Dane Miller's Week 8 Pac-12 Hoops Players of Week Votes


  By Dane Miller, SuperWest Sports

   January 2, 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 — Branden Carlson, Utah

Another week, another tough choice. My vote came down to Utah’s Branden Carlson and Colorado’s KJ Simpson.

The Utah big averaged 26.5 points per game against the Washington schools while the CU guard put up 27.5 ppg. I ended up going with Carlson for a few reasons.

First, he had more total assists (12 as compared to 9 for Simpson). Second, he had more total rebounds (15 versus 12). Carlson also had five blocks with Simpson posting zero.

Third, Carlson was more efficient in his shooting (20-for-38 as compared to 16-for-32). And lastly, Carlson had the stronger game against the better opponent.

Against Washington, Carlson scored 34 points on 14-of-23 from the field with seven assists. Simpson only scored 21 against the Huskies, although he did post a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Freshman Player of the Week — Kanaan Carlyle, Stanford

Kanaan Carlyle scored 28 points against Arizona while shooting 6-for-8 from three. He also went 8-of-8 from the free throw line while securing eight rebounds.

His production made this week’s vote relatively straightforward. Only three players were nominated, with the others being Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad and UCLA’s Berke Buyuktuncel.

Shelstad had a more consistent week and might be more deserving of the award. But Carlyle’s numbers against the then-No. 4 Wildcats were enough to earn my vote.