 22 in Columbia, South Carolina. The question remains, what is guard Kyle Guy capable of doing that could not only lead his team to an NCAA Tournament victory, but will earn him the title of the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player?

by The Cowl Editor on February 7, 2019

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Sports

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Ja Morant will Win the Naismith Award

by Thomas Zinzarella ’21

Winning a national championship is always a top achievement for a college basketball player. But being named the best player in the country? That accolade may be even more special. The reigning award-winner is Jalen Brunson from Villanova  University who was able to achieve both.

Every year it is a challenge to predict who will be the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year because there are so many intriguing candidates. On this year’s list, players such as Zion Williamson, Grant Williams, Markus Howard, and Rui Hachimura are all vying to be the best player in all of college basketball.

A player who may not be known to many casual college basketball fans but is well-known to hardcore fans is a 6’3” sophomore guard from Dalzell, South Carolina. Ja Morant plays for the Murray State University Racers, a team in the Ohio Valley Conference that has strong history of being one of the best mid-major teams in the country.

Murray State has had its success with strong guard play with Cameron Payne and Isaiah Canaan being the most recent NBA draftees. This season, Morant is averaging 24.1 points per game, 10.3 assists per game, and 5.6 rebounds ber game. Morant was not unknown coming into this year. CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander had Morant in his pre-season top 101 college basketball players.

His number really started to buzz when he dropped 25 points and 7 assists against a ranked Auburn University Tigers squad. Morant also put on a show against University of Alabama, where he scored 38 points on 16-29 shooting and tallied nine rebounds and five assists. Morant’s legacy really started to come full circle when he made a Vince Carter-esque dunk earlier in the year on a defender that surfaced on social media.

And yet, many college basketball fans are wondering why such a talented sophomore guard chose Murray State. In fact, his recruiting story is an interesting one. As a high school sophomore, Morant was playing with freshman Zion Williamson on a local South Carolina AAU team. Williamson’s fame took off when he went to the more prestigious Adidas circuit and Morant would stay with his local AAU team. Murray State “accidentally” fell upon Morant when they were recruiting another player. Before Murray State finally offered a scholarship, the only other schools involved in his recruiting were South Carolina State University, University  of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Duquesne University. After Murray State offered him, more schools began to take a look at Morant. Soon in-state rivals Clemson University and University of South Carolina began recruiting him. In the end, a total of 13 schools were actively recruiting Morant, and for good reason.

Murray State head coach Matt McMahon raves about his athleticism and explosiveness but also praised his basketball IQ. Morant leads the country with 10.3 assist per game. Morant has rocketed up NBA mock drafts where many have him as a lottery draft pick, even just behind his former AAU teammate.

by The Cowl Editor on February 7, 2019

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Sports

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Zion Williamson will Win Naismith Award

by Sullivan Burgess ’20

This year’s Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year will go to none other than Duke University freshman Zion Williamson. If you are unfamiliar with Williamson, then prepare for what the sports media calls the next LeBron James, a title he has held since his junior year of high school.

Williamson, from Salisbury, North Carolina, is 6’6” and 285 lbs, making him one of the biggest college basketball players in history, even out-weighting a current batch of NBA players.

The freshman came into Duke as number two in the ESPN Top 100 players, right behind his current teammate, R.J. Barrett. He has never looked back and has proven his status as a legendary force to be reckoned with when being guarded.

Not only is the freshman forward currently averaging 22.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, but he has also brought the team to the number two spot in the entire country of division one basketball. However, the team has constantly been battling back and forth between the second and first spot throughout the season.

Williamson leads the country in player efficiency with 42.5 which is 5.6 higher than the next highest player. This high number reflects Williamson being able to find success in multiple facets of the game.

Williamson saw success early this season by earning the ACC Player of the week honors in his first week. Williamson helped the team to be unstoppable, raising the question of whether he and the entire Duke team were able to beat a current roster in the NBA. However, these conversations were put to rest when the team lost the Maui Invitational Tournament to Gonzaga University.

Last month, Williamson set the single-game freshman scoring record with 35 points, surpassing former Duke players Marvin Bagley III and J.J. Redick. He also received his third ACC Freshman of the Week award for the season.

In his first two games of February, Williamson recorded 29 points against St. John’s University, and 16 points and 17 rebounds against Boston College.

From the start of the season, Williamson has been a high contender for the first overall pick of the NBA Draft. Some professionals and members of the sport media even think Williamson should sit out the rest of the season and focus on the draft. However, Williamson wants to focus on his only goal right now, winning the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament and being a championship caliber player to whichever team drafts in the 2019 NBA Draft.

by The Cowl Editor on September 27, 2018

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Sports

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By Thomas Zinzarella ’21

Sports Staff

It is officially a month into football season, and teams are settling in for what should be another exciting year on the gridiron. The University of Alabama once again finds themselves at the top of the polls and has set out to defend their National Title after their heroic comeback last year against the University of Georgia in the Championship game.

Alabama and Georgia are both favorites to get back to the college football playoffs but, there are a few new faces that fans should look out for. A team that is red hot to start and has worked themselves to College Football Playoff contention is the #5 Louisiana State University Tigers. They knocked off #8 University of Miami (FL) at a neutral site and have beat #7 Auburn University on the road, two solid wins for Coach Ed Orgeron’s squad. Additionally, #1 Alabama, #2 Georgia, and #18 Mississippi State will head to Death Valley to face the Tigers.

In the New England area, Boston College jumped into the AP rankings for the first time since 2008 as the 23rd best team in the country. Boston College has seen exceptional play from their offense, speared by Heisman trophy hopeful, running back AJ Dillon and quarterback Anthony Brown. Dillon has shown flashes of former Eagles tailback Andre Williams who finished fourth in Heisman voting in 2013. BC has always played well on the defensive side of the ball under their head coach Steve Addazio. Unfortunately, this past Saturday, the Eagles fame in the AP polls did not last long, as they fell to the Purdue University Boilermakers on the road with a final score of 30-13.

Boston College will have more opportunities to climb back into the rankings as they host #16 Miami Hurricanes and #3 Clemson Tigers. The Eagles will also head down to Blacksburg, Virginia to play Virginia Tech. BC will have to capitalize on these games in order to make a return to the Top 25.

Another team making some noise is the University of Rhode Island Rams. Yes, they may be a rival school of Providence College in basketball, but URI seems to be finding winning ways on the football field. Despite the face that in the past four seasons the Rams are just 7-38, finishing 11th of 12 teams in the Colonial Athletic Conference, URI started off this season defeating University of Delaware 21-19 on the road and then trouncing University of Albany 45-26. URI then took on their only football bowl subdivision opponent and one of their old rivals: the University of Connecticut Huskies. It was a high-scoring game where URI fell by just one touchdown, 56-49. Because of their success this year, the Rams have cracked into the Top 25 of the Football Championship Subdivision rankings at 23.

Favorites for Heisman:

The race for the Heisman trophy should be as exciting as it has been in the last couple of years. There was not a clear-cut favorite coming into the season ,as there are several players with the opportunity to win the award.

A few players to keep an eye on this year are QBs Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama), Kyler Murray (Oklahoma), and Will Grier (West Virginia). Each of these QBs has had a unique journey in their rise to fame. Tagovailoa was thrusted into the championship game in the second half and led a heroic comeback to secure the win for the Crimson Tide last year. Kyler Murray, who was the 9th overall pick in this past June’s MLB Draft, will head to spring training in March for the Oakland A’s after this football season has concluded. Grier started his career at the University of Florida, where he started six games before he was suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. He then transferred to West Virginia University.

This past weekend each player solidified themselves on why they should win. Tagovailoa threw for 387 yards and 4 TDs in a 45-23 win against #22 Texas A&M. Grier threw for 356 yards and 5 TDs and 2 INT in the 35-6 win against Kansas State.