The Big 12 announced today that Cade Cunningham is the Big 12 Player of the Year. Apparently the league’s coaches—they select the winner—decided to be wrong.
Butler has an overwhelming case as the league’s player of the year. First, he dominated in advanced statistical categories. Butler led the Big 12 in PER, win shares and box/plus minus. Cunningham didn’t rank in the top 10 in PER or win shares. He ranked seventh in box plus/mins.
The three leading advanced stats sites liked Butler too. Butler ranked first on KenPom (Cunningham ranked third); he was first on Evanmiya.