UCLA Basketball: Shabazz Muhammad, Pac-12 Player Of Year Favorite

Who is your current frontrunner for Pac-12 player of the year and why?

Jack Blanchat - Rule of Tree: Shabazz Muhammad. As he's come along, UCLA has caught fire, and if he continues to play at this pace (4th in the conference in scoring) the Bruins will continue to win and win and win all the way into March.

Scott Allen - Rule of Tree: It's between Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson for me. I'd give Muhammad a slight edge, but Anderson, who's averaging a double-double in conference play, has been almost as impressive.

Jack Follman - Pacific Takes: Tough question with so many teams still bunched at the top of the standings and a lot of teams having guys with similar numbers. With that said though, I'll go with C.J. Wilcox, he is the guy with the best numbers on a top-level team right now that is also the most valuable to his team.

Andy Wooldridge - Building The Dam: Shabazz Muhammad. UCLA was initially struggling along, with people calling for Ben Howland's job. Enter Muhammad plus a little time to get comfortable and the Bruins lead the conference, and appear to have the go to guy in Muhammad that could carry them deep into the post-season.

Michael Preston - CougCenter: Dealing with an NCAA investigation which turned out to be something of a witch hunt and still being in the top five in scoring your freshman year make Shabazz Muhammad my pick.

Adam Butler, PacHoops: Season's hammer drops today and I'm awarding it to CJ Wilcox. He's putting up big numbers and carrying the team I find most impressive (see above). Many will point at Muhammad but Adams might be UCLA's best player. He has a better offensive rating, effective FG%, steal percentage, and assist rate. It's not definitive but Jordan Adams has been terrific.

Parker Baruh, Ralphie Report: Shabazz Muhammad is the front runner right now for Pac-12 player of the year. He started off the season out of shape and looked lost, however, starting with his play against Missouri, Muhammad has wreaked havoc for the Bruins. He's leading the Bruins in scoring at 18.2 points per game and is taking over games down the stretch. Despite UCLA starting the season off on a terrible note getting upset at home against Cal Poly, they now seem to be a different team. They're playing at the level that was expected of them in the pre season and Muhammad is one of the major reasons why.