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Player of the Week

Greg Mangano, Yale, C, Senior, 6-10 240 lbs.

Player of the Week

Brock MotumBrock Motum, PF Washington State

Player of the Week

Reggie Johnson

Reggie JohnsonMiami had a tough start to the season. DeQuan Jones was suspended for the first ten games of the year and Julian Gamble injured himself over the summer and isn't expected to play a game in 2011-2012. Center Reggie Johnson wasn't always around to help in the frontcourt either, having missed the first nine games of the season recovering from knee surgery and trying to get back into game-shape ever since his return. The Hurricanes have managed to get through all of that without losing any substantial ground in the ACC standings, and both the team and Reggie Johnson are starting to heat up. Miami has won four straight games, the most recent of which was an overtime victory at Duke. Like the Seminoles before them, the Hurricanes used their size advantage to stage the upset. Johnson scored a career-high 27 points on 11/17 shooting, while pulling down a season-high 12 rebounds. Standing 6'10" at 285 pounds, he's a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams in the ACC. If he stays healthy, he'll be a game-changer that could propel his team up in the ACC standings and potentially into an NCAA tournament birth.

Hot

Tyler Zeller

Tyler Zeller's best attributes have always been his athleticism, height and offensive skill-set. He can score in transition, in the post, or at the line. He's very slippery, and consequently, draws a lot of contact. But I don't want to go into great detail about that. Instead, I want to talk about what his greatest flaws were considered to be prior to this season. Critics would say that Zeller was too thin and a poor defender. He was also a mediocre rebounder (especially defensively), and not much of a passer. Zeller had lottery-type talent, but several holes in his game. As a senior, it seems he's been working on addressing those weaknesses. He's not getting pushed around as much in the post, and it's leading to better man-to-man defense and rebounding. After a 17-rebound performance against North Carolina State, and an 18-rebound performance against Wake Forest, his average on the season is up to 9.6 (7.2 rpg in 2010-2011). He's also putting up career-highs in steals (1.0), blocks (1.3) and assists (1.0) per game, all in fewer minutes (26.4 mpg) than he played last season (28.1). It appears Zeller is willing to work hard to make himself a better player, which is something that the NBA will take note of.

Cold

Player of the Week

Travon Woodall

Travon WoodallWoodall has really excelled with the ball in his hands, not only as a playmaker but as a scorer alongside Ashton Gibbs. He dropped 29 points, 6 boards and 5 assists in a win over Villanova after finishing with 24 in a huge win over West Virginia.

Player of the Week

Anthony Davis, Kentucky

Player of the Week

Michael Dixon, Missouri

Michael DixonThe Missouri Tiger's sixth man didn't start the game on the floor for Mizzou on Monday against Texas, but he was definitely there for the finish. His lay-up with 31 seconds left propelled his team to a 67-66 victory over the Longhorns, pushing the Tigers to 20 wins on the season. The 6'1" junior finished the game with 21 points while shooting 9-10 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range. He also handed out four assists for his team. On the season, he is now averaging a hair over 12 points per game, and almost three assists.

Who's Hot

Royce White, Iowa State

The junior star is continuing his very strong play for the Cyclones, while carrying them toward the top of the Big 12 standings along the way. On Tuesday against the Kansas State Wildcats, the 6'8" power forward proved too much to handle for K-State. In the 72-70 win, he hit the game winning jump shot with 1.8 seconds left. He scored 22 points on 10-17 shooting from the field, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out four assists, had three blocks, and grabbed two steals. He is an all-around threat for his team, and has dominated everyone he has faced this season.

Player of the Week

John Shurna, Northwestern

John ShurnaThe Big Ten’s leading scorer put up 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting to keep the Wildcats away from a fourth straight loss on Thursday night against Nebraska. We all know he can go off like this at any given time, but this was his first game scoring more than 22 points since Dec. 18 against Eastern Illinois and his third this season (the Wildcats are 3-0 in those games). He had scored more than 22 eight times at the same point in last season’s schedule. Since the start of last season, Northwestern is 11-2 when Shurna scores above that mark. He also scored 15 points Saturday in a 58-56 heartbreaker against Purdue.

But it was more about how Shurna scored those points that matters. He went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Northwestern is 5-0 this season when Shurna makes at least five free throws, a sign of him not totally relying on his 3-point shot (which ranks seventh in the Big Ten at 42.7 percent). He’s attempted the fourth-most 3-pointers (131) in the conference, behind Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr., Purdue’s Ryne Smith and Illinois’ D.J. Richardson — with good reason. But when he starts getting to the basket like he did Thursday against Nebraska, good things happen. He had several nice drives that helped put the Huskers away, and maneuvered his way down low for an offensive rebound and tip-in late in the game.

Coach Bill Carmody knows Northwestern (13-8, 3-6 Big Ten, 10th place) can’t afford to sit Shurna, who has played an average 39.3 minutes per game in Big Ten games, and is on the floor for 96.9 percent of the time, both tops in the conference. Shurna stays out of foul trouble and doesn’t turn the ball over — hard to do when you’re the go-to guy. In the past five games, he’s only turned the ball over four times, while dishing out 12 assists.

Player of the Week

Michal Michalak, 6'5, Lodz, G, 1993

Player of the Week

Mason Plumlee

Player of the Week

Moe Harkless

Moe HarklessMoe looks to be turning a corner after going for 30 and 13 in a loss to Duke.

Harkless has the potential to be really, really good. He’s got power forward size and small forward length, athleticism and mobility. Moe’s becoming more comfortable operating on the perimeter, showing impressive footwork and body control attacking the rim.

He made West Virginia look like a bunch of silly old men, lighting them up for 23, 13 and 3 blocked shots in a 16 point beatdown at the Garden. With promising shooting mechanics we can only expect steady improvement from the 18 year old combo-forward.

Harkless clearly has top five pick potential, and could maximize his stock by staying for college year number two.

Heatin’ up

Gorgui Dieng C, Louisville

This kid needs some love. Pitino doubled his playing time and Dieng has doubled his production, averaging 10 points, 9.7 rebounds and a league leading 3.4 blocks a game.

Dieng is moving well on the interior, and does a nice job of anticipating and reacting off the ball. During Louisville’s three game winning steak he’s averaging 12 points, 13.6 boards and 4 blocks a game, which is becoming an every night line for the 6’11 center from Senegal.

Like Syracuse’s Fab Melo, Dieng is the rim protector and anchor of the Louisville interior, only he doesn’t have the surrounding weapons of the Orange defense and attack. Without Dieng, the Cardinals would not be the threat that they present to other talented and more skilled offensive teams.