BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State men's basketball team has two legitimate candidates for Mountain West Player of the Year this season.
Sophomore forward Tyson Degenhart and senior point guard Marcus Shaver Jr. have put up unique stat lines the league has rarely – if ever – seen over a decade. Degenhart's numbers are centered around efficiency, while Shaver has stuffed the stat sheet at a historic level, impacting the game in just about every possible way.
Outside of overall stats, there two things I believe should carry weight when considering the potential Mountain West Player of the Year:
- Individual performance against conference opponents. You know, the games that help you win league titles and chase NCAA Tournament auto-bids.
- Does the individual contribute to winning at an exception level? Meaning, is the program in title contention?
Considering the Broncos sit just one game out of first place with three games remaining in the regular season, Degenhart and Shaver emphatically check both boxes.
DEGENHART
First off, let's extinguish a narrative that annoys me: Degenhart is just now starting to shoot the ball better from three.
Following a slow start to the season - meaning the first seven games when the Broncos were still figuring out their identity as a team - Degenhart has been downright impressive. The turning point for him seemed to be when the calendar turned from November to December.
- Before: 14.7 PTS | 44.8 FG% | 20.6 3-PT FG% | 69.2 FT% | 5.4 REB - 7 games
- After: 14.4 PTS | 58.6 FG% | 44.4 3-PT FG% | 70.5 FT% | 5.4 REB - 20 games
Degenhart was attempting 4.9 threes per game over the first seven games of the season, making an average of 1.0 per game. Since then, he’s only attempted 2.7 threes per game, but his average makes have actually increased to 1.2 per game.
And guess what? He’s been even better since Mountain West play started. In fact, Degenhart is the only player in the NCAA shooting over 60% from the field and 45% from three (min. 25 att.) in conference games this season. If he keeps it up, Degenhart will become the first Mountain West player to do it over a full slate of conference games since at least 2011.
Degenhart in Mountain West play (14 games):
- 15.6 PTS/game (9th)*
- 5.4 REB/game (16th)
- 62.2 FG% (2nd)*
- 33.4 MIN/game (11th)
(MW ranks)
*Leads Boise State
Furthermore, Degenhart doesn’t attempt enough threes to qualify for the league-leaders, but he’s shooting a higher percentage in conference play (46.2%) than Wyoming guard Xavier DuShell, the current qualified leader (45.9%).
A similar point can be made for his assist-to-turnover ratio. Colorado State senior Isaiah Stevens (3.4) and Utah State junior Steven Ashworth (2.6) rank first and second in the Mountain West among qualifiers. Degenhart is at 2.4, which would rank third-best, but he’s a non-qualifier because he doesn’t average at least 3.0 assists per game.
SHAVER
Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the threes, especially when the trees are shooting 38.6% from the field on the season.
Okay, I don’t know if that analogy necessarily works, but I think you’ll soon see my point.
Shaver’s impacted on this team can’t be summed up by his shooting efficiency. Instead, you need to look beyond the cascading trees blocking a bountiful forest that contains all sorts of beautiful foliage. (Fine! I’m done pushing this analogy.)
Shaver is only one of three players in all of college basketball averaging at least 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals this season.
Shaver in Mountain West play (13 games):
- 13.7 PTS/game (15th)
- 6.0 REB/game (T7th)*
- 4.0 AST/game (T6th)*
- 1.7 STL/game (T4th)*
- 32.6 MIN/game (11th)
(MW ranks)
*Leads Boise State
Only two Mountain West players have carried those averages over the course of an entire season since the 2010-2011 season:
- Cody Martin, Nevada (2017-18)
- Justin James, Wyoming (2018-19)
The Broncos are 44-12 (.786 win%) when Shaver plays over the last two years combined, including 29-5 (.853 win%) against Mountain West opponents. None of those losses five losses have been by more than seven points.
FIVE GUYS
All five Boise State starters are averaging double-figures in Mountain West games this season:
- Tyson Degenhart: 15.6
- Max Rice: 14.6
- Marcus Shaver Jr. 12.9
- Naje Smith: 11.6
- Chibuzo Agbo: 11.5
The Broncos are one of just four teams in the NCAA that have five individuals averaging 11.0 or more points in conference games (min. three games):
- Boise State
- Creighton
- UC-Riverside
- Texas Tech
ADJUST YOUR EYES
College basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy has created several metrics that aim to reveal the true level of success of a team. Adjusted defense (AdjD) and adjusted offense (AdjO) are two of my favorite KenPom stats. Both essentially remove pace of play from the equation and focus on how efficient a team is on offense and defense.
Example: Teams that play at a fast pace usually score more points because they have more possessions. But how efficient are they on each possession? KenPom tackles that.
There are 15 teams currently ranked in the top 20 in AdjD that also rank in the top 100 AdjO:
- Arkansas^
- Auburn^
- Alabama*
- Boise State
- Creighton*
- Houston*
- Iowa State*
- Kansas*
- Kansas State*
- Saint Mary's*
- SDSU*
- TCU*
- Tennessee*
- UCLA*
- UConn*
*Currently ranked in AP Top 25
^Has been ranked this season
Teams that are elite on defense and efficient on offense appear to have an outstanding track record of success. In fact, 14 of the 15 teams on the list above are either currently ranked or have been ranked in the AP Top 25 this season.
The only exception? The Boise State Broncos.
THE RULE OF THREE(S)
For most the season, the Boise State men’s basketball team has been the best team in the Mountain West at defending the three. However, they have really struggled the last three games.
After Wyoming sank 8-of-16 attempts two weeks ago, Colorado State bounced, banked, buried their way into a 13-of-22 performance from three last Wednesday. UNLV then followed by making 11-of-26 attempts from behind the arc on Saturday, many of which were contested.
When you add it all up, opponents are 32-of-64 (50.0%) combined from three over the last three games. And somehow the Broncos are 3-0 in that span.
EXCEPTION TO THE RULE (OF 75)
The point of the game is to find a way to win, right?
Prior to Saturday, UNLV was 14-0 when limiting opponents to less than 75 points this season.
Boise State only scored 73 points against the Runnin’ Rebels – and won.
As the saying goes: Just win, baby.
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