Kansas coach Bill Self called Jalen Wilson an All-American after the Jayhawks’ 77-68 win at Kentucky on Saturday night.
That much seems like a given.
On the same night, Wilson’s buddy, KU point guard Dajuan Harris Jr., who started next to him on last year’s title team, said Wilson was the best player in the country.
That much might not be all that tough to concede.
Either way, it’s time we start talking more seriously about Wilson as an actual national player of the year candidate.
His 113 points in the past four games set a new high mark in a four-game stretch for any Kansas player in Self’s 20 years in charge of the program.
Wilson passed Andrew Wiggins’ four-game total of 112 points during the 2013-14 season by dropping 22 points on the Wildcats at Rupp Arena on Saturday night.
Wilson’s candidacy for POY isn’t just about scoring, though. Far from it.
The fourth-year junior from Denton, Texas has done so many things well for the Jayhawks this season, and he’s proven to be a worthy heir in the lineage of Kansas greats who paid their dues, put in the work & then watched it pay off in a huge way — for both themselves and their team — when it was their time to shine.
Agbaji. Graham. Mason. And now Wilson, just to name a few.
After watching Wilson do his thing for more than 20 games, we’ve reached the point where we have to believe if he winds up being picked as the best player in what seems to be the best college basketball league in America by a mile, it might be hard to not give him the national honor, as well.
Others will have something to say about that. Purdue’s Zach Edey, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Alabama’s Brandon Miller and Arizona’s Azuoulas Tubelis joined Wilson on The Sporting News’ midseason All-American team. And at least one or two of those guys likely will have a pretty solid player-of-the-year resume by season’s end. If Wilson keeps this up, he will, too.
Edey is the current leader in the player of the year race, according to KenPom.com. Meanwhile, Wilson sits in the No. 2 spot in KenPom’s Player of the Year standings, which take into account the offensive and defensive value of any given player as well as his value relative to his teammates and the team’s success.
Wilson scores high marks in all of those areas and his numbers are great. He leads the Big 12 in scoring at 21.4 points per game and is tied for the Big 12’s top spot in rebounding at 8.6 boards per outing. He’s also top-12 in the conference in field goal percentage (42.7%), free throw percentage (77.9%) and 3-point field goals per game (2.3), while also ranking third in the conference in total minutes played.
He has not scored less than 11 points in a game all season — with 11 games of 20 points or more — and his eight double-doubles so far this season lead the Big 12 and rank him 26th nationally in that category.
While much of that production has been easy to spot, here’s something many of you might not have seen or noticed — Wilson dutifully and happily has shown up week after week to meet with the media to give his assessment of what’s going on with this team.
After tough losses, it’s Wilson you see discussing it. After big wins, it’s his smiling face and mix of veteran appreciation and youthful exuberance that shines through. Even mid-week, when KU’s still prepping for its next opponent a day or two later, it’s Wilson who often shows up to help break down the matchup. Always with respect and a genuine desire to help and always as the best possible ambassador for the program you could imagine.
It’s not a given that it goes this way.
Graham and Mason were both allowed to skip more than their share of these sessions. Even Agbaji was given several breaks from team spokesman during his All-American season. And we don’t even need to go back to Wiggins, along with other megastars who came before him, who was rarely made available during his lone season at Kansas.
Like he does for his team, Wilson always shows up. He’s often shoeless when he does, but that just adds to it. He’s a grinder. He’s got a job to do and there’s not much that’s going to keep him from doing it.
His words are always poised and purposeful. He says what he thinks and means what he says and he doesn’t sugar coat or hide anything.
They don’t give awards out for that, but there’s a correlation there. Wilson’s game reflects that approach, and his ability to stay level-headed and steady is nearly unmatched.
That’s been huge for this relatively young Kansas team, nearly just as big as his points and production. And it’s his intangibles, along with his talent, while handling the role of lead dog at a firmly-in-the-crosshairs-and-spotlight program like Kansas, that makes what Wilson is doing all the more impressive and worthy of national player of the year consideration.
Nick Krug
