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Player of the Week: Doug McDermott, Creighton

Doug McDermott

Player of the Week: Doug McDermott, Creighton

If you didn’t know any better, you would probably think that the 32 points and 11 boards that Doug McDermott had at Bradley on Wednesday would be his best performance of the week. The All-American had been struggling a bit in recent weeks, and as a result the Bluejays, almost unfathomably, found themselves creeping ever closer to the bubble. As long as they won at Bradley, Creighton could probably lose their last two games and find themselves with an at-large bid. McDermott stepped up.

And then he made it really easy to forget those 32 points and 11 boards.

McDermott reverted back to vintage Dougie McBuckets form on Saturday, scoring 41 points on 15-18 shooting -- 5-8 from three -- as Creighton knocked off Wichita State in one of the most impressive offensive performances of the season. Not only did the win ensure that Creighton would be in the tournament and come against a league rival, it was the de facto MVC regular season title game, as both the Shockers and the Bluejays entered the final game of the regular season tied for first place.

Maybe we need to put McDermott back into the National Player of the Year discussion.

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

G: Elijah Johnson, Kansas: Who can forget Johnson’s performance on Monday night at Iowa State. In one of the toughest environments in the country, Johnson scored eight points in 32 seconds to force overtime and then was responsible for the first 13 Jayhawk points in OT. He finished with 39 and seven assists. Throw in the 12 points, 10 assists and five boards he had in a win over West Virginia, and Johnson’s confidence finally seems to be peaking.

G: Derrick Marks, Boise State: The Broncos may have sealed up an NCAA tournament bid on Saturday with a 78-65 win over Colorado State at home, and Marks was the biggest reason why, as he scored a career-high 38 points on 13-18 shooting, hitting 4-7 from three.

F: Ryan Kelly, Duke: In Kelly’s first game back from a foot injury, he went for 36 points as the Blue Devils knocked off Miami in Cameron Indoor Stadium. What else needs to be said?

F: Otto Porter, Georgetown: Porter has been absolutely sensational over the past two months, and that didn’t change this week. He had 22 points, five boards and four assists -- as well as the game-winning basket in double-overtime -- to beat UConn at UConn, and followed that up with 28 points and eight boards as the Hoyas knocked off Rutgers on Saturday night.

C: Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota: Mbakwe set the tone in Minnesota’s win over Indiana on Tuesday, scoring 10 points and grabbing four boards in the first six minutes en route to a 21-point, 12-board performance. He completely outplayed Cody Zeller as well. The win looks like it may have turned around the Minnesota season as well, as they blew out Penn State on Saturday after the Nittany Lions beat Michigan.

Bench: Larry Drew II (UCLA), Dwayne Evans (St. Louis), Alex Kirk (New Mexico), Omar Strong (Texas Southern)

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.