By Dane Miller, SuperWest Sports
January 23, 2023
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 tweeted picks and summaries appear below.
I voted for Utah’s Branden Carlson as the Pac-12 Player of the Week.
— Dane Miller (@DaneMiller_SWS) January 23, 2023
I voted for Oregon State’s Jordan Pope as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
— Dane Miller (@DaneMiller_SWS) January 23, 2023
Player of the Week — Branden Carlson, Utah
My vote for Player of the Week came down to Branden Carlson and Azuolas Tubelis. This pick was the most difficult of the season, but I went with Carlson due to the efficiency of his scoring.
The Utah big went 21-for-29 from the field over the two games and averaged 26.5 points per game. The quality of competition that Tubelis faced was much higher, yet the Lithuanian went 11-for-27 from the field and averaged 14.5 points per game.
Carlson averaged 8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game against the Washington schools, helping to tip my vote in his favor despite Tubelis’ double-doubles against the L.A. schools.
Freshman Player of the Week — Jordan Pope, Oregon State
Sticking with my rule of thumb to vote for a player on a winning team, my selection for Freshman Player of the Week came down to Jordan Pope and Adem Bona.
I considered Arizona State’s Austin Nunez, but the sweep by the L.A. schools eliminated him from my final decision. I went with Pope due to his 19-point game against California.
He shot 8-for-12 from the field and helped secure OSU’s first true road win in almost two years. Without his production, the Beavers would have been in a much closer fight in Berkeley.
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