NCAA men’s college basketball midseason awards and honors, picked by our hoops expert

Conference play is now in full swing across the country which means we’ve played a little more than two months of regular season men’s college basketball with a little more than two months still to go.

With this being just about the exact halfway point of the regular season, it feels like the perfect time to hand out some midseason awards.

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Midseason National Player of the Year: Cameron Boozer, Duke

The race for national POY isn’t “already over” like some are suggesting, but Duke’s freshman sensation would be the clear choice for every major individual award of this nature if the season ended today. Boozer has been every bit as good as advertised for Jon Scheyer, currently ranking first in the nation in scoring (23.3 ppg), 11th in rebounding (9.7 rpg), and 7th in double-doubles (7).

Midseason National Coach of the Year: Mark Byington, Vanderbilt

With six undefeated teams still remaining and a number of other squads with surprisingly gaudy midseason records, there are no shortage of candidates to put in this space. I’m going with the guy who has taken a Vanderbilt team picked to finish 11th in the SEC at the start of the season and led them to a perfect 15-0 start following Wednesday night’s win over Alabama.

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Byington, who spent seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Southern and four at James Madison before landing the Vandy gig, wasn’t as splashy as some of the other SEC coaching hires of the last five years, but he’s already proven to be one of the best. Through a season and-a-half in Nashville, Byington has posted a 35-13 overall record. That’s music to the ears of Commodore fans who sat through five seasons where Jerry Stackhouse’s teams went a combined 70-92.

Midseason National Freshman of the Year: Cameron Boozer, Duke

We could get cute here and give this award to A.J. Dybantsa, but any time a freshman wins a best overall player award but not a best freshman award, it just feels silly. Cam Boozer has been the best player…

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Publish date : 2026-01-08 18:38:00

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