The Daily Nole

Your Thoughts Thursday: Trent Forrest is FSU’s Midseason MVP

Jeremy Esbrandt/D'Vel Photography/FSU athletics

The Florida State men’s basketball regular season is more than halfway over following Wednesday night’s 78-68 victory over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. The Seminoles are off to a 14-2 start and ranked in the AP top 10 for a third time in four seasons.

This week, that’s where we turned our attention for The Daily Nole Poll. We asked our social media followers who they would consider to be No. 10 FSU’s MVP to this point in the season.

We had 102 responses and the most popular response was for the team’s most tenured player.

Senior guard Trent Forrest was the top vote receiver at 44 percent. Sophomore slasher Devin Vassell received 38 percent of the vote and 17 percent went to junior guard M.J. Walker. 1 percent said other.

Our Take
The argument could easily be made for Trent Forrest or Devin Vassell while M.J. Walker has been the team’s x-factor. We’re going to go against the grain on this one however.

Although the scoring averages are close to the same, Vassell has been pretty efficient for FSU this season. The sophomore from Georgia is averaging better than 12 points per game and is shooting 49 percent from the field and 37 percent from deep. He’s also second on the team in rebounding.

While Forrest is one of the more clutch players of the Leonard Hamilton era, Vassell seems to be where the Seminoles go when they need a big shot this season.

After Wake Forest took a 4-point lead early in the second half on Wednesday night, Vassell had the points that started the FSU run. When Louisville closed to within three this past Saturday, Vassell scored the next five FSU points to open things back up. Vassell also had the clutch jumper that put FSU ahead for good in a 66-60 comeback win over South Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic last month.

It’s hard to find a wrong answer when weighing Forrest and Vassell, but we’ve made our case.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson. Like The Daily Nole on Facebook. To pitch an idea, author a post or to learn more about The Daily Nole, email Mike Ferguson at Mike@TheDailyNole.com.

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