We have just a handful more of these entries on this Pac-12 Friday miniseries for college basketball in the Conference of (real NCAA) Champions and its Midwest partners, the B1G. As we back into the 1980s, we enter a “golden age” of sorts for the two conferences, before true corruption set into college athletics. One of these conference produced the national champion this year, actually, despite a third-place finish in league.

1989 Pac-10 PoY: Sean Elliott, F, Arizona (original); Gary Payton, G, Oregon State (revised)

The Arizona Wildcats won the conference regular-season (by two games) and tournament titles, on their way to a No. 1 finish in the AP poll as well. Star forward Sean Elliott won the PoY vote, and we start with him for this analysis. He was first in scoring (22.3 ppg), seventh in rebounding (7.2 rpg), and ninth in assists (4.1 apg). But the Wildcats were loaded with good players … in fact, Elliott wasn’t the only guy to dominate.

For example, Arizona F Anthony Cook was first in blocks (2.5 bpg), sixth in rebounding (7.2), and tenth in scoring (17.5), while three other players also made appearances on the Top 10 stat lists. That makes each of them slightly less valuable, while we see a player like Oregon State guard Gary Payton as quite valuable: the Beavers finished 4 games back, but Payton was the only dominant player on that roster.

To wit, Payton finished first in assists (8.1), first in steals (3.0 spg), and second in scoring (20.1). Without him, there is no way Oregon State makes the NCAA Tournament or even sniffs the Top 3 finish in conference play. We confirmed the (future) Glove as the league PoY in 1990, but we’re re-assigning this trophy to him as well. Elliott was a great player at a powerhouse program, but Payton was a disruptor in tiny Corvallis.

1989 B1G PoY: Glen Rice, F, Michigan & Jay Edwards, G, Indiana (original, tie); Nick Anderson, G, Illinois (revised)

The Indiana Hoosiers won the conference by a single game over the Illinois Fightin’ Illini, with the Michigan Wolverines finishing three games out of first place. The PoY vote was a tie, though, between Wolverines F Glen Rice and Hoosiers G Jay Edwards. And it was Illinois and Michigan making it to the Final Four with the Wolverines winning the only basketball title in school history (controversially).

So who was the PoY here? We’re disinclined to choose Rice here, as third-place finishers that far out don’t often impress us (despite our selection of Payton above). For example, Michigan was loaded with talent, featuring the league’s top scorer (Rice), its top assist man (G Rumeal Robinson), and its top blocks dude (center Terry Mills), too. Rice was eighth in rebounding, but he had a teammate better than that (third).

Now, onto Edwards’ case: he was fourth in scoring, ninth in assists, and ninth in blocks—which is a nice line, but it’s hardly dominant, either. The Hoosiers had a very good roster, although nowhere as great or well-rounded as the Wolverines’ lineup. So, we’re not fans of Edwards, either. Then, if we’re not going with either vote winner, who do we look to for this specific piece of hardware? Someone from Illinois?

G Nick Anderson stands out to us for the Illini—yes, that same guy, of course. This roster was also loaded with future NBA players, but Anderson was the best one statistically, by far: tenth in scoring (18.0), fourth in rebounding (7.9), sixth in steals (1.6), and fifth in blocks (0.9). No other player in the league was on as many Top 10 lists as Anderson, and he held his team together through some injury adversity as well. He’s the pick.