Expect a Surprise Player of the Year

The college hoops season got underway last night, with 3rd-ranked Memphis routing Tennessee-Martin in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.  To mark the occasion, ESPN.com has rolled out their ’07-’08 season preview.  Andy Katz writes that this season’s teams lack recognizable names and wonders who will emerge as ‘the face of college basketball’ this season, the way that J.J. Redick, Adam Morrison, and Joakim Noah have in recent years.

There is general agreement that UNC junior Tyler Hansbrough is the leading candidate to be that ‘face’, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment.  Hansbrough was the leading vote-getter for the pre-season All-America Team for the second straight year, he has been a first-team All-ACC selection the last two years, and his Tar Heels go into this season as the #1-ranked team in the nation.  The question with Hansbrough, though, is will he take his game to another level?  Will he significantly improve on his career averages of 18 points and 8 rebounds a game?

I think Hansbrough is a great college player, but I also think he’s fairly close to reaching his ceiling and doesn’t have much room for improvement.  I’d look for one of the big name freshmen to come in and stake an immediate claim as the ‘face of college basketball’ for ’07-’08.  It probably won’t be on the level of Kevin Durant or Greg Oden last year, but look for O.J. Mayo of USC, Kevin Love of UCLA, or Eric Gordon of Indiana to emerge as the Player of the Year this season.