SPOKANE, Wash. — Believe it or not, there are only four games left in WCC play for Gonzaga. Because of that, and also because Filip Petrusev was named WCC Player of the Week on Monday, I started to wonder just how strong of case Filip has to be named WCC Player of the Year.
In my estimation, this is a two player race between Saint Mary's Jordan Ford and, of course, Filip so we're going to start with Jordan's stats first.
SAINT MARY'S JORDAN FORD
Ford leads the conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game. He is also sixth in the conference in field goal percentage at 48% and he shoots an outstanding 43% from three. In conference play, due to two games that went to overtime, one of which was quadruple overtime affair, Jordan averages playing 40.2 minutes per game. There are 40 minutes in every basketball game that doesn't go to OT, so I think that illustrates how much he plays.
GONZAGA'S FILIP PETRUSEV
Filip is third in the conference in points at 17.6 per game and second in rebounds at 8 per contest. He also has the best field goal percentage in the conference at 57% and is fifth in blocked shots with .93 per game. Going a little bigger picture, Filip has eight double-doubles this season. Jordan Ford doesn't have any, but obviously it's a lot easier for forwards to pick up double-doubles than guards. Another note is that Filip has won three WCC Player of the Week awards this season. Ford has only won one this year.
FILIP VS. FORD
Obviously, it's hard to compare guards and forwards. Jordan shoots more threes, so his field goal percentage is lower. Filip only shoots twos, so his points per game are lower. But there are two categories that really illustrate how these two players differ.
Remember how I said that Jordan averages 40.2 minutes per game in WCC play? Yeah, it's minutes per game I want to delve in to first. If you count outside of conference play, Jordan averages 37.4 minutes per contest, which is still crazy. Filip? He only averages 25.8 minutes per game. Now, you could say that Jordan is by far and away the more important player to his team when you compare those two stats. I would say you're right. But, I think that Filip's efficiency compared to Jordan's is what makes him the better player.
Yes, Filip is three points behind Ford in terms of points per game, but he's also only three points away with nearly 12 less minutes of play. I guarantee that if Filip was playing 12 more minutes per contest, he'd be right around where Jordan is scoring wise or higher.
The second category I want to delve in to is the overall makeup of Saint Mary's and Gonzaga's teams. Petrusev averages 17.6 points per game while being surrounded by, let's face it, far superior offensive talent. Gonzaga has seven players averaging double digits this season. Saint Mary's? They only have three players averaging double digits and their third player double digit player, Tanner Krebs, only averages 10.1 points per contest.
My point is this: Jordan is by far and away the first option for his team. Filip is keeping relative pace with Jordan scoring wise, while there are a lot more scoring options for the Zags.
That's why I say right now, Filip is in the lead for the WCC's Player of the Year race. You could easily make the argument for Jordan Ford though. The last two weeks of WCC play should be very interesting.