Who’s the MVP?

The voting for SEC player of the year promises to be intriguing, with league champion Alabama having multiple candidates and its best all-around player, Herbert Jones, not being a stat monster.

The current second-place team Arkansas has good candidates, starting with freshman Moses Moody, who ranks fourth in SEC scoring (16.6 ppg), 18th in rebounding (5.7) and fifth in free-throw percentage (82.3). The Razorbacks also have dark-horse contenders in forward Justin Smith (12.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and point guard Jalen Tate (10.8 ppg, 4.2 assists per game).

LSU boasts the league’s top scorer in freshman Cameron Thomas (22.8), who also owns an SEC-best 87.9% free throw rate, but he has teammates in Javonte Smart and Trendon Watford, both averaging 16.1 ppg, who could split votes.

Then there’s the Missouri trio of Xavier Pinson (14.0 ppg), Dru Smith (13.9 ppg) and Jeremiah Tilmon (12.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg), who are also likely to pull votes from each other.

Mississippi State has the league’s top scoring duo in sophomores D.J. Stewart (16.5 ppg) and Iverson Molinar (16.3) but the Bulldogs are in the bottom half of the league standings.

Sophomore Jaden Shackleford is Alabama’s leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, but he’s not a rebounding or assists machine.

Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr. (20.5) and South Carolina’s AJ Lawson (17.4) rank two and three in SEC scoring, but their teams are near the bottom of the league standings.

Florida guard Tre Mann (14.7 ppg, 83.1% FT) and Ole Miss guard Devontae Shuler (16.0 ppg) also stand to get MVP and first-team All-SEC consideration.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo) Arkansas guard Moses Moody was named the SEC freshman of the week Monday by the league office. Moody averaged 21 points and 6.5 rebounds in victories against Alabama and LSU last week.