Two players truly stood out this week on the court, making this week's selection of Mid-Major Player of the Week a difficult choice. Both Eastern Washington's Venky Jois and Belmont's Craig Bradshaw had weeks that a lot of players would dream about.
Jois had 20 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, in an upset win for the Eagles over Indiana. He followed that with another stat stuffer against Northern Kentucky. He finished by scoring 38 points against Eastern Oregon in a non-Division 1 game.
But despite the big win, and despite the big numbers, he just couldn't outdo Bradshaw.
The Belmont junior went for 29 points, five rebounds and four assists in the rivalry rematch against Lipscomb Monday. He then added 28 points in a go-away win against Dencer.
But the tipping point came Saturday when Bradshaw had 42 of the Bruins' 83 points in an 83-81 win over a very good Ohio team. The performance was even more impressive in that it came on the road, and he shot 14-for-22 overall, and 8 of 12 from behind the 3-point line.
That made Bradshaw the Mid-Major Madness Player of the Week.
On the freshman side, there were a number of nice games from the newcomers to the Division 1 level, from Pascal Siakam at New Mexico State (10 points, 17 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Stetson) to Iona's Schadrac Casimir (40 points against Delaware State).
But while players had some nice games, only a single player put two of those games together.
That is why this week's Freshman of the Week is Stony Brook's Roland Nyama. The Seawolves newcomer had 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks against Western Kentucky on Tuesday. He followed that up Thursday with a 16 point performance against LIU-Brooklyn. He added eight rebounds, two assists and another block against the Blackbirds.
Have a player you think should be considered for one of the two honors? Let us know on Facebook, or Twitter.