This season has been full of ups and downs for the Idaho men’s basketball team. But with all the bumps and turns during this season, there continues to be a consistent bright spot every game for the Vandals.
Ricky Clark | Argonaut
That bright spot is the play of senior forward Stephen Madison.
He averages just over 34 minutes per game and his numbers definitely show because of it. The numbers might just be good enough to bring Idaho’s second straight Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year award.
Madison leads the team in almost every statistical category. With the team lead in points, rebounds, steals, assists and blocks, he is the only player in Division I basketball to lead his team in the five main statistical categories.
What’s even more impressive are his stats when it comes to rankings against other WAC athletes.
Madison leads the conference in points per game with 19.2, is fourth in the league in rebounds with 7.7 and is 13th in the league with 2.3 assists per game. He is the only player in the conference to show up in the top 15 of each of these categories.
With stats like these, he is the most valuable piece of the Vandals and very well may be the most valuable player in the WAC. Imagine next year without Madison — it’s going to be hard to find a player that replicates the production that Madison puts up.
The WAC Player of the Year award is supposed to go to the player that has been most valuable. As we saw last year, the award doesn’t always go to the player that is considered the most “NBA ready.” Former Vandal and 2013 WAC Player of the Year Kyle Barone had a great season last year, but was never really considered one to be ready to make the transition to the NBA.
That could be the case for Madison. There are players in the WAC that are considered NBA ready. One name that comes to mind is Daniel Mullings of New Mexico State.
Mullings isn’t nearly having the kind of season that Madison is having, even though he might be considered the better player. Mullings’ team is also sitting near the top of the WAC standings.
If you take him off the team, the Aggies won’t miss him as much as if the Vandals lost Madison. The Aggies have the resources and talent to replace the production that Mullings brings. The Vandals would have suffered without the production of Madison.
It’s hard to imagine what the record would be for the Vandals if Madison wasn’t on the team.
With the special season that Madison is having, every Vandal fan should go out and catch the last two home games for men’s basketball.
Who knows, maybe the fans that come out are looking at the future WAC Player of the Year. He certainly is making a case to bring it home.
Rick Clark can be reached at [email protected]