MVPs of the games:
Oregon - Newton +19
Alabama - Newton +24
Iowa St - Jackson +31
So by my system, I think I would've given the MVP to Newton. 2 very good games and a solid one. Newton shot well in the Oregon game and then kept us afloat in the Alabama game with his foul drawing (drew 7 fouls in 2H alone). His turnovers against Iowa St were rough, but he did a lot of other things (really good D, drawing fouls, offensive rebounding, passing, etc.) to balance it out.
I have to say though. No offense to Donovan who was sensational against Iowa St, but Jackson was otherworldly. The 2nd half he had 23/0 pos/neg. That's the best half I've charted this season by a mile. Overall his ISU game was the best game I've charted this season, better even than Newton's triple double. He contested everything, rebounded everything. Made a ton of great passes, both traditional and hockey assists. He broke that team completely in the last 7 minutes when they had to get a bit more aggressive to come back. Jackson was up and down the rest of the tournament, with good stretches and bad stretches, but with the good outweighing the bad comfortably.
Sanogo overall quite good. Technically he had the most negative plays of anyone, but had a very strong net because he had the 3rd most positive plays and it wasn't especially bad in any one game. He struggled with foul trouble against Oregon, had a really strong 2nd half against Alabama, and then didn't score much but had a pretty big impact defensively against Iowa St. Also really strong passing game from Sanogo against ISU, I had him with 5 passes that should have led to buckets (2 missed) and no turnovers.
Clingan dominated Iowa St over 2 different stretches before Jackson took over later. One of the top 5 Net games this season (he and Jackson both top 5 performances in same game, not surprising we won a championship game by 18). As mentioned, I don't think I would've given him the MVP, but he was one of our 3 best players this tournament IMO (and that puts Sanogo 4th). And on a per-minute basis I'm sure he was the best. He just absolutely walls off the rim when he's in there, and he rebounds everything. He's rebounding 25.9% of every possible rebound while he's in the game for the season, which I believe leads the country (he doesn't qualify for leaderboard based on minutes).
Karaban a little bit less effective in this tournament. Bama game was good. Some bigger bodies he went up against, had a couple passes deflected. He's still a stud, but will have to keep adjusting to high major speed athleticism and avoid hitting a wall in conference play. Shot well overall.
Hawkins had a rough tournament. After slow start, he shot well against Oregon and had some blocks/defensive plays, had a coupe nice takes to the basket in general. But his foul trouble got the better of him in the last 2 games. He has just regressed a bit with his handsy defense. By end of last season he was using his body well to block penetration and not fouling. This year he's blatantly grabbing people off ball and putting 2 hands on drivers. Just really easy calls. He wasn't super boisterous with his tech, but he must have said something. His Iowa St game was the only net negative game I charted for anyone this tournament.
Diarra and Calcaterra really minimized their mistakes all tournament. Calcaterra made more positive plays, especially in the Oregon and Iowa St games. Calcaterra's only negative plays are generally on defense, and usually only a couple per game. On offense, he's heady and very rarely makes any mistakes. He makes his open shots, finds teammates without turning it over, picks his spots well. Combined in the tournament he had 29 points, 5 assists, and only 1 turnover. Diarra is just doing his thing, guarding everybody. Getting into the paint and kicking out on offense. If he made a few more open shots, he'd be a star role player, But as is, he's very good in that role.
Alleyne grades out as my least positive impact player. The defense is still really good when he doesn't foul (he had 4 against Oregon). He did a great job on Brandon Miller in the beginning of that game. But he went 0/6 from 3 in the tournament. He's a fine passer, but he's not on ball a ton and so doesn't make a ton of plays for others. He's gotta knock down those shots when he's open (and not take contested stepbacks as a heat check in the first few minutes of games). But as it is, if our 9th best player was positive in all 3 games, that certainly tells you something.
