Player of the year? Denzel Valentine's in the running

When Oklahoma's Buddy Hield put together a 46-point performance last month in the college basketball game of the year, No. 1 Kansas' triple-overtime victory over the No. 2 Sooners, many observers mentally filled out their player of the year ballots with Hield's name in big block letters.

But if there's one thing about college basketball, it's a long, tiring season with all the practices, travel and games. And with Hield having hit a little bit of a bump in the road over the last few weeks, another POY candidate has emerged - Michigan State's Denzel Valentine.

Valentine, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, has rocketed up the leader board during a 10-game stretch that has seen him average 22.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 8.1 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from three-point range. He had three consecutive points-assists double-doubles against Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Hield, a 6-4 senior guard, has been in a bit of a shooting slump in his last six games, during which he's hitting 38.6 percent of his field goal tries and 37.5 percent of his attempts behind the line while averaging 22.7 points. But his numbers for the year are still darn good: 25.1 points per game (second in NCAA Division I), 4.1 three-pointers per game (first), 48.3 percent shooting from three (third).

Valentine's season was interrupted for four games because of minor knee surgery, but his stats also have been impressive - averages of 19.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists with a 2.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He hits 3.4 threes per game and shoots 45.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Other players have enjoyed outstanding seasons: Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia, Jared Uthoff of Iowa, Ben Simmons of Louisiana State. But Hield and Valentine are the two front-runners in our opinion. It should be an interesting duel down the stretch to see if Hield hangs on or Valentine finds a way to swing the majority of votes his way.

Simmons has rivaled Hield and Valentine as a must-watch talent, a 6-foot-10 Australian-born freshman who makes the game look so effortless. Yet you'll get to see him only for two more weeks because LSU doesn't have a prayer of making the NCAA tournament unless it surprises everyone and wins the SEC tournament.

The Tigers (16-12), who have lost four of their last five, enter Saturday's game against Florida ranked 91st in the RPI, or one rung above Penn State. Even though Simmons averages 19.5 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists and has 19 double-doubles to his credit, his team has not followed his lead.

There was speculation, unfounded as it was, that the folks who select the NCAA tournament teams would find a way to get LSU in to showcase Simmons' talent before a heavy national audience. Believe it, that's not happening.

Teams on the NCAA bubble from the Atlantic Ten Conference are trying to avoid bad losses down the stretch in order to get as many teams as they can in the field of 68, but things aren't going according to plan.

Yes, Dayton appears to be a lock, and St. Joseph's appears pretty safe with a No. 25 RPI ranking. But VCU was shocked the other night by George Mason and plays George Washington on Saturday in a duel of two teams considered among the last four out by CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm.

Palm has St. Bonaventure in an NCAA First Four game in Dayton, giving the A-10 three teams in his latest bracket. ESPN's Joe Lunardi also has three, including VCU in his "last four byes" category, but George Washington and St. Bonaventure are among his first four out.

The Hawks are currently a No. 8 seed in the South (Palm) or a No. 8 seed in the West (Lunardi).

Arizona coach Sean Miller spoke out against fans rushing out on to the court after his team was upset on Wednesday night by Colorado, saying, "Eventually what's going to happen in the Pac-12 is this: An Arizona player is going to punch a fan, and they are going to punch the fan out of self-defense. And only when it happens will everyone take a deep breath and say, 'We have to do something to protect both teams.' "

A place where court-storming did not happen Wednesday night was Xavier, where the fans of the fifth-ranked Musketeers raised the Cintas Center roof with noise after their team's 90-83 win over No. 1 Villanova but stayed off the floor, deserving a major shout-out.

"I think it'd be a little bit odd for the No. 5 team in the country to storm the court," Xavier coach Chris Mack said later. "My two daughters [ages 9 and 10] did, so maybe they're out of line. Gonna ground them."

Senior guard Ron Curry, who starred at Paul VI High School in South Jersey, has led James Madison to a 20-win season. The 6-foot-3 Curry tops the Dukes in scoring (17.0 points per game), assists (3.6), three-point baskets (67), steals (30) and minutes played (33.3).

jjuliano@phillynews.com

@joejulesinq