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It's assumed in some Missouri Valley circles that the conference's player of the year award will wind up in Doug McDermott's hands.

The Creighton sophomore is building quite a résumé. He's third in the country in scoring and also leads the Valley in rebounding, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. No player has topped the league in scoring and rebounding in the past two decades, while no player has ever led the league in those shooting categories.

As good as McDermott has been, the Valley might want to hold off inscribing his name on the Larry Bird Trophy that goes to its player of the year. Seems Evansville's Colt Ryan hasn't gotten the memo that the award race is over.

"Obviously, the numbers that he's putting up and the team he is on makes McDermott the clear choice at this point," Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery said. "But you have to respect what Colt is doing. He's their No. 1 guy every single night.

"So is McDermott, but Doug's supporting cast right now is really phenomenal. With Colt, everybody knows the ball is going to him and he's still producing."

At a high level. In fact, it could be argued that Ryan's production exceeds McDermott's in the first half of conference play. And since league games are the ones most voters take an up-close-and-personal look at, Ryan is making the most of his opportunities to impress the electorate.

Ryan leads the Valley in scoring in conference games, averaging 23.8 points to McDermott's 20.6. Overall, McDermott ranks third nationally with a 23.2 average, while Ryan is tied for fifth at 21.2.

Ryan also leads the Valley in conference games in 3-pointers made and ranks in the top 10 in free-throw percentage and steals (fifth in both), 3-point percentage (seventh), assists and assist-to-turnover ratio (10th in both). McDermott is second in league games in rebounding and fourth in field-goal percentage.

Overall, McDermott ranks among the leaders in seven statistical categories while Ryan is in six.

If there was a statistical category to gauge relentlessness, McDermott and Ryan would be 1A and 1B, in no particular order. Both have become the primary focus of opposing defenses, though Creighton has surrounded McDermott with more weapons.

The fact that Ryan's supporting cast is a couple of notches below Creighton's has earned the Evansville star a great deal of respect around the league.

"Colt's numbers and what he's doing for his team right now," Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said, "are really player-of-the-year-type numbers."

Ryan's game is based on perpetual motion. The Purple Aces bounce him off screen after screen in an attempt to get him to an open space. That style can takes its toll, but Ryan rarely wears down.

"He's just a tough kid," Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said. "Watch what he does. As hard as Evansville plays defensively, for him to run around and take the beating and run off screens for as many minutes as he's playing, it's amazing.

"You have to be tough and you have to be committed, and he really needs to be commended for the work he's done outside of the basketball season."

Lansing first saw Ryan when he was scouting the Indiana high school scene as a Sycamore assistant. Ryan grew up in Batesville, about 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis. For Lansing, it was basketball love at first sight.

"I really liked him but Coach (Kevin) McKenna didn't think we needed another player like Colt at that time," Lansing said. "I was disappointed that we didn't recruit him harder.

"Colt has come a long way in developing his game and his body. He's developed as much as anybody, and that takes hard work. He's such a difficult guy to guard because he's worked at it."

Ryan has been productive from the minute he stepped onto the Evansville campus. The Valley named him its freshman of the year in 2010 after he finished with more points (435) as a freshman than any player in 10 years. He earned second-team all-conference recognition last season as a sophomore when he finished third in the league in scoring.

Ryan has fulfilled the expectations Evansville coach Marty Simmons had for him during the recruiting process.

"We felt that he could be a guy to build around," Simmons said. "He's filled that bill for us, and not just with his scoring. He just does so many other things.

"He has a high basketball IQ and he really understands the game, how to read defenses and how to read situations. He's very competitive and very passionate about his love for the game."

Mix all that with a steely determination, and you have a player that any coach would love to have on his team.

Jacobson has faced Ryan when Northern Iowa had a comfortable lead and when Evansville led comfortably. Ryan's mindset never changes.

"He stays the same regardless of situation," Jacobson said. "His determination to play exactly the same is to be admired. When they're ahead, he's not looking to get points just to get points. When they're behind, he isn't trying to save the day with a 15-point shot.

"He's determined to play the way that best fits their offense, and that determination makes him hard to play against."

Despite his production, a couple of numbers will work against Ryan when it comes to voting for player of the year. Evansville is 10-9 overall and 5-4 at the midpoint of league play. More times than not, the Bird Trophy goes to the best player on the league's best team.

At this point, that's McDermott. And if that is still the case at the end of February, the Creighton sophomore will be a worthy winner.

Rest assured, though, that Ryan will do everything he can to make sure the voters don't forget about him.

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

twitter.com/PivOWH

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