College Basketball Betting – First Half Player Awards

And the award goes to… BetOnline Sportsbook takes a moment to look at the best and worst players from the first half of a very exciting college basketball betting season…

Most Impressive Freshman: John Wall, Kentucky Wildcats … Was there any doubt about the winner of this award? With all due respect to Kansas’ Xavier Henry, Wall is clearly the most valuable frosh in the land, and he’s leading one of the most exciting teams to watch in the entire country. Not only is the freshman leading the Cats in scoring (17.5 points per game) and assists (6.9 per game), but he’s also tops in steals at 2.1 per game. This is one of the most electrifying players in the entire nation, and he has the capability of putting a very good team on his back and making it a Final Four squad. If you haven’t watched this kid play, you’d better do so, because he’s surely going pro after this year.

Player that You Hope Makes the NCAA Tournament: Artsiom Parakhouski, Radford Highlanders … Look, we realize that Radford isn’t exactly a household team, and even if it does go dancing, it’s surely going to be one-and-done, but how cool would it be to see the 6’11" Belarus native playing in the Big Dance? All Parakhouski is doing right now is ranking third in the country in scoring (24.1 points per game) and is first in rebounding (12.9 per game). Oh, the big man has an outside game as well. He’s shooting 43% from beyond the arc on the year.

Most Valuable Player: Evan Turner, Ohio State Buckeyes … The proof is in the pudding on this one… Do the math on Turner. When he’s in the lineup, Ohio State is 9-2 with wins against Purdue, Florida State, and Cal. When he’s out of it, the Bucks are only 3-3 with college basketball betting losses to Butler, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It’s hard to argue with a guy who is averaging 18.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, especially considering the fact that he is shooting 59% from the floor as well. Turner was the reason that the Buckeyes were ranked nationally before his injury, and he’ll be the reason, one way or the other, that Ohio State either succeeds or fails in the rest of the ’09-’10 season.

Best Single Game Performance: Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall Pirates vs. West Virginia Mountaineers … Yes, Seton Hall lost this college basketball betting battle against the Mountaineers, but there wasn’t a more impressive performance in the entire country and there may not be one for the rest of the year either. On the day after Christmas, in the only NCAA basketball game on the slate, Hazell shot 14/33 from the floor and scored a whopping 41 of his team’s 84 points against a stellar West Virginia defense. He made all of the critical shots down the stretch that forced overtime, but when his fellow starters began to foul out of the game, his team lost hope and ultimately gave in to the WVU pressure.

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