West Virginia's Javon Small Robbed of the Big 12's Player of the Year Award

This time next week, the West Virginia Mountaineers will be preparing for their trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Without the elite level play of senior guard Javon Small, WVU would not only have missed out on the tournament, but they probably would have had a record that rivaled last year's 9-23 mark.

Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the point.

Small carried this team back to the dance and yet somehow, he's not recognized as the best player in the conference. That award was given to Texas Tech's JT Toppin on Monday afternoon, and while he's deserving of it, I'm not so sure he brings as much value to his team as Small did to West Virginia.

Without Toppin, the Red Raiders still have enough offensive firepower to make the NCAA Tournament and probably finish in the top half of the league. You can't say that about the Mountaineers. Small certainly benefitted from the contributions of Amani Hansberry, Jonathan Powell, and Joseph Yesufu, but the consistency and level of scoring from those three and others doesn't come anywhere close to those who flanked Toppin.

West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries spoke on Small's fantastic season following their win over UCF in the regular season finale this past Saturday.

A season to remember

Mar 8, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Javon Small (7) watches after shooting a three pointer during the first half against the UCF Knights at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

"I just hope people really appreciate the season he had because I’ve been doing this a long time, there’s only two or three guys that I can probably name that had a season like this where he had to do so much as well on top of it. Incredible season for him, regular season, obviously we still want to play as long as possible but it was great to see him go out on top."

A season to remember

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