We are now well into December of the college basketball season and we need your help to decide our men’s player of week for Dec. 8-14 by voting in the poll below.
Here are our top five men’s candidates and a recap of their outstanding performances from across week six of the college basketball season.
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Frank Mitchell – St. Bonaventure
Mitchell is the A10’s leader in double-doubles since arriving in St. Bonaventure, N.Y. and this past week, he picked up two more split a pair for a 10-2 record overall to start the season. He opened last Wednesday with his fifth consecutive double-double by scoring 19 points and grabbing 18 rebounds to complete a 15-point comeback and defeat Colgate, 85-77.
On his 24th birthday, Mitchell picked up his sixth straight double-double with a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds despite the Bonnies falling to Ohio, 88-83 late into overtime. Not only is 27 points a career-best for Mitchell, but it’s St. Bonaventure’s highest single game total this season.
Dennis Parker Jr. – Radford
First-year head coach Zach Chu has had a rough start to his tenure at Radford and at one point battled a six game losing streak from early November to Thanksgiving before finally halting the skid. However, Parker’s transfer from NC State has allowed the once highly regarded prospect to flourish as the Highlanders leading scorer and an efficient offensive piece in Chu’s analytical based scene.
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On Sunday, Parker led Radford to a 107-77 win over Coppin State in which he dropped a career-high 53 points on 19-of-24 shooting and 10-of-14 from three-point range. His performance shattered both Radford’s and the Big South’s single-game scoring records while the Highlanders 16 made three’s tied the program record against a Division-I opponent.
Marcus Banks Jr. – UMass
Year-one as members of the MAC has been an absolute roller coaster for Frank Martin’s UMass, and we haven’t even begun conference-play yet. The Minutemen opened early with losses to Marshall, Charleston and ultimately, Green Bay before responding with a pair of historic victories in a 2-0 week against high-major opponents from the ACC.
Last Wednesday, UMass managed to defeat Boston College, 76-74, behind 29 points and seven rebounds from Banks, who connected on the game-winning free throws with five seconds left. Martin and Co. followed that up by knocking off Florida State, 103-95, with Banks contributing 18 points and two assists to help pull off a second half comeback.
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Drew Fielder – Boise State
Back on Nov. 3, Boise State lost to a Division-II program, albeit, one of the nation’s premier DII programs in Hawaii Pacific. Today, the Broncos are a top-50 team on KenPom with an 8-3 record overall and competing with some of the nation’s premier mid-major program. Why? Because of the emergence of Georgetown transfer and Boise, Idaho native in Fielder.
This past week, he led Boise State to a pair of wins, starting with 23 points, three rebounds and two steals to beat out Duquesne, 86-64. Against Saint Mary’s, the No. 1 ranked team in MMM’s The Other Top 25 coming into the week, Fielder was phenomenal and finished with 22 points and six rebounds to upset the Gaels, 68-67. It’s Saint Mary’s only loss to a mid-major program so far this season.
Alonzo Dodd – Appalachian State
Dustin Kerns’ Appalachian State closed out November with three straight losses but have since been able to rebound with three consecutive wins to open Dec., including a couple this past week. Dodd was a major reason why and played a key role as the Mountaineers managed a 67-55 win over East Carolina with the East Texas A&M transfer adding 17 points, seven boards and two assists.
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Against High Point on Sunday, a top-100 team by KenPom and one of the Big South’s foremost programs, Dodd led the way in an 86-78 overtime upset. He finished with a game-high and career-high 25 points on 5-of-9 shooting and chipped in seven rebounds and seven assists to see out a massive win for Appalachian State.
