HEATHER ROBBEN
So we knew HCC freshman Heather Robben could score a little bit, and we knew she could rebound a little bit. But Saturday the Maize product showed she could do a lot of both, and in a big-time situation, exploding for season-high totals of 25 points and 16 rebounds in a 61-56 upset of No. 10 Cloud County on Saturday (and she also hi. She’s leading her team in scoring (14.3), second in rebounding (6.2) and leads the entire Jayhawk in ft-shooting percentage at 82.5. And that’s also why I put her in the state/juco notes package this week, so read up on her and her team, which is still in the hunt for the West title … and know that the Jayhawk doesn’t put out their players of the week until Tuesday, and it’s kind of suspect at that, so she definitely gets player of the week awards from Sunflower Slate. Most definitely.
Oh, and if you want to know who are men’s player of the week is … well then you don’t know Jack. And Garden City’s Richard Thomas isn’t bad, either.
KCAC
We’ve talked about him before on this blog, and now he’s back in the spotlight.
Sterling center Jonathon Woods blew the top off the KCAC last week as the No. 24 Warriors picked up wins over Kansas Wesleyan and, more importantly, over Ottawa, giving them a one-game lead over Saint Mary and two games over the Braves. All the 6-10 junior center out of San Antonio did was average 14 points, 13.5 rebounds and 5 blocks per game in the victories. That’s a nice week, but is he still in the discussion for the KCAC MVP? I still think that’s David Birch’s award to lose.
Kansas Wesleyan senior Emily Luckeroth was the women’s player of the week. Her line: KWU went 2-0 on the week, including an upset of No. 5 Sterling in which Luckeroth hit for 31. CLUTCH!
MIAA
JANICE BRIGHT
More player of the year discussions for you, such as, is Janice Bright the women’s MVP in the MIAA? Bright, a 5-9 senior from L.A., averaged 21.5 points, 5 boards and 1.5 steals in two wins for the No. 11 Lady Blues this week. This is her third player of the week award this season and Washburn is still in the MIAA title hunt with a month to go in the regular season.
Here’s how she ranks right now in the conference:
Scoring: 18.6 (1st)
3-pt shooting: 44% (1st, 52-117)
FT shooting: 86.2% (2nd)
FG percentage: 47.9% (5th)
Steals: 1.8 (9th)
Make your case for somebody else, but she’s got my vote right now. Wait, do I get to vote for this?
Indoor Track & Field
BRIAN HAYNES
Fort Hays State’s Bryan Haynes — also a football star — won the 200 with a time of 21.87 seconds and came in third in the 60 at 6.88 at the Kansas State Invitational this weekend. Dude returns kicks, transferred from UMass and is purty darn fast. That’s why he got track athlete of the week. Emporia State’s Craig Saalfeld was the honoree on the field side of things by finishing fourth in the heptathlon at the same meet as Haynes.
JAYHAWK
This is just as an aside — but Hutchinson’s Devon McBride has been suspended indefinitely from the team. This hurts the Blue Dragons. He was averaging 14.8 points per game, second behind Darius Johnson-Odom. This is the second player suspension this season, following Cliff Dixon’s indefinite suspension (which turned into four games) early in the season. What’s the deal?
Here’s the release to the media from HCC:
The Hutchinson Community College men’s basektball team has placed sophomore Devon McBride on indefinite suspension because of conduct detrimental to the team.
McBride did not play on Saturday in Concordia.
Because this is a personnel matter, head coach Ryan Swanson, the HCC coaching staff and players will not comment on this suspension.
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