The Rise of Victor

After being snubbed by the Wooden Award mid-season list, Victor has ascended to the 4th spot on the third regular-season Player of the Year straw poll, which polls the actual voters for the Wooden Award.  This means that Indiana has two of the top five candidates (Victor at 4th and Cody at 5th) and the Big Ten has three of the top five (Trey Burke from Michigan is ranked 1st) at this point in the season.

Victor came to Indiana as a pure athlete, a player who had very solid defense but did not have the refined skills of an elite player.  Coming out of high school, he was ranked just 144th.  Critics complained about his lack of shooting ability and his out-of-control nature when handling the ball.  Fans, however, saw Victor as one of the most entertaining players to watch, one who was willing to do whatever it took to get the Crimson Guard riled up.

Through hard work and hours upon hours of extra time in the gym, Victor-the-raw-athlete has given way to Victor-the-potential-player-of-the-year.  He is averaging 14 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 68% field goal, and 51% three-point.  To begin to put a measure to how special this is, the last Big Ten player to average at least 60% field goal and 50% three-pointers was Glen Rice from Michigan in 1989-90, and if he were to win the Wooden Award, he would be the only winner ever to maintain that average.  Also, should he maintain his current pace, he would be only the second player in over 30 years in the Big Ten to average at least 14 points, 2.5 steals, and 5.5 rebounds, with the only other player being Ryan Bowen from Iowa in 1997-98.

All of that just shows the concrete, statistical aspect of Victor's game.  Almost more important than that is the spark, passion, and tremendous energy he brings every single game.  He uses his pure athleticism and newly-refined skills to deflate the opposing team until they're just hanging there like a balloon that sprung a leak.

Just watching Victor you can see how much he loves this game and how much work he's put into it.  After the almost-unbelievable improvement he's shown this season, he could very easily be a lottery pick in this year's draft if he chooses.  I hope that he sticks around in his candy stripes one more season, because if you think he's deadly now, just wait until he's had another off-season's worth of practice under his belt.  If team's are having trouble stopping him now, just imagine what it will be like once he can nail that monster dunk every time.