Tyshawn Taylor was named one of the five finalists for the Bob Cousy award, which goes to the best point guard in college basketball. This rights a tremendous wrong, as he wasn't on the top 20 watch list that was released earlier in the year. Oddly enough neither was Matthew Dellavedova of St. Marys, another finalist.
Of course, Tyshawn has had an incredible year and it has been an incredible rise from where he was even last year to where he was this year. He has completely taken the reins of this team and done a Sherron Collins of 2009 impression, except he has done it even better. I looked at his chances at being a first team All American earlier this year, but after seeing the list of finalists for the Cousy award, Tyshawn looks to be the favorite. A closer look:
| Player (School) | Min% | Usage rate | ORtg | eFG | Assist% | TO% | Strength of Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Canaan (Murray St) | 83 | 26.5 | 124.7 | 61.2 | 25.2 | 18.5 | 250 |
| Matthew Dellavedova (St. Marys) | 93.1 | 23.6 | 118.8 | 53.7 | 33 | 20.3 | 168 |
| Damian Lillard (Weber State) | 85 | 32.1 | 125.7 | 56.8 | 27.6 | 12 | 282 |
| Kendall Marshall (North Carolina) | 82.1 | 16.4 | 111.2 | 48.3 | 43.2 | 27.2 | 34 |
| Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas) | 82.5 | 28 | 107.8 | 56.1 | 30.3 | 22.2 | 7 |
To go by process of elimination, Marshall is the first player we can get rid of, as no one with a 16.4% usage rate deserves to be the point guard of the year. As good as Lillard's numbers are, he has to be the next to go because their strength of schedule is so bad so it's tough for me to trust just how good he is (and to put it in non KenPom terms, the Big Sky winner is routinely a 15 or 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, and Weber St. wasn't even the Big Sky winner).
It comes down to Canaan v. Taylor to me. Each had to be a big part of their team's offense, and each was a big part of a very good offense. Each scores very well, Taylor is a better assist man (though he has better people to pass to) and Canaan is better at taking care of the ball (though he faces far weaker defenses). I'll leave it up to you to make the call, but either guy looks good to me.