Player of the Week: Allen Crabbe, Cal

Player of the Week: Allen Crabbe, Cal

Let’s put aside, for a second, the shove that had the twittersphere in an uproar last night. Because when you focus solely on that interaction, you ignore the fact that Crabbe scored 14 second half points — including 12 in the final minutes — to lead the Bears back from a 15 point deficit to USC at home. A loss in that game would have been disastrous for Cal’s NCAA tournament hopes, especially when you consider that last Sunday’s win at Arizona and Thursday’s demolishing of UCLA had put them into a great position to make the Big Dance.

Crabbe had 23 points, 10 boards and six steals last night. He went for 16 points, five boards and five assists in the win over UCLA. He had 31 points, seven boards and five assists against Arizona. He’s one of the nation’s best-kept secrets, although if he keeps playing this way, he won’t be a secret for much longer.

The All-They-Were-Good-Too Team:

G: Russ Smith, Louisville: Smith averaged 19.5 points, 6.0 boards and 4.0 assists in two games this week, shooting 45% from the floor and 40% from three. Rick Pitino told reporters after a win over South Florida that “I thought Russ Smith played the smartest game he’s played in a long time.” Smith playing Smart is the difference between Louisville being a top three seed and Louisville being a national title contender.

G: Ben McLemore, Kansas: The Jayhawks desperately needed a big performance on Monday this week, and McLemore had one of his best games of the season, finishing with 30 points on 9-13 shooting as Kansas stormed past Kansas State in Phog Allen. He followed that up with 13 points in a blowout win over Texas on College Gameday. Not a bad way to snap a three-game losing streak.

F: Scott Wood, NC State: Coming off of a game-winning three to beat Clemson on the road, Wood scored 22 points and hit six threes as the Wolfpack narrowly avoided a disastrous loss to Virginia Tech in Raleigh.

F: Kenyatta Smith, Harvard: After playing a grand total of seven minutes in two games last week, Smith put together a pair of dominant performances as Harvard took a one-game lead on Princeton in the Ivy League race. Smith had 20 points, nine boards and 10 blocks against Penn, and then went for 14 points, seven boards and six blocks in the win over Princeton on Saturday. He also shot 13-14 from the floor and 8-9 from the free throw line.

C: Alex Len, Maryland: Len finished with 19 points on 6-8 shooting, nine boards and three blocks in Maryland’s one game this week, which just so happened to be a win over No. 2 Duke. But more importantly, Len helped the Terps shut down Mason Plumlee, which was the biggest reason they were able to pull the upset while committed 26 turnovers.

Bench: Ramon Galloway (La Salle), Dorian Green (Colorado State), Nick Minnerath (Detroit), Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), Marshawn Powell (Arkansas), Nate Wolters (South Dakota State)

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.