Now, before you read the rest of this article, I must tell you that this will be a bias look as to why I think Dae’kwon Watson should be the Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year. Being that I’m the play-by-play broadcaster for MSU-Northern and have seen Dae’Kwon Watson play more than Brayden Koch (Cook), who I find is the other frontrunner for this award, this will be strictly my opinion on the award and why mister Watson should win it. This is in no way an official vote for Dea’kwon, just strictly my opinion. So, with that now out of the way, let’s get into the article.
It may not be the sexiest award that is given out, but it is one that is highly contested this year and could possibly provide some insight of what’s to come for these young players as their careers progress. A lot of the information I will be giving you is mainly statistics (as that’s what’s driving basketball in today’s game), but I’ll be sure to add some context to the numbers I’m spewing out.
I’m going to break down this discussion into three parts: cold hard stats, what they do for the team and future progressions.
Part I:
If we were just to look at the cold hard stats, we would see that Dae’kwon Watson is leading Brayden Koch in scoring per game (9.66-9.63), field goal shooting (48.9%-38.9%) field goals made (46-37), games played (12-11), assists per game (1.75-1.66), double-digit scoring games (5-4), steals (8-5) and assists (21-18). That’s just the basic stats too. That doesn’t include more advanced stats like points-per-40-minutes, rebounds-per-40, assists-per-40, and steals-per-40. All of which Dae’kwon leads over Brayden (15.6-12.3; 4.5-3.1; 3.3-1.9; 1.6-0.8).
I told you this would get jumbled with numbers, so allow me to add some context. All the stats I just gave out, are only numbers that each player has accumulated in conference play (as those are the only numbers that count in the vote). Watson has played in one more game than Koch, which could allow for the numbers to skew more towards Koch’s favor, but that just shows you how consistent Watson has been this year, especially the last few games. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Koch is a starter for Carroll College, whereas Watson comes off the bench. Knowing Huse, however, ‘starter’ is just a title. The way he substitutes and shifts his lineup throughout the game, allows others to, at times, get starter-like minutes if they are playing well that game. That being said, Watson, coming off the bench and not knowing when he will first get into the game, is putting up better numbers than Koch, who has a better chance to put up early numbers in the game.
Part II:
Now for what they do for their respective teams. Carroll has twice been in the Armory gym. In those two games played in Havre, Watson leads in points scored (28-20) and field goal percentage (52-40). In the three games total, Watson also leads Koch in points per game (14-9.3) and field goal percentage (51-43). Remember, Watson comes off the bench.
In context of what they’ve done in conference, as far as how they’ve contributed to their teams wins and losses, Watson has been a part of every conference win (7), whereas Koch has only been a part of four of the five conference wins for Carroll. Either way, in wins, Watson is averaging 11.2 points per game, 62% field goal shooting, 39% three-point shooting and 2.4 assists per game. Koch is averaging 11.5 points per game, 44% shooting, 31% three-point shooting and 1.5 assists per game. Just in the last two wins, Dae’kwon has been the catalyst for MSUN’s offense, scoring 34 total points, shooting 68% from the field and 60% from behind the arc.
In losses, both have about the same averages. Points per game (7.4-7.2) and field goal shooting percentage (41-38) go to Watson. Three-point shooting percentage (41-23) and assists per game (1.7-.8) go to Koch. Again, context, Koch has been in seven conference losses, whereas Watson has only been in five. Nevertheless, Koch has performed much better in losses than Watson has, having three double-digit point performances, including a 20-point game against Providence.
Part III:
Now, this part is going to be about what I think Watson could become for the Lights and Koch for the Fighting Saints. Being around Huse for the entire season, I understand his rotations and play style. With Kurt Paulson (Carroll’s Head Coach), it was very obvious that Koch was going to be a main contributor to this Saints team as soon as he stepped his six-foot two body onto Carroll’s campus.
To me, and reminder this is solely my own opinion, I don’t have any sources or inside scoops that I’m basing this off of. I think Dae’kwon could be a starter next year and absolutely thrive in Huses’ offense. Huse has implemented an offense that is inclusive to all play styles and doesn’t rely on one singular guy to make all the plays. Look at it this way, MSUN has had six different guys lead the team in points in 12 conference games, Dae’kwon being one of them. Dae’kwon has already shown his ability to shoot the ball well and play that role as someone who comes off the bench to lead the second unit, so if you put him with that first unit as a shooting guard, contrasting a really good point guard in Zackry Martinez, I think that could be a great back court that will lead to a lot of wins.
For Koch, I think he will continue to thrive as well in Paulsons’ system. We’ve seen his numbers dip the last few weeks, but we can probably chalk that up to a little bit of fatigue. He was a great high school player, Winning the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year and Montana’s Mr. Basketball last year, so he’s obviously a really good player. Once he has more games under his belt and gets used to how the conference plays, there’s no doubt that he could compete for Conference Player of the Year later in his career. He’s a really good shooter as well, shooting at least 50% from behind the three-point line plenty of times this year and with how basketball is played in today’s game, he’ll have plenty of chances to show off that range.
Conclusion:
This was a very long article, and I thank you for sticking around this long as I blabbed about how good I think Dae’kwon’s been this year. This is something that I have been adamant about all year on my broadcasts. I didn’t think I would get this caught up into a team that I didn’t even know existed until I moved up here from Florida, but look at me, writing 1,300 words about why I think a freshman that is six-years younger than me and has never had an interaction with me, should be Freshman of the Year for the Frontier Conference. It just goes to show you that when you’re as big of a sports nut as I am, you fall in love fast with your ‘hometown team’.
To finish this out on a high note, I do think that both players have had tremendous years. I’m not trying to take anything away from anyone and that includes the other freshman that I never mentioned, but in my opinion, this is a two-player race and one that is going to come down to the wire. We still have three games left and then the Frontier Conference Tournament, then hopefully for MSUN, a run to the National Tournament. As someone that’s enjoyed the ride, I hope I don’t have to get off just yet.
