
 By Dane Miller, SuperWest Sports
January 22, 2024
As a voter for the Pac-12 Players of the Week, my choices may occasionally differ from the official selections.
Either way, I want to share my picks and give brief explanations of why I voted the way I did for the Freshman and Player of the Week.
My Summaries appear below.
 Player of the Week — Deivon Smith, Utah

Smith averaged 8.5 assists per game against the Oregon schools while scoring a career-high 24 points against the Ducks.
The victory over UO was just the second of the Pac-12 era for the Utes and they could not have got it done without the senior guard.
Overall, he averaged 19.0 ppg while shooting 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) from the field.
Arizona’s Larsson was the primary reason the Wildcats beat UCLA, yet he averaged fewer points than Smith and only had seven assists across the two games.
There were a handful of other players that had stronger numbers than my finalists. But most of them lost a game and the award should normally go to a player on a team that went 2-0.
Freshman Player of the Week — Cody Williams, Colorado

That eliminated Washington State’s Myles Rice, Stanford’s Kanaan Carlyle, and UCLA’s Sabastian Mack.
I still considered Rice and Carlyle due to the prolific numbers they put up, but Colorado’s Cody Williams averaged 19.5 ppg while shooting 16-of-23 (69.6 percent) from the field. And more importantly, his team didn’t lose.
The Buffs beat the Oregon schools in part due to a career-high scoring night from Williams against UO followed by a 16-point game against OSU.
The only other nominated player from a team that won both of its games was Arizona’s KJ Lewis. But he didn’t match the production of Williams.
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