Player of year candidates rising to top

Karen C. Tully Arizona Daily Wildcat Southern Cal senior guard Stais Boseman is seventh in the Pacific 10 Conference in scoring and has scored 45 points in the two meetings against Arizona this season.

While each of the five teams contending for the title has one player who can make a claim to the honor, the top three candidates are Southern Cal's Stais Boseman, California's Ed Gray and Charles O'Bannon of UCLA.

Boseman ranks seventh in the conference in scoring and fourth in steals. He has led the Trojans in scoring in nine of their last eleven conference games and is averaging 18 points per game in the Pac-10.

However, Boseman's biggest asset is his defensive prowess. The 6-foot-4 senior guard is arguably the best defender in the conference. Against Arizona State last Thursday, Boseman held Jeremy Veal, the league's fourth best scorer, to just four points on 2 of 13 shooting while playing all 40 minutes. On Saturday, Boseman logged 38 minutes and held Arizona's Miles Simon to 14 points.

"(Boseman) has done a fantastic job for USC all season," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "They put him on the other team's top scorer, and he shuts him down. It's like he has a motor because he never seems to tire."

When one speaks of Cal basketball, talk should start with Ed Gray. There's not one player in the confereence that means more offensively to his team than Gray. He has led the team in scoring in 19 of 22 games and leads the conference with a 24.1 points-per-game average. With his 25 points against Oregon State Saturday, he set a school record scoring over 20 points in 11 consecutive games.

"Ed Gray seems to me to be the player who is the favorite for the award," Olson said. "He is scoring over 24 points a game, but more importantly, he never seems to have a down game."

Gray has made such an impact that Cal is 30-6 over the last two seasons when he scores at least 15 points.

If Gray is the scorer and Boseman is the defender, O'Bannon is the floor leader. He ranks sixth in the conference in scoring (16.9 per game) and rebounding (6.9 per game), while ranking fifth by shooting 52.3 percent from the floor.

O'Bannon's biggest talent, however, is his ability to perform in the clutch. In the last five games against the other top four teams in the conference, O'Bannon has averaged a near double-double with 21.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

For his efforts against Arizona and ASU last week he received player of the week honors.

"Charles has really improved his play and his leadership this year," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "He has been a calming force for us at times and really brings the team together."

Arizona's Michael Dickerson and Stanford's Brevin Knight have the numbers to be considered, but not the consistency. Dickerson is third in the conference in scoring, but in five of his last nine games he has scored under 13 points.

Knight leads the league with an average of 7.3 assists per game, but lately has been recording more turnovers than assists. In the Cardinal's last game against UCLA, Knight finished with five assists and nine turnovers. Still, a good run down the final stretch could boost Knight into contention.

"Brevin Knight is a leader, a tremendous competitor. He has the ability to take his team to a higher level," Lavin said. "His poise and confidence is like watching Joe Montana at quarterback. He makes everyone believe."