The only other strong candidate for Freshman of the Year in the Valley besides Sam Maniscalco, is P'Allen Stinnett of Creighton.
Creighton has lost 3 of the last 5 and P'Allen is 0-5 from 3-pt range over the last two games.
The two played pretty much even in their only head to head opportunity when BU trounced CU on 2/16, so it might boil down to this Saturday's game, as to how people will vote.
The factors that favor Stinnett, are that he plays more, but starts about half the time - same as Sam, and Stinnett's scoring average is 12ppg....but that's it, really, as Sam is more of the complete player.
Stinnett takes lots more shots but his conference scoring average is only 3 ppg more than Sam's. Sam's assists more than make up for the difference, plus Stinnett is actually known for his defensive weaknesses.
The factors that favor Maniscalco are that he is valuable as a point guard, perhaps the most important position on the floor, he has more assists (98 to 58 ) and fewer turnovers (47 to 66) and assist to turnover ratio of 2 for Sam vs. 0.9 for PS. Sam's 3 pt pct is 37% and he's scoring 10ppg in conference play, compared to 31% for PS.
Both are making themselves known as fine defensive players.
I think it is close and either player has a claim to the award, but I would love to see Sam rewarded for his all around play and defense.