Big Sky Conference Basketball MVP Favorites (Men and Women)

On Tuesday February 18th's Daily Drive with Ace Sauerwein on KGRZ, the Voice of the Griz Riley Corcoran and myself each drafted the Starting 5 of Big Sky Conference Basketball MVP Favorites with 2 weeks left in the regular season.

Listen to the full episode here.

These rankings are how we thought the top 5 favorites for Big Sky MVP should be. Not necessarily who we think the league will vote for.

We'll start with Corcoran's Starting 5 on the Men's side.

Honorable Mention: Trent McLaughlin (Northern Arizona)

McLaughlin leads the Big Sky with 21 points per game and is 5th in the entire country, but is on a bottom-4 NAU Lumberjacks team keeping him off the Starting 5 list.

5) Isaiah Hawthorne (Northern Colorado)

The #5 and #4 picks are identical in stats. Hawthorne scored 17 PPG just like his teammate and this guy...

4) Langston Reynolds (Northern Colorado)

Hawthorne is at 17.3 PPG, and Langston is at 16.7 PPG.

3) Dylan Darling (Idaho State)

Darling scores 19 points per game on the regular season, but has increased it to 24 points per game during Big Sky play.

2) Malik Moore (Montana)

The leading scorer on the Big Sky Conference's frontrunners. Despite being the top scorer, Corcoran says the MVP is...

1) Joe Pridgen (Montana)

The guy that brings the team together: Joe Pridgen. Pridgen is the most valuable player for Montana and thus, Pridgen is the MVP of the conference.

READ MORE: Griz Men's Basketball Star Joe Pridgen Makes BIG Announcement

Now, we get to my Starting 5 Big Sky MVP candidates on the women's side. 

Honorable Mention: Olivia Nelson (Idaho)

A fun guard who has put together some big days this year including a 30 burger against Weber State.

#5 Marah Dykstra (Montana State)

The undefeated Bobcats had to have multiple selections on the list (more on them later). Dykstra has been a steady force at 13 PPG, 5 rebounds per game and 2 assists per game.

#4 Benthe Versteeg (Sacramento State)

Sacramento State is in the bottom 4 of the conference, but Versteeg is putting up solid numbers. She leads the conference in 6 assists per game.

#3 Taylor Feldman (Northern Arizona)

Feldman should be most team's MVP's but she isn't for Northern Arizona. She's a stud scoring 16.5 PPG behind her teammate (who is #1).

#2 Esmeralda Morales (Montana State)

The best player on the best team. 14 PPG, 3 RPG, 3.6 APG and a game-winning free throw against the Lady Griz in Missoula.

#1 Sophie Glancey (Northern Arizona)

Glancey gets a slight advantage over Morales as she's 2nd in the league in scoring and 4th in rebounding. She's had a conference-high 13 double-doubles this year.

Let us know your thoughts. Did we get it right?