Two more entries, including this one, for this Pac-12 Friday miniseries on college basketball in the Conference of (real NCAA) Champions and its Midwest partners, the B1G. It was a rough year for the two leagues, as they placed an impressive 8 teams into March Madness combined—but only one of those teams made to the Sweet 16 (and that team was shafted by the officiating there … in a familiar refrain!).

1986 Pac-10 PoY: Chris Welp, C, Washington (original, confirmed)

Arizona and Washington were the only two teams to make the NCAA Tournament, with the Wildcats winning the conference championship by 1 game over the Huskies. Washington center Chris Welp won the PoY vote, thanks to being first in blocks (2.2 bpg), second in scoring (19.4 ppg), and third in rebounding (8.5 rpg). He was also sixth in True Shooting Percentage (.578). We’re not impressed, in truth, but who else … ?

The Wildcats had five different players in the Top 10 of the various counting-stat categories, so it’s hard to choose one of them. The Huskies only had two other players in any Top 10—both in rebounding, below Welp. So maybe he was the dominant, primary reason for Washington keeping so close to Arizona in the standings. UCLA guard Reggie Miller may have been the “best” player, but … Welp was the most valuable.

1986 B1G PoY: Scott Skiles, G, Michigan State (original, confirmed)

The Michigan Wolverines won the conference title by 1 game over Indiana, 2 games over Michigan State, and 3 games over both Illinois and Purdue. Spartans guard Scott Skiles (27.4 ppg, 6.5 apg, 1.7 spg, and .610 TSP—all Top 5 efforts) was voted the PoY, which seems fine on the surface. But we must do some due diligence, as always, and dig a little deeper to see what we find. And … there just isn’t much out there, either.

Michigan had a balanced team without anyone dominating, while Indiana didn’t have much to offer in terms of a dominant player—at least not one better than Skiles. We’re just going to confirm him as the winner of the hardware, as he did lead the conference in scoring and assists, which is hard to do. Two other MSU players finished with TSPs higher than 60 percent, which means Skiles’ passing was spot on, period.