Dane Miller's Week 6 Pac-12 Hoops Players of Week Votes

College Basketball Pac-12 Men's Basketball

Dane Miller’s Week 6 Pac-12 Hoops Players of Week Votes

> Our senior men's basketball writer gives us his weekly men's hoops selections with explanations

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  By Dane Miller, SuperWest Sports

   December 18, 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 Summaries appear below.

Player of the Week — Sahvir Wheeler, Washington

Sahvir Wheeler, Washington men's basketball — Wheeler

It was another tough ballot for this week’s Player of the Week. My vote came down to Arizona’s Caleb Love, Utah’s Branden Carlson, Colorado’s KJ Simpson, and Washington’s Sahvir Wheeler.

I ended up deciding to go with Wheeler because of his 14 assists against Seattle and his game-tying basket to force overtime.

The Huskies ended up winning the game in double overtime and Wheeler was arguably the reason why. He scored 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting to go along with his 14 assists.

Those are spectacular numbers even if it was against a perceived inferior opponent. The 14 assists were the most by a Washington player since 2005.

I was still tempted to go with Love due to his 29 points against Purdue or, alternatively, Carlson who scored 26 against Utah Valley. But, the combination of Wheeler’s assists and shooting efficiency was the tipping point for me.

Freshman Player of the Week — Andrej Stojakovic, Stanford

Andrej Stojakovic, Stanford men's basketball — Stojakovic

Only two players were nominated for Freshman of the Week: Stanford’s Andrej Stojakovic and UCLA’s Sebastian Mack. I went with Stojakovic for two primary reasons.

First, his team didn’t lose the game they played. I am always hesitant to give my vote to a player on a losing team and Mack’s Bruins lost to Ohio State while the Cardinal blew out Idaho.

Second, Stojakovic scored more points and had a higher shooting percentage. The Stanford guard scored 17 points on 7-for-11 from the field as compared to Mack’s 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting.

In the end, it was still a close call for me due to the quality of the opponent each faced. Ohio State is a much stronger team than Idaho and the quality of the competition is always a factor for me. But, Stojakovic scored more and his team won so I gave him the nod.