2020 Player of the Year

Each year since 1900 we have named a player, team, coach and game of the year. Despite the crazy turn of events this past month, we're going to do the same for 2019-2020. We just don't have as much data as usual.

For the record, my pre-season picks for Player of the Year were Paige Bueckers, Hopkins girls; Booker Coplin, Augsburg men; Daniel Oturu, Gopher men; Jalen Suggs, Minnehaha boys; and Karl Towns and Andrew Wiggins, Timberwolves

So, in short, my pre-season picks proved to be substantially less than prescient. Let's see where we ended up.

Player of the Year Finalists

Taite Anderson led Bethel to the MIAC title and a 26-2 record. Individually, she scored 20.5 ppg, was named MIAC PoY, and won all-America honors. She is from White Bear Lake, MN.

Paige Bueckers of course won every award a high school girl can win this year, except a state championship. But, the Royals hammered Cambridge and Stillwater and were as close to a lock as a team can be going into the state final. It would have been her second. I've said all along that we ought to wait until her career is over to say that she is the best ever. OK, she's the best ever.

Harrison Cleary, 6-1 guard of Minnesota Crookston, scored 24 ppg to become the top scorer in NSIC history. He is from Oak Creek, WI.

Brooke Olson, 6-2 forward at UMD, scored 17 ppg on 52-42 and 74% shooting and led the Bulldogs to a 26-6 season. She is from Rice Lake, WI.

Daniel Oturu, 6-10 sophomore, Minnesota Gophers, who exceeded expectations at 20 ppg and 11 rebounds, and will be entering the NBA draft. Bye, bye, Daniel, we hardly knew ya.

Only Bueckers and Oturu were pre-season candidates. The drop-outs are Booker Coplin, Augsburg guard, who had another nice season but just fell short. Ditto Jalen Suggs.

Then, of course, there's Karl Towns and Andrew Wiggins. I started my season preview way back around Labor Day with an NBA preview, in which I said that I thought the Timberwolves were more likely to be heading toward another rebuild than a breakthrough. That proved to be correct. By the time I wrote my Player of the Year preview around December 1 I had seen the Timberwolves play 5 or 6 times and they started off pretty well. I think they were 8-5 at one point. Wiggins in particular was playing way above last year's level. But, then Towns started missing games and, well, the rest is history. Wiggins is gone, replaced by another offensive wizard who doesn't play a lick of defense. We've got until next October to worry about it, but it's not a pretty picture. So no way are any Timberwolves candidates for PoY.

So. Player of the Year. 2020. As much as I love Daniel Oturu and as much as I respect the small college athletes, there is really no other choice but Paige Bueckers, who is the first repeat winner since Lindsay Whalen in 2002 and 2003. Before that it was Kevin Garnett in 1998 and 1999. Before that Mark Olberding in 1973 and 1974. Before that Lou Hudson. You get the picture.